Better than a cow pie

[lonestarfl]

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to accompany J.E. on a cave hunt. We went south from High Springs driving by cows and pastures that I have seen many times before in my N. Florida travels. As we pass one particular pasture, I hear..."I think this is it" from the driver side of the vehicle. Out into the brisk winter air we began our hike towards a clump of trees in a pasture....with one eye on the cow pie mine field and the other looking for the bull that had recently been in the area. When we reach the shade of the large old oak cluster it was obvious that the we had hit pay dirt. Hidden in this small patch of trees was a large deep limstone pit with a crack on one edge that lead down 25' below the rim to a pool of crystal clear blue water. The initial image reminded me of the karst windows scattered throughout the jungles of the Yucatan, but here we were in a N. Florida cow pasture. J.E. took some picture. I retrieved the only blemish to this pristene site...a single aluminum beer can. And, we spent several minute looking into this lipid pool eyeing the obvious dark cave opening at the far end. We'll be back.
Lee

[normblitch]

The initial image reminded me of the karst windows scattered throughout the jungles of the Yucatan, but here we were in a N. Florida cow pasture. J.E. took some picture. I retrieved the only blemish to this pristene site...a single aluminum beer can. And, we spent several minute looking into this lipid pool eyeing the obvious dark cave opening at the far end. We'll be back.

Reminds me of when several of us walked into the woods with an Ike compass and topo to "lookie-lou" at Luraville Springs back in the 'day... I hear that it has been now "connected" to Telford?

Ever consider a poor-man's RPV for this? A dropable housed Digi Videocam with a moniter cable as one of the two um-biblical cables (use two on a spreader bar so you can rotate the cam) ...I'll donate the duct tape needed for the rig...<g>

Norm

[JE]

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to accompany J.E. on a cave hunt. We went south from High Springs driving by cows and pastures that I have seen many times before in my N. Florida travels. As we pass one particular pasture, I hear..."I think this is it" from the driver side of the vehicle. Out into the brisk winter air we began our hike towards a clump of trees in a pasture....with one eye on the cow pie mine field and the other looking for the bull that had recently been in the area. When we reach the shade of the large old oak cluster it was obvious that the we had hit pay dirt. Hidden in this small patch of trees was a large deep limstone pit with a crack on one edge that lead down 25' below the rim to a pool of crystal clear blue water. The initial image reminded me of the karst windows scattered throughout the jungles of the Yucatan, but here we were in a N. Florida cow pasture. J.E. took some picture. I retrieved the only blemish to this pristene site...a single aluminum beer can. And, we spent several minute looking into this lipid pool eyeing the obvious dark cave opening at the far end. We'll be back.
Lee

This site was originally written up in Underwater Speleology several years ago under: 'Slick Green' I layed some line just past the entrance to a point where it seemingly choked off...It may or may not go, as I haven't been back in there since. It appears un-spoiled by the diving public or by passerbys.....If we can figure out some way of approaching the land owner without harassing him, or driving across his pasture to the put in, this may be a true diamond find in today's diving environments. Like Lee says "we'll be back" -! The film I shot of this site has to be sent out for processing, so that will take some time to get back & up-loaded-! As soon as I do get the photos back, I'll be happy to post some shots of this beautiful cave system.

Later

JE

[Cindy]

The best way to find a land owner is to simply go to the County Tax office. The land owner files are public, for a small fee they will give you a aireal map of the area, the names and phone numbers of the land owners. Those people can be your best friends if you are nice to them. Some counties have all this information available online. Cindy Butler

[JE]

Photos will be posted for this cave shortly, under my gallerys in the photos section-!

je