Going Caving Tomorrow

[Tynstar]

Damn that looks really cool. I have only been on the tours that don't count. The tour was at the Grand Canyon Carvens.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Well tomorrow I leave to go on another cave trip.  I got a nice LED light for Christmas, so this will be my first chance to use it.  I've also finally officially joined the Cincinnati Cave Grotto, so this will be my first trip as a "real" member.  Anyhow, we're going to be caving in Kentucky in the Cumberland Gap area.  Originally I thought I heard West Virginia, but I was wrong.  We'll be in one cave for six or seven hours I think on Saturday, and then we'll be going on a commercial cave tour in the National Park on Sunday just for kicks.  I'll be back late on Sunday, with lots of pictures.  As long as cave crickets don't eat me like they did a certain other Collins.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Okay, I'm back.  I got a few good photos too.  Friday night we stayed in a motel in Kentucky.  Saturday morning we drove through the tunnel in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, which was in Tennessee.  After a very short while we were in Virginia, where the cave we were going to was.  The cave we went to on Saturday was near Pennington Gap, called Gilley's Cave.  Sunday, we went on a commercial cave called Gap Cave, which was in the National Park in Tennessee.  Both caves had some very unusual features and formations, but unfortunately both have been damaged heavily by really dumb people.  Anyway, here are some photos I took over the weekend.  Panoramas will follow.  (A few of these are parts of panoramic series, but that's okay.)

Gilley's Cave

Cave entrance.


"Before" group photo.




Gypsum flowers.  Dirty though.


Gypsum columns.  Also dirty.






It's dark in there!






More typical gypsum, with a few small gypsum columns/soda straws.




My cave helmet.






This stuff just coated the cave all over.  Unfortunately this crawlspace was in the best condition of the whole cave, and even it was fairly damaged.




This should give you a good size comparison.


"After" group photo.  I'm the one that's not old.

[Lord Nepenthean]

The following are from the cave we went in this morning.  As I said, it was in the National Park.  While the previous cave was what I would call "real" caving, this one was just a tour through a commercial cave.  Regardless, it was very beautiful as you'll see below.  There was much less gypsum, but a lot more traditional formations - only in extremely plentiful numbers and sizes.

Gap Cave



Difficult to see, but the column is in the pool of a rimstone dam.


This photo, the next, and several others (not shown) will be stitched together into one image later.






As you can see, this column was enormous.  I think I've only seen one or two this size in my life.  The photo does little justice to it, and especially not the room it was in.  The room was even larger, with flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, and more coating everything.  Really incredible stuff, in spite of the fact that it was a commercial cave.

[Arrrhalomynn]

Those are some pretty funky caves. Isn't there any danger in crawling into all those small spaces?

[den68]

wow, that's some pretty damn cool stuff. great pictures.

[Izret101]

Thats awesome.

I was Howe Cavern in New York (i think). Gap Cave reminded me of it. Except i remember it more colorful for some reason.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Isn't there any danger in crawling into all those small spaces?

Of course.  There is usually more danger in other parts of caves though than the crawlspaces.  For instance, there was a spot in Gilley's where there was a pit that was somewhere between fifty and seventy feet deep, and twenty feet or so across.  To get around it, we had to walk along a ledge maybe two feet wide.  If you fall in, you -ay not come back out.  Another big danger is not taking enough sources of light and travelling alone.  If you do that and run out of light, you'll need a lot of luck.  You've never experienced total darkness until you've gone into a cave.  Then there is always the concern of dehydrating, needing food, getting injured, etc.  Some caves can also be dangerous because of water.  During heavy rains, a passage may become impassable, and you could get trapped.  Cave ceilings do indeed fall, and they have hit people, but this is extremely rare.  The only instance of this that I can think of offhand is Floyd Collins.

However, if you're careful, take plenty of light sources, water, and a bit of food, travel in a group (with at least one person that knows the cave well), and take a cave map, you'll be fine 99% of the time.

On the other hand, cave diving is something entirely different.  The likelihood of death while doing that is just ridiculous.  That's part of why I'll never do it.

[Tynstar]

Those are some cool pics. Caves are one of the coolest places on Earth.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Here we go.  This one is a LOT better than the crappy one I had up there above.

[Izret101]

Your right the pictured don't give it justice.
I knew it was going to be big but that shot makes it look so much larger.