Today, we drove down to Bloomington and picked Sean up. Then we drove to Mesmore Cliff. The road was a little worse than normal but my car handled it fine. We didn’t really get an early start and were delayed a couple of times. We each rappelled the cliff 2-3 times. Mike Murphy, his parents, and his gf showed up and rigged 2 more ropes. I took some pictures while hanging on rope. Then we hiked over to Mesmore Spring Cave.
We followed the trail from Mesmore and then cut off when the GPS showed we should and eventually found ourselves at the top of a cliff. We retreated back into the woods and walked further north and followed an animal trail down a slope cutting back to the cliff from below. The spring was very obvious. Above it, we saw a wide shelter entrance but the actual cave entrance is quite small, likely dug, and required belly crawling. I didn’t really like the cave. It felt like we were mostly crawling or awkwardly moving through a canyon passage and everything was covered in wet sandy mud. Sean and I crawled back to the Sandstone room which wasn’t very impressive and then crawled back out meeting Kyle as we exited.
After Mesmore, we hiked back up to the top of the ridge and crossed to the other side. I took Kyle and Erin to Papoose Cave, Arrowhead Arch, Little Indian Cave, Indian Cave, Hidden Arch Cave, and Sentinel Rock Cave. They were quite impressed and really enjoyed the sandstone caves. Since we didn’t have a point for room cave, we decided to backtrack and climb back up to the top of the ridge near Indian Cave.
We hiked out and drove north stopping by The Overlook State Park which consist of a shelter, latrine, and a gravel loop. Then we drove to Bloomington where we ate at Texas Roadhouse. I had the Grilled BBQ Chicken, French House Salad, Fresh Vegetables, peanuts, 3 rolls, and water with a lemon. After that, we went back to Kyle’s place and sorted out gear. Kyle let me borrow the Captain’s Log (from our Grand Canyon Trip). I drove home calling Brandon, Alan, Nate, and Ryan but received no response from anyone. At home, I planned the week.
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Mesmore Cliff
Arrowhead Arch
Mesmore Cliff