ADAM HAYDOCK

The day has come where we were able to talk to the Proctors about visiting their caves up on the mountain by their house.  We stopped by the previous night but nobody answered the door so we left a note. The following morning, Josh Schultz, Ken Williams, Troy Fuqua, and I pull up to the Proctors house and talked to them about accessing the caves from their property. As we were talking about where to park, another guy pulls up and talks to us and wants to know whats going on. He gets a bit upset when his own questions to us do no solicit the open ended discussion he might have been expecting, so we explained to him again what we were doing and continued to open up dialogue with him.  It turns out he was being on the defensive and was just wondering what was going on and explained that the caves are on his property.  After the mis communication and confusion we were able to work everything out and parted our ways with access to Fargo, Water, and Wils Welch Well. 

Troy Checking out the entrance of Water Well

We hike up the mountain and decide to head towards Water Well first.  We were able to find it rather quickly and noticed some water flowing into the cave.   Well,... it is called water well, so I am guessing there is going to be some water flowing in this one! We Rig to a high tree and re-belay at a bolt right next to the 120-130 ft drop.

Water Well

Descending down this one was similar to the entrance drop in Fowler 2 with the downpour of rain coming down on us when we reached the bottom of the cave.  It was difficult to take pictures of the pit as water was pouring all around us but I managed to get a couple shots. 

Josh Schultz rappelling down the first drop in Water Well

We get to the bottom and we run into a very interesting second drop which took us some time to rig.

Ken Williams realizing he is already over the pit on the rigging in the second drop in water well

 We initially rigged through this small keyhole which took us down a 50 ft rappel out of the water but we ended up moving the rope by wrapping it around the keystone so it would be easier to get off rope which made a world of difference for us.

Josh Schultz working his way over the edge in Water Well

It was quite the squeeze and awkward to get on rope as we were on top of keyed in rocks over the pit with another massive 2 ton boulder above us that was weighted by the rope and could have given way at any time.

Troy Fuqua working his way down the second drop in Water Well

We all made it down and headed towards the crawl and the third drop which was in a pretty large room and quite massive in size.

Josh Schultz looking down on rope on the second drop in Water Well

We ended up ascending back out of the cave so we could make our way over to the other two caves in good time. 

Troy Fuqua climbing out of Water Well

Water Well ate up a lot of our day so we were burning daylight as we headed over to Wils Welch Well.

Josh packing up and ready to go to Wils Welch Well

Wils Welch Well was another interesting cave as we set up just about every different kind of configuration we could think of and with each person bottoming the first drop, we modified the rigging to minimize rub points which turned this drop into a obstacle course more than a rap into the cave. 

We rigged webbing to the tree for a rap 3 pull 2 anchor and set up two redirects and a rope pad in the entrance, the 148 ft rap into the large floor was impressive!!

first drop in Wils Welch Well

 there were natural bridges crossing an adjacent dome where the majority of the water was falling so it kept us pretty dry as we got to the bottom of the first drop.

Ken Williams at the top of the second drop in Wils Welch Well

There was a crack that turned into a triangle which had two waterfalls pouring into this drop which is where a second nusince drop of 15ft was.  This is where we rigged a back up and re-belayed to the third drop which was around 50ft in some impressive water pressure.

Josh Schultz climbing the second drop in Wils Welch Well

 We bottomed the third drop and followed the canyon through a water crawl to walking canyon passage that led to a few small formation rooms and beyond.

First drop in Wils Welch Well

We ended up turning around at the first low ceiling high water passage as we did not have rope for the last drop and time was running out for us. It took some time to ascend out of the cave as we couldn't hear what the other was saying at the top but eventually we made it out and headed over to the last drop, a 220ft pit called Fargo well.

Wils Welch Well

Fargo Well is a nice canyon fluted cave with very little passage at the bottom. We set up a tensionless around a tree and rigged as the sun was starting to set.

Fargo Well

 We were able to bounce this pit as our tiring and weary bodies dodged a few rocks sailing through the darkness after the word ROCK echoed in the chasm.  If you know what you are listening for, you can hear objects falling as it gets closer and closer to the bottom.

Fargo Well

After bouncing this cave we de-rigged and headed down to the field and eventually back to the car!! phew that was a long day and we had to make it back tot the hotel so we could rest up for McBrides the following day.

Fargo Well FLICKR: WATER WELL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157651233769883 WILS WELCH WELL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157651223993914 FARGO WELL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157653552869512

Patt, Walter, and I woke up early Tuesday morning to get a early start on breakfast at the Liberty Restaurant so we could catch the latest news from the local farmers regarding who is trespassing on whos land, what cattle did the previous day, and how they need to fix their truck but cant because of a govt coverup.  After watching them slang tomatoes to one another like drug dealers, we finished our coffee and headed over to Guys cave!

I have been waiting to visit this cave for a long time now so I am glad we are finally able to make it over to this wet multi drop cave. We hiked up the mountain and made it over to the beautiful waterfall entrance that looked like a large breakdown collapse with a beautiful waterfall falling in stages eventually pouring underground and losing to a stream to re surge at the second drop.

