#Flowstone Waterfalls

[suetravelblog]

Medieval Orthodox Monasteries and Resava Cave Serbia

[stoneageproductions]

The Longest Show Cave in Britain: White Scar Cave 

White Scar Cave in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is the longest show cave in England. It was first explored in August 1923 by two amateur geologists, Christopher Long and J.H. Churchill, but further discoveries have been made since then including "The Battlefield", at 90 metres (300 ft) long it is one of the largest known cave chambers in Great Britain. The show cave entrance can be found on the Ribblehead to Ingleton road, west of Ingleborough, with tours being run throughout the year with visitor facilities including a shop and café. The tour begins near the original entrance found by Christopher Long who discovered the cave in 1923. The trail winds its way past cascading waterfalls, between massive banks of flowstone, and through galleries decorated with stalactites and stalagmites, ending up at the ore inspiring Battlefield cavern.

[rotten-foolclown]

trying to post about my wip more so here's some location descriptions for my wip that i wrote as a warmup

The caves-

The caves underneath the town are small and winding. Carved by crystalline streams, They form small, curled, intricate shapes. Like the fronds of a fern. The ceilings seep with long curtains and rivers of flowstone, and run with moonmilk and rust. Between the bloated calcite fingers of stalagmites jut delicate ledges of shale, crumbling into gray-blue flakes down the cavern walls. Sometimes the tunnels open up into sinkholes, with toothy edges and waterfalls of moss dripping down the sides; the circular eye-like basins stabbed into the earth like a wound. 

The drains- 

Narrow brick and plaster hallways cut long straight lines through the earth. The bottoms sometimes dip to accommodate long streams of rust-hued water, other times the water swells up to consume the whole space. Sometimes the brick crumbles away, giving glimpses of the other lost spaces under the town. Other times, the walls sink in carrying waves of gravel and mud to block the path. Even when the structure stands strong however, streams of mud still work themselves between the bricks, leaving the walls painted in brilliant colors. oxidization and clay-dust, soil and mold. Yellow, teal, hues of black and red. Illuminated, like a gallery, by grates placed into the arched ceiling

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Ephemeral and Ancient formations

Frozen icefalls at Ausable Chasm, New York and Frozen Niagara flowstone at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky

[dromaeo-sauridae]

ganon is currently yelling at me unfortunately my brain is still in endless caverns. solution caves my beloved

[agentrouka-blog]

When Jon said he was “as hard as the rocks around him” how do you think that measured on the Mohs hardness scale, 1 to 10?

Well, anon, I'm no geologist, so I had to google a little.

But I think I can answer your question. First, let's look at the cave itself.

Within the rock, the passage descended twenty feet before it opened out onto a space as large as Winterfell’s Great Hall. Cookfires burned amongst the columns, their smoke rising to blacken the stony ceiling. The horses had been hobbled along one wall, beside a shallow pool. A sinkhole in the center of the floor opened on what might have been an even greater cavern below, though the darkness made it hard to tell. Jon could hear the soft rushing sound of an underground stream somewhere below as well. (...)

Jon followed his finger, and found himself in a dim back room wandering through a maze of columns and stalactites. (...) He turned toward the sound, but within ten paces he was in a dead end, facing a blank wall of rose and white flowstone. (...)

She stood beside a little waterfall that fell from a cleft in the rock down into a wide dark pool. The orange and yellow flames shone against the pale green water. (...)

“(...) There are hundreds o’ caves in these hills, and down deep they all connect. There’s even a way under your Wall. Gorne’s Way.” (ASOS, Jon III)

The presence of the stalactites indicates that this is most likely a limestone type of rock, potentially like the beautifully photographed Domica Cave. It also matches the suggested color of the rocks.

If this is a correct assumption, then the answer is as follows:

Although relatively soft, with a Mohs hardness of 2 to 4, dense limestone can have a crushing strength of up to 180 MPa. For comparison, concrete typically has a crushing strength of about 40 MPa. (Wikipedia Limestone)

The scale ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 being the softest (Talc) and 10 the hardest (Diamond).

It is important to note that Jon is not employing a literal comparison, as an erect penis is actually softer than any kind of rock and would not register on the scale at all, if we were speaking literally.

We are talking, metaphorically speaking, therefore, of a relatively weak hardness, which corresponds well to the fact that Jon is in an abusive relationship with Ygritte and practicing a great deal of self-deception to cope with the trauma.

The seemingly impressive - but upon closer inspection rather unimpressive - comparison is therefore very appropriate.

The more you know. I hope I could help you out, anon. Have a lovely day.

[the-river-person]

