ADAM HAYDOCK

After hours of scrambling down a semi active volcano around loose volcanic rock, we arrived at a ledge where the clouds started to ascend above the elevation barrier they previously held on to before. As the minutes inched their way towards noon, the sun burned away the remaining rogue clouds as an eerie and mysterious crack in the sheer cliff started to expose it's red, orange, and yellow minerals  that have been expelled from the volcano into this cave. What we were about to discover inside these caves on Irazu volcano have scientists questioning the origins of the metamorphic mineral development and the geothermal relationships going on with this volcanspelological region in Costa Rica. All these pictures are true to color

From Tres Rios Costa Rica, we left around 5am for the drive up to the top of Irazu volcano in Costa Rica. This volcano is a semi active volcano with a bit of history that occurred back in the 1960s which left some people believing that the volcano had erupted or a massive landslide occurred which might have revealed these cave entrances. The caves we first noticed in 1994 and expeditions have been conducted previously to study the caves mineral deposits.

Irazu volcano from the top

Andres and Anthros were able to receive scientific access to navigate around the volcano past the designated trails so we could reach the other side of the main crater and descend down into the volcanos cave system on the northwest corner.

Another volcano that is active. We could smell the sulfur from this volcano.

We started our traverse descent early to avoid the rainfall which could have made difficult conditions even worse due to the slippery conditions and landslides that frequently occur here.

Andres, pointing out the exposed walk across the lip of Irazu Volcano to get to the descent traverse, Costa Rica

We worked our way around the crater to a section where we had to traverse a trail that was just a couple of feet wide on each side that either dropped hundreds of feet into the volcano on one side or down the other side into the jungle below.



Descending down Irazu Volcano to the Mineral Cave in Costa Rica

 Eventually we made it to a place where we had to descend down the volcano and around a ledge-landslide area full of loose talus and scree that could have tumbled down below and accidently hit someone lower than us but thankfully that never happened. We continued to descend down the loose volcanic talus until we got to a vegetation patch that had thick roots, vines, and leaves which reminded me of the type of flora I have seen in other Central American cloud forests.  At this elevation of over 10,000 feet, sustaining high winds are quite common as it was on the day that we were there so if any plant life wanted to survive this environment, it would have to be able to evolve to accommodate to these conditions.

Flora on Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

It was also quite cold at this elevation in Costa Rica...45 degrees Fahrenheit.  We worked our way through the thick brush avoiding rocks that were being accidentally kicked down towards us and we started to work our way down to the volcanos draw and spur section.  We traversed around these draws and spurs of sharp loose rocks and eventually started to see minerals exposed out in the open along with a strange black moss that covered some of the rocks and plants.

Flora with black film on the branches, Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

 Shortly after, the group was called to a halt from above and Andres was called to come back up to the back of the group. One of the members of the expedition was suffering from altitude sickness so another member had to take him back to the car to get him transported to medical.  We were all assured that he will be taken care of and treated well so the expedition continued down and around the volcano.  We had to make sure that we were taking note of our route so we can return back if the clouds started to roll in and limit our visibility, which they did!

Clouds passing through above and around us on Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

After taking a break we continued on a horizontal traverse at the elevation we were at to the large landslide of exposed minerals and volcanic rock.  This is where the clouds started to cover our visibility and soon after burn away as the sunlight worked its way through.  As we made it closer to the ledge, more rogue clouds started to drift through elevation line where they previously were floating at as we looked over the final ledge for the first time.  Cloud cover followed by moments of clarity and sun gave this 400ft cliff an eerie appearance but it was what was at the bottom of this cliff that we had our eyes on.  It was a distinguished horizontal crack at the bottom of a 400 ft. cliff. This is the entrance to the cave of the minerals, Cuevas De Los Minerales. Wow we finally made it here!  

Cueva Mineral, Irazu Volcano, Costa Rica

There are three caves in this area which are situated on the northwest side of the main crater of Irazu volcano. The intense hydrothermal alternation that this section has gone through has exposed some of the most mysterious and abnormal volcanspeleological and mineralogenic interactions known throughout this region and maybe the planet as more questions have been left unanswered. 

