Post by Brad Tipton on Nov 23, 2008 21:25:02 GMT -5
Saturday morning was cold. I could have chosen to stay in bed, just call the trip off, but I had a big group and it would be warmer once in the cave. John and John (Bob and Harry on this trip to distinguish one from the other) arrived at the house at 730, Chad called and said he was in and Tim and Angie were waiting to be picked up. Will decided to stay in Athens....I guess it was cold in Athens. Cold or no cold, we were caving on this day. At least the sky was blue and the sun was bright. It was going to be a beautiful day to be walking the ridges in TAG.
Once we all gathered together, we ate at the Cracker Barrel in Kimball and then proceeded to our destination. The goal for our days adventure was a 421 foot deep multidrop in Paint Rock Valley named Dark Well. The cave has in it's possession three 100 foot pits of which I had never visited. The goal was to bottom the cave and bounce all three pits. Typically the cave takes a river of water from the surface, making Dark Well and all it's drops extremely sporting. The extended drought in the region has made the cave dry enough for a more leisurely trip on this day.
We parked at the apple orchard on top of the mountain. From the orchard the cave is exactly 500 vertical downhill. We had good coordinates passed to us by Andy and we also had Chad and John (Bob) who had visited the cave previously. Chad navigated us directly to it. The entrance sits in a rift that is 10 feet wide and over a hundred feet long and parallels the hillside. The entrance pit is found by walking down into the rift and into a small rock shelter. In the back of the shelter is the 1st pit of 123 feet. Water runs into the pit from the uphill side wall, it is obvious that rappelling this pit in high water would be scary.
The entrance series form in a rift, mirroring a series of trench-like sinks on the surface that flank the walk-in entrance on each side. I don't know if this would qualify as a fault in geology terms, but it is clear that the fault clearly provided the water a clear path to form the first series of pits. Rather than a traditional shaft, we rappelled into a 200 foot deep crack that has been slowly widened by solution.
Chad rigged the 1st pit using a nasty looking bolt in the ceiling and some climbing pro for backup, we also backed up to a large formation on the far wall. The entrance pit was drippy and had a few offsets and ledges....a real rope eater for sure. The bottom of the 123 footer terminates at the top of the second pit of 74 feet. This pit starts as a tight slot which I can't imagine would be much fun in high water....kind of reminds me of the Chickenhead drop in Elmo's Canyon. The 74 footer does bell out into a free drop into a more spacious room. Chad and I continued through a series of shorter rappels (16, 21 feet) and continued on to the top of Electric Shaft, a wet 117 foot pit. There we waited and waited for the others. Chad went out to rig a traverse around Electric Shaft that we would use to access the rest of the cave and the last 100 foot pit.
Chad finished rigging the whole traverse, Tim, Angie, John (Bob) and John (Harry) still had not arrived. Concerned, I went back to find them. I returned to the bottom of the 21 foot pit to find them just arriving. With the 180 foot rope in hand we returned to Electric Shaft to join Chad. Since the 117 foot pit was sure to be wet, we opted to traverse the pit first and proceed to the back of the cave to bounce the 138 foot Rifle Barrel Shaft first. This pit is in a portion of the cave that is riddled with loose rock and mounds of boulders. Chad rigged the Rifle Barrel Shaft and proceeded into a hole that looked dug open. This pit was another rope eater drop and rocls rained down while everyone rappelled. Bob disappeared into a rather unpleasent looking canyon crawl to find a hidden dome that's not on the map. We old cavers decided against following him.....luckily for him, he came back. I would have felt bad about leaving him back there.....hehe.
Once we had finished bouncing the 138 footer, we returned to the 117 foot Electric Shaft. The Old Rockeater once told me this shaft got it's name from the crazy amounts of water it took, therefore carbide cavers didn't dare rappel it without an electric light. On this day the pit was taking a bit of water. I opted for a rappel over the top of a flowstone crusted breakdown bridge to stay dry, but upon closer inspection I worried about a precarious looking 500 pound rock that was just barely hanging on. Weighing my options between falling water (which rarely kills) and a 500 pound rock falling (which is sure to kill), I opted for the waterfall. The pit was quite wet, but was by far the nicest drop in the cave. The falling water has fluted the walls of the shaft for a millenia making it very photogenic. Only Bob followed me down the 117 footer. Harry stayed up top and waited on our return. Chad, Tim and Angie started the arduous journey back through the entrance series of pits.
Once Bob and I had climbed out, Harry pulled our rope and we headed back towards the entrance. At the 21 foot pit, Bob slapped himself in the face with his Jumar and cracked his front tooth while Harry and I were still in the bottom of the pit. So now at this point I guess I could call him "Snaggle Tooth" Bob. While Harry and Bob were working on bagging the remains of his tooth, reminiscent of putting a finger on ice in hopes of reattaching it later. I seriously doubt Bob will get his tooth reattached. We caught up to Tim climbing with a broken bungee. He was laboring up the 123 footer when I topped out in the 74 foot pit. One of these days he will take my advice and convert to frogging in these multidrop caves. Bob leap frogged me at the 74 footer and continued out as Harry and I finished hauling the ropes up the ledges in the entrance pit.