Worldbuilding Tangent Part 1

This is gonna be a post where I get sucked down a rabbit hole about the worldbuilding of the Underground. There are a some things I think are worth noticing. I’ve seen a couple fics and comics where people acknowledge the size of the Underground. But I don’t think we’ve really stopped to take a good look at it much, and I want to cause its fun. Please note that these are my own observations from the game and that It’s possible I might interpret what I see in a different way than others. Let’s start with just the Ruins and the city of Home. (plus some mentions of New Home. But its relevant.) We know that the Monsters were sealed away Underground and trekked across the massive cavern to where the Ruins are now, and they made a city called “Home”. The book in Toriel’s home says “Cavern’s” indicating that its a single cavern with the possessive apostrophe on the end instead of multiple caverns. A cavern is defined as a category of cave that is particularly vast and has formed naturally in soluble rock and grows speleothems (Cave formations like flowstone, stalagmites, stalactites, columns, straws, or drapery). I thought this meant there was only one single vast cavern until I came upon “The Glossary of Geology” which said that the word ‘cavern’ could either be used to talk about one single vast cave or a system of caves, chambers, and connected tunnels. This sounds more like what I see in the game, because we know that there seem to be large cave areas separated from one another and connected by tunnels and smaller caves. So we have a series of connected large caves and tunnels. The first of which we see is the Ruins. The ruins are supposed to be a small part of the ancient city of Home, where the monsters lived for a while after being sealed Underground. Why did they eventually decided to move back to the main entrance where they were first sealed? We don’t know for sure, but based on the timing, it might have been due to Chara. We know Chara fell down the same hole as Frisk does at the start of the game, because the flashback cutscene shows this and because Toriel returned Chara’s body there and buried it. Yet we also know that Asriel and Chara left the Underground through the only real entrance and exit available to them without a ridiculous amount of climbing... The one we find in New Home. One possibility is that Asgore built the city of New Home AFTER they died, but this doesn’t work because Asgore tells us that Toriel became disgusted with his actions and “She left this place, never to be seen again.” Since we know the place Toriel ended up was the closed off Ruins, then New Home would have needed to be built sometime before the death of the royal children, but after Chara’s initial fall. (there is the possibility that it was built before that. I have doubts that Asgore and Toriel would be letting little Asriel wander alone through a set of abandoned ruins, but you could make an argument for it depending on various possible circumstances). Anyway, you the player get to see the ruins as you follow Toriel and solve puzzles. And while they’re somewhat sizable, they don’t seem much like an ancient city, more like a couple of old streets, a park, or something like that. Perhaps a set of gardens since it appears to be set outside (will come back to this in a moment). Then we come to an area where we see the actual city of Home, inaccessible to the player. We’re on a balcony, suggesting that the city is at a lower elevation, and that the ruins we’ve been traveling through are much higher up, possibly part of a castle. The city itself is quite big, containing towers and domes and buildings of all kinds, stretching into the distance. Looking at the Ruins themselves, we know that they’re open air (as much as you can be underground). There are piles of leaves everywhere (despite there only being a single tree, suggesting that there are leaf bearing plants growing above or on the walls outside of the player’s line of sight. And beds of flowers grow in various places. Even the occasional pool, stream, or fountain makes its appearance in this area along with all of the puzzles (this stream could be the very source of the River we see later in the game with the River Person in his boat and Ice Wolf sending blocks of ice down to Hotland). Along with the addition of Toriel’s Home, which appears identical to the one in New home in almost every way, we might guess that this area is an upper area of the original Castle (or Royal Palace, whatever word works) and that it was probably an open air garden area for the Royal Family or others near them. Personally I feel like it could be a play area for the young Prince Asriel to practice at puzzling without his parents worrying too much, but I don’t know that there’s much evidence supporting this. Also there’s the more dangerous puzzles involving spikes, which might have been added later, but we’ve no way of knowing for sure (Didn’t Papyrus suggest that spikes were every child’s dream?). Toriel’s Home itself, much like Asgore’s Home at the end of the game, also acts as a guard to the main exit. An exit to the Ruins into the rest of the Underground, and later an exit from the Underground altogether. This sort of thing fits with the whole Boss Monster idea, which in traditional games act as threshold guardians. So in both cities, the King and Queen were overseers of the main door in and out of the city, placed directly in their living quarters. I have to assume that both are part of a much bigger castle because while they appear tiny when we actually play in them, there’s a scene in Waterfall where we get a good glimpse of the city of New Home and there’s definitely a big whopping castle there in the middle. So either Asgore and Toriel just...don’t live in the big castle (why would they build it?) or Asgore’s home is just a small part of the castle, the royal family’s living quarters. And since its identical to Toriel’s home in the ruins, which is elevated above the main city for unstated reasons, I think it might be reasonable to assume that it too is part of a large castle or palace and acts as the royal family’s living quarters apart from rooms where matters of state are dealt with. Though based on the rooms of various levels it could be a training ground, store rooms, or a set of different rooms that make up that level of the castle. The entire area of the Ruins and Home are populated by various small and weak monsters. Some of them being almost feral or wild in nature, while others appear to be there just to hide or make trouble. A Froggit tells us that Toriel was seen coming from the lower city itself with groceries, which makes it more or less certain that some sort of civilization is thriving in the main city itself, with  enough Monsters around for a working community and things like stores you can buy groceries from. Finally the end of the Ruins, reached by going through Toriel’s home and down to a lower level (which would put it back down on the same level as the city of Home and lower than the rest of the Ruins you travel through), is a large pair of doors with the Delta Rune on them. Beyond them is another long tunnel ended not by a door but by pillars and a wide open dark space occupied by Flowey and a patch of grass and bare earth. Most of the Ruins have the purple flooring, like tile or paved stone. Only the first area where you fall down and this area have this... open feeling. I suspect this area might have been a courtyard just outside the main castle doors but before the outer wall. And indeed we find a second set of ornate doors to leave through, entering out into the Snowdin Forest. The very first thing we see there is the doors we came through set in a very large and purple stone wall. We don’t see much of it, but we know that the Ruins are inaccessible to us and the rest of the Underground, so the wall must be either very tall, or might totally seal off the Home area from the rest of the caverns. It is certainly not a natural feature due to its color, the resemblance to the stonework of the rest of the ruins, and the stylized doorway of the same colored stone set in it.

[athenril-of-kirkwall]

okay lets do this *cracks fingers* Solavellan: oral sex, where they can be overheard and with (optionally) sex pollen

Merry Xmas! Have some filthy, filthy, filth.

Solavellan, “Priapic Venom” (AO3) [Explicit]

“Excellent,” Solas remarked as he observed the elven artifact pulse with the same green energy which emanated from Rivka’s palm. “That should strengthen the Veil here for the time being.”

Clapping imaginary dust from her hands, Rivka said, “I think that’s well enough for one day. I don’t know about you, Solas, but I’ve honestly had it with this wet, spider-infested cave.”

“I concur entirely,” he said, turning away from the waterfall and heading towards the cave’s mouth. “It’ll be pleasant to return to camp and warm up a little by the fires—urk!!

That interruption of the usually unflappable Solas’ exposition had been caused by a vicious bite by one of those spiders which Rivka had been complaining about just now. He and Rivka sprung into action, making short work of the pest and leading it to explode in a mass of viscera and green blood some few moments later.

Wiping some off the gore off her armour, Rivka commented, “Speak of the Dread Wolf and he turns up. Now I’m going to have to wash spider guts off my arm…”

Her voice trailed off as she turned around to see Solas lying on the ground, weakly propping his back up against one of the columns of flowstone in the middle of the cave. He looked even paler than usual, and looked as limp as a puppet with its strings strewn on a floor…with one notable exception, of which Rivka was actively avoiding catching an eyeful as she looked up at him concernedly.

