ADAM HAYDOCK

WHHEEWW......what a great trip this was to TAG this summer!  We went to visit camps gulf, wolf river, jimmy hole, rumbling falls, Ferris pit, bow Allen pit, rocky river, and now we are heading over to Frenchman's Knob.  It rained for almost three days straight and tacking on cool rainy nights, cave beaten bodies, and long tiresome drives, this trip got to test our physical and mental strength a bit but made for some of the best times in some amazing caves!!!  The night we got out of rumbling falls I decided to start  heading north and get a hotel to sleep in and dry off a bit.  The following day we continued our drive up into Kentucky and to our last location at Frenchman's knob.  This was a 160ft drop into a cave system with a couple miles of passage.



Frenchman's Knob

We get to the property and rig high so we could get the full effect of the pit itself.  We rig and I drop down into this beautiful water cut open air room with towering stone figurines coated with green moss and flora growing down over half of the pit.  This is a unique and beautiful place with the way the stone is cut and how the rock has been shaped to look like large totem poles of karst topography. 





Frenchman's Knob

 Justin Dropped down shortly after and went down into the passage while we ascended back out to the surface. 

Frenchman's Knob

Justin said the canyon passage kept going and it was a canyon like walking passage that meandered around a stream.  We de rig and work our way back to bloomington to drop off everyone and I eventually pull into Chicago around 10pm to unload the car and start washing everything off.  I want to thank the SCCI for allowing us access to some of the caves that we went to visit on this trip.  I also want to thank Fall Creek Falls State Park for allowing us access into Camps Gulf and Rumbling Falls.  I am grateful that Joe and Bart joined us along the way for the Rumbling Falls trip as it was a great experience.  This Summer trip turned out to be almost as I planned it minus Keystone River Cave but that is ok as we will have to return shortly to visit this wonderful region again.



Rumble Room Rumbling Falls

 The day has finally come!  The morning light woke me up and I popped my head out of the tent with a headache from sweating so much and my body aching from days of solid caving.  Bart and Joe made it in the night before so we could get off to a early start and make our way towards rumbling falls.  We had breakfast and decided to strike camp and made our way towards a shelter to go over gear and go over a plan to make this work.  Shortly after going over everything and going over our gear, we set off for a 12 hr trip into rumbling falls.  We park and hike down the mountain to the entrance of the cave.  The first challenge we encounter is a 80ft pit that we rig into bolts and descend down into the river passage.  We follow the stream up and go to the first waterfall climb which had ropes pre rigged but we were able to climb up and over without using the rope.  The next set of falls were a bit more challenging so some of us climbed over the falls and some of us ascended the rope that was available. After this climb we entered a low stream crawl with rocks and water flowing down into the falls below.  We dragged all the camera gear in dry bags and kegs as well as the rope through the water and got to the canyon section.  For some of us the canyon section was another challenge as we had to chimney up and traverse over the slot while meandering around the bends with the gear, for others it was a matter of climbing up and around to get to the otherside.  We worked as a team and were able to pass gear along as we made our way closer to the main drop.  Eventually we came up to the walking section and to our right a vast dark void echoed our voices into what appeared to be an eternity of blackness until our powerful lights penetrated through.  We made it to the Rumble Room.

Rumble Room Rumbling Falls

We rig a backup and a main double figure eight into the bolts in the wall which unfortunately gave us more of a lip than we wanted but we were able to negotiate this quite well. It is best to walk down and keep walking over these lips if possible to avoid racks being stuck on the lip.  One by one we drop into this absolutely massive room, I couldn't stop thinking what it must have been like for Marion and the other cavers who pioneered this passage from going through small crawling passage, into one of the biggest rooms in America.  It was absolutely breathtaking!!!  Joe and I start to formulate a plan to figure out how we are going to be able to light this room up with the equipment that we have and the cameras we are using.  I was again challenged with this room and the camera I was using so I think we went through more bulbs than needed but that is why I have them.  We set everyone up in their stations and Joe and I gave a set of commands so once our shutters open, we grab as much light as we could and got the pictures you are seeing today.  I was hoping for better results as we were in this room for almost 3 hours and blew through a number of bulbs but with the learning experiences I had and the shots I got I was satisfied with this trip.  Plus it was great to do this with a passionate group of cavers. 

