Playin' in the mud!

Thursday night Misti asked me if I would be up for another cave scouting adventure. Robby had heard of this cave and didn't know exactly where it was at but wanted to scout it out. I checked with Melissa and got the green light, so I was in.

Friday night Misti tells me Robby isn't going and there was a serious threat of rain and possible flash flooding forecast for Saturday and they may not be going either. Bummer!

Saturday morning the radar looked rather "clean" (read as very few light green patches in the area we would be going). Once again, all systems go. YAY! They picked Ebeneezer Cave for us to explore today.

She also told me she is going to cook up dinner for us. On the way over, I stopped and grabbed a few beers to drink with dinner. I arrived at their house about a half hour before we needed to leave.

We hung out for a bit and then headed over to pick up Christian, a 14 year old that had never been in a cave before. We met up with Gonzo and Jenny at another location and then headed for Ebeneezer Cave.

I have never been in Ebeneezer before but have heard stories about it -- and they all involve how epic the mud is. It would prove *not* to be an exaggeration.

Vince and Misti have been to this cave many times before and so we were able to go right to it. A couple of us donned coveralls and away we go.

photo courtesy of Misti Cardin

photo courtesy of Misti Cardin

It was slick-ery with all the mud. I felt like I was walking on ice.

Jenny had tennis shoes on and was having an awful time trying to navigate through it.

As you can see there were areas where the mud was thick. You place your foot and it sinks 6" into the muck. You  just hope you still have a shoe attached when you pull your foot out.  ; )

This was a beautiful cave with many pretty formations -- especially once you got to the back of it. However, to get to the back of it required crossing over

photo courtesy of Misti Cardin

photo courtesy of Misti Cardin

  "the pit" as it was affectionately called. I was told the way to do that was to hold onto a rope as you go across this narrow strip of muddy rock, then you have to jump and slide. The pit was about a 50' chasm with a "river" at the bottom. Falling would definitely become a bad day!

We got to "the pit", and I looked over the edge. It was intimidating!

I am now concerned about this "jump" thing. I figured I would follow them until we got to the "jump" part and I would make a decision how much I really want to do it when I see how far I had to "jump".

One of the stipulations for Christian being allowed to go with us was that he would not cross the pit. His parents had heard of it and didn't want him doing it. Misti decided she would hang back and keep Christian company. Upon seeing the ledge we had to traverse, Jenny also decided she wasn't going.

photo courtesy of Misti Cardin

It really wasn't that bad. It was a bit slick but there were some handholds and the rope to help should you lose footing. About 3/4 of the way through, where it was slickest, someone had created footholds into the rock to further assist. We got to the end and the jump and slide thing was not across a gap as I had envisioned. Instead, it was over a hump of the rock. Way easier than I had pictured! and I was okay with that!

(The picture doesn't show it well, but that "ledge" is sloped at about a 25* angle and slick. On your knees it wasn't too bad, though)

After "the pit" crossing, Vince led Gonzo and myself down to the river. Gonzo wanted to see how deep it was and went about this far before turning around.

Up above us were where Misti, Jenny, and Christian were.

As I mentioned earlier, the back part had lots of pretty formations. Here are a few ....

This is looking at the ceiling

This is also the ceiling. Notice all the gypsum.

This was a  "wall" that had formed columns

At the back of the cave, there is a chamber that has clay and someone took the time to sculpt this ....

From here, we went back towards the river. It had quite a current and was roaring. On our way there, Vince asked do you want to take the slow way or the "fun way". Not knowing one from the other we told Vince to pick. He chose the "fun way".

There was a slippery sloped rock and he got on his butt and slid down like a slide. Of course that's all the provocation Gonzo and I needed! WHEEEE!

Once at the river, Gonzo, once again wants to check it for depth. He found a calm spot and was up to his knees, when he went to take another step and damn near disappeared! It dropped off .... QUICK!

What a mudley crue!

We had explored most of the cave by now and headed back to "the pit". Jenny told us that Misti and Christian went off to explore another part of the cave. Actually, they had been lying in wait fully prepared with mud balls to throw and were sitting in the dark waiting to ambush us.

I was last to cross and by the time I got across there was a full-blown mud fight going on between everyone but Jenny and I. Once they had gotten that out of their system, we all headed back for the mouth of the cave.

photo courtesy of Misti Cardin
L to R Vince, Jenny, Gonzo
 

Once outside, I went to remove my coveralls (that were now COVERED in mud!). I couldn't unzip the leg zippers because of all the mud caked into the zipper. I waited until we got back to the car, removed my boots and socks so I could get out of it.

We dropped off a very muddy Christian to his mom, who promptly told him he was removing his drawers before getting in *her* truck. Heh!

Then we headed back to Vince and Misti's house. She started on dinner and refused any help. Dinner was great and the company was too.

After dinner we played this wacjt card game she had just gotten. It's a party game and lots of laughs were had. The night got late wayy too quickly and I had to head back home.

My coveralls were SOOO covered in mud, I wasn't going to put them in the washing machine until I had hosed them off. I did that, and let them dry. The hose got *most* of the mud but I still couldn't open the zippers. I set them in the wash on rinse and still didn't get all the mud off. This may take a few washings!  ; )