“Vhenan,” he croaked, “I can’t feel my arms.”

“I think I know where all the blood went to,” Rivka said, letting herself finally observe the considerable bulge in his trousers.

“Dear me,” Solas muttered, finally noticing his predicament.

Rivka scrambled to fish an elfroot potion from her belt, uncorking it and dribbling its contents into Solas’ mouth, before stripping her gloves off, followed by the outer layers of her armour.

“What are you—?”, he asked, growing more concerned with every article of clothing she was removing.

“You must have encountered this in one of the more lurid dreams you experienced whilst exploring the Fade,” she explained. “It certainly was mandatory education in my clan, although to be frank…I never expected to ever use this knowledge in my lifetime.”

“Of course I recognise a paralytic poison, vhenan, but what do you mean?”

“This is no ordinary paralytic agent, Solas,” Rivka explained, now completely bare above her beltline except for her undershirt. “You’ve just been bitten with priapic venom.”

Solas’ eyes widened as he spluttered, “Priapic…venom…?”

Rivka nodded gravely. “Creators know what sick purpose the Forgotten Ones had in mind when they imbued animals with the stuff—probably Anaris’ doing, the old pervert—and in other forms it’s a mild aphrodisiac, but right now you’ve been poisoned, and rather sadistically at that.”

“Are you saying that this priapic venom is causing not just my paralysis but…”

“Quite so,” Rivka said. “Who knows how many hunters have met a disastrous and humiliating end thanks to this stuff, unable to relieve themselves to the last.”

“That brings me back to my original question,” Solas said, following Rivka’s gaze to his own belt. “What are you planning to do, vhenan?”

Raising an eyebrow as she reached for another vial, Rivka said, “It’s quite simple. I’m going to relieve you.”

Quivering in outrage as much as his deadened muscles could manage, he protested, “I absolutely refuse! I shouldn’t…you shouldn’t…”

“Solas,” Rivka said sternly. “If this isn’t taken care of, your penis may well be defective for the rest of your life.”

“Nevertheless, I won’t let you give yourself to me, not in these circumstances of all things.”

Guiding Solas to her trousers, which were still belted and buttoned up, she said, “I think you need to relax a little, Solas. I wasn’t about to have a tryst with you in this dank, wet, cave.”

“Then what…?”, Solas asked blearily.

Looking up at him as she squatted back in front of him, Rivka said, “I’m simply going to perform the remedy, unless of course you’d prefer me to summon the nurse from the campsite…?”

Turning the options over in his head and figuring the latter was more mortifying than the former, Solas finally conceded, “Very well, do as you wish.”

“You make it sound so romantic,” Rivka said, rolling her eyes.

Pulling his trousers and smalls down, revealing a truly torturous erection, and pouring a vial of Prophet’s Laurel oil over her hands, spreading the lotion on her palms once it was exposed to the chill air. Finally taking a good look at it, Rivka blinked as she appreciated its size. It was…considerably respectable, easily the length of her hand from palm base to fingertip, and wide enough to look proportionate and not, uh, skinny.

Not that she’d seen all that many penises in her life, but she knew enough to recognise one that would cause considerable envy. Maybe she should be spending less time staring at it and, well, doing the necessary treatment.

Breathing on her palms to make sure she wasn’t about to chill Solas with her touch, Rivka got to work, wrapping it with her right hand and slowly pumping it. Blood started rising in Solas’ pale cheeks, which at least was some kind of indication that she was doing it right. Drawing upon her limited experience, she tried a kind of rotating motion at its base with her left hand, then deciding that it wasn’t really working, she settled on massaging his balls.

Hearing a deep groan rise from Solas’ breast, she looked up at him teasingly, asking, “Enjoying ourselves, are we?”

-

Continued on AO3, because this is 2000+ words about Rivka jerking Solas off and blowing him too. See you there!

@dadrunkwriting

[jonsnowloversunite]

The Elemental Jon Snow

Water

Jon followed his finger, and found himself in a dim black room wandering through a maze of columns and stalactites. She can’t be here, he was thinking, when he heard her laugh...

He turned toward the sound, but within ten paces he was in a dead end, facing a blank wall of rose and white flowstone. Baffled, he made the way back he’d come, and then he saw it: a dark hole under an out thrust of wet stone. He knelt, listened, heard the faint sound of water. “Ygritte?”

... Ygritte had brought a torch, but there was no other light. She stood beside a little waterfall that fell from a cleft in the rock down into a wide dark pool. The orange and yellow flames fell against the pale green water. 

“What are you doing here?’ he asked her. 

“I heard water. I wanted t’see how deep the cave went.” She pointed with the torch...

All Jon could hear was the falling water and the faint crackle of flames...

... “If you want to look you have to show. You know nothing, Jon Snow.”

“I know I want you,’ he heard himself say, all his vows and all his honor forgotten. She stood before him as naked as her name day, and he was as hard as the rock around them... (ASOS, Jon III)

[carybyrd-blog1]

Visit Cascade Cavern in Boerne, Texas 78006

Boerne is a great city in Texas where you can relax, unwind and slow things down a while. If you are visiting Boerne make sure you take the scenic route, where you will be able to see and enjoy the glorious Texas wildflowers. While Boerne provides many attractions, one of the most visited attractions is the majestic Cascade Cavern. The Cascade Cavern is a geologically and biologically limestone cave found about 5 kilometers from Boerne, Texas. The cavern was open for public tours back in 1932. Cascade Cavern is commercially operated and it is part of the Glen Rose Formation. Opened to the environment for thousands of years, prehistoric animal finds have been found inside. At this beautiful underground attractions, visitors can enjoy a one-hour guided tour. The tour offers various natural attractions and multiple corridors that provide full entertainment and education for everyone. Cascade Cavern maintains an average temperature of 64 degrees, which makes it a great option for those hot summer days.  Inside the caverns, visitors can expect to see half a mile of flowstone corridors all about 132 feet below ground. Inside visitors can also witness the only interior waterfall found in Texas.  Some of the primary formations found in the cavern are soda straws. Other attractions include a gift and rock shop, a  gem and rock quarry, nature trails, camping sites and a picnic area for visitors to enjoy a meal before or after the tour. 

