Puppy here.? I haven't opened my texas cavers mail folder in a long time (1,236 unread messages) since topics tend to vary way off of caving at times but I saw the epic Honey Creek title and couldn't help jumping back in to tell my long winded epic. So delete now if you've already seen the movie.
Yes I had a bit more of an adventure than everyone else (well except for that lucky Ninja brown, but his adventure was fun). Diana isn't to blame and neither is Bill (although I won't ever let him forget he forgot me). I pushed myself too far by attempting HC 6 days after running a marathon. My feeble attempt to help Creature carry a tank back out made me realize just how far gone my body was and I should have stuck closer to someone. And by the way Creature is one of the most incredible super human cavers I have ever known. I watched her grab a tank and practically run when I could barely carry my pack and her Tang at a slow crawl. This is a bit long but it was my way to document for myself my experience so I thought i would share it as well. I remember passing the water well and yelling a good "yahoo" knowing the exit was near. plus at this point the water is deeper and much easier to float on my pack and rest my body with minimal effort of just moving with my toes. then came the cold and fog and I thought wow I didn't know there was another air access point (hhmmnn wonder if bill knows about this). so I kept going enjoying my easy float. then the fog cleared and after a few minutes I realized I apparently just had never looked up from following the crowds because this part of the cave is quite nice. rock bottom, nice and clear and quite pretty. I wondered if somehow I had taken a wrong turn so I stopped, listened and heard bill and several others splashing and talking still coming in my direction thus i must be going the right way still. I went on about 10 more minutes (I didn't have a watch) when I came across a very low ceiling and I knew I had never been here before. For the first time in hours my brain actually sparked and said oh shit. suddenly all the pieces: fog, cold, etc clicked.I turned back but I wasn't panicked because I would run into everyone in 10-15 min I was sure. It took about 10min to make my way back to the entrance going at a fast pace only to find three harnesses (two extras and my own) hanging but no cable. Not a problem they are just in the middle of un hooking people so I put my harness on, shined my light up a few times and waited,?5 min later nothing. I shined my brightest pelican light up the shaft and yelled for a minute or two but I knew that was useless if no one was actually looking down. I've been through this exit twice before so I knew it was a mad dash from the shaft to your tent to get dry and warm and shove something in your mouth then pass out.? I was getting very cold very fast so I set a timeline of yelling for a few more minutes then I would focus on sheltering in place for the night. The low was around 35 that night and a strong wind comes straight down that shaft but I rationalized I couldn't risk moving farther back into the cave for fear someone would come back for the gear. Then my light died and I messed around with an alternate light and switching out another light out of creatures bag to make sure I had plenty of backup. I still had two long sleeve thermal shirts and two pairs of running tights and dry thermal socks that I had in my dry bag for the wait at the end. Creatures bag I just found a skimpy pair of spandex hotpants (sorry creature, but I got the biggest laugh out of that at that moment since there wasn't enough material to keep one nugget warm) The shaft area is all standing water, but through a crack near the floor where I could see a shelf of rock just above water level in the adjoining room. I put the gear bags against the crack to block the wind and went to the other side and moved lots of rock to make a bed. It was equivalent to climbing under a standard 2'x5' coffee table. once i was situated out of the water I attempted to exchange my boots and neoprene socks for a pair of nice dry thermal socks (not easily done with an 18" ceiling) along with the two pairs of tights (over my harness of course). my feet were already light blue and my toes dark blue when I put the socks on.??I didn't want to put my wet boots back on so to keep them dry I dumped out my dry bag and put both feet in the bag in case my feet slipped off the shelf during the night into the water. I also had two trash bags that I poked my head out the top of that I could keep my arms inside and I would breath into the bag to add heat. So there I laid occasionally pulling my face out of the bag to watch my breath freeze in the air. I was shivering quite profusely for what seemed like hours but I really don;t know. I thought of all kinds of ways to communicate with the top but?most involved getting on the internet to which I actually thought of going to sleep, dreaming and finding someone that could call bill.? I even tried to use my touch screen computer monitor on the ceiling but?dirt would fall into my eyes and I learned not to touch the screen.?Eventually I started noticing odd things in the ceiling (a few inches above my face) such as very colorful sweater covered dogs. There was an art exhibit I wanted to see in Houston a few weeks earlier where an artist took some taxidermy animals and knitted bright outfits along with rearranging body parts between different animals (The museum of un-natural science). Well those animals were in 3d on the ceiling. I touched one but just got a few specks of dirt?flakes in my eye so I learned not to pet the animals. :7. I knew the image was fake so it actually added entertainment.?I've had hallucinations once before?after 48hours straight of paddling in?the texas water safari race so