Post by Brad Tipton on May 13, 2008 15:50:05 GMT -5
Sunday turned out to be quite an adventure. We loaded up the truck and we moved to Little Coon Valley.....in search of a cave that is. The objective of the day was to locate Dead Indian Drop, one very dead Indian included, and Teddy Bear Well. It rained during the entire drive. It was raining when we parked and set out across the fields towards the hillside. We crossed Little Coon Creek in a shallow, wide spot and hopped a barbed wire fence which would become instrumental in the drama which played out later in the day. We began scouring the hillside in search of Dead Indian Drop.
The rain fell and the pit would not reveal it's location. After some time we abandoned our effort to locate the shallow pit and focused on Teddy Bear Well. This rarely visited multidrop cave has two 100 foot drops in less than 2,500 feet of cave. After some toiling in the woods I managed to locate the small entrance which is located on practically level ground with no sink, no rock outcropping, no stream bed to give away it's location. I was actually rather surprised to walk up on it like that. Angie and Tim rigged the 107 foot entrance drop as the rain continued to fall.
The entrance pit drops about 75 feet into a large chamber. In the last 30 feet or so of the rappell the pit opens into the room and the walls are 100 feet away. The chamber is approximately 400 feet long by 75 feet wide. Once everyone was down, we proceeded to climb a fixed line up the far side of the chamber and into horizontal passage leading towards the Hanging Rock Room. We poked around looking for leads for a while. Finally we elected to climb down through breakdown and into a winding canyon. Tim attempted a climbdown while I traversed a tight canyon for a few hundred feet to a small attic area with a shallow pit. Because the airflow was minimal at best and the pit wasn't climbable, I assumed that I wasn't on the right track to find the 105 foot pit. Unable to continue without rope, I returned to find the others.
Tim's lead was a dead end. Angie and Beth's leads weren't any better. I had just spent 15 minutes extricating my fat ass from a limestone vice back in that canyon, so that convinced me that returning to the attic room with the rope would be more work than pleasure. Instead we poked around the rest of the cave without any luck. Later that evening, with map in hand, I realized that the attic area was less the 200 feet from the 105 foot pit. Oh well. Everyone climbed out of the 107 footer without complications. The rain greeted us upon our return to the surface. Our day of caving was complete, but the adventure had just begun.
Once we left Teddy Bear Well, I decided to steer in the general direction of where Dead Indian Drop was supposed to be located. While stopped pondering a karst feature, Beth spotted a snake on a large flat rock. Upon closer examination we concluded the snake was a Copperhead. I had been standing on that very rock for at least a few minutes right before she walked up behind me. Fortunately, neither of us were bitten. I couldn't believe I hadn't stepped on it.
After that bit of excitement, we continued downhill to the field we crossed earlier. I stopped to remove my rain jacket as the others continued to walk. As I was standing there I watched a black cow race through the trees from an adjacent field. The cow ran clear out of sight. When I rounded the bend to find the others I noticed the cow had plowed right into the barbed wire fence that we had crossed to access the hillside. The cow was entangled in the fence to the point that it was rendered helpless. Being the bleeding heart, animal lover that I am, I figured I would go over and try to free the cow by cutting the fence wire with my Leatherman tool. Once I had closed to within about 10 feet of the animal, it started thrashing around and managed to break free. Well, just about that time I realized that maybe this stupid cow didn't appreciate my good will.
So....there I was.....standing 10 feet from a highly pissed off, half ton of Black Angus, that happened to be snorting at me. I thought to myself, surely this bastard isn't going to charge me. Yeah, well, right about that time that bastard did just that. Without a whole lot of time to make a decision I cut left, the cow charged by barely brushing me. I tossed my rain jacket over his head which caused him to stop momentarily. That flawless acrobatic feat may have saved Angie from getting trampled. Once the jacket fell off, the cow proceeded to charge Angie who was in the process of scaling the fence. The cow sideswiped Angie while she was on the top rung of the fence, just brushing her. Then that crazy SOB made a bee line towards Tim and Beth on the far side of the field. If it hadn't been for the shock I probably would have pissed myself watching the two of them running for the tree line. That was priceless! I cannot describe it.
When all the drama had concluded, only Angie was scathed. The cow brushed against her leg that was straddling the fence. She recieved a couple of scrapes, nothing life threatening. Tim lectured us on being dumbasses by trying to save a cow's life.....I don't think he found it quite as hilarious as I did. What's life without some adventure?
