Philip Rykwalder, Ryan Moran, Alan Cressler, Brian Gindling, Jason Record

Sunday morning we woke up to rain.  Nobody is ever very motivated to get going in rain so Ryan and I got to sleep in pretty late.  Then we all huddled under umbrellas and later a shelter until the rain let up. 

We decided that we would visit Swell Well and drove to the landowners house but found he wasn’t home.  We parked nearby and awaited his arrival.  Eventually, he’d arrived and Alan had arranged our visit.  We geared up and ascended about 300 feet to the first pit. 

Phil and Alan left gear at Bitten by a Tick Pit and Alan showed us where Swell Well was.  We left Ryan, Jason, and Brian to drop Swell Well and headed back to Bitten by a Tick Pit.  Alan took pictures as I descended into the pit.  It was a nice 67 foot pit.  I tried to take pictures as Phil came down but found that my firefly had crapped out; what a horrible slave unit!  I ascended back up and relayed Phil’s message that he was coming up to Alan who told me that he was going down.  I took a couple pictures as Alan descended into the pit and then waited on Phil to climb back up.

Phil and I flailed around in the woods for awhile looking for Swell Well.  Neither of us had really been paying attention when we walked over there.   We worked our way back up to the road and soon Alan Bo’d us in.  I rappelled first into Swell Well. 

The entrance was about 6’ W x 3’ H.  It soon belled out larger and I rappelled down 30 – 40 feet alongside a suspended tree trunk to a ledge.  I pushed off and descended over flowstone and down along a pretty flowstone and drapery wall into a large shaft which dropped 60 – 70 feet to the pit floor.  After touching down, I sat up my slaved strobe (using Alan’s slave) at the bottom of the pit and photoed Alan rappelling down.  Then I tripoded my camera so that Alan and I could share light and photograph Phil descending the pit. 

After a few more pictures, I climbed back up to the ledge and took a few pictures looking down the pit.  I climbed the rest of the way up and waited for them to ascend.  Ryan showed up and I photographed Phil and Alan emerging from the entrance of Swell Well. 

We next hiked to Didn’t Smell Well.  Phil and I thought we were going to the really tight pit.  Phil laughed when he saw an entrance 4’ W x 8’ A.  We all bopped the 37’ pit and headed to Easter Prayer Pit. 

Alan told us that only Andy Zellner had entered this 60+’ pit and that he’d spent about ½ and hour struggling his way back out.  What I saw reminded me of the entrance to a pit that Sean Lewis discovered in Indiana.  It was certainly tight but as far as I could see probably doable.  For some reason I didn’t think to check it out before putting on my vertical gear.  I tossed a rope towards the hole and began working my way down into it.  My body scraped as I slid in.  I could see a small side slot and could feel a hole with my feet.  It seemed that a contortion would be involved and that I was angled the wrong way to perform such an act.  It didn’t feel very big below. 

I started back out but my vertical gear had latched hold.  It didn’t take me long to realize that I was stuck.  I really don’t like being stuck.  I struggled a little bit but knew that I wasn’t leaving the hole without taking off my vertical gear which was a little bit of a problem since I couldn’t currently reach any of it. 

I swallowed down a feeling of panic and managed to flip around and get my right arm down to my harness.  I could feel that my rack was wedged behind my back.  I didn't think that was very good.  I slowly tinkered with my D-ring and gradually it was open.  I worked off whatever I could and eventually had passed most of my vertical system out of the hole.  Now that I was free I started further down the hole and realized my harness was still on.  I took it off and worked further down into the hole than I’d been able to go before. 

My boot had found a hole at the bottom of the crevice but it certainly wasn’t big enough for a person.  I wiggled my boot around in it and estimated that it was about a foot wide and 6 inches across.  Alan video taped me while I was doing this and I soon reported that it was not humanly passable so either this wasn’t the hole or more likely, it’d filled in.  I lay my head back and looked up and asked Alan to take a picture.  I really like the result.  My face and shirt are covered in moss.  My eyes are very blue, and you can see bits of dirt in my left eye.  I extracted myself from the hole, brushed off, and packed my gear.  My right arm was pretty sliced up from flailing around in the hole.  We ascended the hill and eventually made our way back to the cars.  Later, we all sat around and enjoyed dinner at Western Sizzlin. 

Bitten ... Pit

Alan enters the small entrance to Bitten by a Tick Well. 

Bitten ... Pit

Alan enters the small entrance to Bitten by a Tick Well.

Bitten ... Pit

Philip exits Bitten by a Tick Well.

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Bitten ... Pit

Philip exits Bitten by a Tick Well.

Swell Well

Alan descends into Swell Well. 

Swell Well

Alan descends into Swell Well.

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Swell Well

Alan descends into Swell Well.

Swell Well

Phil descends into Swell Well.

Swell Well

Phil descends into Swell Well.

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Swell Well    

Phil descends into Swell Well.

Swell Well

Looking down Swell Well from the ledge. 

Swell Well

Looking down Swell Well from the ledge. 

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Swell Well  

Looking down Swell Well from the ledge. 

Swell Well

Philip exits Swell Well. 

Swell Well

Philip exits Swell Well. 

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Doesn't Smell 

Ryan climbs out of Don't Smell Well.