Post by Brad Tipton on Oct 5, 2007 14:56:53 GMT -5
On Wednesday, I finished up at work early to meet up with Johnathan for an afternoon trip to one of my favorite deep caves. Thunder Hole is a 2,000 foot long cave that plummets 460 feet in 5 quick drops. The cave gets it's name from the thunderous amount of water that filters down each drop in the cave on it's journey to the valley floor. Traversing the cave is always simple, just follow the water to the bottom. All five drops in the cave are wet. Four of the drops are directly in the waterfall, making for some exciting rappells. With the continued drought conditions in the area I figured the cave would lack it's usual thunder.
Loaded down with ropes, Johnathan and I started our steep hike up the mountain to the entrance. This was Johnathan's 1st trip to a deep multidrop cave. It was likely the most gear he has ever had to carry to a cave on one trip. It was quite humid and we were puffing carrying all those ropes. The trail was relatively visible for most of the way, but I have been to the cave enough times to find it without a trail. When we reached the entrance pit, there was no water falling into the 80 foot drop. I have certainly never seen this cave without a waterfall blasting into the pit. I usually fill my water bottles up from the spring before we enter the cave. There was no water to spare on this day. I certainly was glad I had prepared for that. Johnathan rigged the entrance while I made a sling for the additional ropes. Johnathan rappelled 1st so I could set some rope pads at the lip of the pit.
The entrance rappell was dry. There was a little water trickling down the walls, but the usually mighty waterfall was gone.....for now. We snaked around the canyon towards the 2nd drop, a 22 footer named the "Flash Flood Drop". Usually, I am standing in shin deep whitewater while rigging this drop, and rappelling it requires a long, cold drink as water slams me in the face. Today, we were able to drop our gear right on the middle of the stream passage.....just a trickle of water was present. Again, Johnathan rigged the drop, we rappelled to the floor getting slightly wet.
At the bottom of the 2nd drop we are forced to crawl throught the stream for a few hundred feet across bone scarring rocks while dragging and pushing ropes and gear.....it sucks.....every time I go......I know this, yet it always shocks me at how bad I dislike it. Luckily, after the crawl it is all walking passage to the bottom of the cave. Directly after the stream crawl is the 3rd drop, a 46 foot pit. 2 bolts above the pit for rigging put us right into the waterfall which has picked up a bit now that we are further into the cave. We opted to rappell off a projection further out, which made for a dry rappell. Once on the bottom of the 3rd pit, just a few feet away is Neptune Well, at 95 feet deep, it is the deepest and wettest pit in the cave.
Last time I visited the cave Neptune Well had only the natural anchor back away from the pit. On this visit I noticed that there were 2 new shiny bolts out at the edge of the pit on the left wall. We backed the rope up to the natural anchor and I walked out to inspect the new anchors. They were very sturdy and well placed so I opted to utilize them both. I always set a rope pad at the lip to Neptune Well because there are some sharp places and people tend to thrash around while climbing this drop because it's usually a gully washer. On a previous trip I had the rope cut to the core on this drop. The guy climbing was thrashing around and popped the rope off the pad. Luckily he was the last to climb up. I found the gash when we were pulling the rope up.....scary.
Despite a relatively dry trip to this point, both Johnathan and I were drenched on rappell. The shape of the pit at the top funnels all the water right down on top of us the whole way down. Once at the bottom, I grabbed the last rope and 2 caribeaners and we headed down the canyon towards the last drop. I usually leave my bag behind at the bottom of the 4th drop because it is a pain dragging it through the narrow canyon. When we reached the last drop, a broken 66 footer, I noticed more shiny new hardware. Once again we utilized the new anchors, one which is in plain view above the drop and the other which is just around the corner, out over the pit. The pit was a little wet, but nothing like the vortex it is famous for.
At the bottom of the cave, we walked the short distance to the sump. Every time I have visited the sump it has been foamy and murky. Today it was clear and deep blue in color. I could see that the water was very deep.....maybe as much as 20 feet deep. My stenlight illuminated far into the pool. It made me very curious, wondering how much further the cave goes beyond the sump. We did not ponder for long, the trip was but half over. It was 6:15 when we left Neptune Well for the last drop and I wanted to be off the mountain before it was pitch black.
