ADAM HAYDOCK

CHOCOLATE DROP GEOLOGIC FEATURE, NEVADA

December 13, 2015

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BARBED WIRE & AIN'T BARBED WIRE CAVES, ARIZONA

December 13, 2015

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NORSEMANS WELL

December 04, 2015

Walter dropping into the third drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

Last day of my weeklong trip in tag and we headed to Norsemans well for some high water waterfall rap fun in this remote system. It has ben raining all day and night and all day when we arrived at the parking spot for norsemans, so we headed out to seek the cave. We got a bit mis oriented and after some decisions we made a b line for the cave which took us a bit longer than we expected but we eventually made it.

Justin at the Top of Norsemans well

The waterfalls were flowing pretty good so we knew that all of this water was going to be draining into the cave which was going to make for one hell of a route in high water.

Walter dropping into the third drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

We get to the drop and it is a sink hole entrance with a large waterfall pouring into the cave along with a section where we could rig dry and rap into the sink hole. We set up two lines and a rebelay for both lines to make the second drop which is dry at the bottom. I wish I got a shot from the inside looking out as the green walls were very interesting to see.

Josh Schultz at the third drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

We go through a bit of canyon passage and come to a wicked fast moving watercourse with leaves and debris from the outside moving half way up to our knees as we traversed down to the third drop.

torrents of water in Norsemans well

We get to the top of this drop and I look down and all the water is just pounding the ground below. It was amazing and questioned if we should continue, hell yea we should continue!

Walter at the forth drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

I rigged natural and walter dropped down the 25ft drop to the bottom, I got on rope and dropped down as I felt the water pressure just hammering my body to the point where it was giving a bit of a bruise, awesome!!

Norsemans well

I wait for the others to get down and we continued on to the next drop which looked like we could have climbed around but the climb down itself was too much water to be climbing down and back out of. Furthermore we were starting to run out of time and we decided to leave the cave which was an event in itself climbing out of that waterfall drop.

Walter and Ah at the third drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

Justin went up first as I attempted to get some pics of him with the water blasting every which way it could. Gravity and power were at work and it was quite the fantastic climb out. prob my favorite 25ft climb ever actually.

Justin climbing in the wicked waterfall in Norsemans well

Everyone else got out of the cave and we had no incidents, it was night fall and a hike uphill took us to a road leading back to our cars.

Josh Climbing the third drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

We celebrated with Ah's first trip and gave some stories while lifting our spirits in caver praise for another successful tag trip. I ended up driving straight from the cave back to Chicago which took longer than I expected but all in all it was a great week with amazing friends and wonderful places to experience them with.

Josh Climbing the third drop in Norsemans well, Alabama

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IRON HOOP CAVE

December 04, 2015

Bone room in Iron Hoop, Alabama

We head out from Raccoon mountain and make our way to the walmart in Scottsboro to meet up with Derek Reneer for a trip into Iron hoop cave for a nice casual trip through the cave. It has been raining for some time now so Derek allowed us to jump in his Durango which took us to the bottom and to the entrance of the cave itself. which was super awesome, man does he know how to whip that stick and handle the dirt roads.

Bone room in Iron Hoop, Alabama

We suit up in a wetsuit and make our way into the cave entrance which was a breakdown pile and a series of breakdown crawls into breakdown rooms that went from stooping to hands and knees.

Bone room in Iron Hoop, Alabama

We got to a final section which was hands and knees crawling on stones until we popped out into borehole passage which was quite large and decorated. I have been getting quite tired of the crawling from the week of caving due to my knees starting to get crackly but the crawl was not too bad.

Bone room in Iron Hoop, Alabama

We worked our way through the borehole and stopped at some very interesting and fascinating totem formations which was very unique to see and quite awesome!!!

Melissa, Justin, and Derek in the borehole passage in Iron Hoop, Alabama

We continued on to a large flowstone room that had a large 20x30 flowstone feature and slid down into a walking river passage that took us to the main attraction which is called the bone room.

Melissa, Justin, and Derek in the borehole passage in Iron Hoop, Alabama

On the way there we passed a few formation rooms but the bone room was really interesting as it reminded me cueva zumbo a little with the talon cut mosaic of rock in the passage itself.

Melissa, Justin, and Derek in the borehole passage in Iron Hoop, Alabama

the others went down into the sewer passages to try to push their way over to jess Elliot cave and I stayed back to photo this room which turned out to be quite challenging and I spent a lot of time in this room trying to get a decent shot. Eventually I started to back track and wait for the others at the formation room and soon after I got there, the others arrived.

Justin, Melissa, & Derek at the Flowstone mountain room in Iron Hoop Cave

We headed out of the cave after taking a few more photos and Derek took us through a side passage that was fantastic!!! a blue swimming water passage which was decorated in flowstone formations and just one hell of a fun swim. The passage continued once we got out but that was fantastic to be going through that and coming out on the other side. I want to thank Derek for taking us through this beautiful system and I hope we can hang out again soon!!