Terry McClanathan, Jeff Moore, Alan Cressler, Yuri Schwartz, Tatiana Kahn
Our caravan followed Terry down the winding West Virginian roads until we arrived at a curvy pull off. Vehicles floundered about for a couple minutes until properly situated, we geared up, and began the mile long, downhill trek to the swallow hole cave entrance. I found the pace to be enjoyable. I chatted with Terry on the way down. Eventually, we left the gently sloping trail and descended to the stream which soon dumped into the swallow hole. Apparently, our changing spot is sometimes a raging brown whirlpool but today it was quite pleasant. Alan shared his breakfast with Jeff and I and once everyone was ready we stooped into the cave. We quickly cut right over some sticks. Someone had flagged this spot so apparently it can get very full of debris. The passage ahead was quite pleasant. The passage walls were often textured with beautiful banding. I loved the red tint of the limestone. We walked down the stream passage and it began to enlarge as we encountered more breakdown. The water was lost to the right. We skipped ahead to the first pit, a large hole in the middle of the passage about 1000’ of clean-washed limestone from the entrance. Terry rigged into many bolts and began down the 70’ wall drop.
I took a few pictures of Terry and soon got to enjoy the pit myself. I rappelled down a side dome to a large room above a pooled water floor. Once down, I placed a strobe and followed a ledge around the water, dropped down to a cobble floor, and photographed Jeff’s descent. Once everyone was down, I retrieved my now slightly damp strobe and routed ahead. The next pit was not far off. It is 105’ deep. I soon crossed a crevice and traversed along a ledge where I got on rope. After a brief lip, I found myself descending into a vast room. This cave is great! We followed a canyon passage downstream passing an excellent place for a backlit shot where water sprayed across the passage from a ceiling hole. The canyon floor fell away through a crack. We traversed a ledge to the right and soon arrived at a 14’ drop down the canyon crevice. Even though this was a pit, we had to free climb about 4 feet down to get below the natural rig point. Soon after this drop the fun began. Pit # 4 is a 16’ waterfall. There wasn’t enough water to soak you but it was still fun and refreshing. Jeff loved it! We next encountered a 14’ waterfall pit. Below, that you really got wet. Alan confirmed it when he plunged into deep water below a 8’ flowstone climb down and swam across the pool. I followed. After a brief swim, I felt rock beneath my feet once again and stepped into a large sump room. Almost our entire group bottomed the cave. Terry had remained at the 105’ pit to bounce it a few times. Only one other missed out on the splendors of the Sinks of the Run sump room. I’d never before seen cave mermaids and likely will never feast my eyes on such a site again ;)
Terry had told us that the drop down into water was difficult to climb out of but it was obvious that just wasn’t the case as I watched Alan glide up as graceful as a butterfly. What a relief, this was going to be easy. What I didn’t know was that my Walmart boots are equipped with a special feature not found in Beta boots. A state-of-the-art anti-traction system kicked in as soon as my foot touched the flowstone. I splashed and flailed about trying to ascend the steep flowstone slope but every time my boots tried to grasp the flowstone slope the anti-traction system worked flawlessly splash landing me into the chilly water below. Luckily, the cascading water glancing off my helmet drown out the sound of Jeff’s laughter. After many failed attempts, I grasp the wall to the side of the cascade to collect myself. I finally started feeling around in the water for my safety well known to counteract the effects of anti-traction. I hauled myself up the rope and was glad to finally deposit my chilled self atop the flowstone mass. The adrenaline was pumping hard until I reached the 105’ pit.
The exit was fairly routine. I took a few shots of Jeff in the wet canyon. Once atop the 70’ pit, Alan, Jeff, and I soon routed to the entrance. What a wonderful cave!! Truly spectacular! Sinks of the Run is well deserving of a photo trip. I’d love to see it in higher water as long as I don’t die. The cave appears to back flood. Everything fills up with water. Alan and I spotted flood debris high up the 70’ pit. The climb back to the car was very enjoyable at Terry’s pace.
Unfortunately, not everything can be so grand as I paid $10 at the Mexican restaurant for a small portion of mediocre to bad fajita for lunch when there was a Chinese buffet not a block away. Oh well.
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After 1000' of walking stream passage we encounter our first pit.
Terry rigs the 77' pit.
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Terry starts on down the nice, clean washed pit.
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Bye, bye Terry.
Jeff rappells down the 77' pit.
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Jeff rappells down the spectacular 105' pit.
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Jeff starts down the 14' waterfall drop.
Jeff LOVES getting wet :)
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Alan rappells the 14' waterfall.
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Jeff starts down the 16' waterfall drop.
It looks like Jeff is trying to stay out of the water.
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Jeff maneuvers away from the water at the bottom of the pit.
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Yuri gets on rope above the 16' waterfall pit.
Titiana rappells the 16' waterfall.
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Jeff poses for a backlit shot of the stream entering the canyon.
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