Cumberland Falls

Yes, a post that is not about caving... Wednesday I came back up to NKY.  I had spent Christmas in Nashville with my caving friend David Intal.  And our plan was to meet Rachael and her brother Richard in Corbin, KY, and from there we would go to Cumberland Falls.  We got there and the water was very high.

We walked along the walkways and viewing platforms that they had set up.  There was even a smaller waterfall coming down a cliff on the opposite side of the River.

We didn't stick around too long.  We drove back and turned down a gravel road and drove for a few miles until David told us where to park.    We hiked up a trail to Dogslaughter Falls.  We stopped and didn't hike down to the waterfall right away.  David suggested climbing up the cliff to the overlook first to get warm by the sun.

Richard stayed at the bottom of the cliff and David, Rachael, and I made it up to the top.  I really was not expecting the view.  The Cumberland River was below us, as it made a big loop.  You could hear the wind going through the trees, and the distant sounds of waterfalls all around you.

We sat down in the sun and ate.  Rachael had made some bread and had brought that along, as well as some peanut butter fudge and Ale 8.  Nothing like looking over God's amazing creation and drinking an Ale 8.  David went back and after a while came up with Richard so then all four of us were up there.  We just sat around and enjoyed the afternoon.

Then we climbed back down, and went up close to Dogslaughter Falls.

It was pretty cold down there, but you could go all the way behind the waterfall and come out on the other side.  After a while of that we were freezing and decided it was time to make the hike back to the cars.

And before I knew it we were back at the cars saying good bye, and I was in no hurry to go back up North.  But I eventually did.

Sinks of the Roundstone

I wrapped up my weekend in Berea with a small easy trip to Sinks.  Brandon didn't have to work, and Jacob and Critter were in town.  As was Rachael, and she had never been caving.  I also only took 5 pictures so I figured I'd put them all into this post.  So we all drove out there and entered in through the railroad entrance.

There wasn't a whole lot of anything that happened.  We cleaned up some trash on our way through, and went off into some side passages that Jacob and I knew about.  I had forgotten how big some of the rooms are.  I would run up the tall mountains, and climb up onto the rocks and look out through the darkness to see everyone else's lights off in the distance.  It was very impressive.

We went off to a side passage I believe is call the prayer room, and I showed everyone how to climb high up into a crack to get to an upper passage that led to a deep pit.  Of course, I had to go sit out on the edge and lean over so I could see the bottom :)  

As we got to closer to the last 1/4 of the cave we discovered there was a steady stream flowing into the cave this time.  It was still much less water than I've seen at Sinks this time of the year.  We crossed back and forth over rocks to avoid the water, and made our way out.  I was disappointed though, that it had been too warm to have an ice buildup on the main entrance.

Miller's Cave

Saturday I met up with a group of people from the Cincinnati Grotto.  We met at the Great Saltpeter Cave Preserve, and then we all drove to the location of Miller's Cave.  Shane Mullins was leading this trip.  We were going to go in one of the main entrances, and come out another entrance which is part of Joint Cave.  The main entrance is a room, with a crack on the right side that you must squeeze into.  Then it is a series of ups and downs, and crawling to get to an open area where the Hawg's Hole Entrance is.

                    (Taking a break in Hawg's Hole)
While people rested I worked on getting some photos of formations around the area.

Shane then led us on through some very beautifully decorated places.  Along the way we had to skirt a deep pit.  We crawled under a ledge to get around it.  At a point where we did a free climb we did some "exploring" for a little bit.  There was a very nicely decorated area with some neat "bubble like" formations.

Then we continued on until we reached an area called Malfunction Junction.  Along here we passed some very beautiful pillars.

Then we climbed down to a lower level.  We were now in the Quagmire.  I had remembered being here the first time I was in the cave.  It's a really tall canyon.  We stopped here and ate some snacks, talked, and some of us walked to the back of the canyon.

Then we got to do some walking, and we cross along another pit.  This time we crawled along an open ledge and held onto a cable bolted to the wall.  This is the farthest I had been.  I remember turning around at this point when I was with guys from the Bluegrass Grotto.

Then there were two crawls ahead of us.  I enjoyed both of them.

Then it was just a short walk out the entrance of joint cave, but not without seeing some pretty cool 12 inch long soda straws.

Overall it was a fun, easy trip, and good for winter caving if you didn't want to get wet.  For all the photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/116396676277007122980/MillerSCaveDecember2011