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TAG Fall Cave In 2003 - Hurricane
Woody Vinzant
After doing a trip into Sauta Cave, Matt and I decided we still had enough energy for one more cave before we had to head home. We parked at the normal spot just after dark. We had never been to this cave before so we had to rely on directions we had heard from other cavers.
After hiking and locating the entrance, we crawled what had to be 150' into the cave. The stream bed cave was nicer than we thought it would be. We followed the winding passage while listening to the continuous sounds of water. Sometimes we had to stop and be quiet to make sure no one else was in the cave. The water movement made the cave "talk". It was neat but kind of creepy too. I forgot my boots so I borrowed some real crappy ones from Andy. They were the worst boots I've ever used. They were just a little better than going bare footed. The rubber leaked immediately and they wouldn't' let the cold water drain out. I hated them.
Matt had a map of the cave, so we thought we'd try to see as much of it as possible. I swear, we crawled more in TAG this year than I have in all my other trips combined. (Who would've figured we'd crawl 1500' in a huge cave like Sauta?) I had heard of a passage above the water fall that kept going, so we had to go there. It was really neat walking (OK , crawling) on the chert shelf. We saw a surprising amount of formations and took a lot of pictures. The wet walls made a good setting for some pictures (except we couldn't quit "steaming" long enough to get what we really wanted.) We didn't do the "through trip" but we did see most of the cave. It was a nice cave to spend a couple of hours in. The best part was I didn't have to bring any vertical gear! This is "a must" for "Bunny slope" cavers. Next time we're up, we'll have to go back and take Andy in. This time I'll wear boots that fit right (I threw Andy's boots in the garbage). The blisters on both of my ankles are the only "Cave bites" I got on the whole trip. After doing Cemetery pit and the cave, S. Pittsburgh pit and the cave, Sauta cave (and crawl) I get blisters from none other than Hurricane Cave. How embarrassing.
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