Ryan Moran, Maury Benamy, Paul Aughey

After we exited Engle Double, Ryan and I laid there in the grass waiting on the other two to ascend.  It was a perfect day to be in the woods.  With everyone topside, we de-rigged and decided to walk over to Upper Engle Sinkhole where water has been dye traced into the cave.  Just uphill of the cave, we found a sinkhole that I’d looked down into on a previous ridgewalk.  I’d determined before that somebody needed to dig around the large boulder because you could see passage on the other side.  Just uphill of that is a swallowhole cave with 2 entrances. 

I hadn’t brought my helmet with me so I GPSed the entrances while Ryan went spelunking.  Ryan soon sparked Paul’s interest and he started down the upper entrance.  Once we determined that we did have a cave, Maurey asked if anybody had a lie detector.  I did back at the car so I went back to get it and retrieve my light.  Back at the cave, I measured the entrance climbdown and measured down to a small junction where Ryan made a hand connection with Pauley.  Ryan determined that the cave was about 55’ long and 25’ deep. 

After that, we drove back down to Pauley’s truck and left the property.  We ate dinner at Subway in Scottsboro, GPS:  NAD27  343910.25  860203.26.  I had a foot long subway club without cheese, with honey mustard and lots of veggies.  After that, we made a quick Walmart run so Ryan could buy beer.  I saw in the car so he could park along the curb.  Then me raced back to the Cave In but alas, we still didn’t make it by dark.  The moon rising over Lookout Mountain signified our defeat.