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT 

CinchLocal.com

1207 Breeze Way Suite #103

Boerne, Texas 78006

(210) 789-2973

CinchLocal.com

Cascade Cavern is proud to serve both local visitors and international visitors with its many natural attractions. Another Boerne company that has been serving its community, as well as international customers, is CinchLocal. Cinchlocal provides innovative marketing solutions including web design Boerne for small businesses, franchises, healthcare providers and more.

                                               Get Map Directions:-

[enifadventure]

Like an underground plumbing network, water percolated down from the ceiling’s cracks and crevasses, creating fanciful forms. Mushroom-like stalagmites flanked either side of the trail, waterfalls of flowstone covered the walls, and soda straws hung like icicles. Just one of the many quotes from my book Enif.

[yesjojobirdflyhigh]

THE CAVES OF CAMUY

for Katherine Gilbert-Espada

In the sleep of hysterectomy,

deep in the well where anesthesia

dropped you like a bucket

banging and spinning to oblivion,

you saw the old poet again.

You named your son for him,

Clemente for Clemente, but now

there would be no more sons or daughters,

your tide of blood burned away like the drought

at the end of the world, so you summoned this apparition

back from the place where mountains tend his grave

in secret, hoarding the stone of Clemente Soto Vélez.

The poet spoke a hieroglyphic tongue, yet you read

the pictures carved in air, understood the words he said:

Gather good brushes and good paper,

collect your colors and your rags.

Paint the caves of the river Camuy.

Paint the faces chanting in stone before the wind

presses a finger against their lips.

Paint the dripstone, flowstone, rimstone, limestone.

Paint the caverns where conquistadores and geologists

went mad hearing the echo of waterfalls they could never find.

Paint the blue crabs escaping your footsteps.

Paint the trilobites waking up hungry after millions of years.

Paint the bats fleeing the flashlight with panicky wings.

Paint my face squinting in the flashlight,

amazing the discoverers who swore they were first.

Paint my skin smooth again, like a boy

who leaps from the rock to the river.

Paint my white hair streaming in the chamber

they call the Hall of White Maidens.

Paint my black eyes hunting in the dark.

Paint so I can walk from the cemetery

to sit at the window of the house

where I was born a hundred years ago,

contemplating the Puerto Rican parakeet

extinct everywhere but the tree by my window.

Gather good brushes and good paper,

and the creatures in the caves will stir:

singers in the circle of the first maracas,

conquerors and geologists flinging their helmets,

crabs, bats, trilobites, parakeets, poets with white hair spilling,

your sons and daughters pouring from the mouth of the world.

-Martín Espada, The Republic of Poetry

[davehodgetts-blog]

Spending a night or two below the ground, in a chamber where no sunlight could penetrate is not among my bucket list entries. Whenever I travel, I always look for blue sky, green massifs, white beach, aquamarine deep, and vivid sunsets, so I never imagine myself camping in deep caverns. However, my strong sense of adventure dominated over my preference to vibrancy and colors. Thus, I said yes to the Gobingob and Langun Cave Connection and Spelunking invite.

I tried spelunking before when I visited Sagada, but we spent only 4 to 6 hours in Lumiang and Sumaguing Caves. Gobingob and Langun Cave Connection, on the other hand, is way more intense. The itinerary indicated that we will stay up to three days inside and explore the farthest mapped section of both caves.

Since it was my first time to camp inside a cave, I made a lot of preparations and brought many stuff, which I found out later as unnecessary.

I was so excited, so I headed to Tacloban a day earlier, spent a night there, bought my food provisions, and then proceeded to Calbiga the morning after.

Safety Orientation and Trekking to Gobingob Cave

I met with other travelers for the first time. Some of them accompanied Sir Joni of Trexplore, the tour organizer, to the tourism office to secure our permits. Langun and Gobingob Caves are within a protected area, so permits are required to enter their premises.

We also received a comprehensive orientation from Sir Joni himself, including what to expect, and other reminders to preserve the protected zone.

The mouth of Gobingob Cave, Southeast Asia’s third largest cave

When we were all gathered, we took a motorbike taxi (habal-habal) to the jump off, and then trekked for an hour to the view deck of Gobingob Cave. Afterwards, we trekked downhill for another 15 minutes to get to the mouth of the Philippines’ largest cave system.

Kuya Lando, our head guide, oriented us about the safety, including the dos and don’ts. He also checked our gears and flashlights to make sure that they are dependable. Since Sir Joni was barred to enter any cave in Samar, he entrusted us to the expert guidance of Kuya Lando and Mang Remy. Two LGU-provided guides, Jason and Alvin, were also with us that day.

Our size ratio to Gobingob Cave is like a tiny plankton fed to a whaleshark.

We entered Gobingob Cave past four in the afternoon. The mouth was so enormous. We were like plankton being fed to a mouth of a whale shark.

The Stage

The team scaled boulders, crossed mud, and slid down the steep flowstones to get to our campsite inside Gobingob Cave. Before we reached the campsite, we passed near a huge flowstone, which the guides call as “the stage.” Its surface glittered when hit with a dim light. We were tempted to touch it, but we had to abide the rules. Nobody from the team wanted to be labeled as persona non grata in the first place.

A huge flowstone inside Gobingob Cave. The guides call it “The Stage”

The Baseball Field

Our campsite was located at the edge of the “baseball field,” the largest chamber of Gobingob Cave. According to the Italian explorer, that area is comparable to the size of a baseball field. Stalagmites are abundant on the side, while the middle ground is mostly mud.

Sneaky cave crickets. They tingle you while you are asleep

The baseball field is also cave cricket infested. They are harmless, but they could disturb you in your sleep.

When we reached the campsite, we rested a bit and prepared our dinner.

Exploring Perno

It was already past seven in the evening when we started the spelunking proper. We left our stuff in the camp, brought the essentials, such as water and camera, and then trekked to Perno, the farthest mapped chamber of Gobingob. Our guides had different and unclear stories as to why the place was named Perno, so asked them about it when you happen to visit Calbiga.