Large Sulfur Crystals Cueva De Los Minerales Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

Samples were collected by Anthros from previosu expeditions adn diffractometry studies were conducted which rendered twenty one different minerals relating to sulfates and one native element (Sulfur). There were at least five of these minerals that were reported to be found for the first time inside of a cave that have never been previously found on any other cave in the world which are Aplowite CoSO₄•4H₂O, boyleite ( Zn,Mg) SO₄•4H₂O , ferrinatrite Na₃Fe(SO₄)3•3H₂O, magnesiocopiapite MgFe⁺³₄ (SO₄)₆(OH)₂•20H₂O , and wupatkiitea (Co,Mg,Ni)Al₂(SO₄)₄•22H₂O).

Cueva De Los Minerales, Irazu Volcano

The research from local and International Universities have been conducting sample studies in these caves have come up with some rare mineral discoveries and one mineral that my have never been documented before.  Updated test results will come out soon but overall, the mineralogenic mechanisms happening in these caves have been the purpose for propelling this expedition which was to produce samples and survey maps of these cave systems. This will hopefully explain the formation of these features along with the biogenic activity in the acidic precipitation, solubilization alteration, and dehydration of these volcano cave mineral properties. A lot of this work is from Andres and Anthros.  

Cueva De Los Minerales Irazu Volcano

Here I am in Costa Rica, a bit cold, over 9,000 feet above sea level, above the clouds, about to enter a cave raining a sulfuric acid compound where I have to wear a gas mask to view some of the rarest minerals in the world....does it get more exotic than this?!? 



Melanterite Stalagtite Cueva de Los Minerales Costa Rica

At the Entrance Of Cueva Minerales Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

DON'T LOOK UP!!, I was told as a diluted form of sulfuric acid dropped from the ceiling onto the breakdown digging holes into the trail and rocks below.  A previous scientist got some in his eye and apparently he did not have a "good result" as I was told.  This precipitation was leaving trace elements around the rim of acid burned holes and even building stalagmites left hollowed out from the solution.



Sulfate Geysermite with a teal interior releasing hot sulfur gas and a sulfuric acid compound dripping into the formation from the ceiling down into the formation.  Cueva de Los Minerales, Irazu Volcano, Costa Rica.

The ground was covered with various colors of yellow sulfur in curds piled on top of layers of pink, light green and white minerals. I noticed a fumarole vent exhaling hot sulfur air with white and teal circular crystals coating the inner layer inside the thermal.  Some of the minerals identified here include Aplowita, Alunógeno, Coquimbita, Halotriquita, Copiapite.  Some of these minerals were found in clusters in other various themal places on the floor and walls of the cave and some of these crystals inside the fumarole formations were growing out and downward toward the center of the fumarole.   Sulfur seemed to be in abundance here especially near the vents as it appears to need a temperature of at least 30 degree Celsius to generate..



Surrounding this and other similar fumarole thermals were Geysermites made of various mineral sulfate composites of yellows and whites around the outside and a teal and white color on the inside which I am considering to be Melanterite along with some other oxidized sulfates.  The Solution dripping from above hollowed out these formations to create what we are looking at below.

I briefly removed my mask and can feel a slow and subtle burning sensation starting to develop in my throat so I put my mask back on realizing the air quality is a caustic blend of gasses mixed into the air. I continue inside and down a breakdown pile full of shattered minerals with colors ranging from teal, pink, red, and some greens. I look down at the bottom where I followed a crawl passage leading to one of the most amazing speleological features I have and might ever see, an aqua marine stalagmite made out of an oxiding sulfate element called Melanterite. This formation was aqua marine in color, translucent, and sprinkled with bright yellow mineral deposits. This mineral can be found in some mines but What I found even more fascinating is that the stalactite was active and continuing to develop.

 I had to crawl and get a picture of this active formation which was still dripping at the time I was there. Furthermore, there was a previous formation that appeared to have broken off and a whole new formation has grown since than which I have been told is rather quick so there is more going on in the ceiling than we understand. 

The colors within these volcanospeleotherms went from a solid green to a aquamarine to a bright electric blue. Surrounding this formation were gypsum and Halotrichite needles along with other aqua marine formations, maroon, and yellow colored minerals on the ceiling.  On the walls there was coatings of pink and yellow crystals.

