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BRIAR TRIP REPORT Alex Cole After a fun night listening to the band around the bonfire at the 2003 cave cavort, 9AM came very early to Belleview. The trip to Briar's led by Team Vinzant loaded up and followed them to the cave, and in no time were staring in to the tiny crack that they call an "entrance". After about 15 minutes of moaning, groaning, and squeezing, we all finally managed to wriggle into the cave. As we waited for the rest of the group, someone commented that the cave looked like a TAG cave that had been relocated to Florida. The cave was very different from the limited number of caves that I have seen in Florida... there were formations in the first room! As soon as everyone was in, we headed to the Endless Room. Once through the Elusive Squeeze, we stopped to look around at the soda straws that seemed to go on forever. Woody noticed that the water level below the jump was very high, so he swam down to check and make sure that there was sufficient airspace to continue through the Subway Tunnel. Woody came back and told us that it was clear, and everybody (except Matt who was keeping the lighter dry) decided to swim instead of take the dry bypass. After a short rest and an air check in the Melody Room, we continued to the pool room. We headed through Hydrophobiacs Horror to the second breakdown room. After a quick air check we were on the way again. It took a minute to find the way because Woody likes to go through the tightest spots possible instead of taking the walking passage... Once through the squeeze, we entered a small breakdown room where we waited for the rest of the group to squeeze through. A check of the air showed that the air quality was deteriorating a little bit, but was still acceptable. Part of the group broke off here to visit the maze area where some of the best cave formations, including some dog tooth spar and helectite, are found. Although we did not check the air in this area, we were all feeling a little tired and decided to head out. From this point, we swam back to the Melody Room and climbed up through to the Endless Room. In the Endless Room on the way out, we met the group that had entered an hour after we did. We talked to them and compared notes and off we went. At this point, we tried a caving technique that I hear is called the "Birdsall Roll." This is not only fun to do, but is also fun to watch people get dizzy and run into each other. We stopped for a little while to let the room stop spinning, then headed down to what ended up being the most challenging part of the cave (not counting the entrance.) The Slot was a lot of fun and really got everyone's adrenaline going. Once in the Hippopotamus Wallow, we sang a very loud and off key version of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." A refreshing swim and a short climb later, we were all squeezing and squirming through the entrance again. I would like to thank the Vinzants (Woody, Matt, and Andy) for leading the trip and making it as enjoyable as it was. |