CCC '02 - Hamilton Cave and Seneca Rocks
June 28-30, 2002
After two months or relative inactivity on the outdoorsy recreation front, I was itching, nay, champing at the bit to get out. Jen Lotz and Farooq Sadiq picked me up at noon, crammed my extensive collection of gear in their car and we headed west. By 5pm we'd arrived at Seneca Shadows and set out assembling tents. There was still plenty of daylight and only three other people had thusfar arrived. So we set out and hiked up to the north peak and back working up quite a sweat along the way. By the time we got back, a light, intermittant rain had started but there were a dozen or more people in camp. We cooked up some dinner and had a social time all 'round. Mike LaFontaine, Mike (Zeke) van Aelstyn and Melanie Gray had arrived from Kentucky. Many of the usual CCC crowd were there as well as quite a few new faces. Turnout would be good this time.
Saturday -- After not much sleep, I arose to find the tent population had roughly doubled overnight. As the sun rose higher and the fog lifted, more and more people arose. Tom Kornack had arrived from New Jersey in the wee hours with Jill Foley and Mike (Flounder) Leung in attendance. The day wore on and plans were made in their anarchic way. According to the Milling About Theory of Speleogenesis, we must have created several hundred miles of cave! We finally rolled out of camp at 10am as a party of nine; the Kentucky Kontingent (Mike, Melanie, Zeke), the New Jersey Collective (Tom, Jill, Flounder), and the Baltimore Bunch (Jen, Farooq, Charles).
Half and hour later or thereabouts, we parked at the John Guilday Cave Preserve and got suited up. A bald eagle was flying around and the day was becoming sunny and hot. The steep ascent of the hill and hike along the narrow trail to the entrance did not help matters and everyone was tired and sweating by the time we reached the coolness of the entrance.
Unlike the other two big caves at the Guilday Preserve, the Hamilton entrance is relatively small and must be crawled through. This is typical of the rest of the cave; it is developed along a perpendicular series of joints in the New Scotland limestone and the front part of the cave is a grid of intersecting passages. Most of this grid involves tight crawling or narrow canyoning or both tight and narrow worming. Fortunately, we were equipped with multiple copies of the map and a set of directions as to the most efficient route to the back of the cave. This proved essential and invaluable and our eternal thanks go out to the NSS members who surveyed and mapped this large, complicated cave.
After a couple blocks of walking passage, the ceiling lowered to hands-and-knees crawl. Farooq led the way through the dry, dark-walled passages full of dead formations. Thankful for the maps, we easily navigated the maze through the short belly crawl and emerged at the Slab Room, the first big room we'd encountered. A 10' square slab of rock had delaminated from the ceiling and come crashing down onto the floor below. But this provided a nice spot for some lunch and a bit of a rest for the crew. We had three cameras along and various photos were taken.
 Brachiopods from a Devonian sea make up a large layer in the walls and ceiling.  Jen and Farooq, in matching cave packs, side-step their way through some tall, narrow canyon. Photo from TK. |  |
After lunch, I consulted the map and found a strait passage heading in the direction we wanted to go. The map showed it as narrow, but quite tall with ceiling heights generally twelve feet or higher. It wasn't the officially sactioned 'best route', but we thought to give it a try. This high canyon turned out to be a nice bit of squeezing between sandy walls perhaps a foot thick. The farther we went, however, the closer the walls grew to each other until we had to crawl through the widest space at the bottom. Farooq and I in the vanguard eventually called for a retreat when we could see no way for anyone to easily progress. Back to the official route!
The passage was definitely wider now and the character of the cave had definitely changed. We were north of the grid portion and into the more amorphous topology typical of caves in this area. The strata were lighter in color and tended to dip more strongly to the northwest than they had in the front of the cave. We made our way through various breakdown and large passages to the top of the Rosslyn Escalator. This is a narrow chimney with a wider bit on top sloping down at about a 35 degree angle to the unknown depths below. I managed to stay high and get down without much ado, but the smaller people had a more harrowing time chimneying across the chasm and getting down.
At last, we emerged into a spacious passage with noticable dip. Dogtooth spar covered many square feet of the walls and ceiling. In the far wall about five feet off the ground was a hole. This unassuming aperture was the feared, much-talked-about Airblower, subject of legends and nightmares for cavers in several states. Tom and I had both made it through the Sinnett-Thorn Connection without much trouble and had now come to test our mettle against the unrelenting constrictions of the Airblower. It is a tube 30' long sloping gradually downward approximately 15" wide and 10" tall. The slot is at a slight angle and a notch exists in the floor most but not all of the way through. As if this wasn't enough fun, the tube empties out ten feet off the floor of the large room beyond. During some seasons, a healthy gust of air blows from the tube (thus the name), but this time only slight air movement could be detected.
I rigged a handline for negotiating the climb on the other side of the 'Blower and Tom took point carrying the line through (For those interested, a #1 Camalot fits very nicely in a pocket about eight feet off the floor, five feet to the right of the Airblower. 50' of webbing was more than enough to reach the floor on the far side.). Helmet off with one arm ahead and one behind, he slithered through with relative speed. The other end came suddenly and we heard the sound of a helmet falling some distance followed by a surprised expression. Fortunately, Tom made it out without following the helmet to the depths below. Farooq tried it next. Tom is tall and skinny with a history of fitting through holes that should be physically impossible so it didn't surprise me when Farooq (who is stockier than Tom though no less capable of miraculous behavior) encountered a constriction tighter than he liked and backed out. What was surprising, however, was that he came flying out of the hole as if he'd been shot from a gun; I've never seen anyone move that quickly feet-first, up-hill!