Rumble Room looking up towards the entrance in Rumbling Falls Cave

I wanted to make sure we were able to get a shot of the rest of the team so I had everyone look up as we snapped our last shot.  Shortly after, another team of cavers showed up, marion ackers, simon ackers, Ron Adams, and a couple others.  Our team ascended out of the cave and we proceeded to exit the cave as they were now in charge of re rigging the ropes.  We made it out in 11 hrs and 35 minutes which was a great length for a trip.  It also left us time to sit around and enjoy drinks n dinner while sharing our stories together that we will remember forever.
 

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645846885452/

#gonecaving #verticalcaving #evenfurther #awesomeoutdoors

After lunch in the Camps Gulf Property, we make out way to locate Jimmy's Hole which appears to be situated somewhere deep in the woods. We search for a couple points of entry and found a spot off the raod to park the car and traverse the gorge to the sinkhole pit.

JIMRON WELL

We had about 2 miles of hiking to do each way to find this pit. Lucky we had good cords that took us right to the entrance of the hole which worked out great.  The rain never stopped and made this hike a wet one.

JIMRON WELL

Right as we approach the hike I made the epic mistake for completely forgetting my vertical gear in the car!!!! haha...who even does that?!?!?!...sooo stupid.  Justin was able to drop down and photo document this sinkhole pit. which appeared to be a mini neversink and about 100 ft deep at the most.

JIMRON WELL

This was just a sinkhole with very little passage and a gapping open air entrance which made this one interesting to check out. We got back to the car before dark and headed back over to the campsite where we had dinner under a old tent that I had.  I set it up in a way where we had a tarp over us so we could be somewhat dry as we huddled around in the cool rainy night.

JIMRON WELL

Camps Gulf Cave

Camps Gulf Cave

We continue on to a section where we can set up a place to have lunch and where I can get ready to take a shot of this place.  It took almost an hour to set up everything the way I wanted it and with the size of this room and the lack of experience I had with this new camera I was using, I was not able to get the best shots that I wanted form this shoot. 


I was able to snag a couple decent ones but I really met my match coming into Camps Gulf which was something I was not prepared for. We follow the passage and down to a river section which took us to another large room! This place was impressive.  We ended up going in a complete circle and about the time when we got done with taking photos it was time to leave so we didn't get a chance to see all of the cave.  I cant wait to come back to this place for so many reasons!!!  It kicked my ass with regard to photography but it was just a awesome place to see.

We arrive at the Rocky River Cave park and proceed to have dinner in the small parking section while the sun started to set.  Afterwards we entered the large entrance in a sinkhole right next to the road. This place almost appeared to be a park of sorts where people come to enjoy the area and visit the cave.  We enter Rocky River Cave and walk to the first waterfall. 

This was a beautiful rimstome dam with water spilling over into a plunge pool of clear water!! I love these caves!!!  We continue on down another larger rimstone dam waterfall utilizing rope and our rappelling gear to be overly safe since we were tired from the trips activities.  This was even more impressive !!! 

there appeared to be two more levels above us which required stemming and traversing over exposed chert cut rock that opened into the main lower level.  It appeared that the water cut itself down creating multiple levels of passage that would test your traverse skills. There was a ladder at the top of the first rimstone dam which took people up to the top level.  The next room contained some breakdown to climb over than some absolutely amazing rimstone dam pools with crystal clear blue water!!!  So beautiful!!! 

  We continued to the last room which was a lake of sorts with water contained around a solid rock wall.  It was a mystery to us as to where all this water was going as it appeared to be stagnant where we were yet it was clear.  The water must be moving through something and continuing on down stream. 

 Regardless we wanted this to be a easy fun trip as we visited 3 caves and prospected for two more through out the course of the day.  We head back to the state park and Justin was waiting for us to join us on our remaining portion of the trip to camps gulf jmmy hole rumbling falls and frenchamns knob.

FLICKR ROCKY RIVER CAVE: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645853335784/

Ferris Pit

 The entrance looked like a typical Indiana pit nestled in the back of a farm field with a fence surrounding it. I decided to rig to a distant tree so we didn’t have to concern ourselves with the widow maker boulders hanging over the entrance of the pit.  After rigging and preparing to drop, I made the descent into Ferris Pit’s 250ft darkness and reach the bottom a couple minutes later. This was just a pit with a dome room next to the pit and a register.  Chris comes down shortly after and we snap a couple pictures of the register room. 

