Rumbling Falls, ESSO Adventure...
We arrived
in the parking area for Rumbling Falls Cave right around 1600, on the 29th, of
October, 2004. The weather was unseasonably warm and a bit humid. We had a
perfect size team of five, me and Brian Saul from the ESSO grotto, of Flatwoods,
KY and Dave, Kenny, and Mark from the MUDD grotto, of Memphis, TN. We suited up
all, but vertical gear and headed anxiously for the cave entrance. We made
it to the entrance and Dave started to rig the first drop around 1630. I was
hesitant to put on my vertical gear until the rigging was finished, because of
the temperature outside. It was strange sitting at the mouth of such a cave and
yet there was no air movement of any kind. I had prepared a lot for the cave,
mentally and physically, but was surprised that my nerves and stomach were doing
so well before such a big trip. I have yo-yoed a few pits before, but this was
my first vertical caving trip and little did I know it was the Super Bowl of
most all.
I made the small crawl of about 20 feet into the entrance back to the first vertical drop. It was an average drop about 80 feet, but it had many decorations on the way down with a few Indiana bats tucked in between. We completed the drop and were off to the Rumble room, but still had much lying between us. Onward to the first waterfall we pushed our way through a small stooping stream passage, about 100 yards in distance. Along the way I notice some millipedes and larger than normal cave crickets. We made it to the first waterfall which was about 25 feet high. The fall was rigged, but the volume of water was low, so we all made the free climb up. We continued through more wet & low pass up to the second fall which was around 35 feet in height. Some chose to free climb, but this time I chose the rope, thinking it would be easier. Once to the top it was harder than I had imagined, with a tricky traverse and too little protection. After Mark and I carefully negotiated the traverse we quickly caught up with the others who were shedding vertical gear and preparing for a nasty crawl. The crawl was a long wet pack pusher over cobble stone through a stream passage for more than 100 yards. We popped out in a small, but much welcomed room to rest and grab a drink before heading on. We crouched and crawled our way though a couple hundred more yards of passage marking our way as we went for the return trip. We came upon some walking canyon passage that wound its way toward the Rumble room, but one more thing stood in our way. The nice canyon quickly narrowed to a mere 6 inches. Brian Saul quickly took lead and scampered up the 30 foot canyon to start a pack pushing belly crawl straddling the canyon. The crawl continued on for a little over 30 yards. The tricky part was to straddle the canyon switching packs from side to side (where ever there was room) and not drop them or yourself into the narrow canyon where retrieval would be hard if not impossible. We finally made it though and ended up at a small ledge area with a big void in front it.
The void was the massive Rumble Room. We had made it! The room was what we had all struggled 6 hours to get to. The light eating room is a whapping 6 acre, which is big enough to fit a modern day sports arena inside. The time was 2230 and we once again suited up with our vertical gear and prepared to make the 200 foot drop to the floor of the rumble room. Kenny pulled out his brand new 300 foot rope and began to rig as we all took turns signing the cave register. By this time exhaustion was stating to set in and so was anxiety. I noticed that the cool air moved a lot, on the ledge where we stood, going into the top of the dome, unlike the mouth of the cave. The rigging was complete and one by one we started making the big drop. I went third in line, so I could warm up the chill that had set in my body. I began lacing my rack with the rope, then double and triple checked myself, because of fatigue. It was tough to get going at first because of too much friction and cold dirty equipment. I popped a bar off my rack proceeded over the edge into the void. I rappelled half way down and the rope began to lighten, so I had to add a bar back to feel in control of my descent. I finally made it to the bottom where I stood atop a huge break down pile and gleefully congratulated my comrades as I regained my feet. A little after midnight everyone finished the drop and we rested to eat a bite and boost back up our energy.
We soon were back on our way and heading down the huge breakdown pile. The pile was over 100 feet tall and the rock was so loose it almost created a slide with every step and did with some. We made it down to the crystal clear river were we observed a blind crayfish, which is one of the 7 rare animals found in this cave. We pushed on another 100 yards and began to take a nice long rest on the soft sand bar. Around 1 o’clock in the morning we decided we should turn around and save the rest of the cave for another trip. I was already worn out and knew the trip back would be a long one.
We made it back to the rope and each person started making the climb out. I decided to make the climb last to have time to recover some energy. Once I was one rope and climbing out of lights reach, it was a wild feeling. I was climbing, swinging and even felt as if I was spinning, but could not tell due to the total darkness. I shook off the confused state and kept climbing, trying to remembering all my techniques. I had to rest many times, because I was so tired, but finally reached the top. Each of the team members averaged about 20 minutes on rope climbing out of the enormous room.
I rested and tried to catch my breath as they broke down the anchors and rolled the big rope. I felt as if I could throw up at will and all too soon they made the call and was ready for the trip out. I struggled through the top, pack pushing crawl over the canyon, but with help from the team, I made it through. With each step the trip back became more of a struggle and I was too tired to even think about getting the camera out for more pictures. There was only one tough obstacle left to make it through, the dreaded stream passage crawl. The crawl seemed to have tripled in size, but with packs in each hand I kept my head down and pushed my way through. It was a relief to have the tougher areas behind me and half of the return trip was complete. We made it back to the set of waterfalls and I chose to rappel each, so I would not fall from fatigue. Shortly after the falls we made it back to the entrance pit and boy was I glad. The 80 foot climb out was one of the toughest yet with it being 15 and a half hours since I made the rappel in. I made my way out the entrance and was never so glad to see the light of day. Once we were all out I congratulated the team on a great safe trip.