Ginnie Report

[atedeschi]

This is one of I hope many reports from the Devil's System, since I decided to get an annual pass.

Friday 9/25/09
My buddy and I went to Ginnie today, for him it was to do his first cave SM dive and for me it was the first time to bring in my ccr. The plan was to not go too far and do an easy dive one and if either of us felt uncomfortable turn the dive. Our first dive we headed in through the Ear, dropped our deco bottles at the sign & continued in following the gold line until we reached the expressway tunnel. We made the jump in to the expressway tunnel, followed it until we came up on the next jump. We jumped off the Expressway tunnel line heading right towards the way out, not to much farther we came to the Cornflakes line and jumped on to that and followed it to the gold line. After completing the circuit we swam back up the mainline and retrieved our jump spools, installed a jump to Hill 400 for our second dive and exited the eye. The vis was great as far my light could shine.

Questions: What is the tunnel or jump called between the Expressway tunnel and the line heading to cornflakes (Blue Line)? Also is the cornflakes jump called that or does that tunnel have a name (purple line)?

For our second dive we entered through the ear again, made our way up to Hill 400, jumped to the left and followed that line till we reached the jump to the Syphon tunnel. We made that jump and right as the syphon tunnel bend left we jumped again to what I believe is the double lines, swam till we where a little past the 1200' mark. We turned the dive pulling our reels on the way out and headed out the eye. Both dives went off without a hitch and got to start my exploration of the Devil's System.

Questions: Is there 2 lines in that tunnel off the syphon tunnel? If so wear? Also does my line look right in that tunnel (dark purple line)?

Here is my overlay of our 2 dives and I hope to keep adding to it, and post it with reports.

[Marc Bryan]

Questions: What is the tunnel or jump called between the Expressway tunnel and the line heading to cornflakes (Blue Line)? Also is the cornflakes jump called that or does that tunnel have a name (purple line)?


Questions: Is there 2 lines in that tunnel off the syphon tunnel? If so wear? Also does my line look right in that tunnel (dark purple line)?

1. The Red line is the crossover tunnel, the blue the expressway, the purple, the bone line.

2. The last time I dove the tunnel you have indicated (two weeks ago), there was no line, and I used my primary (I took it specifically because I knew no line was there). There are two lines, one is right after making the jump which would be parallel to your purple line, just in the closer tunnel. The other is what I have always called the syphon tunnel, which on that map is on the right just before the end of the tunnel you jumped to off of the hill 400 line at 1000'.

This is what everyone I dive with calls these tunnels, etc...If any of this is wrong I am sure someone will chime in.

[jj1987]

I hear people call the jump just past the cornflakes the park bench.

The purple line you have to run a reel, there's not currently any line there. Once you see a pit in the floor, you're just a few ft off the end of the passageway that you see leading to the whale bone. Pay attention when running the line, there used to be line there, and there's already scarred rock, so try to limit adding line damage.

The siphon tunnel has 1 line, and that last portion that Berman marks SM is where the tunnel takes a small, sharp left. I can't remember if there's line in the side tunnel, but it's real short, and pretty small for BM.

Please be careful posting too much about these areas of Ginnie. They're not protected by the long swim that many of the back areas are, and they're pretty fragile area's of a cave that's already pretty destroyed.

[Marc Bryan]

Please be careful posting too much about these areas of Ginnie. They're not protected by the long swim that many of the back areas are, and they're pretty fragile area's of a cave that's already pretty destroyed.

What are the rules you would propose for too much information? Maybe the mods could create a private forum for dive reports in their free time. Of course if any land owners read your comments about destroyed caves, they may start shutting down the systems. So maybe we should all be a little more careful in what we post.

[dgschott]

This is one of I hope many reports from the Devil's System, since I decided to get an annual pass.

Friday 9/25/09
My buddy and I went to Ginnie today, for him it was to do his first cave SM dive and for me it was the first time to bring in my ccr. The plan was to not go too far and do an easy dive one and if either of us felt uncomfortable turn the dive. Our first dive we headed in through the Ear, dropped our deco bottles at the sign & continued in following the gold line until we reached the expressway tunnel. We made the jump in to the expressway tunnel, followed it until we came up on the next jump. We jumped off the Expressway tunnel line heading right towards the way out, not to much farther we came to the Cornflakes line and jumped on to that and followed it to the gold line. After completing the circuit we swam back up the mainline and retrieved our jump spools, installed a jump to Hill 400 for our second dive and exited the eye. The vis was great as far my light could shine.

