Post by Brad Tipton on Feb 2, 2008 23:23:58 GMT -5
Today we returned to Elmo's Canyon Cave in search of the route to the bottom of the cave that eluded us a few years before. Tim, Clay, Angie and I drove to the Narrows in Big Coon Valley, crossed the creek and drove the steep 4-wheel drive road all the way to the bench 500 feet above the valley floor. From there we hiked a level half mile to the massive sink, passing Geode Pit along the way. It was well below freezing when we started the hike and the plume of steam blasting out of the entrance could be seen easily from the road.
The entrance drop is listed as one 151 foot drop. In reality it is 3 seperate pitches of about 30, 20 and 100 feet. The 100 foot section drops through a slot in the floor but eventually opens up into a larger section of canyon. At the bottom, the stream from the huge sinkhole on the surface is encountered. The water is present throughout the rest of the cave.
Once everyone was down the pit, we started moving downstream towards the junction room. Eventually the canyon became deep and we dropped down to stream level to continue. After about 100 feet the water dumps down a hole and an exposed climbdown into the juction room is encountered. The climbdown isn't but 10 feet, but if one were to slip, the fall down into the room would result in serious injury. All the water from the stream dumps back into this room and into a too tight crawlspace in the floor. This is where Tim and I couldn't find the route onward a few years back.
I knew of another room up and through a formation area that had multiple inflowing streams. I figured the route could be found by following the water into the floor. I had explored this area the last time, climbing the falls and exploring some really high leads in some exposed canyon climbs. We made our way towards that room and I dropped down underneath the flowstone mound to find the water exiting the room. There I found another climbdown with mucho air. I wiggled my ass down into the passage below to find the stream dumping into a narrow slot. This was definately the infamous "Chickenhead" drop. I had heard stories of Gerald nearly drowning on this 12 foot drop while trying to squeeze through the slot in high water. The water was pumping into this slot and I wasn't sure I would fit. I knew Clay couldn't fit. In the end I decided to postpone this torture until another day when the water was far less.
After everyone took a look at "The Chickenhead" I climbed up the waterfall in the big room and climbed up the canyon to look for a lead I had left from the previous trip. On the way back down I became hopelessly stuck straddling a 40 foot deep canyon unable to figure out how to get back down. Tim came up to spot my footholds and all was well in just a few minutes. Teach me to go freeclimbing like a fool.
Satisfied that we would let the slot sit until summer, we started the short trip back to the pit series. When we reached the area of the canyon where we needed to climb out of the stream, Clay pointed out a killer death boulder that people were using to climb in and out of the stream. The rock was wedged in the canyon.....by air!! The rock was easily 2,000 lbs and teetering 15 feet off the canyon floor. When all were clear I dumped it to the bottom of the canyon. Hopefully that prevented an untimely death for some poor soul.
The climb out was uneventful for me, but Tim was attacked by a killer mouse on the last pitch. Hearing him screaming I would have expected at least a minor scrape with a Barn Owl or something..........but a mouse? On the surface, the sun was out and the sky was blue. The temperature was mild, so I took a nice little nap while the others climbed out. Our cave trip was essentially over, but the buffoonery had just begun.
On the hike back to the truck I realized that the road had become significantly muddier than earlier. I realized that the road must have been frozen, therefore we had no real issues climbing the steep road up to the bench. The mud was caking the bottom of our boots by the time we reached the truck and the road was squishy. I knew there was no chance we would be going back down the mountain the way we came. Initially we attempted the first hill, but the whole rear end of the 4-Runner started to slide broadside. The tires caked up and we were attempting what amounted to a suicide run of that mountain. I decided that I wanted to live to see another day so we backed up and reweighed our options.
The road continued up the mountain. I had no idea how far or what the condition of the road would be. We had a decent cell signal so we called my wife to inform her of our predicament, just in case we got stuck and had to wait for the road to freeze back overnight. The road uphill looked pretty muddy, but uphill wasn't nearly as harrowing as downhill.....so we hit it wide open! The 4-Runner dug it's way up quite a few good sized hills and before long we were cresting the top of the mountain. I had a topo and I figured if we could keep trending westward we could eventually end up over on Hwy 79 on Skyline. Unforunately there are roads everywhere on top of the mountain. We sloshed, slid, and spun our way for many miles expecting a gate or a massive tree to force us to retreat in another direction eventually. Only once did we nearly get stuck, but the 4-Runner powered on through. Eventually we met an open Skyline gate and a sign for Jackson Hunting Club. I figured the road could lead to pavement and likely a locked gate. After a mile or so we hit a graveled section and we found the gate and the pavement soon after......gate open, what luck! We had arrived in Hytop only a mile from Hwy 79. Can't ask for better luck than that. Every trip, a new great adventure!