When I reached the surface it was dark and FRIGID! I changed into my dry clothes while the others coiled the last rope. Dark Well is a nice cave, but the hike back out sucks. I would really like to visit the cave when there is a steady stream of water dropping into the entrance.
Once we all gathered together, we ate at the Cracker Barrel in Kimball and then proceeded to our destination. The goal for our days adventure was a 421 foot deep multidrop in Paint Rock Valley named Dark Well. The cave has in it's possession three 100 foot pits of which I had never visited. The goal was to bottom the cave and bounce all three pits. Typically the cave takes a river of water from the surface, making Dark Well and all it's drops extremely sporting. The extended drought in the region has made the cave dry enough for a more leisurely trip on this day.
We parked at the apple orchard on top of the mountain. From the orchard the cave is exactly 500 vertical downhill. We had good coordinates passed to us by Andy and we also had Chad and John (Bob) who had visited the cave previously. Chad navigated us directly to it. The entrance sits in a rift that is 10 feet wide and over a hundred feet long and parallels the hillside. The entrance pit is found by walking down into the rift and into a small rock shelter. In the back of the shelter is the 1st pit of 123 feet. Water runs into the pit from the uphill side wall, it is obvious that rappelling this pit in high water would be scary.
The entrance series form in a rift, mirroring a series of trench-like sinks on the surface that flank the walk-in entrance on each side. I don't know if this would qualify as a fault in geology terms, but it is clear that the fault clearly provided the water a clear path to form the first series of pits. Rather than a traditional shaft, we rappelled into a 200 foot deep crack that has been slowly widened by solution.
Chad rigged the 1st pit using a nasty looking bolt in the ceiling and some climbing pro for backup, we also backed up to a large formation on the far wall. The entrance pit was drippy and had a few offsets and ledges....a real rope eater for sure. The bottom of the 123 footer terminates at the top of the second pit of 74 feet. This pit starts as a tight slot which I can't imagine would be much fun in high water....kind of reminds me of the Chickenhead drop in Elmo's Canyon. The 74 footer does bell out into a free drop into a more spacious room. Chad and I continued through a series of shorter rappels (16, 21 feet) and continued on to the top of Electric Shaft, a wet 117 foot pit. There we waited and waited for the others. Chad went out to rig a traverse around Electric Shaft that we would use to access the rest of the cave and the last 100 foot pit.
Chad finished rigging the whole traverse, Tim, Angie, John (Bob) and John (Harry) still had not arrived. Concerned, I went back to find them. I returned to the bottom of the 21 foot pit to find them just arriving. With the 180 foot rope in hand we returned to Electric Shaft to join Chad. Since the 117 foot pit was sure to be wet, we opted to traverse the pit first and proceed to the back of the cave to bounce the 138 foot Rifle Barrel Shaft first. This pit is in a portion of the cave that is riddled with loose rock and mounds of boulders. Chad rigged the Rifle Barrel Shaft and proceeded into a hole that looked dug open. This pit was another rope eater drop and rocls rained down while everyone rappelled. Bob disappeared into a rather unpleasent looking canyon crawl to find a hidden dome that's not on the map. We old cavers decided against following him.....luckily for him, he came back. I would have felt bad about leaving him back there.....hehe.
Once we had finished bouncing the 138 footer, we returned to the 117 foot Electric Shaft. The Old Rockeater once told me this shaft got it's name from the crazy amounts of water it took, therefore carbide cavers didn't dare rappel it without an electric light. On this day the pit was taking a bit of water. I opted for a rappel over the top of a flowstone crusted breakdown bridge to stay dry, but upon closer inspection I worried about a precarious looking 500 pound rock that was just barely hanging on. Weighing my options between falling water (which rarely kills) and a 500 pound rock falling (which is sure to kill), I opted for the waterfall. The pit was quite wet, but was by far the nicest drop in the cave. The falling water has fluted the walls of the shaft for a millenia making it very photogenic. Only Bob followed me down the 117 footer. Harry stayed up top and waited on our return. Chad, Tim and Angie started the arduous journey back through the entrance series of pits.
Once Bob and I had climbed out, Harry pulled our rope and we headed back towards the entrance. At the 21 foot pit, Bob slapped himself in the face with his Jumar and cracked his front tooth while Harry and I were still in the bottom of the pit. So now at this point I guess I could call him "Snaggle Tooth" Bob. While Harry and Bob were working on bagging the remains of his tooth, reminiscent of putting a finger on ice in hopes of reattaching it later. I seriously doubt Bob will get his tooth reattached. We caught up to Tim climbing with a broken bungee. He was laboring up the 123 footer when I topped out in the 74 foot pit. One of these days he will take my advice and convert to frogging in these multidrop caves. Bob leap frogged me at the 74 footer and continued out as Harry and I finished hauling the ropes up the ledges in the entrance pit.
When I reached the surface it was dark and FRIGID! I changed into my dry clothes while the others coiled the last rope. Dark Well is a nice cave, but the hike back out sucks. I would really like to visit the cave when there is a steady stream of water dropping into the entrance.
