ADAM HAYDOCK

The Unita Mountains are located in the North East portion of Utah and are home to a impressive concentration of thirteeners and some deep cave systems.

The day prior we were in the desert and now we are about 11,400 Ft. up in the Mountains with over a foot of snow on the ground.

The mountains were absolutely gorgeous and I was amazed to see how this all looked when we actually got to the Summit of one of them.

This particular mountain was more of a walk up that did not require any technical equipment which made for a great but huffy puffy walk for this low lander!

We could see for over 20-30 miles in either direction which was a range of mountains that extended as far as we could see.

I really enjoyed being up here at the top of the mountain and I am looking forward to returning to this area to summit more of these ranges and knock off some of the thirteeners in this region.

There are also some interesting cave systems in the regional area further north and to the east that I am looking forward to visiting in the near future.

 Also in the plans is to summit some major systems including the tetons, mt. baker, and rainier next year so this will be a good place to practice.

Unfortunately the Uinta's don't quite open back up until around April or may due to the massive amount of snow that they receive so we will have to wait on returning back until we are able to make an approach.

The San Rafael Swell is a 40 mile by 70 mile uplift of sandstone, shale, and limestone from the Paleocene era around 40-60 million years ago.  The lifted pocket of rock has been shaped into some interesting canyon features from wicked flash flooding which has made the canyons into what they are today.   The Swell is around three and a half hours south of Salt Lake City and about 80 miles from Moab, Utah.

Little Wild Horse Canyon is a nice non technical route that takes you into some of the best terrain in the Swell which also loops around from the back of the swell and down into and through Bell Canyon, which takes you back to the car.

Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

The Canyon is a casual walk up a wash until you get to a fork that can take you to little wild horse or bell canyons.

Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

Going right at the fork will take you to little Wild Horse and might be a bit easier to navigate around and down if you are looking for the most casual of hikes in the swell.

Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

The loop takes around 4 hours and the connecting road behind the swell is a bit longer than it may seem so keep following the road until you see an obvious canyon which is bell canyon.

Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

The canyon walls would open up and close up as you make your way up Little Wild Horse Canyon.  It is a beautiful canyon with some interesting dug out sand pockets there were abundant as you made your way up to the top of the canyon.

Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

The Canyon opened up into a large beautiful gorge which some interesting varnished walls and fabulous casual desert hiking which takes you right to the back of the swell and the connection road leading to Bell Canyon.


Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

Bell canyon was also very nice and straightforward in its direction back to the fork where Bell meets Little Wild Horse Canyon.

Bell Canyon, San Rafael Swell, Utah

The sun was setting and we eventually made It back to the car just as the sun set over the swell.

Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah.

I do not have much experience in the Swell as of now but from what I understand, the Little Wild Horse / Bell canyon loop trail is the best among a casual and scenic hike routes in the swell.

Bell Canyon, San Rafael Swell, Utah

 Bell Canyon is a bit shorter than Little Wild Horse so if you are very limited on time than I recommend tackling Bell canyon but it is a great loop to add to a half day trip in the Swell.

Bell Canyon, San Rafael Swell, Utah

Cannonball cave, Missouri.  Not my Map

Mike walking his tanks down to Cannonball Cave, Missouri

The next day we headed over to Cannonball cave which was about 3 hours south of Waynesville to lake wappapello.  We get to the location where we figured the entrance would be and had a few mis orientations before I decided that I spotted the cave.  the obvious trail with the tank stand mid trail leading down to the water line.  a limestone wall and the hint of the communication tower across the lake in the distance allowed us to vector in where the general entrance of the cave is located. after looking out into the lake I saw a number of fish jumping around in the water and very inconspicuous boil like movement in the water displacing the wave action.  This gave me the idea that the entrance is just off the shoreline.

preperation for a dive in Cannonball Cave, Missouri

Cannonball Cave, Missouri

 We get into the water and overshoot our azimuth which took us into a submerged graveyard of trees and fishing line in zero visibility which got interesting as we searched for the cave entrance. 

Can you see the boils? Cannonball Cave, Missouri

Eventually we angled down the search and found the entrance where the water went from 6 inches of viz to 60ft of viz.  It was super clear water!! From the inside looking out, the entrance reminded me a bit of the Devils system where the clear water mixed in with the yellow lake water. 

Mike walking his tanks down to Cannonball Cave, Missouri

 We tie off the primary to the gold line and drop our oxygen on the gold line as well. We get through the low ceiling without any issues single file to where the cave opens up into a large borehole passage with some interesting fluting and some nice clay formations on the walls.

Cannonball Cave, Missouri

There were bones of some dead fish that might have made their way into the cave and the crayfish might have feasted on their carcasses. 

We travel through a natural bridge which was interesting and made it to the pit.  The Pit descends to around 280ft. and we were not prepared for a dive that would require a plan for that depth.  We ended the dive  and exited the cave without incident. We completed our decompression obligation and exited the water to a nice cool mid day fall sun and a great end to the day.  Now its a 7hr drive back to Chicago!!! Anxiety can come in the most subtle of forms and any awkward mis-understanding before during or after the dive is always good to communicate and mitigate and take action thereafter.  I am glad eh dive was successful and the weekend of Missouri cave diving was great.

Video of Cannonball Cave :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2H0QTwnnQI

 Last minute Mike and I decided to head down to Roubidoux Springs for a weekend of Cave Diving at Roubidoux and Cannonball. We left around 7 am from Chicago and got out to the Firehouse Communication desk in Waynesville to check in at around 1pm.

 Certified Cave Divers are allowed to dive Roubidoux Springs as long as they register at the public Safety communication center in Waynesville, Missouri. Please make sure you sign in first and obtain the key for the gate to enter the cave.  Everyone must also check out before nightfall and drop off the key with the Communication center.

 The Spring breaks the surface at the base of a Limestone cliff where reinforced concrete has been set in place so the road does not wash out. The water connects with Roubidoux creek just down stream from the resurgence. We got to the spring and I was pleased to see the crystal clear waters boiling out of the cavern entrance.  We drive down and notice that the OCDA (Ozark Cave Diving Alliance) was there working on a deep penetration into the system.Currently the System has been mapped to over 11,000ft. with no end in site.  Click on this link for more information http://www.ocda.org/?page_id=146

It was good to meet Dirk Bennett and the other members as they talked about the springs that they survey along with sump dive projects that they want to work on in the future. They are very team oriented and have some interesting setups for their projects I enjoyed learning about.

 Mike and I gear up and I tie off a primary line to a rock and we went through our gear before entering the cave. There were some gear adjustments that were needed to be made and a light replacement that mike required.  The members of the OCDA assisted mike with that and he was all set.

 We enter the cave and I run the line to the gold line, tie it off, drop oxygen bottles, and perform a V-drill and equipment check to ensure we were good to go.

The cave itself extends for over a mile of passage with on apparent end in site. The watershed that this Resurgence accepts, appears to manage over a hundred miles of drainage but the submerged passage continues.  The entrance was big enough to fit one diver through at a time and opened up into a cavern room with a habitat to our left down passage. We followed the gold line and noticed the fluted passage walls cut by the water dance that the pressure creates from the CFs that are pushed through this cave. I was impressed with this cave and how the passage looked. It was about 35 to 50Ft from about 350ft and dropped down into a slopping passage that takes the cave down to a depth of 145ft.

Mike had some light source issues so I called the cave and we returned to the surface without incident or issue. We de-briefed and returned the key as the communication center and headed to a cave that I had coordinates. All in all it was a great day and I am glad we got to dive this cave.

more information about Roubidoux Spring. Click on the Link below

Roubidoux Spring Map, Missouri. Not my map.

Click on the photo to watch a great video by John Janzen on Roubidoux Spring, Missouri. Not my Photo.

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

We woke up pretty early to a rain soaked campsite at the Land of Arches campground in Red River Gorge Kentucky as it rained throughout the night at a slow and steady constant level but thankfully stopped as we finished breakfast.  We headed out to Muir Valley and made it over a section called Land Before Time which had a series of 5.8 to 5.10D fix bolted trad routes. 

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

It was a nice little hike down to the crag which included a hike through a small arch called Liz's Arch. Walter brought some extra harnesses for Nathanael and Naomi.  We hiked down to the Crag and Walter led a 5.8 while I belayed him and set up a top rope for everyone else.

Land Before Time 5.8 -5.10D Red River Gorge, Kentucky

The route appeared to have some nice jug holds and interesting features to manipulate around which made this route a fun pitch. 

Land Before Time 5.8 -5.10D Red River Gorge, Kentucky

Walter cleaned the route by rigging himself directly into the anchor and set up a pull down which was something I got to do on the 5.10A route.  

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

After Walter climbed the 5.10A route called "Sabertooth" I got on rope and climbed up to some interesting overhanging lip which I found to be a bit challenging yet was a lot more interesting than gym climbing as I can use just about any kind of hold I need in order to get over the crux. 

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

I worked my way to the top and set up the rope for a pull down as I rapped down and we pulled the rope down. We decide to take off to do some hiking around where the arches were so Walter stayed and we took off to the Natural Bridges area of Red River Gorge.

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

While driving through the gorge, we saw the leaves changing in their beautiful fire red, orange and yellow colors along with the climbing routes we could see from the road. You could even see some of the people climbing them as we meandered over to the section where the arches were located. 

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

I realized that we just landed into a very touristy section of the gorge and we were passing by herds of people huffing and panting as they made there way up the sloped 1 mile trail to a very nice arch on top of a ridge.

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

 

There was a section were we could walk up and on top of the arch and view the valleys below with all the leaves changing which was really nice to see. 

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

We made it over to another cliff section to see the arch itself with the leaves and quickly started to head back to the car so we could make our way back to Chicago.  I want to thank Walter Stech for bringing all the climbing gear to climb in the Land before Time and for all of the beta. It was a great weekend and I am looking forward to going back sometime soon.

Natural Bridge. Red River Gorge, Kentucky

After Pine Hill cave we made our way up the road and headed towards the way points that I had for Sinks of the Roundstone. While we were driving I noticed a blue hole coming out of a bluff so we turned around and realized a very large resurgence with some very clear water and deep water. 

Blue Hole Cave Resurgence

I will have to return to this Spring for a dive sometime soon. I did some research and this appears to be from Blue Hole Cave which has a watercourse that might be fed by Pine Hill.  The watercourse goes from Pine Hill Into Blue Hole Cave, re surges out of the Blue Hole and travels into Sinks Of the Roundstone Cave.  I will be returning to this cave for a dive in the near future. 

the exit of Sinks of the Roundstone Cave

We continued on and made our way over to the parking spot for Sinks of the Roundstone Cave. We set up the tracks and found the entrance right before the tunnel. Which was interesting to see, We found a couple other entrances along the way as well. We head in and noticed the graffiti throughout the cave and artifacts that were left from the rail workers many years ago. 

Sinks of the Roundstone Cave

We continued down and had some crawling before the passage opened up into some pretty substantial passage with ceiling that looked like they reached 50-75 feet at times by 50-70ft in width. Very large trunk passage for the Midwest. It was a pretty easy to walk the rest of the way and within a half hour to 45 minutes of starting the cave we were out the other side.  Yup, a thru trip and a really nice second cave for a thru trip. The exit had a natural arch and a nice walk out exit. 

Sinks of the Roundstone Cave