ADAM HAYDOCK

From the Shipwreck of the Vernon

On October 25th.1887, the Vernon set out for Mackinac Island making periodic stops along the way to pick up cargo and passengers.

The only survivor was found two days later on a small boat.

Reports have been noted that she might have been overloaded and her cargo doors were open which might have caused the Vernon to founder where she lies today.

Mike Apke, Leo Quartullo, Ellery Kretlow,  stayed in Two Rivers the night before so we could get a good night sleep and make our way over to the harbor by 730am. 

Vernon Shipwreck Photo By; Jitka Hanakova

I was not able to get the best sleep due to Chris snoring like he was sawing logs all night.

In my opinion, she is one of the most impressive Lake Michigan shipwrecks that can be found above 220ft.

Vernon Shipwreck Photo By; Jitka Hanakova

She is very well preserved and intact listing on a 20-30 degree angle on her starboard side. 

Some of her cargo is scattered on her starboard side debris field and scattered about inside her holds.

  I was absolutely impressed with this shipwreck but at a max depth of 190ft, the narcosis was pretty apparent.

  My focus was on our dive plan and procedure so I stuck to the plan until I saw a nice entry point into the wreck with an obvious exit point so we proceeded through and I saw Walter hanging out in the cut. 

I continued to follow the wreck to the other side but realized we were descending down and scraped 190ft as we exited through the other side.

Vernon Shipwreck Photo By; Jitka Hanakova

 We camp back up to a depth of 175 and continued with our dive until it was time to ascend back up to the surface.

 We got some pics here and there but they did not turn out the way I wanted them. 

Vernon Shipwreck Photo By; Jitka Hanakova

Thankfully Jitka was taking photographs and Ellery was using a GoPro and took the best video that I have seen of the Vernon to date.

We started our ascent up and followed our decompression procedure flawlessly and got back on the boat without any incident.

Vernon Shipwreck Photo By; Jitka Hanakova

 Next to the Sandusky and the Eber Ward, the Vernon was the most impressive shipwreck I have seen in Lake Michigan thus far. 

Wisconsin Shipwrecks: http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/Vessel/Details/624?region=Index

As we were driving back to Chicago, we wanted to say hi to our friends that went to Speleofest so we decided to stop by for a bit while on our way back home. 

When we got to Lonestar Preserve we saw Tim Stoops and Bill Baus running around a bit looking for more caves to visit.

We unloaded the car and waited for Phil to show up and decided that if he didn't make it within 20 minutes we were going to keep heading north as everyone seemed to have gone caving and there were not to many people around. 

Phil and Clinton barber showed up from their trip to Frenchmans knob and we surprised them with some beer and bourbon as we waited at their campsite.

We ended up de commissioning their rope obstacle course which took a few hours to do.  Once we were done with that e decided on staying the night and going to the party in salt peter cave.

We got to see a bunch of our friends which was nice and shared some stories about TAG and about some of their recent excursions. We all had a blast and it was a perfect ending to a great trip!!!!

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157651244677493

Swamp Springs

We came to Alfred Crabtree's property the night before to camp and ended up camping in our car which was a change of pace and worked out quite well. We were actually able to fit in the Subaru.  The morning broke and the warm air started to burn off the dew from the night before. Birds chirped, larger birds coasted above the tree lines and a beautiful property on the cane creek was visible throughout the shoreline of this site.

Swamp Springs

 To back it up a bit as to why we are here, I initially secured access to visit a closed cave on state park lands called Black Rock River Cave or Dark River Cave. Years ago cave divers pushed a sump from Windy River Cave and they believed they popped into Black Rock River cave.

Kayaking to Swamp Springs

 Unsure of their where abouts, they left the line and a line arrow in the insurgence of where they made their dive. They are pretty certain the made the connection but I wanted to make sure the connection was made because this is a important piece of information as to how the hydrology of the Rumbling Falls System operates which is though to come from indian spring, into black rock river, into windy river, and on into Rumbling Falls. Furthermore, significant passage is yet to be discovered in the already 16 mile cave system. Unfortunatly, we were not able to access the cave due to technical logistics not working out with the DNR so a future trip to black rock river will have to happen but for now we can assume that those two caves are connected. Swamp Springs is the main drainage for Rumbling Falls and Thunder Run appears to be a overflow system recharging when swamp springs floods. We went to visit where the resurgence of Swamp Springs drains all the water from the cave when Tim and Janice Curtis showed up with kayaks.

Tim Curtis at Swamp Springs

This was a nice change of pace and finally we were able to get some sun and enjoy the warm weather as we kayaked up river to the resurgence of Swamp Springs.

Tim Curtis at Swamp Springs Resurgence

After about a half hour, we made it to the breakdown piles where the water leaves the caves permanently.  It was interesting to see this as this is the bitter end of Rumbling Falls.  I could feel wind blowing out of some of the rocks and I am sure there are leads just beyond those breakdown piles that will lead to the cave itself.

Kayaking to Swamp Springs Cave

  There is another entrance to the cave that I will like to visit another time, but for now we all enjoyed a nice paddle up and down the river.  Eventually we made it back to the property and decided on grabbing something to eat while we made our way back towards Chicago.  Tim and Janice were awesome and I am so grateful for them to bring kayaks for us to use on the river.  That was a real treat and we had a blast meeting them and hearing about some of the photography stories from the past.   

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157653575184575

LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!