Dinner time at Gobingob Cave campsite, just a tiny portion of the baseball field, a huge chamber within the cave

Anyway, that was supposed to be a three-and-a-half-hour trek, but we did not complete it. Our guides told us that the formations are the same. Since we were all tired—it was already 10PM that time—we agreed not to proceed. We had no regrets though. We had already seen a lot of speleothem. Some were white, ivory, crystalline, and glittering. Others were colossal, forming columns and towers cones.

On our way to Perno, the farthest mapped section of Gobingob Cave

We headed back to the camp, and then cleaned ourselves with wet wipes. I was so glad to have brought two packs. I was thinking to swim in the water around the baseball field, but when I noticed the crickets gliding, the deep mud, and the perturbed flaps, I decided to settle with wipes. Using soap and shampoo is discouraged anyway.

Traversing to Langun Cave

The following day, we woke up and missed the sunrise. [As if we could see one.] We packed all our stuff after breakfast, and then moved to our next campsite in Langun Cave.

To get to Langun Cave from Gobingob Cave, we descended vertically with safety ropes

To get to Langun, we went through a steep uphill trek, and then a rope-assisted vertical descent. Upon observation, I noticed that Kuya Lando and Kuya Remy are more technically adept to safety, compared to the guides provided by the LGU, who didn’t have any safety gears with them.

After the descent, we continued trekking for another two hours. I started to regret bringing a DSLR, a burner, and cook set that I did not use. My pack could have been three kilos lighter.

Towers cones of Upper Langun Cave

Like Gobingob, live speleothems grow at almost every section of upper Langun. The famed stalagmite forest is also situated in Langun.

Behind me is a speleothem forest in upper Langun Cave

Coral-shaped speleothems is abundant in both Langun and Gobingob Caves

We suddenly got excited when we finally saw a natural light peeking through the hole atop the upper Langun Cave. It was like a ray of hope, which reminded us that we were finally close to the second campsite.

Crossing the Guano Challenge

The challenge did not end there nonetheless. We had to cross a deep guano deposit before we could get to the camping area. The first step was heel deep. Every time our shoes are buried, hundreds of cockroaches surface. And then, they dig into the bat shit to hide themselves. Unfamiliar spiders and cave crickets were also romping on the walls.

As we moved at the middle of the guano stack, it became deeper and grubbier. Since it also stinks, I tried holding my breath. It felt so good when I finally passed that filth.

Natural light, at last!

We set up a new camp at the mouth of Langun Cave, had our lunch, and then lied down to rest.

Fascinated with the Circling Bats

We were scheduled to explore Lower Langun Cave that day, but we could not do it earlier. Lower Langun is a home to hundreds of thousands of bats, so we have to wait for them to leave the cave.

At around 6PM, we witnessed a fascinating scenery. The resident flying mammals circled around the mouth of the Cave multiple times before they headed out to get food.

We waited for the bats to move out of their home so we can explore Lower Langun Cave while they are away

Lower Langun Cave Spelunking

We headed to lower Langun after dinner, but we couldn’t descend yet because of another concern. Our guides found two snakes resting at the snake chamber. Unfortunately, that chamber is our only way to get to lower Langun Cave. They had to drive them away for us to pass. Eventually, one went out, but the other remained at the higher section of the chamber.

Getting into the snake chamber is pretty challenging. We descended by maintaining a firm grip to the rope tie as our feet reached the lower end.

Roping down to the snake chamber of lower Langun Cave

To get to the main chamber of lower Langun from the snake room, we squeezed ourselves into a small hole. Since the horizontal diameter is smaller, we had to crawl sideways. I was a perfect fit.

Found a “water terraces” inside lower langun cave

Albino crab

We crossed the rives that flows through Langun Cave several times.

We walked through thick mud. We were lucky to find these water bodies.

Resting socials

Inside Langun Cave, we found water terraces, albino crabs, and interesting formations. We also crossed a river multiple times, hop on an island, and took photos near the waterfalls. Yes! There is a waterfalls inside lower Langun.

Almost at the dead end of Lower Langun Cave (Photo by Monica Andaya)

Rest time, while exploring lower Langun Cave

We passed the snake room again to return to our campsite.

From the chamber of Lower Langun Cave, we need to squeeze ourselves into the tiny hole, to get the snake chamber, and the rock-climb to get to the campsite.

On my way to lower Langun Cave

We were wet and dirty when we returned to the camp. That, however, was not the top of our concerns. I’ve read stories from previous guests about snake encounters while asleep. The unfamiliar growls also added an eerie feel.

It was good that Kuya Remy was with us. He was very protective, and did not allow the crawlers to go near us.

Last day of the spelunking activity: getting ready for the final trek

Four-hour hike and trek from Langun Cave to Mapaso Spring

We trekked across the low land jungle of Calbiga to get to Mapaso Spring. We missed our soap, shampoo, and toothbrush the passed three days, so when we finally had a change to use them, we were really happy to do so.

Orange mushroom

Buko break

Book Your Tour via Trexplore

The caving tour was offered by Trexplore, an extreme outdoor activitiy organizer based in Catbalogan City, Samar, headed by Sir Joni Abesamis Bonifacio. They offer spelunking tours to Samar’s beautiful cave systems, canyoning, river trekking, waterfall hopping, and many more. I also noticed that in every activity they organize, Sir Joni always involve the locals. He trained residents to become expert guides.

I doubted the idea of spending more than 24 hours inside the cave, so I made some research. I learned that Sir Joni was primarily involved in mapping Samar’s cave system. He joined and assisted international teams of cave explorers, which made him more knowledgeable and experienced in such field in Samar.

Stalactites of Upper Langun Cave

He also shared his expertise with the locals, so these people can assist guests on his absence, without compromising safety.

If you were to ask me, I will never enter Gobingob and Langun Caves if the guide is not Sir Joni or Kuya Lando and Kuya Remy. There are sections in the cave that require technical capabilities, such as the rope-assisted vertical descent. By the way, Kuya Lando and Kuya Remy are Sir Joni’s most-trusted guides.

