Sequiota Park Cave

[monkeyman]

I have been in this cave twice. Once when I was a little kid. The neighbor was into cave exploring and he took me with him on one of his trips to this cave. We went all the way to the back. At the time the back of the cave basically came to an end into this stalagmight/stelagtight mesh.
I went back into it again about 10yrs ago with a bunch of friends. We went all the way to the back again, however the tunnel had changed in the 20yrs or so since I'd been back there. The Stalagmight/Stalagtight mesh or termination point of the cave was either covered in silt or it was gone...having been cutt away by other visitors. Wasn't there none the less! When we came out of the cave we talked with a guy that we met out side of the cave that said that back in the "Day" there had been a section of the cave that had eventually caved in. This section of the cave had been part of the tour that used to run in the cave. In this "Caved In" section of the cave was a "Wishing Well" that people supposidly tossed coins in during their tour of the cave. I think that this section of the cave is still accessable, but I think that you would need scuba equipment to get back to it.
If anyone knows anything about this or about the cave in general please post a reply to this.

[RaccoonCC]

There's a lot of us here who have been in that cave. I think it'd be awesome to go in there with scuba gear....or to scuba dive in a cave in general.

[Sertile]

Hmm... I've explored Sequiota Cave twice, once by raft, once by canoe, and have also swam/waded the length of the tour route. I'm not sure which caved-in part you're talking about, but on the map there are places to the side that may be accessible on foot, so it's possible it's still there. I don't think it's deep enough to really scuba dive, though.

[monkeyman]

The part that is suppose to contain the "Wishing Well", or pond as the case probably was is right at about the point that the "Rail" that lays in the water ends. This is about the same place that the lights that were strung back in the cave...hanging from the ceiling...end.
There is an area that appears to be about five or six feet deep. If you crouch down you can see a space of about 1-foot between the water and the cave. This appears to go back for a ways. It would support the cave in theory. I don't know that it would really take scuba gear to check it out. I would definatly take a small can of "Spare Air". It's used in scuba diving as a emergancy air reserve. It looks like and is about the same size as the Co2 tanks on most paint ball guns.
Anyway, I have always wanted to check that story out and either prove it true or not!
It would be a killer adventure!
Let me know if you know anything else about this.

[Punctual]

You have spiked my interest

But i think if we do decide to do this we should wait till spring or whenever it gets warmer then 75 degrees.

[RaccoonCC]

you can't go in there now anyway. Theres a colony of gray bats in there, and it's very harmful for them if you enter the cave in the winter. If you wake them up, they might not have enough energy to live for the rest of the winter.

[monkeyman]

I agree with waiting until summer to check it out. There DEFINATLY IS!!! a very large colony of bats living in the cave. When I was there the second time about 10yrs ago they were mostly in the entrance area about 50 feet back or so.
But it is true that they shouldn't be disturbed during their hybernation period. Not only for their well being, but because you will get the crap fined out of you if your caught by a game warden.
Is the cave LEGALLY ACCESSABLE????
Any one know???

Not that that would really stop any of us from checking it out, but it would be nice to know.

[RaccoonCC]

We've tried to contact the guy in charge about it...but alas, he never returns our calls.

As far as i'm concerned...I don't see any no trespassing signs...and it IS a public park...

[BROUSER]

I went in about a month ago, took my nephew. My brother spoke to Melvin about it, and he said it is technically illegal. The no entry signs keep getting stolen, so they stopped putting them up. That being said, I would be interested to hear if anyone gets "busted" for going in. I didn't.

[Sertile]

I asked Mel about it once, in person (though he HAS returned my calls before, believe it or not) and he said something to the effect that they don't neccessarily want people going in there, but they're not willing to take steps to stop them, either, so it's an extremely grey area. But like Raccoon said, no gate + no signs + public park = free for all, just don't go in the winter.

And no offense to anyone, but I'm a little skeptical, simply because I hear this "cave-in" argument constantly. No one's ever willing to admit that maybe their memories might be flawed, so they like to act like the cave must have changed. Caves rarely look the same to me no matter how many times I visit them, but I'm willing to accept that this is most likely a product of my own imperfect memories.

[BROUSER]

I'm with Sertile on the cave memory thing. My mother insists the cave on my grandparents farm used to go back a lot farther, with a bridge my g-g-grandfather built back there that you had to cross. No way.

[RaccoonCC]

agreed. Every time I go into a cave, no matter how many times i've been there before, i'm quite suprised about how different the cave is compared to my memory.

[whipping_post]

I think it's mostly because your mind processes different parts of the cave. The first time you're just worried about not getting lost (if it's a large and extensive cave), after that you have more of a chance to look at everything and you process more that way. That's my take on it.