 I was surrounded by a room covered in crystal and mineral formations which were clustered on the walls, floor, and ceiling. The smell of sulfur was strong as I got deeper into the cave and the temperature must have been around 90 degrees at I got to the end of the cave.

The passages were not to long but the mineralogy and volcanology of this feature was something I and everyone else on the expedition have never seen. I exited the cave to go to the fissure crack Cueva Mucolitos next to the hand line. Inside this cave, there was sulfur on the walls similar to the mineral cave but this cave had Snottites or "snotties" which are soda straw looking formations.

Snottites inside Cueva Mucolitos Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

Unknown Insects crawling around where the Snottites were located.

Read more about this cave here:
http://adamhaydock.blogspot.com/2014/05/cueva-mucolitos-irazu-volcano-costa.html

 After exiting Cueva Mucolitos Scott He went back up to the main cave and I told him I was going to go down and check out this cave to photo document the discovery. The Third Cave is named Cueva del Pizote Espantado.  I descended down over loose breakdown and encountered a very talus slope until I reached a bend in the cliff.  The clouds start to roll back in creating that eerie haze that added the mysterious ambiance of what I was about to encounter.  As I walked closer, the silhouette of a dark opening within the rock face appeared more defined as the closer I got.

 I came back to the base camp where the hand line was rigged after climbing up a very brittle and exposed climb and found that everyone was still inside the mineral cave.  I took break and made my ascent up to the top of the ledge.  That's when I heard two thunderous booms!!!! It came from inside the mineral cave!  Thankfully nobody was inside but I looked around the ledge and saw two people running down the hill and away from the cave!! It appears that material from the ceiling fell which might have been due to the heat of the sun and the moist cool clouds that rolled in shortly after but I can not confirm that.  Nobody really knows what happened in the cave but we were glad everyone was safe.  That was a close call.  We were in the cave for a few hours and something just happens to fall right at the time the last person has exited the cave? That just leaves even more mystery to this place. We each work our way up the ledge and start our journey back around the volcano with limited visibility.

Andres addressing the group as we prepare to ascend Irazu Cave Costa Rica Photo taken by Scott Trescott

Now that's a happy caver

 With a few mis orientations, we were able to find ourselves around the landslide and out of harms way when we entered into the vegetation.

Coming out of the clouds on Irazu Volcano Costa Rica

As we pop out of the vegetation, we made our final ascent out of the cloud line and the sun was shining which reflected upon the jungle below on the windward side and a dense cloud overcast on the leeward side raining down upon the jungle canopy below.

The Expedition Climbing up the volcano, Photo Taken By Scott Trescott, Irazu Volcano, Costa Rica.

Eventually we made it back to the summit lip of the volcano just in time for one of the most spectacular sunsets over the clouds I have ever seen.  12hrs after starting the trip we made it back to our cars. Another member caught some gravel in his eye so with that and the altitude sickness condition we did not suffer any broken bones or life threatening injuries which I consider a success. I want to thank the Grupo Espeleologico Anthros and everyone involved in making this expedition a success. 
Currently research is being conducted on the samples we brought back and more updates will follow as I become aware of the information.  

CUEVA MUCOLITOS:
http://adamhaydock.blogspot.com/2014/05/cueva-mucolitos-irazu-volcano-costa.html

CUEVA ESPANADO :
http://adamhaydock.blogspot.com/2014/05/cueva-espanado-irazu-volcano-costa-rica.html

The Grace Shannon's bow section with double anchors side to side

After an hour drive back towards shore, we made it to the Milwaukee Carferry which is a 330 foot steel train ferry that brought railroad cars back and forth from Milwaukee to Grand Haven in Michigan which helped free up traffic coming from and to Chicago.  On October 22, 1929 ran into a storm bound for grand Haven loaded with lumber, food, bath appliances, and automobiles.  I am not sure exactly how the car ferry sank but from what I gather the Gail she was fighting through in 1929 made railroad cars come loose inside her haul structure.  One or more of these rail cars crashed through the sea gate providing a hole for water to come in over the stern to bring her down to her current resting place

