ADAM HAYDOCK

After making some life changes which equated to free up more time, I decided to head down to TAG for an undetermined amount of time to visit friends and go caving.  I loaded up the car with diving, caving, climbing, and camping equipment than headed down south 10 hours Steve Davis's house near South Pittsburg.  I made it to Steves house around 8pm and was greeted by Josh Schultz, Steve, Lee White, and Steve's affectionate pup.  We discussed our options that we had and what we were going to get involved with and decided to visit Dark Well. 

We ate breakfast and drove over to the Paint Rock area through the meandering roads which did not agree with our stomachs to much, especially mine. for some reason I was getting car sick which never happens and consequently felt like crap until we got to the parking lot of paint rock.

After a few mis orientations and backing up on roads, we made it to the parking lot and took a brief break before heading up the hill. The Hike was casual and typical TAG hiking till we reached the entrance of Dark Well

The Drop had a walk in cavern entrance which we rigged and re directed into the first pit which was around 100 ft with a few ledges to stop at along the way.  The drop was pretty straightforward multi drop material with a waterfall raining down on you as you rapped to the bottom of the drop.  The  Cave reminded me of Water Well.

We get to the next rig point and I set up a rebelay on a shady looking bolt that took us down another 50ft. to a third drop of around 10ft. the water was moving pretty good at this point and we quickly came to a forth drop that we threw the rope down in which took us to the bottom of the rope.

To our right were a few dome rooms that we traversed around and to our left was continuing passage that took us into a room with another 100ft pit and a large drop where the water was flowing over.

Josh went back to get the traverse line and I ended up throwing up twice, making sure it was in the water and flowing over the edge as my sickness and dizziness caught up to me...We continued on caving and I rigged a traverse line so we could walk around the pit into the large room in the back. Can't let a little vomit and dizziness stop the trip especially when we are this far back into it.

We popped into this main room and it was quite impressive to see as the break down pile was prob around 75 ft to the ceiling.  There were a few more drops ahead of us but we decided to turn around and exit the cave.

We worked our way out of the cave with no incident and de rigged in the sub freezing temps wet which took us into the night cold to the bone. We get to the car and leave for home only to find out that Josh had to go k to get his harness which he ended up finding in the field frozen to the ground!! great first day in TAG! 

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.