Post by Sharon Faulkner on Mar 6, 2007 10:39:09 GMT -5
This past weekend, I led a group of nine Bowling Green University students and their Program Director to a few Alabama caves on a trip that was arranged some months ago. After a cold night of camping, the group got up early Sunday morning, ate, got ready and were ready to begin our hike around 9 AM to Pipeside Pit and Stephen's Gap. The group did fine at Pipeside, though I did suggest we rig two additional ropes for climbing due to the time factors involved with such a large group. BTW - everyone in this group climbed out using Prusik knots, kudos to these stout cavers. 
After everyone had gotten out of this pit and we had ropes coiled, Casey pretty much led the group on the way to Stephen's Gap following the well defined trail. After sitting still for a while she was ready to burn off some energy. ;D
As expected with the recent amount of rainfall, Stephen's Gap was in full glory with a huge waterfall blasting into the pit. The group was suitably impressed with the scenic open air pit and large horizontal entrance of this beloved TAG classic. I kept hearing words like awesome, fantastic, wow the rest of the afternoon. This beautiful cave still amazes me every time I see it too. Casey and I took a tour into the horizontal entrance taking a few photos (of course) and watched several in the group rappel. Then we let the group enjoy themselves while we had a late afternoon snack. The sun had already set and the temperatures had dropped considerably by the time they were finishing up and it was almost dark as we hiked back to the vehicles. We got off the mountain shortly after 6 PM making for a long, but enjoyable day on the mountain.
Here are some photos from Sunday's trip:
After everyone had gotten out of this pit and we had ropes coiled, Casey pretty much led the group on the way to Stephen's Gap following the well defined trail. After sitting still for a while she was ready to burn off some energy. ;D
As expected with the recent amount of rainfall, Stephen's Gap was in full glory with a huge waterfall blasting into the pit. The group was suitably impressed with the scenic open air pit and large horizontal entrance of this beloved TAG classic. I kept hearing words like awesome, fantastic, wow the rest of the afternoon. This beautiful cave still amazes me every time I see it too. Casey and I took a tour into the horizontal entrance taking a few photos (of course) and watched several in the group rappel. Then we let the group enjoy themselves while we had a late afternoon snack. The sun had already set and the temperatures had dropped considerably by the time they were finishing up and it was almost dark as we hiked back to the vehicles. We got off the mountain shortly after 6 PM making for a long, but enjoyable day on the mountain.
Here are some photos from Sunday's trip:
