The Friday following vertical practice, Mike decided to lead an actual vertical caving trip. Rather than hitting up the same old caves, we decided to try something new. Armed with GPS coordinates, we headed toward the TAG caving area. We were unable to find our first cave that Friday night, so we camped in a random field and decided to try in the morning. After driving around for several hours, we parked off the side of the road and attempted hiking in. This was unsuccessful. We were met with a wall of thorns and had to tear through the jungle. We eventually found what appeared to be a trail, but no cave. We hunted all day and even discovered a new cave that had never been explored. Logel, Mike, and I dug out the entrance and Mike rappelled the 15 or so feet down. It was cool to have found a cave but it was very small.
To keep up the morale, we left the area and decided to go to Cemetery Pit, an old favorite. I had been there with Mike and Steph about nine months prior. Mike and I rigged the ropes and I was the first one down, stopping every so often to untangle the rope and toss it over ledges. We were only able to explore Cemetery for a few hours because we had gotten such a late start but it was worth it. We traversed a sketchy ledge about 50 or so feet from the ground and played around in some mud, which surprisingly dried quickly. We emerged around 11 PM or so, a repeat of my time with Mike and Steph sans snow, and headed to Huddle House, the only open restaurant for miles.
The next morning, we woke up to some cavers headed for Cemetery. We talked to them and discovered that they had been at Moses' Tomb the day before, the cave we had been searching for. We got directions and headed back to Alabama. We found it and after a short hike, we started rigging up ropes and gear. Since this particular pit was about 230 feet and had limited horizontal caving, we decided to stagger so that one person wasn't waiting at the bottom in the cold for four people to ascend. Mike went down first with his camera, followed by Logel and James. Then, Logel and James ascended up in tandem, meaning that they were both on the rope at the same time. They only simul-climbed for about 40 feet or so out of the 230. Then, Nina rappelled down and I followed shortly thereafter. As soon as I reached the bottom, Mike ascended out. Nina ascended out with him in tandem and I waited for him to get off before I hopped on. Despite it's length, the ascent seemed easier than the ascent for Cemetery, which is less than 200 feet. I was out fairly quickly with minimal problem. The only moment of panic I had was when the carabiner holding my chest harness snapped, but luckily it wasn't a big deal. I had an extra carabiner on my gear loop, so after a few seconds of fiddling around with the gear, I had resolved the problem and could continue ascending. Overall, an excellent day.
Events occurred: September 13-15, 2013
The first official meeting of the semester was held during the second week of classes for some reason, with a planned after meeting paddle. Our new president has been militant about recruiting and advertising, though usually OAR just lets people find it on their own. Thus, the first meeting was packed and the after meeting paddle was beyond full. Mike and I, as well as a few others, decided instead to lead a trip to Shotgun Hole, an OAR favorite. Our group was about 10 people and we had the rope ladder with us, since Mike had commandeered all of the vertical gear the previous weekend with the intention of leading vertical practice.
I was really hesitant about Shotgun Hole. I had been so careful with my shoulder injury and had been feeling better but I wasn't sure if this trip would tip the scales and send me flying back to the doctor. I brought a set of vertical gear and rope just in case I couldn't climb the rope ladder. Luckily, it was unnecessary and after about an hour or so of swimming and paying around in Shotgun Hole, I sprinted up the rope ladder with ease, a successful test of my shoulder.
When Mike texted me and asked me if I wanted to co-lead a vertical caving trip, I was ecstatic. The original plan was to have two cars and I would lead one, he would lead the other, but we ended up with only one car. Still, we planned everything together and he let me set anchors and make decisions. The ultimate goal of this trip was Signal Light. Last time we had gone, Mike had spotted some breakdown leading up but our group didn't want to keep going so we left it alone. Though neither of us had been able to get our hands on a map, we had a theory that the cave kept going for a while.
