After a couple turn-around Alan found the owner of Hamilton Cave. The owner told us we could drive on down the gravel road to the cave. His tractor was currently parked in the road. Alan drove his truck on a somewhat steep incline around the tractor. I eyed the slope thinking my car was likely to scrape coming back down but eventually eased the car down the slope and started down the hill. It soon became obvious that the road really wasn't meant for a car. There was a large projecting, rounded rock on the right. Unfortunately, the left side of the road dropped off so I tried to go over the rock as best I could and felt the car slide down on top of it. I tried reversing but the tire was obviously spinning. Well, there was only one way to go. Down. I eased onto the gas and after a brief scrape continued down the hill rather irritated that I was driving my car down this road. I hit one more rock on the way to the parking spot. Oh well, neither of them did any damage.
We could see that the cave was likely up the hillside above a spring. I suited up and started up the hill behind Alan. We had to climb about 100 feet or so and eventually came to a wide walking entrance about 14' wide and 7 feet tall. Inside, the cave quickly opened to a sizable 30' wide and 25' high, maybe bigger. I descended a breakdown slope to a flat floor and looked back up towards the entrance where I set up a picture. Once Jeff caught up we explored ahead. We walked across the floor of the room and ascended a breakdown slope on the other side. The passage decreased in size and eased to the left. Eventually a 20 climb-down into a canyon type passage was encountered. Farther ahead, I found a small room with a couple holes in the floor. I looked down the larger hole but it belled out too much at the bottom to climb down. I fed myself down a smaller hole glad to feel many good chimney, hand, and foot holds. I climbed down about 11 feet into a walking somewhat wider canyon passage and headed downstream. The passage bent to the left and I saw a narrow crawlway in water. That didn't look very nice so I headed upstream and found a rather large standing room with no further continuation. I climbed back up into the smaller room I'd come from and waited on Alan and Jeff to check out the area below for themselves. I noted here that the cave was awfully muddy.
Soon we started back out. Jeff and I would have passed up a ladder on the left wall (facing the entrance) had Alan not said something. The ladder looked somewhat sketchy but there was a rope to hold onto as well. I left my dry box at the bottom and carefully climbed up. The second to last rung swiveled back and forth as I eased my weight from one foot to the other. Soon I was up top followed by Alan and Jeff. We ascended a slope. I explored a small hole that opened into a small room and dead ended on the left. To the right a crawlway went off that soon led to a dead end room. We turned back and I descended the ladder first. Once on the ground, I set up my 2cd flash and photographed Alan and Jeff's descent. Then, we exited the cave. I was glad that my car didn't have any trouble going back up the road. I was able to avoid the large projecting rock this time. I kept the car in 1st gear until I got back to the main road. To Pig Hole
Hamilton
Alan descends a sketchy ladder from an upper level in Hamilton Cave.
Alan descends a sketchy ladder from an upper level in Hamilton Cave.
Hamilton
Jeff descends a sketchy ladder from an upper level in Hamilton Cave.
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Hamilton
Jeff descends a sketchy ladder from an upper level in Hamilton Cave.
Alan stands outside the entrance to Hamilton Cave.
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