Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

General urban exploration stuff -- location specific stuff in the categories below
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crazyflights
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Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by crazyflights »

Adventure day
5-20-2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cFoaVR5T3U


I want to start with saying I’m not much for writing, but want to start keeping track of my adventures due to my memory not always being the best. The weekend was filled with good times, I was able to attend a wedding Saturday night with my amazing girlfriend, which also puts up with me planning and carrying out my adventures. Before we went to the wedding while Abby was getting ready, I drove over to a Rock climbing store to take a look, but they were closed, so then I headed over to Bass Pro. I bought a new head mount LED Flashlight, a Compass and some Divers water goggles. Then I head home to get ready for the wedding. That evening Abby and I are discussing my purchases and she asked me what the water goggle were for, which I looked at her and said, well one of the caves that we plan to hit Sunday, supposedly you have to swim under for 10ft or so To get to the next section which opens up a bunch. I was getting the look, of really you’re crazy and I was not getting much approval towards the plan. I advised I would just have to get there and see for myself and probably would not go any further any way. We finished up the evening.
I woke up Sunday morning before my alarm went off, which was set for 7am. I loaded my Extended cab Ranger with my Mt bike, back pack, 4 flashlights, and some other useful items. I kissed Abby good bye and headed out just a bit before 7am. I drove from Columbia to Linn, Mo. I met up with my brother Bryce and before we started the day I had to work just a bit, so I changed engine, transmission and transfer case oil in my truck. Once that was completed I changed back into my cleaner clothes for the adventures we had planned. Andy was on his way over and I prepared my back pack, supplies and extra clothes. Bryce and I loaded up our stuff into Andy’s Fx4 F-150 Crew Cab which was super comfertable. We headed to my parent’s house and grabbed a cooler for some drinks. We went down to Thriftway Grocery store to get some ice, water and Gatorade. When leaving the store are adventures and experiences started right away. I heard a loud crash and looked over at the rode and saw where a farmer with his Old Chevy pickup was towing an older tractor with a loader directly behind the truck, which the tractor was towing a hay rake. Well the rake had disconnected from the tractor and luckily went to the right not hitting any cars and hit a concrete curb which it took out the curb and came to a rest. We all agreed that this entire towing setup looked extremely dangerous and were glad that it ended like it did because it could have been much worse. We then headed over for a late breakfast early Lunch at McDonalds, not to exciting but while sitting in the drive thru line and couple in a car about backed into my door, Andy was starting to get a little nervous about them hitting his truck. We left McDonalds and headed toward Hwy U, we were driving down Hwy U towards Rich Fountain along the sharp curve at the DD intersection an Older S10 Blazer was coming way to fast around the corner partially in our lane and they had to steer it even harder to get back into their lane. It had a ton of body role and looked like any minute they would be 2 wheeling and roll over in front of us. Luckily they did not and we continued on with our adventure.
We arrived in Fort Leonard Wood where we had to give our drivers licenses to a guard to be scanned and check for warrants. We were all good, but I think Bryce may have been a little uneasy. Maybe he was unsure if previous traffic ticket was handled or not. Luckily it must have been taken care of and we were able to go onto the base. Luckily Andy had been to this cave before and knew where to go. He was like our guide since he had grew up nearby in Dixon. We proceeded and ended up on a small gravel road searching for the cave. We finally arrived this was stop 1, we had no idea what to expect, Andy had been this far but not down in the Caves. This Cave is Called Millers cave. Link: http://www.visitmo.com/miller-cave-fort ... -wood.aspx We headed down the Hillside and explored every corner of the cave that we could. There was a wet section in the backside that we saved for last. We trumped thru this very cold water which was about knee deep for quite a ways back into the cave where it really narrowed down. We got to a point where the ceiling was just to low on the cave and we would be getting to wet to travel further. While walking down this Andy kept saying be careful any minute it could just drop off and you will be swimming since I was leading I proceeded cautiously. We finished exploring all the spots we could find; this was a really neat cave but not real tight and couldn’t go very far into it. We peaked off the side off the hill in spots but there was very high cliff like drop offs. We followed some hiking trails along the bluff side and started to do some mild but scary rock climbing and shuffling down the hill side. Our goal was to make it to the bottom then come back up. We made it around half way down the hill side, but we were all out on a 2-3 foot wide shelf with a couple smaller trees and was looking like we came to a dead end, if we would have had some rock climbing harnesses, it was likely 20-30ft down to the next level. We did have some rope, but decided for this trip we would work our way back up the hill. In the future we will have the rock climbing gear. Andy and I have been thinking about taking some classes on climbing, we are more interested in the Repelling or Abseiling portion. We climbed back up the narrow ledges taking our time and helping each other, we then arrived back at the truck and all agreed this would be worth doing again with more time. We still had several spots we wanted to see so we continued on.
We headed back into town on the base and since Andy forgot to put deordarent on, we had no problem with him stopping and buying some. We left there and headed over to the Tank, Helicopter, and Boat museum. Looked at some crazy military machine, I think I remember reading that one tank we looked at weighed in at 58.2 Tons. Bryce and Andy each had to get onto at least one of the pieces of equipment and I snapped a photo. I decided I wasn’t going to. I guess I was to chicken since the police were sitting in the gas station lot across the street. We left this display and Andy used to work on base across from the Military opstical course, he took us over and showed the course. There weren’t any no trespassing signs, but the parking lot was cabled off. I decided I was interested in getting in trouble on Military base, so I sat this one out in the truck they proceeded to walk out and check the course out. They advised me they climbed a really neat wall and saw some other cool stuff. There was a tall tower that Bryce climbed and then it has ropes you climb down to the bottom with at an angle; it has a cool catch net. This looked like a ton of fun, but I remained in the truck and did get some pictures. Bryce decided to come back down the ropes instead of climb down the tower. He felt the safety net was safer than the tower.