We drove up Friday night and camped near Chattanooga. Lindsay and I stayed in the car while Mike, Chelsea, and Nina camped in tents. Considering that the latter all woke up with frost on their sleeping bags, I have no regrets. We started the day in Howard's Cave but ended up spending barely any time there because there was also a church group of about 20 and a group from Georgia Tech of at least 20. The cave was much too crowded for our liking, so we headed to Rusty's Cave. Ironically, Rusty's was named in honor of a guy who discovered it but died saving a group of boy scouts from Howard's. Rusty's is a pretty cool cave and this time I was able to sprint through it because I was familiar with the terrain. We emerged from Rusty's fairly quickly and grabbed dinner at a somewhat nearby restaurant, Randy's, that had fantastic calzones.
The next day, we started exploring my baby, Signal Light. Again, I set up one rope and Mike set up another. We only ended up with one photo from the whole trip, a group photo in Signal Light. We headed back to the muddy passage, which was sadly less muddy than before. The water that had been waist deep was now just puddles interlaced with the mud. We engaged in an intense mud fight, throwing thick peanut butter mud at one another and rolling around in the mud. I loved it. I have always loved to play in mud and this mud was perfect. After a fair amount of time here, we headed up the breakdown. We hunched over, crawled, and rolled for about 20 minutes until we emerged in a huge room with a lake. Mike and I looked for ways around the water but we saw nothing good. So, with Nina taking the first plunge, we decided to swim across. When I submerged my body in the water from the neck down, I thought I was drowning. The water was so cold that I felt as if my lungs were collapsing. I struggled to keep my head above water and all I could see was Mike's headlamp a few feet in front of me. He pulled me out of the water and I shivered continuously through the rest of the cave. We continued to crawl through some more and after a few hours, the group decided to turn around. We headed back for the surface only to discover that it was raining. Mike and I decided to ascend up last and on the same rope, allowing the other three to get to the top as quickly as possible on both ropes and then take one of the ropes down and head for the car. We headed up and I threw the rope in a jumbled mess over my shoulder after he was at the top. We sprinted down to a nearby gas station, where the others were waiting. I stripped down to my shirt and spandex shorts with no shoes and sprinted to my car, trying to avoid getting it all muddy from my jacket, jeans and shoes. Everyone loaded their caving clothing into plastic bags and changed in the bathrooms at the gas station. We then headed into Chattanooga and met Lindsay's dad for dinner before heading back to Gainesville, since he was in Chattanooga too.
Though it didn't feel like I fully led my own trip, it was nice to see that Mike had confidence in me to make decisions and set anchors for caving, one of the most difficult types of OAR trips to lead.
Events occurred: February 8-10, 2013
My second OAR trip of the semester, MLK weekend, was also unusual. Over 40 people, including a contingent from St. Louis, signed up for a trip near Chattanooga, which Jeff described as hiking, climbing, hang gliding or whatever anyone wanted to do. I decided this was my chance to lead a vertical caving trip. I attempted to set up a second trip that weekend, also staying near Chattanooga, but, at the time, my qualifications were unknown. Mike decided to go on this trip to officially lead any vertical caving but my input was acknowledged. Kelsey, Marcelle, Simona, and I all left early Friday and arrived at the campsite before 10. To my knowledge, we were the caving contingent, minus Mike.
The next morning when I woke up, Jeff informed me that everyone was going vertical caving and that I was to teach everyone how to use the gear. I was worried because vertical gear is complicated to use and I did not feel comfortable expecting 40 people who had never used the gear before to suddenly know what to do, especially because vertical caving is very dangerous and we only have 4 sets of gear. Marcelle and Simona also knew as well as I did that it would take all day just to get that many people down and back up again, sending gear every fourth person. Kelsey still wanted to go, so we dropped her off with the big group and decided that it would be easier for everyone if we did something else.
Marcelle, Simona, and I ventured into Chattanooga and found ourselves catching up on some homework and searching for something nearby to do. I called my mom and explained the situation. Immediately, she recommended Rock City, a tourist trap in Chattanooga. I typically avoid tourist traps whenever possible, but we decided that this one could be a lot of fun. We took tons of cheesy pictures and climbed all over the limestone. We spent several hours exploring Rock City, eating lunch over a cliff that boasts you can see seven states at once. We finally returned to downtown Chattanooga for some coffee and then headed back to camp. When we stopped at a gas station to pick up drinks, we ran into Mike, Kelsey, and a group of about 5 that had apparently been the caving group after everyone else realized it would take forever to set up. We all went to a Mexican restaurant nearby and got dinner. My table consisted of Mike, Marcelle, and Simona and resulted in two things: 1) caving at Signal Light the next day and 2) Spring Break in Colombia.
