In August, we returned to Middle Cave at Henderson Park in Indiana, a few weeks after our first visit. For details about the park and the cave, check this post: Henderson Park, IN – Middle Cave. Today is mainly pictures from the second trip in which we reached the end of the cave’s main passage. Bear in mind that photography in any cave is a challenge and a wet cave even more so.
Here we are, having successfully maneuvered the 20-foot ladder around a tight bend and crawled with it through frigid water. That crazy guy in the blue jeans has a wetsuit on underneath.
Hauling the ladder.
Though there is no sense of scale, this is a clear shot of the upper passage and waterfall:
The upper passage.
We set up the ladder then climbed up with water raining down:
A cold climb.
Here is a nice shot from the top of the waterfall. Because the ladder won’t reach the top of this lip, people tie off ropes (and homemade grappling lines) to aid climbing over it. I would not want to have been the first to ever climb this.
Don't slip here....
Once in the upper passage, I we hiked about two hours to end of the cave. There was no crawling till the final few minutes, where we squeezed among breakdown trying to push further. Along the way, we saw these small formations which I believe are helictites:
Helictites
For more on cave formations, visit The Virtual Cave .
The waterfall isn’t the only vertical obstacle in this cave. A sheer wall about 12 feet high waits about midway through the upper passage. We couldn’t find any holds for the climbing pro we brought and wound up using a too-thin-for-comfort piece of rope left by a previous explorer. Once Jim Bob made it up, we set a climbing rope for added safety. We were so taken with figuring out this obstacle, we forgot to snap any photos on the way in and the camera batteries died on the way out. The last photo we took was of Jim Bob near the end of the cave:
Near the end.
We found a side passage that looked intriguing, but reached our cut-off time and had to turn back. We might make a third trip…. Middle Cave is a great one if you have the right gear. It’s wet and you’ll be climbing, so be safe.
What kind of camera are you using? Every time I try to take pictures inside the cave, the flash will just pick up the moisture in the air. Are you using and spot light without a flash?
We’re just using run-of-the-mill digital cameras. Two tricks that I know: the guy with the camera is the first one into a room and takes pictures before the rest of the group enters. The second trick is to shoot a long exposure with no flash and move your headlamps around the features while the camera shutter is open.