I know how vivid and real my hallucinations can be but?this was pretty freaky. I kept one low power LED on shining against a far wall in case someone dropped in to the shaft they might see the adjoining room was partially lit. (I also had a teather to a gear bag so no one could remove it without finding me.) but I shut off the light to douse the images. a while later a noise?got my attention and I found I was no longer shivering hard but rather very very light. I yelled out but still just a false alarm. My pulse was reallly slow which at the time I took as a good sign that I wasn't panicked. then the most bizarre event of my trip happened. I heard a mumbled voice so I flipped on lights and looked to see if anyone had dropped down. then I saw a man in a brown jumpsuit, helmet w/carbide lamp (not lit) in the corner. It was my uncle (still alive by the way). He?introduced me to geology and fossil hunting as a kid but never did any caving so this was odd. He just said I was doing good and to keep warm. I laughed and he was gone.?I'm not religious, but at this point I felt if I went to sleep I would either wake up in the hospital or not at all. I still had no?emotions with any of this and simply accepted the facts. So I said the lords prayer and?what I could remember of my favorite Irish blessing then closed my eyes.??And before you ask why I didn't go back farther into the cave and warm up? For one I was determined to be near those harnesses?because i was confident someone was coming back for them, and because I was almost petrified of getting wet again.? After that I think I actually slept for the first time and was awakened by the start of the tractor. I looked over into the shaft room to see a big round?circle on the floor where the sun was?shining. I grabbed my boots, nearly fell into the water and made?a quick dash for the shaft. the tractor wasn't running but then to my horror i saw a bar across the shaft entrance and I thought Oh crap they are putting those metal locking slats in. I have never yelled sooo loud I was frantic for about a min until I realized that was the upper support bar where the pully is. :7?? then someone looked in to the shaft and waved (it was one of the kids I later learned). I was relieved they knew I was down here. but then it took forever until I finally saw the line move and people hoisted up. HUGE relief. then as creature entered the top dome I yelled out "Good morning!!? Is it nice and warm up there on the surface?" Then Bill dropped down and our eyes met and I could see every single neuron clicking together in his head spelling out "oh shit".?It took all of a millisecond for him to realize I had either been down there all night or this was a bad practical joke. Being the calm cool person Bill is I think he started yelling at me something to the effect of how the hell did you get behind me, what happened, etc, etc. To which I replied that it would have been nice if there had been an rope hanging in the shaft since there were still 3 harnesses on the line. ?I think our confrontation ended when we both realized I was very cold and would love to be out of the cave. So they both checked my harness, hooked me up and got my ass out of there. One of them was telling me to leave the trash bags on because it was cold up there. I laughed and said I could handle it. On top everyone kicked into high gear when they realized what had happened.? I was whisked away to a luxurious two bedroom "HEATED" camper with a nice big bed and lots of blankets. Stripped of my wetsuit and everything else I put some dry things on and slipped into the covers. Vivian and Ellie (that girl can leap like a gazelle). Used their warm hands to warm my arms and legs. then plied me with warm (not hot) oatmeal and chili. then the coffee came and within 20 min or so I had feeling?back in my limbs.? My mind?clicked back in place pretty quick and within an hour or so I would say I felt pretty much back to normal with the exception of a the typical muscle aches and such that come after caving. I was really happy that I was able to personally return the boyscout?knife that Diana T had lent me since it was very much needed and I am so very thankful she caught onto the fact that I did not have a knife before entering HC.? My doc checked me out the next week and was only worried abut all the cuts and bruises on my shins to which I laughed and said so it's it's ok If I run the Austin marathon in 2 weeks? She thought I was joking. So there's my story.? I'm not done with Honey creek cave (call me a masochist if you wish) but I'm not going to learn something and then?avoid the fun altogether. I'm still more worried about dying driving to and from my hobbies than the hobbies themselves. My recommendation for the exit procedures for HC are simply that no one goes down the shaft without a harness of their own (or borrowed specifically for them). No borrowing of harnesses from people already down the shaft. Every caver in the cave should have a harness hanging on that line down there. if there is one harness left then there is one caver in the cave and the rope stays down. Puppy =:-) PS: It wasn't until later sunday night when I received a message asking how I was doing that I was reminded of the fun I had during the wait for Ninja Brown to dive. The brief conversation sparked a slew of memories I had forgotten about such as the infamous "Glass Scented Candle" (moonlight walk or something sweet like that) and the gourmet 5 course MRE meal that Mallory cooked up, the?kitchen cleaning jokes, the brokeback caver jokes, it?all fell into place and I was happy. ?My favorite quote from the brokeback caver group (those up front). "WHAT? You actually saw that movie??" PSS: In case you forgot already: Creature is one of the most incredible super human cavers I have ever known.
