ADAM HAYDOCK

 Saturday morning we woke up early so we could get an early start to the mountain top for a 15hr. trip into 5 caves.  We cooked up breakfast in the motel and took off to the mountain where the caves were located and I followed the road to the point where the pavement ends and the dirt road begins.  I took the Honda really slow and steady down this road so I can make sure nothing would get damaged mechanically, we need to get back to Chicago in this thing.   The road wasn’t too bad; I was able to get down to the trailhead road where the 4x4 road begins.   This 4x4 road was a different story, there were times where the muddy "road" would be on a 30-40 degree slope going straight up the mountain!  The ground was slippery, and the mud was deep.    We loaded up Kevin’s car and proceeded to blast uphill avoiding troublesome depressions and quickly make it to a bench with everyone either inside or holding to the side of the car outside.  Kevin attempted to go up another long stretch of road but the car kept spinning its wheels so he just slowly brought the truck down to the bench. 

We parked our cars on the side of the road and hiked up to the entrance of Dog Collar pit. This was another 105 ft. drop with a beautiful active flowstone waterfall at the last 50 ft. We all really enjoyed dropping this too but it was time for some horizontal large borehole passage, Bluff River Cave.

We were all really impressed with this cave as it was not only a nice walking passage cave but it was nice to take a stroll through a warm cave system without ropes and extra gear.  I was not able to get the best pictures inside Bluff River Cave but I was able to get a couple decent shots of the passage.  I highly recommend this cave if you are looking for a nice walking large borehole cave with large rooms.

 This reminded me of a smaller typical Puerto Rico cave in terms of the humidity and the size with fewer formations.  BUT this cave had a lot of formations in sections, large breakdown mountains over 100 ft. high, and ceilings 30-40 ft. with a width of 20-30ft at times.  We get to the end of the cave system and decide to turn back and head back out and to the car so we could get back to the motel.  It was a nice addition to be able to stay in the motel and it made a lot of sense for us, especially since we were wet and cold!!

 This boulder was a couple stories high and its weight must have been in the TONS…the SHIT TONS!!!..HUGE so huge it took us 20 minutes to squeeze through a lower river passage via “breathing in to fit through the squeeze” passage to get back into walking passage.  We get to the other side and the domes seem to get bigger above our heads.  Some of these domes reached almost 120 ft. up.  It was pretty amazing to see the design above us that has been eroded away by water and other effects.   We continue on and come to a down climb where we had to chimney down and go through a series of rain dome rooms with chert levels, stratified rock, and mineral joints which are always amazing to see.  We got to another dome room and the passage started to turn into a hands and knees crawl.  We continued down through a small hands and knees borehole passage and passed by formation and flowstone rooms until we eventually came up to the 40-50 ft. drop.

After we made our way over to Paoli from corydon, we pull into the landowners property and removed the massive 300 lb concrete top covering the entrance to the pit. At the bottom of this pit is 30 years of debris from air tanks, to refrigerators, stoves, glass, oil cans...etc there was a lot of trash at the bottom but most of it did not seem to be to toxic which is a positive. Not much though. We rig onto the two trees beside the pit and tie the main line in with a butterfly and proceed to drop down into this large indiana pit entrance room. The walls were smooth slab risk and there were other domes right next to the passage of equal size. This is a very nice 75 ft. pit for Indiana and a very unique looking place that reminded me of Natural Well in Alabama.

Kevin takes me to the room with the 30 ft climb and the shady rope attachment. This rope appeared to be pretty old and appears to be nylon rope used for sailboats, not climbing rope by any means. There was a side climb over a barrel into a thin walkway with a 15 foot fall that lead to a shelf with an old wooden ladder. Kevin and I made it to the ladder, climbed the ladder,  and tied a rope to it so I Attached my QAS to this rope and climbed the ladder. We got to the upper shelf and the next challenge. This one was worth a sit down talk as a fall wouldn't kill us but would be a bone breaker. It wasn't to far to the topmud ledge but you had to squeeze through on the side through a sloping wedge that would send you sliding down 30-45 ft if you weren't careful.

I meat anchored myself into the rock and backed up on the rope Kevin tied to get up the ladder.  I pulled out my ATC and belayed Kevin with his dynamic rope he brought for this portion of the climb. Kevin tied in and squeezed his way through the sloping wedge to the top. Kevin made his way down a 15 ft pit and tied a static line in the wall that he had to climb up to tie off so the other members of the group can get to the top. Kevin belayed me and I squeeze around the wedge than and muntered my way down Into the pit. Now we had to climb up 15-20 ft using both walls and work our way around this small exposed ledge to a window. Kevin climbed up and tied in a piece of webbing. He popped his head into the window and found this.

At the end of this room was a white frozen fall of calcite surrounded by tints of orange and reddish brown flowstone. What an amazing find and to know that we might be the very first to have found this room and document this discovery, made this trip one I will never forget. 

