Buford conditions

[tomhauburn]

Anyone been there recently and know the conditions?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

The last report on TampaDiving's condition page, says the water is excellent. Didn't go into detail about the condition of the grounds leading up to the spring though. Also, the report was 2 weeks old.

[tomhauburn]

We will let everyone know after our dive tomorrow. I'll post it here and on Walters site.

[tomhauburn]

And one cave diver sunk up to his knee's on his first step on the marked path! We met at Birds and drove from there after getting advice it almost not possible to dive it after they got a lot of rain two days ago. We tried it anyway as we have been waiting to do this dive for some time.

Someone has a very good since of humor had placed a trail of rocks down the path to make it look passable. The first step I went down to my knee's with a loud sucking noise just loud enough to be heard over ARY laughing at me. I thought I would loose my boots when I pulled my feet out it was so sticky. That trail is almost too hard to go down currently. I used some 85's and ARY had 108's. We made two trips, first carrying our o2 bottle and camera and video gear thank goodness. We made a change of plans and went down our own trail trying to find the roots, grass area and places where the water was not draining into creating mud bogs. Be forewarned though the area off the trail has markings that do not lead to Buford. I will leave it at that, except to say hiking with doubles in the woods through bogs in the wrong directions is frustrating. We now know why single tanks are very popular at this location.

The basin was absolutely crystal clear and spectacular. Seeing the light beams go straight down to side at about 100+ feet on this one rock was fantastic. The water might have been just a little cloudy but you could see the tree's from the lowest point in the bottom where you could still see daylight. I've got to agree with Walter in this is one of the nicest dives in the state even if it not a cave dive. ( Unless you willing to do some no mount real deep ) You just have to work for it a bit to get to and in and out of this system. And I would recommend waiting a bit until it drys out to make your day much easier!

Added photos in FL section or here http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhauburn/

[john]

Ive been there in the summer winter and spring and never have I seen that first step dry to where you dont sink. every other spot around it fine but that first one seems like its there to warn you of whats to come.

[tomhauburn]

Thanks on the info for the first step. I wish I had known. But I will say today most all of the path you would sink. It was just too wet and too many people had created made holes for the water. A real mess if you walk that way right now. Believe me we tried before we changed plans.

[Ed Jackson]

Thanks on the info for the first step. I wish I had known. But I will say today most all of the path you would sink. It was just too wet and too many people had created made holes for the water. A real mess if you walk that way right now. Believe me we tried before we changed plans.

Did you enter down stream? I noticed that if you enter where the path meets the water, the silt will cascade into cavern. Your pictures looked great so you must have entered down stream or gotten the pictures before the silt came in.

[tomhauburn]

Did you enter down stream? I noticed that if you enter where the path meets the water, the silt will cascade into cavern. Your pictures looked great so you must have entered down stream or gotten the pictures before the silt came in.

We followed Walters advice and came in downstream of the opening. Your right that its very important.

[Walter Pickel]

Great report Tom...Looks like you got to see Buford for its real beauty.

[tomhauburn]

Thanks Walter for telling me it was worth it. It was way beyond what words or photos can describe to tell how pretty it was in person. Well worth the effort.