The guides from the LGU violated some safety practices. They did not wear helmet and did not bring safety harness for vertical descents. They even smoked and drank liquors while everybody else was resting.

How To Get There

From Manila, book a flight to Tacloban. You can also fly via Calbayog but this route is not available on a daily basis and is usually more expensive.

From Tacloban, hop on a van to Calbiga. You can also take a van for Calbayog, and then alight at Calbiga. If you book with Trexplore, the meetup point is at Rutchel’s Eatery. Trexplore will arrange your habal-habal ride to the main entrance of the Gobingob Cave.

If you are coming from Sambawan Island, return to Naval, take a van to Tacloban, and then another van to Calbiga.

From Kalanggaman Island, return to Palompon town proper, take a van to Tacloban, and then take another van to Calbiga.

If you are coming from Biri Island, return to Lavesores Port, hop on a trike to Allen, and then transfer to a van Bound for Tacloban. Make sure that you alight at Calbiga.

From Cebu City, you can either fly directly to Tacloban or hop on a fast craft to Ormoc, and then a van to Tacloban.

Mouth of Langun Cave (photo by Monica Andaya)

Important Tips, Notes, and Reminders

You can bring your camping burner and cookset, and then prepare your meal provisions. The campsite has abundant water supply. The water, by the way, is potable, but is not recommended for those with sensitive stomach. You can boil it for your coffee and cup noodles.

You can also ask Trexplore to prepare your food for an extra charge. Wear lightweight but heavy-duty closed shoes. You will do a lot of trekking, bouldering, and mud crossing.

Pack light. Bring only the essentials, such as sleeping mat, a pair of sleeping clothes, activity clothes (trekking pants preferred), food provisions, water, wet wipes, flash light, head lamp, helmet, and insect repellent. You can also rent a complete set of gear and sleeping mats from Trexplore.

Always follow your guides. They know the safe way, especially the guides from Trexplore.

Do not break any rock formation.

Do not urinate or poop anywhere in the cave. Your guide will bring a collector for these excretions.

PLEASE, do not leave any vandalism! We already saw one. I hope that would be the last.

“Scaling a giant tower cone” – just a front act

The post Gobingob and Langun Cave Connection: A Spelunking Guide in Calbiga, Samar appeared first on Freedom Wall.

[blueimmersion-blog]

Technical Diver

There are robust variations between a cave diver and a sump diver and the way they relate to the cave surroundings, how they configure their gear and what they attempt to obtain. A sump diver is greater than only a cave diver and greater than only a dry caver. A sump diver combines dry caving and cave diving methods in a singular approach to be able to obtain a really particular aim - negotiating water stuffed passages to be able to discover dry cave on the opposite facet. Whereas cave divers get pleasure from swimming round in water stuffed passages as an finish in of itself, to the sump diver the moist stuff is an impediment that should be negotiated, not the ultimate reward. To the dry caver the sumps are impenetrable and signify an finish of the journey, the sump diver however is just about unstoppable. Technical Diver

It's not all beer and skittles nonetheless, most of the time really attending to a sump in a dry cave requires not solely dragging your personal sorry ass a number of kilometers in, but additionally carrying a mountain of dive gear as well. For these of us who get pleasure from driving as much as a dive web site, chucking on the tanks and taking a leisurely stroll down carpeted stairs to the water, this may appear a bit, effectively... eager.

Undoubtedly carrying miscellaneous bits of dive gear and tanks to the far reaches of a cave to be able to do a dive is somewhat intense. But the rewards are titillating and it's price carrying down your physique and pushing your self to get there. In my view, that is what actual cave exploration is all about; strapping on the required gear and negotiating some severe cave. After I lastly mixed dry caving and cave diving it was like that second when peanut butter and chocolate collided... "two nice tastes that style nice collectively"... Reese's Peanut Butter Cups anybody?

My very first sump diving expertise was courtesy of Forrest Wilson, who invited me alongside on a visit to Snail Shell. Snail Shell is the longest steady cave within the Tennessee Central Basin area and has greater than 9 miles of surveyed passages. Our journey to push the second upstream sump felt like an enormous effort, particularly with the diving tools in tow. We spent over 10 hours underground and traversed over 14,000ft. On the finish the boys (Mike Younger, Adam (Skip) Kendrick) laid an extra 400ft of line. But as soon as I noticed the map of the entire system it was clear that our sojourn into the cave did not even scratch the floor. The sheer measurement and potential of those 'dry' caves dwarfs the vast majority of their submerged counterparts.

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Being my first sump diving expertise I used to be a bit moist across the ears. I wore a 3mm wetsuit, grossly insufficient for the circumstances, which meant I froze. I dragged in tanks that had been approach too massive for a sump solely 70ft in size. Even the sidemount harness was, in hindsight, approach too cumbersome and had too many redundant bits and items. I am positive the GUE of us would have a match in the event that they got here nose to nose with a sump diver. Gear choice is predicated on the character of the cave and whether or not you may carry all of it to the water's edge. Keepings issues gentle and environment friendly is of major significance; small tanks, no wing, light-weight harness and sometimes no fins are simply what the physician ordered.

Typically it's a must to be inventive and invent your personal gear. I as soon as needed to jury rig a no-mount harness on the spot to be able to discover a small crevice in upstream River Lethe, a collapse Jenolan. I had no hope of becoming into the outlet in a regular sidemount harness, so to maintain a 'zero' profile I threw some bits of bungee and hose retainers collectively. The 'Lethe' harness, with some minor modifications has since turn out to be my rig of alternative when sump diving. It offers me a low profile within the water, but permits me to sling and stroll with 7L tanks for a number of thousand toes. Typically you simply must get inventive.

Regardless of being clueless and ill-prepared, the Snail Shell journey was an unimaginable expertise. The cave is like an underground river, the place you negotiate massive stream passage by swimming, wading and strolling by way of giant swimming pools of water. Alongside the best way you climb over breakdown piles and traverse waterfalls. And in between getting your ass kicked by the cave, you're handled to some spectacular surroundings and unimaginable formations. These are likely to distract from the arduous circumstances, albeit quickly. Once we lastly reached the tip of the road and the second sump, the boys inspired me to seize the reel and spool out a number of meters, to expertise laying line. By that time I used to be bordering on hypothermic and enjoying explorer was the very last thing on my thoughts, so I declined and focused on getting myself heat. I did, nonetheless, get my first style of sump diving and I beloved it!

