Deep Cave
Jeff Moore, Alan Cressler, Doug Strait, Paul Aughey, Manuel Beers, Paul Bryant,
Alan woke us up a little after 7:00 AM CST and everyone ate breakfast on their own and prepared for departure. After signing Geary’s log we bid farewell and caravanned to Walmart where we all bought supplies. We continued west on I-10 and got off on Highway 41 at exit 490. We stopped at a gas station for water and Jeff got his long desired corndog. We were soon on 337 and finally pulled into a gravel driveway. We passed through ~3 gates as we drove back. There were a couple spots a car would not have liked. We were glad to be driving a Jeep Laredo.
Eventually, we pulled into a parking area next to a red cabin which we certainly hadn’t expected. It was labeled the Deep and Punpkin Cave Preserve and had a large sign Entering Karst Area. The weather looked like rain. The sky was very cloudy. After setting up camp and eating lunch, we eventually grouped into squads of 6 and hiked to Punpkin cave, GPSed it, and continued to Deep Cave.
The entrance to Deep cave is a 12’ diameter hole in limestone. To the right is a smaller entrance 4’ in diameter. There’s also a small hole you can squeeze into. Inside the entrance hole, you stoop under a ledge and down a slope. To the right is a rather large room with bats that leads to E2. Ahead, descend down a slick slope. We saw a black scorpion on the wall here. If you descend to the left you eventually reach a pit. Down the slope and to the right, leads to most of the cave. We went right and contoured along a slope. We descended to the right and contoured along the slope. From there, I couldn’t keep track of everything on paper. We visited a beautiful helectite room with a ceiling covered in White helectites. We passed many areas covered in a carmel-like stalagmites with ___ crystal interiors. We also saw areas with “cave warts” on the wall.
We went through the Miller Time crawl. There were several places where we climbed up and down through narrow or tight cracks. The ceiling bulged upward in spots from the previously rising hydrogen sulfide gas which formed the cave from the bottom up. We also visited a room with bear claw marking on the wall and saw a raccoon skeleton. There’s a great deal of cave that we didn’t see.
We exited and decided to come back in to do the pit. We donned our vertical gear and this time descended down the slope to the left. We climbed down several slopes working right, then left, then right again until we reached the pit. I had to climb back up to show Jeff the way down. Phil and Doug rigged and everyone dropped the 65’ pit. The projecting wall-breakdown was a little scary. At the bottom, in a room 20’ W x 40’ L, I found the rope re-belayed to a rock. I followed Paul down a 2cd pit and as soon as Jeff finished rappelling down the first drop. The second pit was certainly free-climable and involved walking down the a rock slope into a room with 2 holes at the bottom. I missed a rift at the bottom of one of the crawls.
Above the second pit, I found a small pile of crystal shards. Alan rappelled down the first pit during my anticipated ascent so I bottom belayed him. After watching Paul comically climb frog, I ascended back up and we eventually exited. The group decided to go back to the Karst Cabin for dinner before doing Punpkin.
A bustling atmosphere of busy cavers preparing dinner and socializing provided a enjoyable dinner experience. Phil talked to a rather cute girl who had made her own felt hat. I talked with a couple small groups and enjoyed socializing. Soon, the time came to go do Punpkin. We’d decided to just take photos this evening.
Deep Cave Gallery
Deep Cave