CAMPS GULF CAVE
July 22, 2014
Camps Gulf Cave |
Justin and I were hanging out the night before talking and I left my darrren drum open and forgot to put the lid back on which proved to be pretty lethal to my G12, I turned on the screen and it was showing a purple colored screen and morphed into a psychedelic music video that rivals a tie dye shirt. It rained all through the night and never actually stopped until we were done with the trip. It was like my camera took a hit of acid the night before and never came out of it! Regardless, the camera was now emotionally compromised and thankfully I have a backup camera. I was not as experienced on this camera as I am on the G12 but it will have to work!! We gather ourselves and Chris rolls out of his sleeping pad that was turned into a raft the night before to prepare for another awesome day. This time we are going to Camps Gulf and another pit. We make our way over to the parking spot for Camps Gulf and proceed to hike upstream while passing some small cave passages along the way. We get to a spot where there is a entrance to the cave and some breakdown but I decided to climb around a spur and all of a sudden, there was a shear cliff and with a large entrance to a cave, Camps Gulf...Here we are!!!
Immediately, this area reminded me of a Puerto Rico cave and through out this cave, the thought of Puerto Rico's Rio Camuy cave Conduits came to mind.
We continue into the caves massive borehole and eventually get to a breakdown mountain we had to climb. We could still see the entrance from where we were and we were around 10-15 minutes into the cave!! We continue to climb and follow the flagging tape that has been laid down under bounders keyed in from a previous collapse until we get to a shelf of sorts. We follow this shelf around and climb up some more to a second shelf. After following this shelf to a ridge we realize we were climbing a breakdown mountain inside a room the size of a stadium! As we pear out into the darkness our lights can not reach the other side except for my most powerful lights I was carrying. Such a stunning place to be in!!
We continue on to a section where we can set up a place to have lunch and where I can get ready to take a shot of this place. It took almost an hour to set up everything the way I wanted it and with the size of this room and the lack of experience I had with this new camera I was using, I was not able to get the best shots that I wanted form this shoot.
I was able to snag a couple decent ones but I really met my match coming into Camps Gulf which was something I was not prepared for. We follow the passage and down to a river section which took us to another large room! This place was impressive. We ended up going in a complete circle and about the time when we got done with taking photos it was time to leave so we didn't get a chance to see all of the cave. I cant wait to come back to this place for so many reasons!!! It kicked my ass with regard to photography but it was just a awesome place to see.
I was able to snag a couple decent ones but I really met my match coming into Camps Gulf which was something I was not prepared for. We follow the passage and down to a river section which took us to another large room! This place was impressive. We ended up going in a complete circle and about the time when we got done with taking photos it was time to leave so we didn't get a chance to see all of the cave. I cant wait to come back to this place for so many reasons!!! It kicked my ass with regard to photography but it was just a awesome place to see.
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