So from my first sump diving expertise allow us to quick ahead to an journey throughout the opposite facet of the world, all the best way in Australia in truth, the place I did get to play explorer. The Buchan space one of many largest karst options within the state of Victoria, the southernmost state of mainland Australia. It's a farming space; inexperienced grass, rolling hills, cows and all that. Beneath this panorama the world is a honeycomb of caves. The Pot Holes Reserve specifically is totally suffering from caves with over 90 recorded. The Pot Holes narrowly escaped quarrying within the 80s and is now protected by Parks Victoria, which is fabulous given the importance of the world.

In 2006 the Victorian Limestone Caving Staff (VLCT) found 330ft of perennial streamway on the Pot Holes Reserve, which they dubbed Elk River, on account of the outstanding 'antler' formation discovered. It was an unimaginable discovery, as for the primary time cavers obtained a glimpse of the underground river that had lengthy been mooted to exist within the space however had eluded all. Exploration quickly stopped, nonetheless, as the best way ahead was blocked on each the up- and downstream sides by sumps.

In 2008 my mate James (Jim) Arundale probed the underwater extensions at every finish of Elk River. He discovered it troublesome to push by way of however ultimately negotiated a good and nasty sump and was rewarded with one other 400ft of streamway passage earlier than one other sump terminated his progress. Lastly, in August 2009, with Peter Freeman coordinating the Victorian Speleological Society (VSA) effort, Jim and I ready to sort out the second downstream sump. I grew to become a accomplice in crime to what certainly is the largest heist of the century!

We joked about discovering kilometers of passage earlier than descending, however to really discover 5000ft of passage, principally multi functional go, was simply mind-blowing. I imply actually, who really finds that a lot cave passage nowadays, particularly in little outdated Buchan?! The Buchan caves whereas fascinating, are usually moderately small. The longest pitch is barely 130 odd toes lengthy and a lot of the caves appear to terminate all too early. Whereas hopeful, we weren't anticipating to hit the jackpot. But, we scored, and what we discovered surpassed all our expectations.

Elk River it appears is the primary drain for the world, the lengthy misplaced and far theorized about grasp cave system. The cave is of excellent significance in Victoria and is an important since 1907-1910, when Frank Moon found Fairy and Royal Caves (the Buchan Present Cave system). The invention completely re-writes the books about hydrology and geological construction within the space. The drainage would not go within the path most anticipated, in the direction of the one important seen resurgence within the space. The truth is, it goes precisely the other approach! Additional, it's simply the deepest collapse Victoria, now over a 350ft down, and it has the potential to drop additional nonetheless. Which is unimaginable provided that not one of the caves within the Buchan space go deeper than 200ft On high of that, it has the potential to turn out to be the longest steady stream passage in Victoria. These accolades have meant the cave system is now known as the Murrindal Potholes Jap Grasp Cave (MPEMC). The official title would not fairly roll off the tongue, so we proceed to affectionately discuss with it as Elk.

Related Links:

http://blue-immersion.org/courses/iantd-courses/normoxic-trimix-diver/ http://blue-immersion.org/courses/iantd-courses/trimix-diver/

The descend all the way down to the precise water stage is a visit in itself, and in the event you add to that quite a few baggage crammed with heavy diving tools, you're going through a slog. The doorway to the streamway is by way of Child Berger cave and entails an abseil, a little bit of laddering and loads of crawling earlier than you hit the water. One crawl specifically is, what can most politely be described as an absolute nuisance. Lastly there are a few roof sniffs to be able to attain the sump itself. Roof sniffs are passages virtually stuffed to the brim however not fairly. The little little bit of area in between the water and the ceiling means you could negotiate it by floating in your again, nostril to the ceiling, 'sniffing' the ceiling. Then, lastly, you attain the primary and hardest of the sumps.

In all features the cave is solely great. We adopted the stream, and dived by way of sump after sump gasping... 'wow', and 'oooh my', and 'oh is not this simply unimaginable'... in between a number of much less household pleasant expletives. Because the cave unfolded earlier than us, it was laborious to consider what we had been seeing. The cave formations are wonderful, with areas of extremely concentrated formations resembling flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, rimstone swimming pools and helictites.

The character of the cave modifications a lot all through, from low bedding planes to excessive rift passages, to giant chambers and slim rifts. Then there are a collection of waterfalls and climbs, a few which required some optimism and fascinating acrobatics to free climb on our first journey by way of. Then, to not be forgotten is the deep, slippery mud, overlaid with water, which makes strolling painful and strenuous. Each step feels such as you're falling right into a ravine of snow, however on this case there are not any snowshoes that may come to the rescue. All in all there are 9 sumps within the cave. Whereas they're a stupendous cobalt blue on the best way in, they get soiled shortly. On the best way out they have a tendency to resemble a mud bathtub and you will need to really feel and grope your approach out, as typically you may't even see your personal hand on the road. All this actually makes for a really sporty and memorable journey.

We spent as much as 18 hours underground on large journeys that mixed surveying, images and exploration on the far finish of the cave. We regularly obtained again to the caving hut simply earlier than the morning time, but it wasn't lengthy till everybody was off the bed celebrating the joint achievement. We recounted our adventures in between woofing down a meal... adopted intently by a bottle of purple. Solely then did we collapsed into mattress.

It has been an exceptional expertise to be part of the exploration that has modified the face of the Buchan space perpetually. The most effective half - the enjoyable is just not over but. There may be nonetheless extra diving to be achieved on each ends of the Elk River system and rather more to seek out and discover within the dry sections of the cave. For the second we've got extra questions than solutions, so we at the moment are confronted with recruiting scientists that would assist us resolve a number of the mysteries. For the second it's a diver-only journey, however we hope to seek out an alternate entrance that can enable dry cavers to entry the system.

