Maloy's Waterfall
By Brian Williams
Photos by: Caren Beck, Team Vinzant, and Brian Williams

It really does exist, really. It's called "The Ultimate Thing in the Wall". I had seen pictures of it but after 4 trips to this outstanding South Georgia cave, I had never found this famous formation. Team Vinzant thought that perhaps it was just a big inside joke and whenever someone went to Waterfall cave and asked about the formation, those in the know would tell them where to look, then quietly smile to themselves for sending yet another unknowing soul on the cave equivalent of a snipe hunt. Well, this time was going to be different. We were going to find this formation and if not, well, back to snipe hunting.

Our band of merry cavers had left Florida the previous day at 5:30 am and traveled over to Cairo, GA for a weekend tour of some beautiful and challenging caves. Saturday's photography trip to Glory Hole was great but now we were ready for a bit more of a challenge. It had to be Waterfall time, and this time I was going to find that thing in the wall!

First stop, fuel. Breakfast, yummy. This is a big part of the trip and it has to be good, right Caren? Fortunately it's a lot easier to find a good breakfast in a small town than it is to find a good dinner. Sure, this town is famous for it, but hold the syrup please. After devouring well over our minimum daily requirement of grease, we headed to the woods. The road in was not too muddy and we all made it down the hill to park near the sink. Would not want to walk any further than we had too you know? There actually was a waterfall flowing this time so we rigged the normal drop and rappelled into the sink. We did a pull down so as not to leave our rope exposed. The climb out is much easier than the climb down and one can climb up, rig a rope and let the rest of the group use it as a safety for exits.

Now, which entrance do we want, the passage to the top of the balcony or Catfish Crawl? When water flow is not an issue, is does not matter which way you go, it just depends on how much you like thousands of baby roaches. I don't care for all the crawling and the roaches going through the Catfish passage, so naturally that's the way we went. You always seem to breath in one or two while crawling with your face that close to the ground. So here we go down catfish, we will just have to come out the other way. Wouldn't want to see the same passage twice.

A small colony of bats greeted us on the roof of the first room in the catfish crawl. Once past the roaches, we headed to the big room but there were no more bats to be seen. Sometimes this room is alive with thousands of bats but not this time, just gobs of guano. Histo anyone? After checking out the big room we headed through the sand crawls making our way to the breakdown pile that encompasses the Grim Triangle of Death… and the gate. This is really the beginning of the trip and time to get psyched up to get through all that twisting, turning, shin-busting, passage in the breakdown pile. It's the only way in to see the good stuff and even without the logging chain gate, the passage past the Grim Triangle is almost enough to dissuade any trespassing. It certainly does deter any overweight cavers or those that might be dragging a six-pack into the cave to party. Don't worry Woody, we'll pull you through if we have too!

After the crawl comes the first formation room and it's a welcome reward. Having spread out a good bit through the crawls, we finally regrouped in the Rendezvous Room. This huge room is a great place to slam down a "power bar" and reflect on what a wonderful privilege it is to see this beautiful cave and it's outstanding formations. Of course it's also where you realize that you still have a huge cave in front of you and you have to go out the way you came in. What a pleasant thought. With that in mind, let's find that Thing-in-the wall.

We did the usual tour, usual for us that is. Stumbling around, up and down every passage, till we have seen them all twice… then we break out the map. Tom Stodd gave us a few clues as to where this famous formation was located. With that knowledge in hand, we set off, and continued to stumble around till we lucked up on it. My formation meter was going off the scale when Sully found a suspicious hole in the wall with beautiful crystals adorning the inside. Got to be it. I look inside, no joy. It's got to be here close though. No other walls in the place look like this. I described what I knew the formation looked like to the group and we fanned out to search. Then, from up above where we were searching a cry rang out, "I've got it! " It was Matt Vinzant. I hope he just means I "found" it and not, I "got" it. I scrambled up and over and peered into the hole. There it was, hanging like a crystal ornament. Finally. Now lets get some pictures of this thing. We certainly lit the place up with strobes from every angle, but we managed to get a few good shots anyway.

After the pictures were done we proceeded to a part of the cave we had not been in to explore further. Lots more formations and winding circles of passage. Several of us went different ways exploring various leads. We finally decided to head out. You know, we still got to find a Golden Corral to eat at when we get out and when we want food, we want to be able to find it in a hurry. (In case you haven't gathered yet, eating is almost as important to this group as caving.)

We headed back a different route and explored some more side leads. I got a good laugh when somebody asked if we had to go back out through the Grim Triangle passage. What, you didn't like that passage? Oh, you don't have enough bruises yet to leave, let's see what it's like to when you are tired. Going back out it not too bad except for the poor sucker who has to lock the gate back. Sully unlocks it, Brian locks it, Sully pulls Brian out of the hole by his feet. With that behind us we headed back to the entrance sink where Sully made a nice free climb to rig the rope so the rest of us could climb out with a safety.

A few of us washed up in the creek. Talk about cold, how come there is no ice on this creek because I know it must be below freezing? We took a few parting shots of the sink and packed up for the long ride home. This is perhaps the most dangerous and crucial leg of the journey. "Everyone keep your eyes open for a Golden Corral, yummy!"