The next morning, our group headed to Signal Light, my favorite cave. We set up two ropes, Mike anchored one of the them and I took care of the other. He checked over my work and gave me some advice for the future. He trusted my rope enough to go down on it and we started exploring the cave. Normally, we don't spend a lot of time in Signal Light because Mike has been over 20 times and knows it really well. Or so we thought. We stumbled upon a muddy passage way that led to several small lagoons. Suffice to say we were soaked and coated and mud within minutes. We created mud figures, painted our names on the walls in mud, and threw hunks of mud at each other. At first, I tried walking across the muddy water with delicacy, trying not to get to wet. Eventually, however, we were all up to our waists in water. We reached a crawling section that we went through for a while before turning around and heading back out. While traversing across one part of the cave, I slipped and dislocated my left knee. I screamed and Kelsey grabbed my hand so I wouldn't slip. Everyone helped pull me up and I sat on a rock trying to fix it. I set the injury and popped everything back in to place, pressing on to the end. I was the last to ascend out and I caver coiled my rope as quickly as possible. We found a short cut down to the parking lot and after that, we went to dinner at some pizza place. We ended up with a lot of pizza because there was a special for larges, so we ordered three and they messed up one of our orders, so we had four pizzas for five people. Suffice to say we had leftovers.
When we arrived back at camp, half the group was gone or packing to leave. It was already around 8 PM, so I didn't understand why they didn't just wait to leave the next day rather than driving all night. It turned out that a lot of people had gotten sick and just wanted to go home, so our group shrank to about three cars. The next morning, my knee was still bothering me. The plan had been to go vertical caving again but Mike didn't think it was worth it and I didn't feel up to it either. We ended up going to Cloudland Canyon. I stayed back and rested while everyone else hiked and then we headed back to Gainesville.
Events occurred January 18-21, 2013
When we got back Jacksonville, Mike invited everyone to go caving with him and his sister, Steph, after Christmas. Apparently, I was the only one stupid enough to think this was a good idea. So, a few days after Christmas, I found myself waking up and meeting them at their house at 7 AM. We drove straight to Neversink and hiked up to it, setting up gear for the rappel. This, in retrospect, was very poorly planned. We had very little daylight to work with when we started and by the time we ascended out, it was dark. I also hadn't prepared clothing-wise. I had thrown on a pair of sweatpants over my shorts and was wearing Sperries instead of real caving shoes. Neversink was wetter than I had ever seen it before and I sank straight into the mud. I also dropped my camera lens cap when I was ascending, but luckily Steph and Mike found it. It started raining on us so we had to ascend and gather gear in dark rainy weather. It was also very cold and my sweatpants absorbed water like a sponge.
Camping on this trip was an interesting experience overall. We went to Scottsboro Mountain, where we usually camp, but rather than setting up tents, we stumbled upon a small shack that was created for cavers to crash in. There was a couch and a bunch of foam pads. The place was disgusting but it was that or the pouring rain, so we braved the shack. Mike called dibs on the couch, which was perfectly fine with me and Steph, since it seemed worse than the floor. We laid out the foam pads to sleep on. In the middle of the night, I noticed a leak that was splashing water in my face. I tightened my sleeping bag and ignored it, but when I woke up, a small pool of water slid on to my face. We got our stuff together and headed for the car, only to see hail and snow on the ground and in the air. Mike coaxed my car down the mountain and didn't hit anything on this treacherous "road" until the very end, an impressive feat.