Mike stayed on the Molly V so Leo, Ellery, and I went to make an attempt to look for a way to get into the kitchen of the Car ferry.  I have been on this wreck twice so this is my third time on this wreck.  Leo and Ellery explained to me that they have been on the wreck a lot and want to see if they can locate any other entrances that will take them to the kitchen galley quarters. We dive in and the water temp is around 39 degrees. NICE..a little warmer than the frigid 35-36 degree temps on the Grace.  We make our descent and come up onto the Milwaukee's bow and collapsing mid ship wreckage.  Leo and Ellery make attempts to enter the wreck but come back out and soon after each penetration attempt.  Eventually I called the dive as my air was running low so I made my ascent and soon after Leo and Ellery followed me up. We did not find the way to the galley but we all had a blast on these dives, with Jitka, and Dave on the Molly V.  I am looking forward to my next dive trip with my dive buddies up in Presque Isle to dive some of the most amazing shipwrecks in the world!!

Milwaukee Carferry broken rail car

Milwaukee carFerry Photo from http://www.pcdiving.com/survey_shipwreck_history_milwaukee.htm

Last day in TAG and we picked up everything that we had at Troy's house and made it out to Hoopers Well for one last drop.  This 100ft drop is in Monte Sano State Park area and is a very popular pit near the road.  A lot of cavers come here to practice vertical training which is a nice location to practice and a nice pit to drop. We dropped the pit and afterwards grabbed some BBQ which was absolutely amazing!!! UGH now for the ride back to Chicago which took us a total of 11 hours to get home.

I want to thank Troy Fugua for hosting us at his place and for spearheading the access to the caves we went to. Thank you my friend, I am glad we got to go caving together again and we had a blast.  I want to take all of the landowners that allowed us to visit each cave we went to on this trip in return for helping out.  This was a fantastic trip and I am so grateful that we go to spend it with friends and have the experience we had with a great group of cavers. 

We woke up a bit later to make sure we were as fresh as possible for the days trip. One of the cavers stayed back to relax from the trip yesterday so we set out to go to a beautiful pit and go to Butler Sinks afterwards to enter Paul's Cave. 

  We drop the entrance and made it down this beautiful cave and I got some great shots of the pit from the bottom up. The sun beams came through as everyone climbed out of the Pit.  This was one of the more beautiful pits I have been to in TAG.

 Soon after we left this Pit, we made out and way over to another location and our sites were dialed in to visit an with large waterfalls.  I looked at the map and it appeared to be a crawl that gradually got bigger until the 300ft drop was encountered.

 We parked the car and had to hike over a mile in the woods to get to the waterfalls Sinks area.  This place was beautiful! There was a lot of water just pouring over ledge from above and that was impressive in itself!  Where the hell is all this water coming from?  and where is it all going? We drop our packs and look around for the entrance.  I find some other entrances that lead to drops into dome rooms under the breakdown piles above and I continue to wonder if there are other cave systems that feed into this cave due to these passages.  Eventually, we found the entrance to and climb down into the river system.  This passage will be serving as a natural filter or a body compressor due to how tight it was to contort our bodies just to get to the stream passage crawl.

The crawl turned into hands and knees than opened up to walking over boulders to get to the DROP!  We made it.  This drop is 300ft to the bottom which can either be dropped from the water fall using two bolts over the falls or a traverse into a small room away from the waterfall.  This room, the waterfall, and the system itself IMO was extremely impressive!!!  There was a waterfall drop with a climb around and some breakdown that you had to walk over in order to get to the exposed climb so we rigged a hand line to ensure nobody would fall into the pit below us.  After come challenges we had the hand line established and continued to rig the drop.  We were not prepared for this flood of water that we encountered so we did not have our wetsuits available to us which was a concern for some of the cavers so what we decided to do was to drop down to the ledge which was only 60 ft which would avoid the waterfall.  This was the majority ruling and it was thought that the waterfall would be hammering everyone at the bottom.

