Bat Cave
Alachua County, Florida
October 19, 2008
Traveled with a small group to Bat Cave today. The trip was organized by FSS member Cara Gentry. She was leading a group of geology students from Santa Fe Community College through the cave. The property the cave is on is owned by Santa Fe Community College. The property itself was gated as was each entrance and pit, 5 total. We didn't have any access to the wild entrance, however we did have access to a stair well that was built into the cave. The cave is well named, as the first thing I saw out of the stairs were three bats sleeping. After the stairs there was a few feet of crawling that lead to a circular room with three passages, one straight forward and one both to the left and right. Straight forward passage led on for quite some time through some narrow squeezes and finally opened up into a fairly large room. A few gargoyles have been planted in the cave, presumably by Santa Fe Community College. The right passage lead to the "lake" in the cave. The water level was fairly low, so low in fact that I was able to step right over it. around the lake there was another small room with some interesting fossils in the roof, including one fossilised crab and a fossilised bone on the floor from an unknown animal. It continued on into a small squeeze that I didn't attempt. The left passage lead to many other rooms and one very long, very muddy, crawl space. The cave apparently floods when it rains, as marked by the mud on the walls of the crawl space.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
TAG Caves
October 7-8, 2008
Made my first TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia) this year with Wendy. Camped and caved quite a bit, had to say I really had a great time. Camped with Nic Domico, one of Wendy's co-workers, and Greg Wilson and Jennifer Burns, both NSS members. Traveled to Howard's Waterfall cave and spent about three and a half hours inside. The profile picture on here is actually the entrance of Howard's Waterfall. Very open cave, lots of places to crawl around in, and many places to climb as well. Went quite a ways back, even managed to find one of the registries, all five of us signed. Ran into two other groups of cavers while in the cave, one entered about the same time we did, never actually ran into them again after the entrance. The other was coming in on our way out, very large group, about eight or nine I believe, including one child that was around 4 years old. Two of the latter group had carbide head lamps.
Cedar Ridge Crystal Cave
The second cave during TAG, Crystal Rock Caverns, fairly small, only around 400' and only one way to go. FULL of formations. Lots of breakdown in the cave, one room completely covered with it, and all the formations made for some complicated squeezes since I was trying to maneuver without touching the formations. The roof was all soda straws in every room and there were rock columns that were around 25' tall. The cave was mainly comprised of five large circular rooms, a few climbing spots on the sides of the third room allowed for some interesting vantage points to take pictures from, however something was wrong with the camera housing and it left a black reflection on the bottom right of all my pictures, so nothing came out so well. There was a group of photographers in the cave as well, spotlighting the rock columns and other various formations.
October 7-8, 2008
Made my first TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia) this year with Wendy. Camped and caved quite a bit, had to say I really had a great time. Camped with Nic Domico, one of Wendy's co-workers, and Greg Wilson and Jennifer Burns, both NSS members. Traveled to Howard's Waterfall cave and spent about three and a half hours inside. The profile picture on here is actually the entrance of Howard's Waterfall. Very open cave, lots of places to crawl around in, and many places to climb as well. Went quite a ways back, even managed to find one of the registries, all five of us signed. Ran into two other groups of cavers while in the cave, one entered about the same time we did, never actually ran into them again after the entrance. The other was coming in on our way out, very large group, about eight or nine I believe, including one child that was around 4 years old. Two of the latter group had carbide head lamps.
Cedar Ridge Crystal Cave
The second cave during TAG, Crystal Rock Caverns, fairly small, only around 400' and only one way to go. FULL of formations. Lots of breakdown in the cave, one room completely covered with it, and all the formations made for some complicated squeezes since I was trying to maneuver without touching the formations. The roof was all soda straws in every room and there were rock columns that were around 25' tall. The cave was mainly comprised of five large circular rooms, a few climbing spots on the sides of the third room allowed for some interesting vantage points to take pictures from, however something was wrong with the camera housing and it left a black reflection on the bottom right of all my pictures, so nothing came out so well. There was a group of photographers in the cave as well, spotlighting the rock columns and other various formations.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Marion County Caving
Jennings Cave
Marion County, Fl
September 19, 2008
Wendy and I met with another Florida caver, Mike Gordon, at Jennings cave for my first vertical experience. Entered the cave using a hand line while being belayed. A little scary going down the first few steps, but once I got the hang of it it wasn't so bad. Jennings was the largest Florida cave I have been to so far, it was nice to actually be able to stand up in a cave for a change. Got coaxed into attempting a very very tight squeeze. Didn't quite make it, believe that may be the first time in my life I ever felt truly chlostraphobic. I'm proud of myself for not getting to flustered and having the good sense to turn around and get out. Also met there with Danny and Annette Brinton, two other Florida cavers. Enjoyed the trip quite a bit, all in all.