When we pulled up to Fox Mountain and Mike informed me that the cave we were going to was called Cemetery, I had a mild internal panic attack. We hiked for a bit, including going through a long tunnel that runs under the highway. Of course, Mike decided to creep up behind me and whisper "always watching." I instinctively smacked him in the arm and picked up my speed. When we finally got to Cemetery, there was already a group on rope, headed down. We talked to them and they were from upstate New York and Canada. We were going to set up our own ropes but they offered theirs and we decided that would be easier. So we followed behind them and began exploring on our own. We ran into them again at a second drop point of about 20 feet. They told us to come on down, so we used their rope again and descended further into the cave. We stumbled upon a registry and wrote our names. We explored a fair amount of the cave and Mike found a rope that had been left in the cave as a permanent line. He remembered from the last time he had been there a few years before that this line led to the exit, so when we left we decided to take that line to go up rather than ascending out on the other group's second rope.
Unfortunately, none of us bother paying attention to the small out arrows pointing to the right and we went to the left instead. We eventually found out arrows that ended up just turning us in a circle. After at least two hours, we found ourselves coming upon another registry. I had the worst feeling in my stomach. When we opened the registry, we realized that it was indeed the same as the first and we had ended up in a giant circle. We rested briefly and discussed contingency plans in case we couldn't get out. Then, we carefully went up the permanent line again, this time searching for arrows immediately. The path to the exit didn't take much longer but when we arrived, we realized the rope was gone. Mike yelled up and luckily the other group was still there. They threw the rope back down and he quickly ascended up to set up our rope so they could leave. Steph and I, both cold and tired, waited at the bottom only to realize that our rope wasn't long enough. We had the 300 foot rope in the car, which Mike could have hiked back to and then set up for us but Steph figured that she could free climb the 20 to 30 feet at the bottom. Mike rappelled back down to a ledge with some webbing and tied a line for us. I climbed up after Steph but I was much more nervous about getting to the ledge where they were. I was almost certain that I couldn't do it, despite their coaching. I ended up clipping myself into the safety line of webbing and swinging over to them. It worked and we all ascended out as quickly as possible. It was freezing at the top and there was snow on the ground. We practically sprinted to the car and I turned the heat on before I could even think to do anything else.
We had emerged around 11 PM, desiring hot food. Our options were already limited based on location but time of day destroyed the chance for option at all. We ended up at Huddle House and the warmth was fantastic. We also all refilled our water bottles and washed our hands and faces in the bathroom. I also bought myself a hot chocolate, which was an excellent source of warmth that dipped down into my toes. After a very late dinner/very early breakfast, we returned to Fox Mountain and set up camp by the car. By set up camp, I mean that Steph set up a tent and slept outside while Mike and I decided that the car would be much warmer and much more comfortable. He slept in the front seat with the back reclined as far back as possible, nearly flat, while I stretched across the backseat, thankful for my height.
The next morning, we hiked in the opposite direction from Cemetery, toward Rusty's Cave. I don't think any of us had ever been to Rusty's before, but members of the NSS (National Speleological Society) claimed it was about 20 feet of drop. This was false. It was much closer to 40 feet. We had more than enough rope, so we set up several back up systems and descended with some ease. There was a lot of thick, peanut butter-like mud that we referred to as "jungle mud." The cave itself was beautiful. There is a fast-paced stream running through the entire cave that we followed. At first, I stayed high like Mike and Steph, scrambling over rocks and past formations several feet above the stream. Once we reached a decent stopping point, we rested and tried further routes. I crawled through a squeeze for at least 10 minutes that ended up going absolutely nowhere and unless we wanted to go swimming, we had to turn back around. We ran into another group of three from Georgia Tech but they didn't know if the cave kept going. We turned around and I decided to stay low, either jumping from rock to rock in the stream or straddling the small canyon a few inches above. I liked this a lot better and I was a lot faster on the way back than I had been going in. We reached the end and let the Georgia Tech group go ahead of us. Then we ascended up and I was splattered in jungle mud. We were out of the cave fairly early and on the road at a reasonable hour, returning home for New Year's Eve.
Events occurred: December 28-30, 2012
Remember several posts ago when I mentioned how much I hated caving the first time? Well, that all changed completely after this vertical caving trip. I have since become addicted to caving, vertical in particular. I can't quite explain it and that's how I know that it's true love. I just have this instinctual feeling, like love at first rappel. My stomach fills with butterflies, I get a giddy look on my face, and I hear my heart racing. It's either love or adrenaline from fear, but I would like to think that it's love. I had already become a fan of vertical caving after doing it the first time and after the caving practices but once I discovered gear that actually fit my height perfectly, I became infatuated.
The first cave we went to wasn't exactly a cave. This beginner's vertical trip, composed of me, Terry, Nina, and Brian led by Mike (of course), started with Neversink, a large pit near Tumbling Rock. I had actually been there before, when I went on my first caving trip, but it had never even occurred to me that I could (and would) rappel into it. I'm not sure why exactly but it it took us a long time to set everything up. We realized that both our 150 and 180 foot ropes were too short so we had to go back to the car for the 300. I don't know how deep Neversink is and I've heard different things from various online sources, but I tell people that it's 220 feet, a completely made up figure that seems logical enough since it's between 180 and 300. I'm a horrible judge of distance however, so don't take my word for it. Neversink is really wide and open, a column with no horizontal caving below. Mike rappelled in first and took amazing pictures of all of us. There's a waterfall that runs into the cave but the water flow was light, more like drips than your typical falls. We took a few group shots at the bottom, walked around, and then ascended back up.
This ascent, for me in particular, was abysmal. I actually really hated it and by the time I had made it to the top, I was exhausted and my muscles were shaking. I was honestly close to tears and I could even hear it in my voice. I didn't know why it had been so painful. Then, the next day, I realized my issue: my foot loop was several inches too short and I couldn't get full extension. Thus, it took me twice as long to move and my legs wore out much more quickly.
After Neversink, we headed to Stephen's Gap. This cave was really cool, especially since it had both vertical and horizontal entrances. In other words, we could rappel in and then walk out rather than ascending out. After my Neversink experience, I was thrilled to avoid ascending. After Stephen's Gap, we stumbled upon a small cave along the trail, called Pipeside. I chose not to go, mostly because I feared the ascent, and so I stayed at the top and took a short nap. Terry used the gear that I had been using and he had a very difficult time with the short foot loop too. I was relieved that it hadn't been just me. That night, we went to a Pizza Hut and gorged ourselves on hot food, an excellent reward for a cold day of caving.
The next day, after a night of camping on Scottsboro Mountain, we headed toward Chattanooga and Signal Light, my favorite cave. Signal Light was it's usual glorious self. We diverged from the usual path at the beginning, heading right instead of left and finding ourselves at the base of Sketch Mountain, coming at it from the right instead of straight forward. We then realized our mistake and headed toward the formation room and the signature room. I was pleased to discover that my memory of the cave was in tact for the most part and I recognized a lot of different formations and landmarks, which have since become permanently engrained in my mind. For the ascent out, I used a longer, adjustable foot loop and ascended out with ease. It was reassuring to note that the foot loop had been the issue instead of me. I raced Brian and successfully beat him out the cave. On the way home, we stopped at Sugar's Ribs, a famous barbecue restaurant in Chattanooga. A disgusting amount of pulled pork was the perfect end to a tiring weekend of caving.
Events occurred: October 26-28, 2012
In an attempt to encourage more OAR people to try vertical caving, Mike organized several crash courses and a local practical. Crash courses entail throwing a rope up into a tree, teaching people how to ascend up the rope and perform a changeover from ascent to rappel. Once you are familiar with the gear and the concepts, it is actually relatively easy. However, if you don't understand the mechanics and aren't familiar with how the different devices work, it can be extremely difficult. As the only one in the group other than Mike that had actually been vertical caving before, I found myself primarily teaching others. I like this though because in teaching, I was able to reiterate to myself what to do and it has become instinctive.