The entrance drop is listed as one 151 foot drop. In reality it is 3 seperate pitches of about 30, 20 and 100 feet. The 100 foot section drops through a slot in the floor but eventually opens up into a larger section of canyon. At the bottom, the stream from the huge sinkhole on the surface is encountered. The water is present throughout the rest of the cave.
Once everyone was down the pit, we started moving downstream towards the junction room. Eventually the canyon became deep and we dropped down to stream level to continue. After about 100 feet the water dumps down a hole and an exposed climbdown into the juction room is encountered. The climbdown isn't but 10 feet, but if one were to slip, the fall down into the room would result in serious injury. All the water from the stream dumps back into this room and into a too tight crawlspace in the floor. This is where Tim and I couldn't find the route onward a few years back.
I knew of another room up and through a formation area that had multiple inflowing streams. I figured the route could be found by following the water into the floor. I had explored this area the last time, climbing the falls and exploring some really high leads in some exposed canyon climbs. We made our way towards that room and I dropped down underneath the flowstone mound to find the water exiting the room. There I found another climbdown with mucho air. I wiggled my ass down into the passage below to find the stream dumping into a narrow slot. This was definately the infamous "Chickenhead" drop. I had heard stories of Gerald nearly drowning on this 12 foot drop while trying to squeeze through the slot in high water. The water was pumping into this slot and I wasn't sure I would fit. I knew Clay couldn't fit. In the end I decided to postpone this torture until another day when the water was far less.
After everyone took a look at "The Chickenhead" I climbed up the waterfall in the big room and climbed up the canyon to look for a lead I had left from the previous trip. On the way back down I became hopelessly stuck straddling a 40 foot deep canyon unable to figure out how to get back down. Tim came up to spot my footholds and all was well in just a few minutes. Teach me to go freeclimbing like a fool.
Satisfied that we would let the slot sit until summer, we started the short trip back to the pit series. When we reached the area of the canyon where we needed to climb out of the stream, Clay pointed out a killer death boulder that people were using to climb in and out of the stream. The rock was wedged in the canyon.....by air!! The rock was easily 2,000 lbs and teetering 15 feet off the canyon floor. When all were clear I dumped it to the bottom of the canyon. Hopefully that prevented an untimely death for some poor soul.
The climb out was uneventful for me, but Tim was attacked by a killer mouse on the last pitch. Hearing him screaming I would have expected at least a minor scrape with a Barn Owl or something..........but a mouse? On the surface, the sun was out and the sky was blue. The temperature was mild, so I took a nice little nap while the others climbed out. Our cave trip was essentially over, but the buffoonery had just begun.
On the hike back to the truck I realized that the road had become significantly muddier than earlier. I realized that the road must have been frozen, therefore we had no real issues climbing the steep road up to the bench. The mud was caking the bottom of our boots by the time we reached the truck and the road was squishy. I knew there was no chance we would be going back down the mountain the way we came. Initially we attempted the first hill, but the whole rear end of the 4-Runner started to slide broadside. The tires caked up and we were attempting what amounted to a suicide run of that mountain. I decided that I wanted to live to see another day so we backed up and reweighed our options.
The road continued up the mountain. I had no idea how far or what the condition of the road would be. We had a decent cell signal so we called my wife to inform her of our predicament, just in case we got stuck and had to wait for the road to freeze back overnight. The road uphill looked pretty muddy, but uphill wasn't nearly as harrowing as downhill.....so we hit it wide open! The 4-Runner dug it's way up quite a few good sized hills and before long we were cresting the top of the mountain. I had a topo and I figured if we could keep trending westward we could eventually end up over on Hwy 79 on Skyline. Unforunately there are roads everywhere on top of the mountain. We sloshed, slid, and spun our way for many miles expecting a gate or a massive tree to force us to retreat in another direction eventually. Only once did we nearly get stuck, but the 4-Runner powered on through. Eventually we met an open Skyline gate and a sign for Jackson Hunting Club. I figured the road could lead to pavement and likely a locked gate. After a mile or so we hit a graveled section and we found the gate and the pavement soon after......gate open, what luck! We had arrived in Hytop only a mile from Hwy 79. Can't ask for better luck than that. Every trip, a new great adventure!
