Toys and Notes left in the cave

[wingman]

The coat hangers are a little different, they are used to hold the line to some lead weights in the middle of the tunnel.

The coat hanger(s) at the dog leg near the roller coaster in ginnie have been gone a while...now its a line with a screw link i think. Bill

[Sludge]

The big problem is "when does it get excessive?"

Fair question. How about one piece of cave trash for every 2,000 feet?

Placed the jack-o-lantern in Little River, on Table Rock, the fall of '99 if I remember correctly.

Yep, I got the log books out - 10/31/99.

That's another reason I love internet forums. After more than ten years I found out who placed it there. (Now if we can only find out who put the hockey mask on it!)

[RN]

I voted against cave trash. However, someone mentioned something about the Trash Room in JB. The trash there was not placed there by cave divers. While some of the items may have been relocated, they originally made it into the cave through an old sink that no longer exists. That has significance to the system and should stay where it is.

[LiteHedded]

so trash in a system like telford or lafayette blue = get it outta there!
if the sink collapses, it becomes significant trash and we have to leave it in the cave?
got it

[wings-n-wheels]

About ten years ago we made a dive in Little River on Halloween and upon turning the corner at the Mud Tunnel line, sitting on Table Rock was a jack-o-lantern wearing a hockey mask. Now THAT was a danger to me, because I laughed so hard I almost choked!

Items in the cave - the bats, Godzilla, the skeleton, Easter eggs at Easter, a Christmas ornament here or there, Jason the jack-o-lantern, hide-the-mask - don't bother me a bit, as long as it doesn't get excessive.

I think that anyone who read the note at Ginnie would have got a chuckle out of it too even though it was dry humor . I saw it on the line at the hill 400 jump on my second dive Friday. People who say it was a dire message about a lost diver obviously didn't read it or are too young to know what a match is. The note said something like "diver has left the system and left a redundant light source behind for anyone who needs it(two waterproof matches tied to note) and not to strike too close to line". While I am against anything in the cave system, some humor can be entertaining as long as it's removed in a timely manner. I saw cookies and arrows on the cave floor and more scooter marks than all the trash combined by a large margin. The biggest problem with things in the system are the divers with poor skills bouncing off the floor and ceiling attempting to look at the items or read stuff people left behind. I agree there needs to be a third option on the poll.

[chilldive]

First time I saw the bats, I thought it was hilarious. I had never heard of them (must have had my head in the mud), so coming around the corner and seeing these things hanging on the line really made the dive something unique.

However, I can imagine if this forum was around when those were first put in... What would the uproar have sounded like? But now they've been in there for years, so they're historical and accepted. I'm having a hard time getting my head around this.

How long does something have to be in the cave before it is deemed historical and accepted? Or if I put something in and declare it will be historical, should we leave it?

I really don't mind those things. I'm just bored, ready to go home and asking too many questions. (however, as already said plenty of times - certain notes do NOT need to be in there).

[billybones519]

As long as we are talking about toys, anyone know what happened to this little guy. Used to be in Little River, havent seen it for a couple years.

[RN]

so trash in a system like telford or lafayette blue = get it outta there!
if the sink collapses, it becomes significant trash and we have to leave it in the cave?
got it

I'm going to guess you don't know a whole lot about Jackson Blue. AFAIK the trash was already there the first time anyone swam through there and the sink hole was not. The only indication there was a sink hole there i the trash that starts 2200' in the system. There are lots of areas in Jackson that look like they could have formerly been sinks, but that's the only one that has is definitive. Therefore, it has historical significance because it tells us something about the system we wouldn't otherwise know. Your examples wouldn't do that.

[temrich]

Not that I have much business talking about this, seeing as I have been a cave diver for less than 10 years, but if this conversation was taking place when the bats were put in, or the jack-o-lantern, or any other items that were not there by nature, would that not be considered trash? I am not saying that the note left was not bad, but trash is trash, historical or not. Dive safe and enjoy everyone, that is why we are in this sport.

[dgschott]

I think that anyone who read the note at Ginnie would have got a chuckle out of it too even though it was dry humor . I saw it on the line at the hill 400 jump on my second dive Friday. People who say it was a dire message about a lost diver obviously didn't read it or are too young to know what a match is. The note said something like "diver has left the system and left a redundant light source behind for anyone who needs it(two waterproof matches tied to note) and not to strike too close to line". While I am against anything in the cave system, some humor can be entertaining as long as it's removed in a timely manner. I saw cookies and arrows on the cave floor and more scooter marks than all the trash combined by a large margin. The biggest problem with things in the system are the divers with poor skills bouncing off the floor and ceiling attempting to look at the items or read stuff people left behind. I agree there needs to be a third option on the poll.

There were other wet notes left on hill 400 and at the park bench, that did not have that written on it, or matches. I can't remember what was exactly written on them, something like J, left the cave, XXX... I can't remember who the names were, but they were attached to double enders with red tape around the middle.