Whirlpool Cave (5-5-02)

Well Jim and I had been trying to get into Whirlpool Cave for awhile now and it finally paid off. He had gone to the UT Grotto meeting on the 1st and talked with Julie Jenkins. She informed him that there was a group going in on Sunday, the 5th. She said the only requirements were that you had to go in with someone who has been in before AND at least one person had to be a a memeber of the TCMA. Since I had just mailed my $15 fee on Monday, we met the requirements. So it was set for May 5th at 2:00.

When I got to the parking spot, I saw Jim already there. He was all dirty from going into Airman's earlier that day. He went in with about 4 other people. They only went to the Art Gallery though. So Jim and I were a little early and we didn't see anyone, although I did see a car under the Mopac bridge with some people sitting on chairs. We walked to the entrance of the cave, but no one was there and we were thinking no one was coming. Jim went back to his car while I waited. I took a couple pics then headed back. I noticed Jim was talking with a guy, so I'm sure it was one of the guys from the group. It was Edward. Jim went to move his car to where Edward's was, which was the car I had seen earlier. I headed over.

When I got there, there were some more people there. Allen, Nea and Kara. We were all getting ready and then we saw another car pull up. It was Wes. He had gone into Airman's with Jim as well. He somehow found where we were at without knowing how he got there.... So after getting all our gear together, we were ready. We walked over to the entrance. Jim planned on doing some construction work and I was gonna do some biking.....

Edward reached under the grate and unlocked the lock. Wes and Jim went in first. Then me, then the rest. There was a register in a bottle you are supposed to fill out before you go in. There was also a map of the cave and a piece of paper decribing some of the creatures living in it. We filled out the register and began our descent. The passage begins going down immediately. You have to go down headfirst which was different. It wasn't too hard, I just wasn't used to it. You are almost walking down the passage on your hands. When you get to the bottom, it opens up a bit. Everyone was doing fine.

We kept going on, the passages alternating between hands and knee-ers, belly crawls and crouch-walking. There were also some vertical parts where you had to climb up and down. Evenually we got to the Travis County Room. This room was big! And I mean big as in wide. Not very tall though, maybe 7 feet in some places. Most of it was about 5-6 feet tall. So we rested there a while, talking about other caves in the area like Maple Run, Honey Creek, etc. Then we were ready to go.

We took the right passage which would lead us to another big room. Getting there consisted of more of the same kinds of passageways until we got to a really tight birth canal. I tried gong through but my Camelbak prevented me. I had to go in reverse a bit to take it off so I would have room. I threw it ahead of me and squeezed through. And do I mean squeeze. Tighter than the keyhole at Airman's. So we all got through and I took a couple pics. Right after the birth canal is a room up above which has a lot of nice formations. Classic stalagtites and stalagmites. Jim went up and checked it out. I poked my head up in there and took a few pictures. Nicely done. So after everyone was reborn, we continued. More of the same pasageways until we got to a muddy part. Walking on the sides kinda helped. Then we crawled up and up passing another room which looked like a dome. I went around and would check it out on the way back.

After the dome room is a little room with a pit to the right. But you go left, which brought us to the Powder Room. In here, there is a lot of powdery limestone? on the ground which makes it look like well,......powder. So we rested there a bit before we pushed on. The passageway started going up into another tight squeeze where I had to back out again to remove my Camelbak. Wes went ahead. Jim followed, then me. Ed and Kara decided to wait in the Powder Room for us. We went through another passageway until we came to the Surprise Room. It was about half the size of the Travis Room with a big pit in the middle. Jim and Wes went down to check it out. It didn't go anywhere although it looked like there was a dig in process. We explored aound the Surprise Room going down little passageways and such. Wes and I found some pretty cool formations in here, including a few stalagmites which were practically see-through when Wes put his flashlight up to it. There was another Powder Room off to one side as well. I took some pics and decided it was time to leave. Jim hauled buttocks all the way to the Travis Room.

Back through the passageway and the tight squeeze and through the first Powder Room and through the other room. I went up to check out the Dome Room and it looked pretty cool, so I took a pic. We kept going and we were really wanting to see the Travis Room after each turn, but no go. Going back through the birth canal was a little easy because we were going downhill, although my hip pack got stuck so I had to rotate it. We kept going and going and going before finally getting to the Travis Room where we stopped and had a snack break. I took a pic of everyone. We talked about the Colorado Bend caves, the disaster at 0-9 Well and other things. Finally, it was time to get out of the cave.

Jim, Wes and I went first. We made some good time getting to where we climb up although Wes took a wrong turn and we got a little lost. Ed consulted the map and led us in the right direction. Jim and Wes went really fast while I took my time. Ed and Kara were behind me a ways. Going up the end was kinda hard, but I made it. I finally saw daylight! I waited near the ladder for Ed and Kara, who needed my voice for direction. Finally they made it up. Wes had filled out the time we left in the log. We all climbed the ladder and Ed closed the grate which looked and sounded like a dungeon. Then we headed over to the cars so we could take a group photo. And that was it! We finally did Whirlpool. Hopefully I will gain access to it soon and I can lead a group in. Next week we plan on doing going to the formation room in Airman's.