Questions: What is the tunnel or jump called between the Expressway tunnel and the line heading to cornflakes (Blue Line)? Also is the cornflakes jump called that or does that tunnel have a name (purple line)?

For our second dive we entered through the ear again, made our way up to Hill 400, jumped to the left and followed that line till we reached the jump to the Syphon tunnel. We made that jump and right as the syphon tunnel bend left we jumped again to what I believe is the double lines, swam till we where a little past the 1200' mark. We turned the dive pulling our reels on the way out and headed out the eye. Both dives went off without a hitch and got to start my exploration of the Devil's System.

Questions: Is there 2 lines in that tunnel off the syphon tunnel? If so wear? Also does my line look right in that tunnel (dark purple line)?

Here is my overlay of our 2 dives and I hope to keep adding to it, and post it with reports.

Anthony... Please DO NOT ever post information about any of your dives. Heaven forbid -- The land owners, or even worse - the diver may actually dive these routes, thereby finding you and any posts you make quickly deleted/or censored... This may also lead to being banned permanently from the CDF... Also... NEVER... EVER... Question the CDS board of directors... Will lead to immediate deletion of thread. Be careful on the CDF... hahahaha... Dive on, and keep posting!

[DA Aquamaster]

+1 on the Park Bench it's large and flat and looks a bit like a bench.

My impression was the red and blue lines together are the "expressway" but I could be wrong.

The first jump to the left as you go up hill 400 takes you to July spring and it gets to be a very strong syphon. But after you take that jump, if you take the first jump to the right, you will be in the parallel tunnel and it is a very nice dive in very pretty and slightly tight cave. (You can see the line in spots as you go up Hill 400.) It's one of those areas people probably do not want to advertise, so go careful and try not to contact the walls or ceiling.

Taking the line up through the bone room and big rooms is also a must do dive at Ginnie.

As an aside, I noted some fresh rocks on the floor about 2/3rds the way up hill 400 and as I was looking at them I got nailed with a football size rock that fell from the ceiling. My dive buddy confirmed I was never closer than a yard from the ceiling so percolation was enough to bring it down. So if you see fresh rocks on the bottom, don't hang around gawking at them.

[atedeschi]

Thanks for the info everyone, and I ammend my map alil. We jumped off the syphon line to the line in the double line tunnel that is there. Anyway it will come together. JJ1987 not sure what you are saying, and i dont wanna turn this into a discussion about it, but anyone can do this dives without me posting about it. Can't wait to get back.

[jj1987]

What are the rules you would propose for too much information? Maybe the mods could create a private forum for dive reports in their free time. Of course if any land owners read your comments about destroyed caves, they may start shutting down the systems. So maybe we should all be a little more careful in what we post.

I can't think of a rule other than think about the consequences of more traffic in the area. I've noticed the more information you can find on CDF/TDS about an area, the more likely it is to be damaged, but someone is either going to agree or disagree with me on that, as other recent threads prove, there's clearly no point in an online debate as they get no where.

And you're right, Rose might find out that Ginnie has lots of damage and stop taking our $22, I'll watch it from now on!

[LCF]

Well, for one, I'm really happy that you're doing this. Making notations on the map and connecting them with names helps me understand the dive reports I read. I don't understand why people think that writing a report about diving a tunnel means more people will go there -- after all, the maps are generally available, and the tunnels are on the maps.

Anyway, I look forward to more installments, and more colored lines on the map!

[Cali Knucklehead]

Please be careful posting too much about these areas of Ginnie. They're not protected by the long swim that many of the back areas are, and they're pretty fragile area's of a cave that's already pretty destroyed.

Here we go again... Why is it okay to make and sell a map that shows all of these locations, but it's a major offense in the cave diving community when someone uses the map to plan & execute a dive and then discusses it (or posts a video) on the web?

If you want to reduce traffic, talk to the agencies about reducing the number of certs they do each year. Make a Cave Card like a hunting tag. There's a lottery and only XX number of people can take a cave class each year. Do the same for DPV cards. It'll keep the traffic down, but it'll mean less money for the agencies, which means less caves get purchased, less benches/stairs/parking lots, etc get built (this would keep traffic down as well). You can't have it both ways.

Bruce