kolstad (07/13/82)
#N:uiucdcs:21000003:000:3835
uiucdcs!kolstad Jul 12 22:05:00 1982
Purdue & U.Illinois joined forces last Saturday at two caves near Bedford,
Indiana. Bill Woelbeling from Purdue & 3 buddies (Scott Holbrook, Corey
Ames, Eriks) joined two more Bedfordite cavers (Matt & Jeff) and the Urbana
contingent (myself, two explorer scouts) to spelunk in Donnehue's (sp?)
and Twin Dog caves.
The entry to Donnehue's is now a culvert located a mile or so from Bedford.
The culvert was installed when highway blasters discovered the cave extended
through the right of way. (The "old" entrance is in the bluffs by the boat
club). The culvert was lined with millipedes which, in the dim light of
shadows, bear a remarkable emotional resemblance to maggots. Disgusting.
The entrance passages were well decorated with formations ("speleothems" say
the pros) and had a definite inverted L shape (one sometimes had to bend
sideways to walk). A small stream ran through much of the entrance.
Once past the entrance, the ceiling was at 15-20' in passages from 8-20'
wide (larger passages in my limited experience). Giant stalactites greeted
our lights when flashed toward the ceiling. The floor occasionally cracked
open to reveal an alternate (and nevertheless covered) passage way some 20-
30' below.
A junction room led to several different twisty passages which yielded domes
when followed for long enough. Tight passages were the order of the day in
that part of the back of the cave. A circular route took us back through the
"star route" (a passage whose cross section resembled a five pointed star) to
the junction.
Donnehue's connects to twin dog cave via a several hundred (thousand?) foot
passage which gets progressively more difficult to pass. 1.5 foot wide
passages were 5' high with an additional slot for your head -- usually.
Farther along it was belly-crawl (and back-crawl) through mud, water, and
the tiniest hole I could imagine fitting through (it was ellipsoid 16"
big diameter, 12" small diameter!). The reward for passing through this
water, mud, and tight squeezes was the view from the 30' bluff that comprised
the interface to twin dog cave. Not much of a view, actually, in the dark.
My first experience with ropes brought us down the side of the bluff to a
natural bridge (formed from a rimstone dam which had been undercut a LONG
time ago by the stream below).
The stream passage was 15-20' wide and 40' high and extended behind us for
scores of feet and obviusly USED to extend in front of us for a long while...
unfortunately it is now sealed by a 40' high piece of flowstone. Terrific.
Skinny people of our party (6 of 10) were able to skirt through a side
passage. My first bathtub was 55 degrees and 50 feet long. Bleah.
How do you keep your carbide lamp from getting too wet in bathtubs, anyway?
We had now been in the cave for 3.5 hours. We were cold and tired. We
were more than half way, but the trip changed from sightseeing to survival
and endurance. Two more short (10') bathtubs led us to the waterfalls.
Twin Dog has a dozen or two of these waterfalls: rimstone dams with water
flowing over the top (cold water) that are four feet deep behind the dam
itself. We got to climb over them. Through the cold water. Onto the
slippery clay. One and half hours of slipping/sliding/freezing through
the water and clay led us to the exit, a pleasant grotto just outside of
a corn or illicit drug field. Five hundred yards to the cars and we were
on our way.
I hope to try Wyandotte cave next -- I hear it's drier and I'm not up to
the endurance contest we had last time for a while. August 21st marks an
expedition to the "back" of Sullivan's termed "Beyond the Beyond" -- 12
miles of passages including several several-hundred foot bathtubs. We
shall see. I hope to avoid panicing this time.
Where is everyone else going this fine summer?
Robkolstad (07/14/82)
#R:uiucdcs:21000003:uiucdcs:21000004:000:115 uiucdcs!kolstad Jul 13 20:22:00 1982 Twin Dog cave is not called Twin Dog Cave, it is called "Dog Hill Cave". My mind is not full of cobwebs. Really.