Marion County, Fl
September 19, 2008
Wendy and I met with another Florida caver, Mike Gordon, at Jennings cave for my first vertical experience. Entered the cave using a hand line while being belayed. A little scary going down the first few steps, but once I got the hang of it it wasn't so bad. Jennings was the largest Florida cave I have been to so far, it was nice to actually be able to stand up in a cave for a change. Got coaxed into attempting a very very tight squeeze. Didn't quite make it, believe that may be the first time in my life I ever felt truly chlostraphobic. I'm proud of myself for not getting to flustered and having the good sense to turn around and get out. Also met there with Danny and Annette Brinton, two other Florida cavers. Enjoyed the trip quite a bit, all in all.
Withalacoochie Caves
Withalacoochie Forest State Park
Citrus County, Florida
September 12, 2008
Dames Cave
My first cave. Tucked back in the Withalacoochie Forest State Park in Florida, the cave has two entrances. The first is a vertical drop of about thirty feet (approx), the other is a passageway to the right of the drop that leads into the same pit. The pit opens into a smaller area about 40 feet long that had a small crawlspace in the end of it. Managed to make it into the crawl space that lead to a room about 6 square feet. Not so easy to get out of. Trip was lead by my girlfriend Wendy Shirah and another Florida caver Bruce Flareau from the Tampa Bay Area Grotto.
Girl Scout Cave AKA Fungus Amongus
Cave was mostly blocked by a somewhat recent wash-out most likely caused by the storms the preceeding month. Only able to get about 20 feet or so inside the cave. Saw my first cave cricket, mistook it for a spider at first. Had a little panic moment.
Peace Cave
Also in the Withalacoochie Forest. Smaller cave with a flat entrance. Lower roof that lead to a short drop, maybe 3 feet down. Low roof for about 15 to 20 feet that opened into a slightly larger room, nearly large enough to stand in. Large circular room, lots of tea lights placed there by another unknown party. Quite a shame. The circular room had another smaller room in it with a small worm hole. Managed to squeeze into that. Another smaller worm hole inside that, wasn't quite brave enough to try to get into it.
Holey Oak Cave
Met up with two other Florida cavers, Nancy and Larry Rueff. Made the climb down a somewhat narrow squeeze into the cave, fairly short but relatively deep. Lots of break down, some of which looked man-made. Even more graffiti. Nancy and Larry both seemed to be quite knowledgeable about things, very informative trip and lots of fun for my first four caves.
Citrus County, Florida
September 12, 2008
Dames Cave
My first cave. Tucked back in the Withalacoochie Forest State Park in Florida, the cave has two entrances. The first is a vertical drop of about thirty feet (approx), the other is a passageway to the right of the drop that leads into the same pit. The pit opens into a smaller area about 40 feet long that had a small crawlspace in the end of it. Managed to make it into the crawl space that lead to a room about 6 square feet. Not so easy to get out of. Trip was lead by my girlfriend Wendy Shirah and another Florida caver Bruce Flareau from the Tampa Bay Area Grotto.
Girl Scout Cave AKA Fungus Amongus
Cave was mostly blocked by a somewhat recent wash-out most likely caused by the storms the preceeding month. Only able to get about 20 feet or so inside the cave. Saw my first cave cricket, mistook it for a spider at first. Had a little panic moment.
Peace Cave
Also in the Withalacoochie Forest. Smaller cave with a flat entrance. Lower roof that lead to a short drop, maybe 3 feet down. Low roof for about 15 to 20 feet that opened into a slightly larger room, nearly large enough to stand in. Large circular room, lots of tea lights placed there by another unknown party. Quite a shame. The circular room had another smaller room in it with a small worm hole. Managed to squeeze into that. Another smaller worm hole inside that, wasn't quite brave enough to try to get into it.
Holey Oak Cave
Met up with two other Florida cavers, Nancy and Larry Rueff. Made the climb down a somewhat narrow squeeze into the cave, fairly short but relatively deep. Lots of break down, some of which looked man-made. Even more graffiti. Nancy and Larry both seemed to be quite knowledgeable about things, very informative trip and lots of fun for my first four caves.
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