The climb out of Neptune Well was rather wet.....at least I could breathe this time......last time I climbed out of this pit I had to create my own air bubble to keep from drowning. We made quick work of the 46 footer. The stream crawl sucked as always. I did find the wrench that likely helped place the new anchors in the cave, it was lying in the steambed halfway between the 2nd and 3rd pits. Still shiny. Hauling all the wet ropes up the entrance drop was tough, but we managed to get everything out of the cave before it was completely dark.
Another fine day in TAG
Loaded down with ropes, Johnathan and I started our steep hike up the mountain to the entrance. This was Johnathan's 1st trip to a deep multidrop cave. It was likely the most gear he has ever had to carry to a cave on one trip. It was quite humid and we were puffing carrying all those ropes. The trail was relatively visible for most of the way, but I have been to the cave enough times to find it without a trail. When we reached the entrance pit, there was no water falling into the 80 foot drop. I have certainly never seen this cave without a waterfall blasting into the pit. I usually fill my water bottles up from the spring before we enter the cave. There was no water to spare on this day. I certainly was glad I had prepared for that. Johnathan rigged the entrance while I made a sling for the additional ropes. Johnathan rappelled 1st so I could set some rope pads at the lip of the pit.
The entrance rappell was dry. There was a little water trickling down the walls, but the usually mighty waterfall was gone.....for now. We snaked around the canyon towards the 2nd drop, a 22 footer named the "Flash Flood Drop". Usually, I am standing in shin deep whitewater while rigging this drop, and rappelling it requires a long, cold drink as water slams me in the face. Today, we were able to drop our gear right on the middle of the stream passage.....just a trickle of water was present. Again, Johnathan rigged the drop, we rappelled to the floor getting slightly wet.
At the bottom of the 2nd drop we are forced to crawl throught the stream for a few hundred feet across bone scarring rocks while dragging and pushing ropes and gear.....it sucks.....every time I go......I know this, yet it always shocks me at how bad I dislike it. Luckily, after the crawl it is all walking passage to the bottom of the cave. Directly after the stream crawl is the 3rd drop, a 46 foot pit. 2 bolts above the pit for rigging put us right into the waterfall which has picked up a bit now that we are further into the cave. We opted to rappell off a projection further out, which made for a dry rappell. Once on the bottom of the 3rd pit, just a few feet away is Neptune Well, at 95 feet deep, it is the deepest and wettest pit in the cave.
Last time I visited the cave Neptune Well had only the natural anchor back away from the pit. On this visit I noticed that there were 2 new shiny bolts out at the edge of the pit on the left wall. We backed the rope up to the natural anchor and I walked out to inspect the new anchors. They were very sturdy and well placed so I opted to utilize them both. I always set a rope pad at the lip to Neptune Well because there are some sharp places and people tend to thrash around while climbing this drop because it's usually a gully washer. On a previous trip I had the rope cut to the core on this drop. The guy climbing was thrashing around and popped the rope off the pad. Luckily he was the last to climb up. I found the gash when we were pulling the rope up.....scary.
Despite a relatively dry trip to this point, both Johnathan and I were drenched on rappell. The shape of the pit at the top funnels all the water right down on top of us the whole way down. Once at the bottom, I grabbed the last rope and 2 caribeaners and we headed down the canyon towards the last drop. I usually leave my bag behind at the bottom of the 4th drop because it is a pain dragging it through the narrow canyon. When we reached the last drop, a broken 66 footer, I noticed more shiny new hardware. Once again we utilized the new anchors, one which is in plain view above the drop and the other which is just around the corner, out over the pit. The pit was a little wet, but nothing like the vortex it is famous for.
At the bottom of the cave, we walked the short distance to the sump. Every time I have visited the sump it has been foamy and murky. Today it was clear and deep blue in color. I could see that the water was very deep.....maybe as much as 20 feet deep. My stenlight illuminated far into the pool. It made me very curious, wondering how much further the cave goes beyond the sump. We did not ponder for long, the trip was but half over. It was 6:15 when we left Neptune Well for the last drop and I wanted to be off the mountain before it was pitch black.
The climb out of Neptune Well was rather wet.....at least I could breathe this time......last time I climbed out of this pit I had to create my own air bubble to keep from drowning. We made quick work of the 46 footer. The stream crawl sucked as always. I did find the wrench that likely helped place the new anchors in the cave, it was lying in the steambed halfway between the 2nd and 3rd pits. Still shiny. Hauling all the wet ropes up the entrance drop was tough, but we managed to get everything out of the cave before it was completely dark.
Another fine day in TAG