to hell and back,,,,,,

[paul snook]

After being postponed out under threat of rain at snail shell cave, Ray Heery, Rodney Schmeide( tncaveres) and my self decided to survey in Harrison saltpeter cave in Bedford Co. TN, we went in with the goal of working a passage that has been named ( I think by locals, they even spray painted the name on the wall) "torture chamber / hell hole" and as much as time would allow past it, we met our goal and left ourselves in good standing for the next trip, this post takes an odd turn now, so be warned, on several of our pleasure trips and some of our photo trips, new cavers, boy scouts, and even experienced cavers have asked
" how long is it?" and I have always guessed around 300, Rodney said 450- 500, but we had NO idea of the true nature of this BEAST, after the trip we went our separate ways and I later met up with Rodney in near by wartrace, and we talked for a bit while adding up the figures for that section, then got Robert Sewell on the phone to run them through his calculator, and no joke folks this passage is named appropriately and the length only confirms it, it's tortuous and it does feel like your crawling to hell and through it, and with survey data to prove it, its,,,,,,,,,
are you ready,,,,,,,,,,,, 666 ft long from start to stop,,,,,,,,,
ooooooooh spookyyyyy!,,,,,,, don't that just grab you by the boo-boo and make you say hmmmmm?


entrance to torture chamber hell hole ( notice bottom right behind the pictures date stamp)


Rodney and other rescue techs in hell hole on a previous trip, this shows the size of the key hole portion( looking over Rodney's arm)


Rodney laying down on the job, while reading instruments, in the key hole crawl section


Jordan and Greg taking a breath in the key hole crawl on a previous trip

this should give you an idea of where the name came from,

and on a side note,,, the beer drinking, spray painting, hand held flashlight caving schmuckeis, who tote 6 packs of long necks into the cave have successfully made there way to the other side of this spot without breaking a bottle, we know because the bottles are found there every time we go

[Robert Sewell]

Ha! It's the tunnel of the beast. The yellow wisp in the entrance is obviously a cloud of sulphur, from the fire and brimstone on the other side.

[paul snook]

lol! thats funny, and no I didnt step on a barking spider before I took the picture

[tncaveres]

Yeah as far back as we where today I did hear a few of them bark. ;D

We had a great day of surveying with 1,232.5 ft of passage mapped.
Best part is that there is still more left.

[Robert Sewell]

Yeah, and because y'all finished the Tunnel of the Beast I don't have to spend any more time in the Tunnel than just going through it to get to the other side when we next survey. I don't have to spend 4 hours laying or crouching in it pulling tape or reading instruments. That's the best part! Thank you, thank you!

[paul snook]

I think you and two others should go re tape it to make sure we didn't miss, for reasons of accuracy, and to feel it for your self ;D
after all if your going to go through it you need to really do it, get the full effect, instruments and all ;D, ill even bring the sulfur clouds ;D

[tncaveres]

It really did not take us long to survey Hell Hole.
I think it took about 1hr 45min to survey it. We would have been alittle faster bull is kind of getting old & all. ;D

[Brian Roebuck]

What are y'all doing up so early on a Sunday for?

[L Roebuck]

Wow, it only took 1hr 45 mins to survey Hell Hole. Um...so it must not have been as tight as I remember it .
Bull also has the HR3 survey data on Harrisons - so with Hell Hole completed aren't guys almost finished with the Harrison Slp Cave survey now?

[paul snook]

I got your old & all , I also got a passage or two for your YOUNG self to look at

[tncaveres]

pretzlgirl said:

Wow, it only took 1hr 45 mins to survey Hell Hole. Um...so it must not have been as tight as I remember it .
Bull also has the HR3 survey data on Harrisons - so with Hell Hole completed aren't guys almost finished with the Harrison Slp Cave survey now?

We still have to connect the three caves together & finnish I would guess another 600ft of known passage

[paul snook]

I figure 500 - 1,000 to the end at the tight spot,
also I spoke with Robert Brasier today via phone, and he advised me that the tight spot is the connection to the spring cave, he did it when he was 15, and SMALL, he said it was scalloped ceiling tight belly crawl head side ways and if you want to avoid getting hung up go with form fitting clothes and small gear pack,
don't sound fun I know but if were going to do this right,,,
some-body's are going to have to survey it, and the connection to horse shoe as well, he also told me about some of the history of the cave, that is what he knew of from the 60's, he said the length of hell hole sounded about right and that even then its name was marked on the wall, and when he was young going in there, the first time through hell hole, the crawl was neck deep in water , and that the wet lead that you ( tncaveres) looked at was a swirling siphon, he remembered seeing salt peter vat remnants and troughs, as well as the civil defense shelter with tools in it, the lights and generator as well, I'll be talking to him again soon as he started to tell me a story on another cave were working on, and ill get more on this at the same time.

[Robert Sewell]

cavebull said:

... he said it was scalloped ceiling tight belly crawl head side ways and if you want to avoid getting hung up go with form fitting clothes and small gear pack,
don't sound fun I know but if were going to do this right,,,
some-body's are going to have to survey it...

I'll do it.

BAAAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously, sounds like a job for O.G.

[paul snook]

LOL!!!!!! who's og?

[L Roebuck]

cavebull said:

also I spoke with Robert Brasier today via phone, and he advised me that the tight spot is the connection to the spring cave, he did it when he was 15, and SMALL, he said it was scalloped ceiling tight belly crawl head side ways and if you want to avoid getting hung up go with form fitting clothes and small gear pack, don't sound fun I know but if were going to do this right,,,some-body's are going to have to survey it, and the connection to horse shoe as well, he also told me about some of the history of the cave, that is what he knew of from the 60's, he said the length of hell hole sounded about right and that even then its name was marked on the wall, and when he was young going in there, the first time through hell hole, the crawl was neck deep in water , and that the wet lead that you ( tncaveres) looked at was a swirling siphon, he remembered seeing salt peter vat remnants and troughs, as well as the civil defense shelter with tools in it, the lights and generator as well, I'll be talking to him again soon as he started to tell me a story on another cave were working on, and ill get more on this at the same time.

So Bull.....when you phoned here Sunday, aren't you happy I told you about Robert Brazier and his explorations in the county?

[Robert Sewell]

cavebull said:

LOL!!!!!! who's og?

OG is the nickname I just now dreamed up for Sherri. OG is an acronym that stands for two words, the second one being "Girl" and the first coming from the name she gave to the narrow crevice she squeezed through in B-Cave. And since OG sounds so caveman-ish... ;D

[paul snook]

robert, that sounds good to me, and lynn I am glad you told me about him, I just wish he hadnt made the connection, now I gotta bribe some- BODY into doing and surveying it as well.
PS: yall have heard of the movie "snakes on a plane" im sure, but have you ever heard of snakes in a cave, or should I say snakes in hell hole in the cave, cant wait for yall to hear that storie on oct, 13th when we get together with Mr. Brasier and hr3 at the cave