  Even if we were number 2-3-4 in this room would be pretty freaking sweet too.  Regardless it was a beautiful place and worth all the challenges we encountered.  Usually this is just a pit to bounce but we spent over 5 hours in this system and that was one hell of a cave!!!

TO SEE MORE PICS OF THE NEW DISCOVERY DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH ROOM GO TO MY FLICKR LINK

FLICKR:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157640477383945/

Crevice Pit Cave Indiana

I decided to go to Indiana at the last minute so I made it to Chris Parks house at the usual 1 am time on Friday night. After catching up we got to sleep so we could wake up for a day of pitting in south Indiana. We were going to go to Hells Hole but we decided to go check out Crevice Pit, Easy Pit, and Coon Cave. We made our way down to corydon and it was 60 degrees out down here!!! It felt like  freaking summer! We get to the property and talk to the landowners to make sure it is OK to visit their caves on the property. We park our car and search for crevice pit first. We found one pit and I had this feeling to look around a bit more to make sure there wasn't another one around. I'm glad I listened to my instincts as there was another larger crack in the ground and this one turned out to be crevice pit. We still rigged the other pit and found out it was only a 10 ft drop into a small crawl. We get back to crevice pit and drop down this short 35-40 ft drop.

Crevice Pit Cave Indiana

We get down to the bottom and there is dry flowstone drapery all around us. This was a pretty little pit for Indiana and I enjoyed this pit the most out of the three caves on this property. Kevin continued on into the squeeze side passage about while we started our ascent out of the pit.



Heidi Ascending out of Crevice Pit Cave Indiana

Next we went to easy pit. I was here over the summer time and this is a 70 ft drop into a small room the quickly ended. We had some mis orientations finding this cave but I was able to locate it after some searching.  Immediately we saw this large rock that was able to be moved by a twig so we pushed this out if the way so it wouldn't fall onto anyone.

easy pit Corydon Indiana

We continued to rig and descend down into this pit. Debris was falling and a rock hit Chris in the knee while he was descending. After taking a few pics we ascended back up and out of the cave. The last cave we went to on this property was coon cave.

Coon Cave Corydon Indiana

This turned out to be a small squeeze cave where I had to squeeze through a small canyon passage that got to tight to continue I backed up and Kevin and Chris checked out the lower level which went into a room with some roots. After we left this cave we made our way over to McIntosh pit where we about to find a passage that has not been talked about and is in my opinion one of the most decorated rooms in Indiana.

I was able to get a couple days off of work due to the "extreme" conditions, so I took Brandon out to Starved Rock State Park to learn how to ice climb. We got to Starved Rock and signed in to go to Lasalle Falls which is a 20ft beginner route. Both days we were outside for 6-7 hrs in -10 degree weather but it wasn't too bad if you layer up clothing and maintain good circulation.  We hiked over to the location and after about an hour, we were able to get to the frozen waterfall. 

I took the lead which was good practice for me and so I can set up a tope rope for Brandon. I was able to get up and over the falls, rig a tope rope, and rap down while cleaning off the falls as I made my descent.

Tonti Frozen waterfall Starved Rock State Park

Phil Goldman Climbing Tonti Falls Starved Rock State Park

Adam Haydock About to Climb Tonti Falls Starved Rock State Park

Adam Haydock Climbing Tonti Falls Starved Rock State Park

 last day in Puerto Rico and it sure has been one amazing trip!! This last excursion was not anything short of awesome. The years previous I have traveled up the Rio Sabana to the Trade Winds rail to El Toro and down the Rio Cubuy to PR 191. I have gone up the Rio Blanco to the Rio Icaco to the pipeline trail, and this time I wanted to summit the Rio Prieto from the pipeline trail as well as descend down the Rio Sabana to the confluence of the Sabana/Cubuy rivers and ascend up the Rio Cubuy to old PR 191. This cascade hike was no joke! We got dropped off at the end of the road on old PR 191 and walked to the trailhead where the Rio Sabana and PR 191 meet. We followed the pipeline trail all the way to the junction of the Rio Prieto and the pipeline trail which included a 40ft waterfall and a old ladder that we had to climb up to reach the top of this first waterfall. We make it around the rusty lockjaw infested ladder and climbed up the shady ladder to the top where we could see the main waterfall. This waterfall can be seen from the road and was one of the biggest waterfalls I have seen in Puerto Rico.

We make our ascent to the base of the falls and we start staging our routes to where we will be able to station ourselves and review the next pitch.  We did climb in the falls but mainly climbed to the side of them which allowed us to avoid some slippery handholds and places to set anchors.  I climbed up the first segment taking great care not to slip and making sure I had contact at all times as this was between 30 and 50 degrees up.  As we are going up, Laura took a sliding tumble down to the bottom but along the way she had time to think to turn herself around and slide on her butt and stop on a rock with both of her feet.  Nice job!  I decided it was time to rope up and belay her from the top so I meat anchored myself with natural backup anchors and got her up safe, little by little. 

Eventually we made it to the last portion of the falls and was able to scramble over that carefully so we didn't take a sliding tumble over 100 ft to the falls below.  I used natural anchors and meat anchored myself to safely get us to the top of the Rio Prieto.

