Sun, Oct 2 2011 - Caving - 4 Kings - Lafayette Ga (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Shane Sutton Participants: Shane Sutton, Joy, Carlton, Stephen C, Jessica, Jessica Ellis, Paul Siegel

Write Up:
4 Kings,

A great cave!  We hit the parking-lot/trailhead right at 1 p.m. today.  We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was beautiful.  We hiked up the dried creek bed to the V, found our entrance, and after a final gear check headed down into the unknown.  First off the bat, its tight, very tight.  Squeeze would be and upgrade.  I will just let you imagine that the first passge has "Spider" in the title for a reason.

Our main objective (mine I guess) was to crawl to the right in the cave till we reached the end, then crawl right again to finish the loop.  After getting our bearings straight we shuffled down into a nice long pancake crawl.  This was a great bag pulling, head sideways, on the stomache in the mud, super crawl.  And did i mention there was mud.  I did.  Covered from head to toe except for Jessica and Joy who also managed to also get it in their hair!  We finally found the back of the cave after a few more crawls, and found an amazing formation with a large cavernous room and a waterfall (trickle).  It seemed to beckon us to sit on the fallen rocks and stare so we obliged.  After mustering up the courage to leave such a great place, we headed back to find our loop.  We found it, and it was a bear.

The map lists the crawl as tight for a good reason, i barely fit.  Had there not been a human go through it first, i know for a fact i would have turned around; however, we all made it through with Paul and Carlton in the front and myself and Jessica bringing up the rear.  Finding our way out was a great accomplishment, and thanks to our videographer we have it on tape!  Jessica climbed most of the trip with a video camera, in one hand, to all of our shock and dismay with zero hinderance.

I want to thank everyone who made it to the trip.  I had an amazing time and was glad to explore a new cave and add it to the list.  The pictures (I can only use my own camera, and fail on the self timer) and video (all shot by Jessica) should be on facebook in the next few days.  Not even a little car trouble could shake the smiles off this group!!

Thanks,
Shane

Till the next Cave

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