Aaron had told us to meet him at the intersection of SR 64 and SR 66. I was a little surprised to see Aaron standing beside the road at the corner of that intersection without a car. He had crossed the road to ask someone mowing their grass if they knew of any caves. We decided to visit Robinson Ladder Cave first since I wanted to make sure we had time to take some pictures for Keith. Aaron drove us directly to the gate and after keying the combo we drove along a dirt road with tall grass and parked at the edge of the woods. Aaron took off across the field and we saw a wild turkey fly away from him as he came back. He told us he’d about stepped on it and that it startled him when it flew away.
We climbed the dirt road into the woods and saw flagging as the road turned to the left. We followed the flagging and soon found the entrance to Robinson Ladder. I took a GPS reading and snapped a couple pictures of Aaron next to the entrance. Aaron paused as he began his descent into the entrance. He remembered reading that a hand line was helpful for entering the cave. I ran back to the car and grabbed two 25’ sections of webbing. Back at the cave, I tied them together with a water knot and tied a bowline around a tree. As I descended the steep flowstone slope into a tall canyon I agreed with Aaron that it would have been sketchy without a hand line. We entered a larger room and Aaron said we had to climb up to about 8 feet to the ledge on the right. There was a log propped up against the ledge but Aaron began up a finger of limestone sloping out into the room and climbed around the edge of a circular alcove. About midway across I snapped a picture.
From here we began crawling. It seemed like we crawled for awhile; I was beginning to wonder what there was in this cave to take pictures of. Finally, the passage opened up. To the left we found a climbable dome / pit about 8 feet deep. I sent a strobe down it with Tom. Aaron posed above the pit. Tom explored around at the bottom of the pit while I crossed the breakdown floor to a 20’ pit. We decided to drop it and I rigged a rope around a large breakdown boulder. Tom found a way into the bottom of the pit from below so I sent another strobe down with him and told him where I wanted the strobes placed. He did an excellent job placing them. Eventually, Aaron was ready to rappell down. He stopped about 6 feet down and I took a few pictures using a Vivitar 285 to provide light from above. We took a few more of him a little farther down the pit and he rappelled the rest of the way down and climbed back up.
We packed up and continued ahead. It seems like we crawled some more and encountered some small canyon passage and then a short section of somewhat keyhole shaped walking passage with a flat ceiling where we took a few pictures. We crawled ahead encountering signature rooms from time to time. There were many signatures from Aaron’s descendants so I photographed many for him. At some point the passage took an abrupt turn to the right and became a narrow canyon that we climbed along the top of.
The cave ends in a breakdown, signature room. I was able to go a little further by ducking through a hole and crawling and bellying ahead a short distance to a small breakdown, standing room with more signatures. We routed back out of the cave. It was a little more challenging pushing, pulling, shoving, and carrying my bat pack with two dry boxes and vertical gear inside but I still managed to move pretty quickly. Aaron was about 30 feet ahead of me. I heard a little commotion and he started yelling for me to get up there to take a picture. I thought to myself. Aaron is in dire need of help and he wants his picture taken? When I got up there I saw that he had a 60 lb limestone slab on his back. He said he had just barely brushed it and it had slid down on his back and to hurry and take a picture because he couldn’t hold it much longer.
Unfortunately, my camera wasn’t quite as accessible as normal so it took me a minute to get it unpacked. I snapped a picture but my new slave didn’t fire; Aaron immediately threw the rock off his back. I told him the picture didn’t come out so we got a picture of him holding the rock. We continued routing out. I paused and took a couple pictures as Aaron and Tom climbed out the entrance.
Back at the cars, we changed, had some delicious chocolate chip cookies, and Aaron whipped out his black book and called the owner of Mellot pit and tried to contact the owner of Keys Shaft. To Mellet Pit
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Aaron stands next to the entrance of Robinson Ladder Cave.
Aaron climbs up to a ledge in order to continue out of the entrance room.
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Tom poses in one of the cave's abundant crawlways.
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Aaron poses above an 8' climbable pit.
Aaron poses above an 8' climbable pit.
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Aaron poses as he descends a 20' pit.
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Aaron poses as he descends a 20' pit.
Aaron poses as he descends a 20' pit.
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Aaron poses as he descends a 20' pit.
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Aaron poses next to a historic signature left by his grandpa.
Tom poses within the Robinson Ladder "borehole."
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Aaron holds up a rock with a historic message written for one of his relatives.
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The signature of W. Clifton, a somewhat famous cave explorer.
Tom poses in a section of walking passage.
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Now you've seen Robinson's borehole from both angles.
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Aaron poses next to some more historic J. Atz signatures.
Another historic signature.
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Another relative of Aaron had visited the cave.
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A cluster of signed rocks.
Another historic signature.
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Hmm, I won't comment.
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Ohhh, he was gesturing that he was holding a rock.
Aaron ascends the slick, flowstone entrance slope.
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Aaron looks down at Tom climbing out of the cave.
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