ALABAMA PIT FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157644477894663/

BUTLER SINKS PAULS CAVE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157644024344098/

  The night before I closed my eyes at midnight and a minute later it was 7 am, at least that was what it felt like when the lack of sleep started to recharge it's empty bucket. Day Two, and we had a long day ahead of us as we had to hike up a large hill to a waterfall entrance known as Thunder Hole. This cave is considered a classic as it is a beautiful waterfall entrance rappel into a series of 5 waterfall multi drop rappels down to the bottom sump.  We get breakfast, pack wetsuits, and go through the rope lengths for this multi drop waterfall cave.  The drops were approx as follows: Two 100 ft drops One 70 ft drop, One 60 ft drop and another 100 footer, don't quote me on these drop lengths because some of the ropes needed longer lengths than the drop itself to set up a proper rig. We get to the location and hike up to the entrance. The entrance has a 90 ft drop with water cascading down and eventually cascading all around you before you get to the bottom. We rig and drop down to the bottom of the first drop. When I looked up, the water and the light from the sun created a green tint from the green leaves on the trees.

As we continued down to the second drop, we followed a slot with water traveling down like a waterslide carving its way through the slot to the next drop, and I thought only Puerto Rico had water park like caves! This cave was so amazing!  We get on rope and continue to drop over the lip with the water pressure pressing against us until we passed the lip, than it turned into a rain storm cascading all around us

 The water itself was not too insane but it wasn't a light trickle either.  All the drops were a wonderful combination of water pressure and depth so roll on the wetsuit for this cave and its a must do experience!!!!  So much Fun!!!  We got to the crawl squeeze and start contorting our bodies around to fit through the tight stream passages that eventually opened up to the Third Drop.  This one we rigged to the bolts in the ceiling and dropped 50-60 ft to the bottom.  I went over to the natural bridge ledge and attempted to get a shot of people coming down in the waterfall.

We all make it down to the 4th drop and notice this one is a bit deeper at around 90-100ft.  The water pressure is pushing us out into the pit as each of us drop down through the waterfall and into the thunderstorm of water blasting down on us from above as we rappel to the bottom.  SOOOO much fun!!

I went back down to take more pictures of the drops and practice change overs in the waterfall while waiting for the rest of the group to come back out of the cave.  As I continued to start back down the first and second drop to help out the others with rope and de rigging my lights start to flicker.  I was draining my lights taking pictures inside the cave and did not bring my backpack with me with spare lights to replace the batteries. As my lights dimmed to a point were they went out the faint glow from one of my zebra lights was left which faded away.  Motherfucker!!!...Caving 101...is what I thought to myself and shortly after could feel the perceptual narrowing of the dark within the darkness, the cold water conducting heat away from my legs and the loneliness that was creeping around and up my back.   I can see where people can panic at this point but with the training and experiences I have gone through, I took that a different direction with learned behaviors when the feeling starts to come which subsides panic and a plan starts to come in place.  Follow the river and go up.  On my belly,  I start to crawl back the way I came feeling my way as my memory confirmed the dimensional features that my eyes remembered coming in.  I made it up around another crawl and listened for the waterfall.  I felt my way around and found the rope to the second waterfall.

I got on rope and climbing the 2nd drop until I got to the top, got off rope and followed the river until I could see the faint green light from the entrance drop becoming stronger as the dark within the darkness faded and sunlight burned though to cast its comforting guidance out of the cave.  In my defence, I know this wasn't too complicated of a system to find my way around and the rest of the team would have been coming through where I was BUT it is no excuse for leaving your pack behind as I have seen cavers do this in the past.  I can see where some would have lost their shit and panicked in my situation so I decided to talk about this in the trip report as a reminder to be mindful when deciding to leave your pack somewhere because you might run into a situation like mine and it might not go as easy.

Eventually the rest of the group came creeping up the rope as night fell. I was told that one of the team members got off rope at the bottom of the fifth drop and fell into the darkness between 8 and 10 ft.  The other members were really concerned about the caver so as the next one came down, they could see the caver climbing around and in good condition.  LUCKY!!! This will speak to focusing on your surroundings and making sure you are observant of your surroundings.  Sounds like we were not all thinking straight BUT this speaks to knowing how tired you are and staying that much more focused on the tasks you are accomplishing.   Team work, a good attitude, strong mentality, and good physical conditioning are great components but keeping your mind focused until you are out of the cave will be one of your best assets.  We get down the mountain and back to Troy's house for another nights sleep and ready for the next group of caves.