We Rigged a 380ft rope that served us as our snake rope for the first 4 drops in the cave.  The first entrance was a 20ft drop into a cavern like canyon passage that lead us back to the stream and to the second drop.  The second drop was in a waterfall which was a fun drop of around 20ft or so. Once we got down we moved over to the Third drop which was another 20footer to a shelf where the forth drop of around 50-60 ft was located.  This was a bit interesting as it was free hanging and you come right out into the pit the moment you leave the platform.

It was raining at the bottom of the forth drop and the watercourse carved a slot canyon down to the fifth drop which was about 50ft to the bottom and again, in water....AWESOME !!!!!

Once we got down to the fifth we traversed through the water assage to the dome room and across the slot canyon passage to the 6th drop which was around 30ft to the floor and at the hurricane shaft.

This is where we decided to turn around and due to running out of rope, we had no choice but to start our ascent back out of the cave

We worked our way back up the drops and de rigged without incident which is always a plus.

I recommend anyone going here to caution the weather as this can flood rather quickly but enjoy yourselves knowing that there is a lot of good cave to enjoy and places to stay safe if you get trapped in high water. I am not sure if this caves would sump or not but there is always a possibility.

Next we pulled up the ropes and headed over to Major's Pit which was right next to this cave

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157653108012158

Walter in Major's Pit

After Guy's Cave, we ate some grub and headed towards Major's Pit which was 100ft. from Guy's Cave.  You cant miss it, its right at the bottom of the sink.

Walter & Kassia in Major's Pit

 We dragged the 380f.t rope over as the entrance look huge but once we got a chance to actually look into the pit, it reminded me of a baby never sink. 
It was only 50ft to the bottom of the cave but it was a cold trap as it was quite cold at the bottom for some reason.  It was more like a penitentiary of sorts than anything else.

Walter in Major's Pit

The lip made for a interesting negotiation but it was a nice cool down and a great cave to check out and be in 40 degree temps while looking up in sunny 85 degree weather.  Afterwards we de rigged and hiked back down to the car and got some dinner!
FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157651193171443

Pat Mudd in Sheldon's Cave Alabama

Pat finally showed up from the great smokies and checked into his hotel room and jumped in my car so we could all head towards Sheldons Cave.

Sheldon's Cave Alabama

 After a exhausting  minute drive we arrive at the field and park across from the field where we suited up and hiked up to the entrance of the cave.

Sheldon's Cave Alabama

This was a interesting entrance as we rigged high and descended past the main horizontal level and down into the 125 ft pit bottom.

Pat Mudd Sheldon's Cave Alabama

 There was a lot of trash at the bottom of this pit which I am sure a clean up effort will render a favorable result of a clean cave next to the center of cave country.

A short hike down into the passage took us to another drop but our rope did not reach that far

Sheldon's Cave Alabama

and there were no bolts for another rope. It was starting to get dark out so we ascended out of the cave and headed back towards Scottsboro to relax and prepare for the trip to Guys cave and Majors pit the following day. 

Walter and I set out to meet up with Steve Davis to discuss a couple options regarding which caves we should go to visit today.  After discussing all of our options we set out for a 220ft cave.  We parked and hiked up the wash to the small entrance of this cave and rigged a long rope so we can snake it around to a few other drops at the bottom of the cave.

We descend this massive free drop into a very impressive high ceiling room with fluted high walled canyon passage that appeared to go on forever.  It was amazing! after bouncing this pit we got back up to the surface and it started to rain so hard we couldn't see 20ft in front of us.  I was impressed at how this rain was so dense, water ran down from the trees and ran right into the pit entrance. Eventually we made it back to the car and got back to the hotel to wait for Pat Mudd and a visit to Sheldon's Cave just 6 minutes from or hotel in Scottsboro.

Ken Williams climbing out of Torode Pit, Alabama

We took our time waking up Sunday as the trip yesterday to Fowler 2 was quite a long one so we met up with Ken Williams and Annette Bongiovanni at the Liberty restaurant for some breakfast and a trip out to Torode Pit across from Jacobs Mountian. This is a 192ft. open air pit with some large bore hole breakdown passage that leads to.....nothing.  Just abruptly stops but is quite impressive.  I had the chance to talk with the landowner that lives near the pit and he was nice enough to allow us to park on his property and visit the cave from the top down.

Ken Williams about to rappel the entrance of Torode Pit, Alabama

We pull up and park our cars in a field, gear up, and head down the steep slope going over slippry rocks and tripping a bit over vines all while avoiding poison ivy. Eventually we work our way over to the sinkhole and come up to the entrance of Torode Pit.


Walter and ken in Torode Pit, Alabama

We rig the drop and all descend down this large vertical borehole pit down to the bottom where we could see a large borehole passage that actually took around 20 minutes to walk across.

The borehole of Torode Pit

  It was quite large!! Ken and Annette bounced the pit a few times and I got a chance to take some pictures before heading out.

Torode Pit Alabama

 I was the last one to exit the cave and right as I was getting on rope I saw a chipmunk!  Yup, it looked at me and ran off like it knew where it was going which is interesting as there must be another entrance for that chipmunk to get into and get to the bottom of the pit.  The cave was gorgeous and I was really impressed with how this cave looked.



Walter Climbing Torode Pit Alabama

We headed out of the cave and started our hike up back to the car.  Slowly we made or way to the parking spot and enjoyed some time together while deciding on going to grab some Mexican in Scottsboro which was a lot of fun and ended our day with great laughs, good friends, and full bellies!