       |
|
TAG Fall Cave In 2005 - Got Mud? Brian Williams Pics: Brian Williams, Woody and Matt Vinzant You can almost always expect some rain at the Tag Fall Cave In, but this year it rained non stop, and by the end of the weekend, we all had "mud in our blood"....and tents and trucks and underwear...... The meticulously graded gravel roads throughout the campground quickly turned into mud bogs worthy of any 4-wheel drive event and the camping sites that looked good on Thursday were quagmires by Saturday. The moisture did nothing to dampen the caver spirit however, and the party rolled on. We even found time to get some caving in. Matt Vinzant, Paul Smith and I left Thursday morning from Gainesville in our truck crammed to the roof with gear. The rain started around Macon Georgia and stayed with us the rest of the way. The worst part was that foggy slow drive along the ridge on hwy 137 out of Menlo. It got much worse at night as visibility was reduced to just a few feet through the foggy soup. Arriving at registration, we found that the Roberts had already staked out an area big enough to accommodate a large contingent of FSS cavers. The site was a bit muddy back there and we were wishing for a better spot but by the end of the weekend it really didn't matter where you had set camp as the entire site was a mud-fest. We quickly set up camp and then headed off to visit friends and maybe spend some money at Vendors Row. Latter that evening more FSS'ers pulled in and set up camp. The rest of the Vinzants finally made it around midnight and set up as the rain was coming down harder by then. Friday morning we left the campground early and headed over to Scottsboro, AL. The plan was to visit Guffeys, Limrock or something else in that area depending on the weather. As we crossed the river, the weather suddenly changed and the skies cleared. We quickly altered our plans and headed over to Stephens Gap. This was Carol and Danny's first TAG trip so we wanted to get them into at least one good pit. As we pulled up to the quarry road, we noticed the gate was closed and no vehicles were in sight. A quick call to Buddy Lane at the SCCi booth and we found out that it was indeed open for the weekend, we just needed to leave our names with Buddy. We dropped the gate and headed in to find no other cavers at the site. This was more than perfect! A TAG weekend, the rain had stopped, and we had the place to ourselves. In fact, we spent several hours at Stephens Gap and later at Pipeside and did not see another caver the entire time! After a perfect day of pits and climbing, we headed over to Scottsboro to eat. When we finished our dinner, Matt suggested we head over to Sauta Cave and watch the Gray Bat flight. So that's what we did. They had built a new viewing platform way out from the mouth of the cave but we headed on up to just inside the entrance area to enjoy the flight from a bit closer up. After about an hour of watching the bats come out then checking out the glowworms on the cave walls, we headed out and drove back over into Georgia to the campground to party and visit for the rest of the evening. Saturday morning our plan was to head back over to Scottsboro since it was still raining in Georgia. I had a spring dive I was surveying and wanted to get some more data with another dive while we were that close. Becky Dettorre from Nashville had come along with us today and along with the Vinzants, they waited at the bluff while I did a quick survey dive to add to the line. I'm trying to get to some dry passage somewhere beyond this sump but the underwater part is very large and the vis was only 4 to 5 ft and it takes a while to get the line set and find the way on. I added another 100 ft and got the survey on the way out. It seemed to be colder than I remember and I my teeth were chattering by the time I got changed back into some warm clothes after the dive. Next we headed over to Guffeys Cave. I had been here just a few months ago and wanted to show it to the Vinzants and Becky. Imagine our surprise when we made it down to the sinkhole and heard Matt say, "Hey Brian, was this gate here last time you came." Gate, what gate? It seems the owners had installed a brand new gate within the last week. I gave them a call to get the key, but they live over 30 miles away so we cancelled our trip to Guffeys. Back in the trucks and a little further up the road brought us to The Crossings Cave. None of us had ever been here before, but I knew about where it was so we gave it a shot. We found the driveway where we were supposed to park and talked with the gentleman at the house who told us where to find the cave. We walked right to it and were happy to find no gate this time. This is a small beginners cave but some nice formations and walking passage made this a pleasant cave to visit in the afternoon. We spent about 3 hours here and then headed back to Scottsboro once again to eat. I wanted to be back in time for the bonfire and band that night. Woody and the rest of the "Mighty Vinzants" said they would rather go caving and headed off to take Carol and Danny up Fox Mountain to Rusty's and Hurricane. Becky and I headed back to the campground and the party. It was a long night of visiting with old friends and making new ones. The band was really good this year and the DGC out-did themselves this year on the hotub and sauna area. The weather finally gave us a break and the rain stopped for a while. The roads and the campsites were still a muddy mess but the party never stopped. It did seem to be an unusually quiet TAG this year and I only heard 2 carbide bombs the entire time. Sunday morning we all had to be out of the campground by noon. Paul decided to catch a ride back to Gainesville with Buford and Jimmy, so Matt and I loaded our gear with a bit more room this time and the rest of Team Vinzant packed up as we made our plans for the day. Becky decided to hit Valhalla with her friends from Nashville and we decided to head north to Camps Gulf and stay up there for one more night. We found a motel up in Dunlap and dropped off some gear then headed on up to Camps Gulf. The Vinznats had not been here before and I wanted to show them this monstrous cave. I had been here many times before but only once had I gone to the back in Echo Hall. We planned on spending about 5 hours in the cave. Somehow we got turned around on the top of the breakdown in the back and had a bit of trouble finding our way out. It's obvious where we screwed up now but at the time it was not very much fun. Matt, Danny and I must have gone around the perimeter of Echo Hall 5 times... and that's a long way. The problem was, we kept passing by the way out, but thought that was just the last room, and not the way to Rotunda Hall. Finally we decided that had to be the way and we were just confused and tired after 3 hours of wandering over breakdown. Well, at least we got to see the borehole passage and lot of other stuff I had never seen in Echo Hall. Ten hours after heading in we were back at the truck, very tired, but very happy to be out. Can you believe the only Huddle House in Dunlap was closed that night? After a long drive all the way back to Kimball for some breakfast, we arrived back at the motel around 2:30 am and finally crashed for the night. The next morning we got up and headed toward Chattanooga. I couldn't convince anyone to stop anywhere to cave along the way, even after a giant breakfast at Cracker Barrel. For some reason, they had had enough for the weekend and were ready to get home...go figure! "Hey, next time we'll head over to Rumbling Falls and see if we can get lost in there too!
|