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We left Ft. Leonard Wood and headed towards Waynesville. We stopped at a place called Rubidoux Springs. http://www.ocda.org/roubidoux.htm This is a cave that is under water and the water flows out into the spring and goes into the Rubidoux creek. This water is very cold! They have a balcony walking rail around the deeper section, we get there and there is a rail that is setup perfect for jumping off. I’m gritty from the previous cave exploring and decide even thoe it might be really cold I’m going to jump in. The jump is less than 10ft high I would estimate. I jumped in and sure enough it was really cold! I made a few more jumps and also now had an opportunity to use new water goggles. I also had them throw me down my Go Pro which is supposed to be water proof, but I had not used it yet in water. I quickly realized I was not able to hold my breath for very long. I was able to swim down and record just at the entrance of the cave. I could feel the water pressure pushing back against me. For some reason Andy and Bryce did not jump in with me at this location. I’m guessing they thought it was to cold.
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Video:
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We left Rubidoux Spring and headed down Hwy 17 I believe to a secret cave location I cannot disclose to many details on. We parked the truck and headed up to this cave. It was a short hike up the hillside to the cave, which had an impressive opening, this cave was huge at the beginning you could have fit a couple of school busses in the entrances. Geared up with my back pack of extra batteries flashlights, water and some other supplies, we all headed in. The cave stayed pretty big for a decent way, and then started to really close down a lot smaller. We started to get into some damp air or hazy like area. Not to big a concern but shortly after that Bryce decided that he was not going to proceed with us and would head back. I think his asthma or allergy’s might have been bothering him some. We had not been to any intersections so he headed back on his own. We advised him that we could be awhile and just to wait for us or send help if over 2 hours. We proceeded forward and this is my 1st time really going deep into a cave, I had been in smaller ones before but nothing like this. We would be able to straight up walking at times but other times we would crawl on our knees. At 1 point there is a spot I’m naming the squeeze, because it is really tight, you have to put hand forward in front of you and squeeze thru a hole just big enough for your body. Kinda wiggling like a snake. I had to push the back pack ahead of me while doing this. This was a clay like surface so didn’t hurt like jagged rocks, but was very tight. I would not have done this by myself in fear of getting stuck, at least with someone else they can push or pull. I did get some pictures, which don’t really do it complete justice. We went onward thru several intersections; luckily the cave is marked with spray paint arrows pretty good. We neared the end and decided to turn around since Bryce was waiting for us and I hadn’t checked the time but seemed like it had been a long time. We headed back and going down the squeeze was easier than up it, but still a tight fit. We got back to the exit and Bryce had already gone down to the truck. We got to the truck and he asked if we saw his note at the cave exit, with stick and rocks he wrote went to truck and an Arrow, but we missed it. I mentioned early a lot of clay was in the cave, so we were filthy when we came out. Luckily across the road, I believe was the Rubidoux creek, which meets with the Gasconade River, so we walk down and got into the river with clothes and all to get them a little cleaner. We loaded up and headed out for a late lunch/dinner since we were all hungry.
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The squeeze!!
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Bryce wanted Taco bell but I asked if any good Mexican restaurants, Andy advised El Jimador which is excellent back in Jefferson City where I frequent them. So Bryce and I rock paper sisssored on which to go to, I lost, but since I was paying for him we went to El jimador. Pulling into the parking lot we watch a guy in a green f150 back into the front bumper of a parked Jeep Liberty, you could tell he was shocked but trying to decide what to do. We parked and he had gotten out looked real quick and got back in his truck. I could see was not major but, said” you really need to leave a note it’s the right thing to do” he acted like nothing happened but could tell we were watching him. While standing at truck we wrote down his license plate number and description. Once he placed note on Liberty we headed into El Jimmador. It was around 5pm and not to busy yet. Andy asked a couple that looked like they might drive the Liberty if they owned it, and I guess it was a lucky guess but they did. So we all walked outside together with them and showed the ladies where the f150 had hit the bumper. They were shocked that we took the time and cared enough to help them. I explained that I worked for State Farm Insurance and don’t like when people hit cars and leave the scene. Right after that, they asked if I was their State farm agent, which I just chuckled and said I was not. Then the 2 of them perfectly did the State Farm jingle and sang “ Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” it was classic. I gave them my name #, lic plate # and veh description since the other driver failed to do that on his note. We went separate ways and went inside and ate an excellent meal. We left and went to a gas station, when leaving the gas station we were sitting at a stop light at the line not to far out, with a car waiting directly behind us. When an 18 wheeler with trailer was making a left turn into a single lane next to us, he did not swing wide enough and the trailer was getting closer and closer to the truck, we thought for sure we were going to get hit and could not back up because the car behind us. Luckily within inched the truck stopped and we were able to swing to the right and go forward around the back of the truck. Another near miss, what a day for crazy drivers.
We then were winding down with our cave exploring, the last one with the underwater section was to far away that would have to be checked out another day. We headed back towards Dixon and went down to the Gasconade River to a Boat access and a bridge crossing called the Riddle Bridge, the plan was to jump off the bridge into the water. We parked and walk back up onto the bridge; I’m a fan of jumping off stuff, but not without checking the water below. So we had to walk further up the road and down a trail to get into the river to swim down and check it out. Unplanned walking down the trail was an awesome rope swing, the bank had about a 10ft high angle drop off out into the water. Still had went down to check the water which was good thing, 1st 15-20 ft out was only 2-3ft deep, but after that it was plenty deep. Andy and I both jumped off several times, it was great fun! Then we swam down river to below the bridge and checked water. Everything felt good, no stump or trees so we climbed back up the bank below the bridge. I stood up on the ledge on the bridge which was 30-40 ft high estimate, seemed even high standing. Then I took the plunge while Bryce Go Pro video’ d. Then he threw me down the camera and I taped Andy jumping from the bridge. I climbed the bank and jumped one more time trying to hold the GO Pro out while doing so, to tape my face but I swing my arms a lot and also the impact knocked the sd card so it didn’t record that video –darn! We finished up here with 1 more jump from the rope swing and then swam across the river to the boat ramp, where the truck was parked.
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Videos