Moral of the story you ask? Well, when searching for a dead indians in the bottom of those dark and scary pits....watch out for those poisonous reptiles, and never, ever piss off the rabid bovine.
The rain fell and the pit would not reveal it's location. After some time we abandoned our effort to locate the shallow pit and focused on Teddy Bear Well. This rarely visited multidrop cave has two 100 foot drops in less than 2,500 feet of cave. After some toiling in the woods I managed to locate the small entrance which is located on practically level ground with no sink, no rock outcropping, no stream bed to give away it's location. I was actually rather surprised to walk up on it like that. Angie and Tim rigged the 107 foot entrance drop as the rain continued to fall.
The entrance pit drops about 75 feet into a large chamber. In the last 30 feet or so of the rappell the pit opens into the room and the walls are 100 feet away. The chamber is approximately 400 feet long by 75 feet wide. Once everyone was down, we proceeded to climb a fixed line up the far side of the chamber and into horizontal passage leading towards the Hanging Rock Room. We poked around looking for leads for a while. Finally we elected to climb down through breakdown and into a winding canyon. Tim attempted a climbdown while I traversed a tight canyon for a few hundred feet to a small attic area with a shallow pit. Because the airflow was minimal at best and the pit wasn't climbable, I assumed that I wasn't on the right track to find the 105 foot pit. Unable to continue without rope, I returned to find the others.
Tim's lead was a dead end. Angie and Beth's leads weren't any better. I had just spent 15 minutes extricating my fat ass from a limestone vice back in that canyon, so that convinced me that returning to the attic room with the rope would be more work than pleasure. Instead we poked around the rest of the cave without any luck. Later that evening, with map in hand, I realized that the attic area was less the 200 feet from the 105 foot pit. Oh well. Everyone climbed out of the 107 footer without complications. The rain greeted us upon our return to the surface. Our day of caving was complete, but the adventure had just begun.
Once we left Teddy Bear Well, I decided to steer in the general direction of where Dead Indian Drop was supposed to be located. While stopped pondering a karst feature, Beth spotted a snake on a large flat rock. Upon closer examination we concluded the snake was a Copperhead. I had been standing on that very rock for at least a few minutes right before she walked up behind me. Fortunately, neither of us were bitten. I couldn't believe I hadn't stepped on it.
After that bit of excitement, we continued downhill to the field we crossed earlier. I stopped to remove my rain jacket as the others continued to walk. As I was standing there I watched a black cow race through the trees from an adjacent field. The cow ran clear out of sight. When I rounded the bend to find the others I noticed the cow had plowed right into the barbed wire fence that we had crossed to access the hillside. The cow was entangled in the fence to the point that it was rendered helpless. Being the bleeding heart, animal lover that I am, I figured I would go over and try to free the cow by cutting the fence wire with my Leatherman tool. Once I had closed to within about 10 feet of the animal, it started thrashing around and managed to break free. Well, just about that time I realized that maybe this stupid cow didn't appreciate my good will.
So....there I was.....standing 10 feet from a highly pissed off, half ton of Black Angus, that happened to be snorting at me. I thought to myself, surely this bastard isn't going to charge me. Yeah, well, right about that time that bastard did just that. Without a whole lot of time to make a decision I cut left, the cow charged by barely brushing me. I tossed my rain jacket over his head which caused him to stop momentarily. That flawless acrobatic feat may have saved Angie from getting trampled. Once the jacket fell off, the cow proceeded to charge Angie who was in the process of scaling the fence. The cow sideswiped Angie while she was on the top rung of the fence, just brushing her. Then that crazy SOB made a bee line towards Tim and Beth on the far side of the field. If it hadn't been for the shock I probably would have pissed myself watching the two of them running for the tree line. That was priceless! I cannot describe it.
When all the drama had concluded, only Angie was scathed. The cow brushed against her leg that was straddling the fence. She recieved a couple of scrapes, nothing life threatening. Tim lectured us on being dumbasses by trying to save a cow's life.....I don't think he found it quite as hilarious as I did. What's life without some adventure?
Moral of the story you ask? Well, when searching for a dead indians in the bottom of those dark and scary pits....watch out for those poisonous reptiles, and never, ever piss off the rabid bovine.