It really doesn't look like we did much but it bit off a chunk of our day working up this cascade to the rim while making sure we were not breaking any legs and running into any flash floods.  People have died on this route and other routes due to exposure by rimming themselves or using poor judgement so we made sure we were careful and we did it.

We came back down to the pipeline trail and made our way back to the dam on the Rio Blanco snapping a few pictures of the old railroad that was used to bring materials to build the dams for the towns in the valleys below us.

The Navy also used the Pipeline trail for a place to run with heavy packs to the end and back when they operated out of Culebra in the Vietnam era. 

We get to the dam and have lunch along with some down time away from the river systems.  Afterwards we proceeded to descend the Rio Sabana from the pipeline trail to get to the confluence of the sabana and the Cubuy.  We got into the sabana and encountered 4 pockets of waterfalls, some were 40 ft on a 60-70 degree slope which had to be navigated around through the jungle.  Some falls had to be jumped over and some had to be jumped into so we slid down and jumped past the hydraulics at the bottom of the falls into eddy pools to re orient ourselves.  We lost our bamboo walking sticks along the way too.

Finally we make it to the Rio Cubuy Sabana confluence and take a swim in the river pool below. Afterwards, we decide to ascend the Rio Cubuy back to the road so we could walk back to our car and head to the hotel for the last night in Puerto Rico.  We scrambled and bouldered over rock until....

What the hell is this thing doing here?!? who put this massive multi drop waterfall in the way? I have never seen or heard anything about this thing!  what a surprise it was for us.  We continued on and slowly made our ascent by climbing up and around the boulders in the cascades stemming and scrambling our way to the top.  Finally we make it to the top!! Nice view and what an amazing waterfall to come out of.  That was an epic end to our most amazing trip of amazing caves, cascades, desert islands, ocean swims, amazing friends, great people, earthquakes, cults, weird animals, and just an amazing time.  My best time in Puerto Rico ever.   I want to thank the landowners, our friends, and all the great memories we had experienced on this trip.  It will never be forgotten and I am looking forward to coming back out to Puerto Rico very soon!!!!!!

The day before we got round trip tickets from Fajardo to Culebra and back to Fajardo so we can make sure we had a spot on the ferry boat. We arrived early and parked our car at the parking lot that they had set up for travelers to the islands. Eventually, we made it on the ferry and got to the island in good time. The atmosphere was different, a lot more chill and slow unlike the craziness Puerto Rico can be at times. We got to Flamenco beach and set up our tent in the back section thinking this was going to be the quietest place to camp but not so much, we found that this was not the case.

We set up the tent and within about 20 steps, we were on the beach overlooking the crystal clear blue water with our feet in the fine white sand. There were coral reefs just off shore that provided some decent snorkeling but the best snorkeling was on the other side of the bay. We walked to the east side of the beach in a west to east direction and went beyond the sand,  over the rocks,  and around the bend. I noticed blue contours and pockets of coral just off shore.  We stopped and got in the water for a little snorkel into these reefs.  Now,  I am not really one to "want" to go snorkeling but I see a reef right in front of me so why not check it out.  I get out there and...WOW...Immediately I see brain coral, Star coral, Yellow and Blue Tangs as couples and schools, Trumpetfish, Stonefish (dangerous), large Parrot Fish, Durgon, Angelfish, Wrasse of different species, Boxfish, Jacks, and so many more.  There were sea fans, ferns, coral, and sponges peppered through out the reef.  I was impressed.  This was the best next to shore reef snorkel Ive been on.  I remember some dives being just like what I saw and all I had to do this time was free dive to get a good look at everything.  I was really impressed with that!!

 We made it to Tamarindo Beach for some snorkeling fun and had a relaxing lunch.  We went back the way we came, went to the preserve, and back to the grassland section to snorkel.  We found a giant sea cucumber, starfish and a large Lobster.  I was really surprised to see the Lobster but it was a type of Lobster that either didn't show its claws or didn't have any. We went back to the beach and rented a golf cart to drive around the island.  Yea a golf cart!!! It was a nice addition to the day as we just can't stand still and we got to see more of the island including St. Thomas from the other side of Culebra. Super awesome!!

 Culebra is an amazing place to visit and its worth a trip in itself for a nice long weekend of relaxation and snorkeling fun.  We get back to Puerto Rico and set up camp for the last night and the last event,  The waterfall cascade hike!  We went to visit some waterfalls when we got back to Puerto Rico where we could jump off rocks and swim in swimming holes which was fun but then, as we were driving to the top to go to another swimming hole,  some chick was walking down the street with a handgun in her hand.  It looked a little thick to be a real one (maybe a BB gun) unless it was a .45, but it was a handgun for sure.  It's just not a good look to see someone casually walking down the street holding a handgun like she is holding a can of coke right where we are suppose to be parking our rental car, ya know.  Regardless, we table sided that brain photo and proceeded on with our day.