Over the course of the 4 journeys we had fabulous assist within the dry part of the cave. With out these of us, doing the journey would have been just about inconceivable. So an enormous thanks goes to Peter Freeman, Neil Wilson, Ian 'Chalky' Thomas, Miles and Daryl Pierce and likewise Ted Matthews, Ken Smith and Michael Collins, who all selflessly grabbed a pack and humped it all the way down to the sump.

Related Topics:

Expedition Trimix Diver Courses TDI Courses

[oselatra]

All hail the anti-hotel in Arkansas

Take shelter in an oddity.

Somewhere between the heyday of baby-pink mid-century tourist courts and 2019, hotels got dreadfully boring. Where did we go so wrong? And who can we blame? The rise of the interstate highway system, maybe, or the supersizing of the hospitality industry? The ways in which business class accommodations began to play to the beige-colored middle — to those just looking for some predictable, perfunctory respite while attending corporate conferences or training sessions? Mysteries of the milquetoast notwithstanding, here's to a handful of folks in Arkansas carrying the torch for the anti-hotel, offering up a night's sleep on a houseboat, in a treehouse or inside a living cave.

Beckham Creek Cave Parthenon (Newton County) beckhamcave.com

What a saintly feat of engineering — or maybe an intrepid feat of hubris — the Beckham Creek Cave is. The property, situated on a private, 260-acre resort in the Ozark Mountains near Parthenon, is so singular and bizarro it's garnered attention from The New York Times, CNBC and travel magazines of all ilk. Originally outfitted as a bomb shelter and transformed into a top-dollar, four-bedroom/four-bathroom luxury lodge, Beckham Creek Cave is an exercise in contrast. Distinctly anthropogenic stuff like right angles and stainless steel faucets and a wall-mounted LED television gets mashed up against flowstone and stalactites, and an indoor waterfall emerges from an underground spring, itself a source of the lodge's geothermal heating. For those willing and able to book the cave at $1,600/night ($1,200 during the off-season), patrician pastimes are abundant: There's a catch-and-release pond, horseback riding and even an onsite helipad so you can crash-hawk in there like Oprah.

Diamonds Old West Cabins 2097 State Highway 19, Murfreesboro diamondscabins.com

There's already a gold-rush sort of feeling baked into any trip to Pike County. Murfreesboro's Crater of Diamonds State Park has been luring tourists to its kimberlite pipe since 1906, and nowadays, visor-clad daytrippers saunter through the park's lobby carrying sifting screens, eager to turn the fruits of a 100-million-year-old volcanic vent into assets of the highest liquidity. Given all that, Diamonds Old West Cabins seem like the next logical conclusion. The roadside row of cabins is the perfect caricature of an Old West frontier town, giving you the feeling you've stepped a few yards off of state Highway 19 and straight into an episode of "Gunsmoke." Each cabin bears its moniker across its facade: Saloon, Livery, Miss Kitty's, Bank, Blacksmith, Sheriff's Office/Jail. Thematic commitment is devout, but not constraining: The property also boasts a pirate ship-themed playground, a horse-trot pedal car track, a giant community teepee for communal s'mores-making, oversized music chimes, a horseshoe toss, occasional foam parties ("Five feet of hypoallergenic suds!" "The Great Diamond Wash!") and a tiny building whose floor is covered in a foot or so of dry corn kernels, hailed on the Diamonds Old West website with feigned incredulity: "Corn Pit? Yes! A Corn Pit!"

Edwardian Inn 317 Biscoe St., Helena

Helena-West Helena's charms are many, but they are not lavish ones. The musty, storied storefronts on historic Cherry Street — the ones half-obscured by throngs of buskers and nomads hawking airbrushed crop tops during the annual King Biscuit Blues Festival — tell a story of the mercantile class. A few blocks away, at the Edwardian Inn, one can see how the other half lived, post-Reconstruction. Built in 1904 by cotton magnate William A. Short, the Edwardian Inn estate functioned as a boarding house, an alcohol rehabilitation center and a funeral home before being outfitted as a bed and breakfast in 1983. Two 1915 French Drop chandeliers greet guests in the lobby and cast a glow on the quarter-sawn oak paneling, an ornate oak staircase and stately wooden columns. The Helena Advertising & Promotion Commission notes that 36 different types of wood were used on the inn's first floor alone.

Hot Springs Treehouses Whittington Township, Hot Springs hotspringstreehouses.com

Along a forested ridge about five minutes outside of Hot Springs National Park, a trio of cabin rooftops poke their heads out of the fray of foliage. Inside are stately living rooms with high wooden rafters and outfitted with gas fireplaces and furnished with big comfy couches, all bathed in natural light. Each cabin has one bedroom with a luxurious king-sized bed; forest-facing decks have hot tubs. Oh, and for those averse to heights or unable to traverse treehouse stairsteps, the property also offers a creekside house — built in the 1950s and restored since, save for the vintage bathroom — with shiplap walls, a whirlpool tub, a private deck, three bedrooms and a full kitchen. Room rates, booked through the Airbnb platform, range $175-$185; not bad for private accommodations that promise spells in a hot tub under the moonlight. Travel is, after all, about perspective, and raising your eye level to the treeline of the Ouachita National Forest is a damn good start.

River Nights and City Lights North Little Rock airbnb.com/rooms/23859338

For roughly half of what you'd pay at a downtown Little Rock hotel to peer out your window at the mighty Arkansas River, you could let its waves rock you to sleep. A trio of quaint, tidy riverboats is up on Airbnb, each of which docks in the Rockwater Marina on the North Little Rock side of the river. A quick search of listings in the area will turn up "River Nights and City Lights," "Sleep on the Water Under Stars" and "Sundowner Bayliner" — all co-owned and managed by Ellen Sullivan. That first listing, on a boat Sullivan calls "Sundowner, Too," has an upper floor "porch" to catch the sunrise or sunset, depending on your own circadian whims. For cyclists and hikers, the Arkansas River Trail, the Argenta Arts District and the River Market district are minutes away.

All hail the anti-hotel in Arkansas

[spelunking-space]

With 60 ft underground waterfall, Niagara Cave in Minnesota has huge stalactites, calcite flowstones and fossils that are over 400 million years old. More here: http://bit.ly/2mdjVw5