Return to Arthur Singleton's Cave

Sunday morning I got up and my caving friend Chris, and Paul came and picked me up.  We were driving down to Rockcastle County to go to Arthur Singleton's Cave.  If you remember, that is where I took Matt & Amy, and some others this summer.  But we weren't able to see the good stuff.

                                        (Approaching the thick, blanket of fog over the Kentucky River)
On the way we made our typical stop in Richmond to get out $5 all you can eat breakfast, and then finally arrived at the cave entrance.  We soon discovered that the cave was wetter than it was this summer.  I learned the reason for that is during the summer time there is more live plants and foliage to store the water.  With everything dying, that isn't the case.

                                         (Chris sitting in the entrance)
The main goal was to find the passage to the Empire Room, which is where most of the beautiful formations in the cave are located.  I had studied the map, and did some reading.  The passage was on the right hand side, underneath a giant flowstone choke.  When we arrived at the location I realized it was where Amy had been trying to climb over.  So Chris, Paul and I ducked under and completed the short crawl to find ourselves at the back end of the Empire Room.  And ahead of us we saw this...

Along with a few other pillars.  It was quite breathtaking.  Here in this area with about 3 feet of clearance these pillars just filled the place.  After we were down gawking at these, we decided to head to the other end of the Empire Room.  This Room has a large mountain of breakdown in it.  It is a result of when the cave formed and the ceiling collapsed, leaving boulders and rock on the floor.  But regardless, it is still the largest room in the cave.

I lead the way, climbing up over the breakdown and I began seeing formations poking up over the "horizon"... I climbed faster excited and more was revealed to me.  I got to the top and I was in a state of awe... Even the pictures cannot do the Empire Room justice.  Beautiful formations, some of them coated with white, gypsum crystals...

We probably looked and took dozens of pictures for a good while.  Then I tried to find a lead in the front of the Empire Room. Chris and Paul did a couple climbs down and found a small, crawling area in a flood zone. It was muddy but it was a maze of small columns.  I climbed down there and joined them.  After that we climbed out and I showed them a rat's nest I had found.  It was the first cave rat I've ever seen.  I'd like to know how he finds his way in and out.

We then worked out way out, and then Chris decided to clean up the most, in the creek.

After we got changed we took the long way back, along Mullins Station Road.  Saw some beautiful country.  And we stopped briefly so Paul could see the old quarry.

Until next time, caveman...

For all of my photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/116396676277007122980/ArthurSingletonOct302011

Misty Cave

My Saturday actually started with working my 10 hour shift.  But I managed to come home and get about 1 hour sleep before I arose and got together my cave gear.  My friend Chris from the Cincinnati grotto was picking me up.  We'd met and we now do caving together.  So we headed south, had our all you can eat $5 breakfast, then arrived at the Great Saltpeter Cave Preserve.  We visited for a couple minutes and then decided to make the drive to Misty Cave.  It's in Jackson County.

We finally arrived at the spot to parked, and then hiked through the woods and down a gully near a creek where the cave waited along the cliff.

                         (Entrance to Misty Cave)
We went straight in and did the worst crawl through the cave.  Then came a nice chimneying section where we stayed in the upper portion and went along avoiding the water below.

                            (Pausing for a photo above the water)
We worked our way along, crawling, stooping, and we found a couple domes here and there with some small waterfalls coming from the top of them.  Chris was trying to remember the way to do the loop through the cave system.  It is a rare thing to be able to do.  But near the main entrance is a split and you go all the way around and come back the other side.

                                 (Fossilized shell)
We crawled through a lot of mud and sand.  It was fairly obvious that just days before with all the rain the cave had a lot of water flooding through it.  Most of the cave seems to be an avenue for water.  And the possibilities it could take as an avenue seemed endless.  I even squeezed myself through a small hole at one point to investigate while Chris rested.

However we finally found the right passage.  So after opting to slog through water and check things out we continued on.  And Chris recognized pretty much the only formation in the whole cave.

We made pretty good time coming around the other half of the loop.  Near the end of it, ahead appeared to be a dead end.  However, there was a small hole against the wall you lowered yourself into, twisted around, and came out feet first.  It was fun.  So we finally stumbled out, battered, and ripped up.  But it was a fun cave.  Not much glamorous to look at, but there was a balance of different obstacles to just keep your skills sharp and keep up practice.  It's definitely worth another trip at some point to even push leads that have not been surveyed.

Chris stayed at the cave entrance and I walked downstream and found another cave entrance high up near the cliff. I climbed up to it and went inside.  It was a pretty tall canyon passage.  After a little bit it got really narrow and I couldn't fit through but i could hear a lot of water flowing behind.  With it being so close to Misty Cave I would bet they are connected.

                                      (Looking down, and out the second cave entrance at the creek, below)
After I came back Chris and I waded through the creek and looked around the other side for possible caves, then went back to the car, changed, and headed back up north.  It was a really good trip. :)