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Raft aired up
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We headed back towards Linn, while making a stop we picked up a 6man Raft that Andy owns, so we can have it ready for some rafting adventure in the future. On the way back we had another encounter with an 18 wheeler on a corner coming towards us, over the line and way to fast, he was leaning a lot and we all thought that was not going to end well, but he missed us. No further excitement, we headed back to Bryce’s shop an aired up the raft to check for leaks, we posed in it and I had to head back to Columbia. We didn’t have time for the Mt bike ride planned or the ATV ride, maybe it was we were so wore out. Either way I’m excited for our next adventure and Picked up a new cave for us to explore down in the Rolla area hopefully. Also I’m still looking into Rock climbing gear. If anyone has any recommendations for neat caves to explore in Missouri, especially non-commercial ones, let me know.
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Twail Wetard
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by Twail Wetard »

Looks like a lot of fun, the cave off of 17 has about 4 names and lots of history. If you drive down 17 when it snow you can easily see it from the rd.
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by PANIC! on the Titanic »

Sounds like the best day, full of adventure. You guys are really lucky your vehicle wasn't checked by the cops and you weren't greeted at the entrance by Pulaski County's finest. They do that sort of thing... a lot. The cave owner doesn't live in the area so he has the local police keep tabs on it, unless of course you get permission from him.
The tight squeeze is what we aptly call the birth canal, as it looks (and probably feels) like squeezing through such a structure. going further back, it gets worse going through the 'meat grinder' (as it appears on the cave map) which is the birth canal plus jagged chert walls, gravel, and ice cold running water. That's my least favorite part of the cave, it sucks.

Anyway, nice story, thanks for sharing!
crazyflights
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by crazyflights »

Yea, I thinking parking down by river and walking up to the cave would be a little better to avoid trouble... :)
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Twail Wetard
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by Twail Wetard »

Hey panic, can you post the map? Por favor
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by PANIC! on the Titanic »

All I have is a poster size paper map of the cave, I can try scanning it but idk how much luck I will have there since it's a larger poster. Somewhere maybe there's a 8.5 x 11 with a scaled down version I could scan. Lemme get back to you on this and see what I can do.
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Twail Wetard
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by Twail Wetard »

Aight
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by Sonlyballer »

Sounds like a good vacation love the pictures too.
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by LoZLady »

Nice pictures! Sounds like a blast. Thanks for sharing! :)
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crazyflights
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Re: Sharing my 5/20/12 Adventure Day.

Post by crazyflights »

Was a great time, we like to have fun!!
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