After several practices on trees, one night Mike took us to Shotgun Hole, a local "cave" with a spring. The cave itself is tiny and the rappel is only about 20 feet. Usually, the club uses a rope ladder instead of caving gear for ease and expediency. However, for the sake of education, we used the vertical harnesses, racks, and ascent devices. Shotgun Hole was a typical OAR adventure before my time but in recent years, we have only gone sporadically. I had never been before and though I have returned several times, I still cannot remember its precise location: somewhere in the middle of nowhere just outside of Gainesville. I am also uncertain as to the origin of its name, which I don't find particularly comforting. Regardless, our group of two cars headed to Shotgun Hole to show off our vertical caving skills. Though I didn't intend on swimming, we all ended up in the water, splashing around the spring. Ascending out was actually somewhat difficult despite its short distance, mostly because the rocks were chossy (a climbing term used to describe rock that crumbles at the touch or when you are gripping it). Many of us unintentionally kicked down rocks and sediments, calling out "rock!" to warn those below of the hazardous falling debris.
Events occurred: October 3, 10, and 17, 2012
Unfortunately, when Jeff left for Africa in March, so did most of the OAR trips. We threw several parties and potlucks in March as he and Frank were both leaving. Frank defended his dissertation, earned his PhD, and moved to Indiana to be with his fiancee, Kerry. I amped up my participation with GASA, the Greek American Student Association, and their dance troupe. At the end of the semester, I returned to Boston for a week as a surprise for Kathryn, who was finished with finals by May 8th but stuck up in Massachusetts until the 26th for crew. I was itching for an OAR trip. That's when I got an email from Mike about vertical caving practice before an OAR meeting.
Mike, who is actually Chris's brother, was an active member of OAR long before I joined. However, the entire time I had been active up until this point, he had been in Patagonia, Chile. So, I had never known him in the context of UF or OAR, but rather in the context of being Christopher's older brother. Even though it was summer and I was in Jacksonville instead of Gainesville, I decided that I would go. I felt the need for a crazy OAR activity and I had missed going to meetings. I drove down and Mike taught a small group of us how to use vertical gear. I had actually been to vertical practice in early November of 2011. However, vertical trips were rare and I barely remembered what all the gear was called, much less how it worked. I picked it up somewhat easily and performed several changeovers in the course of an hour. At the meeting, Mike announced that he was going to lead a vertical caving trip that weekend. I thought at the time that while it sounded cool, I probably wouldn't go because I had just learned what I was doing and wasn't ready yet. However, as I was driving back to Jacksonville, I thought about how few vertical trips there had been since I joined the club (none) and decided that now was better than never. I emailed Mike that I wanted to go and next thing I knew, I had signed up for my first vertical caving trip.
Since I was leaving from Jacksonville and Chris decided that he wanted to go as well, we carpooled down to Gainesville to pick up Mike. It ended up being just the three of us driving up from Gainesville. We met up with a past OAR member, Cat, who lived in Atlanta. She let us stay at her place Friday night so we didn't have to pay for camping. Then, she and her boyfriend, Alex, drove us to a random gas station and fireworks store outside of Chattanooga. I didn't know what to think. The only caves I had been to at this point were in people's backyards. This one was on the other side of some railroad tracks from Big Daddy's Fireworks. A fireworks store that sells beer and gas seemed like a bad combination to me, but I guess I was the only one with reservations. We hiked up a little ways to a pit in the ground, called Signal Light. It looked like nothing to me. Mike started rigging up gear and my nerves took a turn for the worse. I was pleased that he sent Chris down first, since Chris had more experience than me.
As I stood over the edge, I felt my grip on the rope tighten. Mike asked me if I was afraid of heights, to which I honestly replied "yes." I think he could tell that I was shaking and nervous, even though this was just another rappel. Once I got over the edge and felt my weight on the rope, I became much more comfortable. I slid down with ease, but I burned my hand on the rope. The rappel device used for vertical caving allowed me to go as quickly or slowly as I wanted but all the friction on the rope caused it to heat up a lot. When I reached the bottom, I looked up and yelled "off rope!", gazing in awe at the Texas-shaped hole I had just rappelled through. Once Mike got down, we started exploring.