 Jill emerges from the Rosslyn Escalator. Tom reaches the tightest part of the Airblower. |  |
Flounder, who had never been in a cave before this, tried it next and got through in about four and a half seconds. I'm not sure he even took his helmet off. Then it was my turn. I'm not generally claustrophobic, but this was definitely pushing it. I got myself in and through the first half or so without too much trouble. My left arm was down in the slot and pushed my helmet ahead of me while my right trailed down by my waist. I could see Tom perched at the edge of the opening not far ahead providing encouragement and light. But I was stuck. My chest was lightly wedged between the walls and I couldn't get any leverage to advance further. Finally, by methods painful but otherwise unknown to me, I advanced through the tightest part and could grab Tom's hand. This let me get the remainder of the way out and I emerged, with a great shout, in the back of Hamilton Cave. I was through! |  None the worse for wear, Tom emerges from the Airblower. Photo from TK.  Jill has less trouble getting out. |
The climb down on the other side wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been lead to believe and the handline probably wasn't neccessary. Flounder and I poked around the interesting corkscrew passage beyond which lead to another squeeze (much shorter) beyond. Jen tried the Airblower but backed out half way. Melanie came through with no trouble being tiny and flexible. I replaced Tom on the ledge and talked Jill through as she successfully battled her claustrophobia. Farooq and Jen each gave it another shot and each emerged triumphantly on the other side leaving only Mike and Zeke (each ex-football players and built accordingly) on the other side to "watch our stuff". There was much rejoicing but tempered with the knowledge that we'd each have to repeat the trick on the way back out.
 Zeke, Mike and Melanie hanging out in Hamilton. |
Since I was already perched on the ledge and was starting to get the jitters, I headed back first. This time it was much worse. The constrictions were on the near side of the tube this time and the tube was sloping up. Plus I was tired from the last trip through and my downhill, pushing foot was the one I broke two months ago in Cassell. I wormed my way into the tightest part a third of the way through. Pulling on the handline helped a little, but my coveralls were bunching up around my shoulder and were starting to cut off circulation in that arm. I was deeply and profoundly unhappy. Finally, through heroic measures by Farooq and Flounder (who followed me half-way in and provided something to push against), I got through the tightest part and, with speed rivalling Farooq's backwards sprint, shot out of the good end of the Airblower and collapsed on the ground praying to any and all gods available. Safe! Like I said, I wasn't claustrophobic, but I am now....
The rest of the group didn't have the same magnitude of epic getting back out. Again, the womenfolk scooted through without so much as a ruffled feather. Farooq got a bit wedged but overcame it with a few grunts and muscle. Tom came out with the usual reptile grace. Flounder, the anchor man, again scooted through; he was rapidly losing his cave virginity.
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After a bit more rest after our narrow escape from the clutches of the Airblower, Zeke lead the way through twisting passages and the muddiest, wettest area we'd yet seen in the otherwise dry Hamilton to a spectacular formation room. Not only were there an impressive array of
flowstone and
sodastraws but
stalagmites,
stalactites,
helectites,
rimstone, and
columns, some of them of great size and all in great profusion! Not only that, but there was a two-foot-thick layer in the strata that appeared to be nothing but brachiopod fossils with the occasional crinoid stem and large snail shell thrown in. These were laid down in the Devonian (400 million years ago) when a shallow sea covered this region of the world and when this region of the world was situated at the equator. The chamber was about eight feet tall and probably fifty in diameter. Simply gorgeous! All the aches and pains accrued thusfar were forgotten and we wandered around (carefully) marvelling at the effects of water on stone.
But time was wearing on. After taking half a roll of photos, we turned around and headed back for the entrance. The trip up the escalator turned out to be the most arduous part as going up was much more difficult than going down. But the rest of the cave (with conciderable help from the maps) went easily enough and we emerged from the entrance six and a half hours after we went it, dirty, tired and more than ready for Front Porch pizza and relaxation.
 The group at the Airblower (above) and the Entrance (right). Photos from TK. |  |
The Porch was extremely busy, as always, but we scrounged tables and downed large quantities of pizza and beer (many thanks to Zeke for providing the latter). Back at the campground, a fire was going and life was social. Some of the crew opted for bed while others stayed up into the wee hours chitting and chatting. Sleep came quickly and thoroughly.
 Farooq, back in the saddle again on the North Peak. Photo by TK. |
The day wore on and it was quite hot. At around 3:30, we packed up the gear and headed for the swimming hole (which was well populated). Dirt and grime from a weekend of excess were washed away in the cool water. Some kind souls had built a rock dam at the end of the hole with a sluice where the water shot through with great force. We spent a while playing human kayak and riding the water (getting nicely bruised by the large rocks in the bed). Various snakes and fossils were also observed. Finally, it was time to turn for home, wet, tired, sore, socialized, anesthetized, sensitized and utterly content with life. Back to work, homes and the Real World. Or something like that...As usual, many thanks to Mark "Indy" Kochte for organizing this whole event!
 The Home Cave |  Neithernor |