Ferris Pit

Shortly after Chris makes his Ascent up to the surface and I make my way up.  I found it interesting that my adrenaline was pumping a bit more this time which went away after each pit we dropped on the trip going forward.  I was thinking to myself that I am going have to do four of these and than some more if I am going to drop the cave of swallows next year.  NICE!!!...need to prep for that with another TAG trip!! . 

Bo Allen Pit

After leaving Ferris Pit we went to find doomsday pit which turned out to be something that was not existant.   We also looked for Lanie pit and we were not able to find that one either.  Chris was referred to check out Bow Allen Pit which is a 155ft pit south of where we were but on the way back to the state park. We rig this interesting entrance and drop through the small troll house looking entrance into a belled out pit with a dome room and interesting flowstone features as you descend down the pit. 

Bo Allen Pit

 This pit used to be called Skull Well as there are multiple skulls of cow and horse at the bottom.  After snapping a few photos Chris starts his ascent up to the surface.  As I am taking pictures I hear a whistling sound that gets louder and louder.  I thought it was a bat of some sorts but as I start to look up Chris’s QAS slams into the ground with his carabiner!....shit that was about 10ft way.  Always be out of the fall zone no matter who is climbing because they may or may not notice they lose something until they hear it hit the ground.  

FERRIS PIT FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645846939622/

 

BOW ALLEN FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645853577974/



Fall Creek Falls State Park

Fall Creek Falls itself is about a 250ft waterfall that goes down into a gorge surrounded by limestone cliffs and pine trees.  It is a beautiful place and I highly recommend camping at this state park as well as spending a day hiking the gorge itself.  

fall Creek Falls State Park

We didn’t get a chance to hike as much as we wanted to as we were waiting to plan for the trip into Keystone River with Troy but during our hike we got the call from troy that he was not going to be able to make it so we ended up cancelling the keystone river cave trip and going to Ferris Pit, Bow Allen Pit and Rocky River cave. 

fall Creek Falls State Park

It was a good decision to do so as it would have been just Chris and I going into the cave carrying all kinds of camera and rigging along with 380ft of rope  to the back of the cave to drop a 250ft waterfall pit. 

Fall Creek Falls State Park

The cave itself was a water cave with navigation and technical risk Chris and I decided to not face.  We felt good about it and were happy to drive a bit north to go to Ferris Pit.

Driving through the night to get to Pall Mall Tennessee was quite the driving adventure in it self yet it is almost becoming somewhat of a normal procedure when we go to TAG.  I woudl like to leave out the waking up in the middle of the night in my car to the driver in between lanes but..hey, its always a experience.  I had to make a 120 mile 2 hr pit stop in bloomington on the way to pick up Chris so we could get to pall mall by 9 am. I drove until around 2 am and Chris took over shortly after.

Sleeping in the car 

Sandstone passage Wolf River Cave

 
is never good sleep and was apparently not a good time for Chris to be driving so we went to a rest stop and slept for a few hours more. When the sun was up we started our drive in a daze and got to the landowners house that had bugger hole on it. After getting verbal directions, we attempted to look for it and after about an hour we didn't find it so we took off for wolf river cave. We set up a tent thinking we were going to sleep at the property but we decided to go to Fall Creek Falls afterwards. We entered the cave with relative ease through the gate and proceeded to find the remaining part of the cave. 

Wolf River Cave

Wolf River Cave Horrendous Hallway passage

Wolf River Cave

Sandstone Painted passage Wolf River Cave

Jaguar habitat Wolf River Cave

Waterfall next to the Miami Beach Room

Entrance to Wolf River Cave

WOLF RIVER FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645846966162/


Last year at wolf river cave   http://adamhaydock.blogspot.com/2013/08/wolf-river-cave.html

 We got to Ironwood Michigan which saved off some time with driving as the cascades were near the town.  We set off for The Presque Isle River as I am hoping to see some waterfalls and a section where water has eroded the rock into razor sharp circular scalloped formations. We drive down and it turns out that the waterfall section is a state park so we ended up paying the fee and followed the trails to the falls.

The Presque Isle river had four waterfall sections to check out and I was figuring this would have been more of a canyon route but it turns out that this waterfall system would be fantastic for the 1 man technical kayakers that negotiate class 5 rapids

after going down the four waterfalls we worked our way over the Superior trail to check out some vistas including the Lake in the Clouds