To this day, Signal Light is still my favorite cave. There is a large formation room with a lot of giant stalactites and stalagmites as well as cool folds in the wall. Also, there is a room covered in names and dates, stretching back to the 1860's when Civil War deserters would hide out in caves. We also came upon a large mountain of mud, which we named "Sketch Mountain." In retrospect, especially since returning to Signal Light, I cannot believe I let those two talk me into climbing it. The mountain was coated in thick, slippery mud but this was not the scariest part. No, the most frightening aspect of Sketch Mountain was at the bottom: if you fall or want to get down, there is a small platform to land on with pits on either side. Seems safe, right? I was fine going up Sketch Mountain but going down was a different story. When we got to the top, we explored some and found another drop. Mike set up a rope and decided to explore but found nothing and came back up quickly. Headed down Sketch Mountain, Mike set up a piece of webbing for me to hold on to. I lowered myself with some ease but Chris had to coax me at the end. The two pits and the platform to land on were out of my sight and I didn't trust myself not to fall. I eventually made it all the way down but it took a lot of convincing from both brothers and my own brain.
Ascending out of Signal Light took Mike virtually no time. When it was my turn, however, it took upwards of 20 minutes. I later discovered that my foot loop had been too short so I couldn't get full height. Still, I felt guilty about taking so long and apologized as I finally reached the top of the 90 foot drop. Coated in mud, we waited in the parking lot for Cat. She and Alex had gone white water rafting but they planned on joining us for dinner, camping, and caving the next day. We went to South Pittsburgh, Tennessee the next morning for more caving. However, we had a limited amount of time and a limited amount of gear. I knew that I would hold everyone back, so I chose to stay at the top instead. I ended up taking a long nap in the sun and they were only in the cave for a few hours, rather than all day. I regret this now, especially after having seen pictures, but I'll return one day when I have more time. Something about vertical caving has made it my favorite OAR activity. I'm not sure if it's the rappelling aspect, the danger, or the small group size (which I always prefer), but it's most likely a combination of the three.
Events occurred: May 31-June 3, 2012
The Friday following vertical practice, Mike decided to lead an actual vertical caving trip. Rather than hitting up the same old caves, we decided to try something new. Armed with GPS coordinates, we headed toward the TAG caving area. We were unable to find our first cave that Friday night, so we camped in a random field and decided to try in the morning. After driving around for several hours, we parked off the side of the road and attempted hiking in. This was unsuccessful. We were met with a wall of thorns and had to tear through the jungle. We eventually found what appeared to be a trail, but no cave. We hunted all day and even discovered a new cave that had never been explored. Logel, Mike, and I dug out the entrance and Mike rappelled the 15 or so feet down. It was cool to have found a cave but it was very small.
To keep up the morale, we left the area and decided to go to Cemetery Pit, an old favorite. I had been there with Mike and Steph about nine months prior. Mike and I rigged the ropes and I was the first one down, stopping every so often to untangle the rope and toss it over ledges. We were only able to explore Cemetery for a few hours because we had gotten such a late start but it was worth it. We traversed a sketchy ledge about 50 or so feet from the ground and played around in some mud, which surprisingly dried quickly. We emerged around 11 PM or so, a repeat of my time with Mike and Steph sans snow, and headed to Huddle House, the only open restaurant for miles.
The next morning, we woke up to some cavers headed for Cemetery. We talked to them and discovered that they had been at Moses' Tomb the day before, the cave we had been searching for. We got directions and headed back to Alabama. We found it and after a short hike, we started rigging up ropes and gear. Since this particular pit was about 230 feet and had limited horizontal caving, we decided to stagger so that one person wasn't waiting at the bottom in the cold for four people to ascend. Mike went down first with his camera, followed by Logel and James. Then, Logel and James ascended up in tandem, meaning that they were both on the rope at the same time. They only simul-climbed for about 40 feet or so out of the 230. Then, Nina rappelled down and I followed shortly thereafter. As soon as I reached the bottom, Mike ascended out. Nina ascended out with him in tandem and I waited for him to get off before I hopped on. Despite it's length, the ascent seemed easier than the ascent for Cemetery, which is less than 200 feet. I was out fairly quickly with minimal problem. The only moment of panic I had was when the carabiner holding my chest harness snapped, but luckily it wasn't a big deal. I had an extra carabiner on my gear loop, so after a few seconds of fiddling around with the gear, I had resolved the problem and could continue ascending. Overall, an excellent day.
