Not the Pines, but fun nonetheless...

[gipsie]

A couple of months back, I took a trip to Kentucky to do some climbing and caving. I figured I would share them here to give you guys an idea of what I do when I am not cruising the pines....

I first met some friends up at a place called Half Moon rock where we set up ropes to practice climbing and rappelling for the next days adventure.

This was a great area and had a great view of the nearby Chimney rock.

The goal of my trip was a pit cave outside of Somerset. Climbed up a steep hill and bushwhacked for a bit

to find what seemed like a plain old hole in the ground. I tied off and peeked in.

We started in one at a time, it was a tight squeeze at first, but quickly opened up to a 120 ft rappel, straight down. Nothing to put your feet on.

We explored the cave for hours. Found cool formations and local residents that couldn't get back out

We also found various animal skeletons, including raccoons, coyotes. One of the guys found a dog collar, he called the number on the tag and was told that the dog had been lost 20 years before and no one knew what happened to it until now.

After about 5 hours, we made the long ascent back to the top

Way too much fun!

I wasn't too sure if I should post this here or not, but I thought some of you guys might enjoy it. If this isn't the place for it, I apologize.

 

[gipsie]

OK, what did I do wrong? I can't see the pics....

 

[ecampbell]

OK, what did I do wrong? I can't see the pics....

View your picture, under it will be a section called linked thumbnail. Clich the weird icon to the right and select and copy medium image and paste it in your post.

Ed

 

[gipsie]

Thanks Ed, but I didn't post it in the gallery. I used imageshack because it wasn't pine barrens related. I will try a couple of things..we will see...

 

[gipsie]

I think the pictures were too large. I attached the thumbnails and it worked fine. Not quite the effect I wanted, but...oh well.

 

[ecampbell]

Great post! Back in my college days I used to climb at the Gunks in New York, I also did some caving in North Jersey but can no longer recall where. Did the animals you found fall down the hole or perhaps come in somewhere else? Great that you solved a 20 year old mystery.

 

[gipsie]

It seemed like most of them fell in, but there was another ledge 15 feet to climb onto once we were in the cave and another pit beyond that. It was about a 20 foot drop into that one and in the bottom was the skeleton of what looked like a coyote. We spent a lot of time wondering how he got there,there seemed to be no access. But we had no where to tie off to,to go beyond that pit, so I have no idea how far and where it led to. There could have been another way out. A local geologist told us that they believed there was another cave under that one, but no one had found it yet.

The 'Gunks, huh? That is where I learned to rappel. I will be going there in a few weeks to the Lost City area if the snow goes away. I am working on creating a challenge that will take you there. Among other places in the mid-Atlantic region.

I have some pictures from up there on the "Ledge of Doom", hehe.

 

[Teegate]

I fixed the photo's.

I found it interesting that the dog had been missing for 20 years. I wonder what those people were thinking where they got that call?

Guy

 

[gipsie]

Thanks Guy. I had the pictures somewhat like that. I just thought they were maybe too big.

As to what those people were thinking, I can only imagine. Probably something to the effect of....WTF?

 

[PINEY MIKE]

Nice pics. Were you near Danial Boone National Forest? Thinking of heading down there come spring or summer. Sad story about those animals.

 

[gipsie]

Nice pics. Were you near Danial Boone National Forest? Thinking of heading down there come spring or summer. Sad story about those animals.

We actually spent some time in Daniel Boone State Forest. I would highly recommend you go. It really is beautiful.

If you need to get a motel, the Red Roof Inn in Somerset is where I stayed. It was very reasonable, clean and had a very friendly staff, although the continental breakfast left a lot to be desired! They really went out of their way to accommodate us. I was meeting my best friend (who lives in Missouri) for Thanksgiving and he paid for the rooms and I took care of the meals. I arrived there first and was completely exhausted. They went out of their way to make sure I was settled in and comfortable even though he hadn't officially checked us in or paid for the rooms yet.

 

[long-a-coming]

Great Report, what a beautiful area. , and quite an adventure there.

 

[Hewey]

Wow! Real nice!

Chris

 

[bobpbx]

Old Kaintuck. The dark and bloody ground. I'd like to see it someday.

 

[woodjin]

Very cool. Thanks for posting this.