Godzilla Room

[Craig G.]

I went to Madison today in search of Godzilla. Upon arrival at the park I had a talk to with the Park Range; he had told me that there is a group of divers mapping more Madison. He said that they are doubling the know amount of passage and will be making a new map! After talking to the ranger I went down to the water to check it out, it was amazing the clear spring water was pouring into the river making the whole river in front of the park clear. I had never seen that before it was quite a site. Shortly after my buddy and I had geared up and headed on into the cave. We entered via the Rabbit Hole, the flow was down dramatically one could easily just sit in the restriction with out to much trouble. After cruising through the cavern we tied into the gold line and proceeded into the main truck of the cave. The water here was just about gin, about 100’ up we came across our jump to the Godzilla room circuit. We tied in and went down the lower tunnel. This cave has some of the whitest limestone I’ve seen; it really compliments the great visibility. We could see everything no wall was to hazy to make out. After proceeding down the lower tunnel we came into a bigger room that had a tunnel which went down. It looked very intriguing. After passing that we went into a minor restriction and down a well like hole into the money room. This room is very cool, the way you pop into the room via the small well through the ceiling is to cool it’s one of those places you just would like to hover in forever. After that room the cave became smaller and we had passed the jump on the right at which the Godzilla circuit ends. I had placed a line marker there so we could visually jump back onto it. After passing the jump the cave went up and got smaller. Finally, we reached a small hole in the floor. Upon decent we dropped onto a large room. Again a super cool decent into yet another large room however, this room was just a little cooler to me than the money room. The room seemed so circular with big break down piles on the floor. After exiting that room we proceeded down the line into smaller passage till the line had ended. At this point I could make out my marker in the distance. I Had my buddy stay on the line while I swam to the marker and verified that it was mine I than gave him the okay and let him examine the marker on the line to let him know that this was indeed the line we had come in on I then removed the marker. After back tracking to the gold line we had enough gas to make it to the Half Hitch and beyond a bit. We had ended the dive with about 105 minutes in the cave and since we were diving air another 35 minutes of deco for a total bottom time of 140 minutes.

Are you baiting us for criticism? If so, I'll bite:

Yes, I will be the first to admit that, on occasion, I have made visual jumps. For example, on the upstream side of the Mud Tunnel at Little River (never on the downstream side). But I think you were making a big mistake to make a visual jump on this circuit on your first time here. I, personally, ALWAYS set a jump reel here. You even admitted that you had to be extra careful that this was, indeed, the correct place that you thought it was.

The Godzilla circuit has always been a favorite dive of mine. It was the first "big" dive that a buddy and I made without our instructor.

BTW, Madison is not the name of the spring. It's Blue Spring, Madison County. Those of us with OCD have to point that out.

[curtschu]

I agree you should have closed that jump with a reel/spool the first time. Also it is the Monkey room not the money room but otherwise glad you had a good dive. It is one of my favorites. Did you find Godzilla?

Curt

[Kelly Jessop]

Great circuit and I am glad you had a good dive. For other people new to this dive I would recommend placing a reel on the end of the circuit line to gap this,and then swim in that direction,picking up the reel on the way out.

[CaptainSpeleo]

Craig:

As often as I've made that circuit over the years, I still gap it for 2 reasons:

1. It confirms that I've completed the circuit and returned to my gap reel.

2. If the area where the gap is at gets completely blown out for some reason, there's no delay and stress in finding my way back to the permanent line.

Considering the fact that this was your very first dive there and that the route was completely unfamiliar to you, there should've been no question in your mind about gapping it first before proceeding into the Godzilla Room.

Take what we've all said as constructive criticism and not as a flame.

Frank

After passing that we went into a minor restriction and down a well like hole into the money room. This room is very cool, the way you pop into the room via the small well through the ceiling is to cool it’s one of those places you just would like to hover in forever.

Hey Craig. I think I met you a couple weeks ago at Bill's shop in Luraville.

I do love the way that room opens up through that well, but the monkey room freaks the hell out of me. My first time in there I found out that a boulder let loose from the ceiling and missed my feet by inches as it came down between my buddy and I.

Every time I go in there, I notice more rocks on the floor. As beautiful as it is, I don't much like to hover in one place in there any more

[crawford]

I do love the way that room opens up through that well, but the monkey room freaks the hell out of me. My first time in there I found out that a boulder let loose from the ceiling and missed my feet by inches as it came down between my buddy and I.

Did you forget to sacrifice a redneck at the spring basin? Sounds like the cave gods weren't pleased

[Craig G.]

After passing that we went into a minor restriction and down a well like hole into the money room. This room is very cool, the way you pop into the room via the small well through the ceiling is to cool it’s one of those places you just would like to hover in forever.

Hey Craig. I think I met you a couple weeks ago at Bill's shop in Luraville.

I do love the way that room opens up through that well, but the monkey room freaks the hell out of me. My first time in there I found out that a boulder let loose from the ceiling and missed my feet by inches as it came down between my buddy and I.

Every time I go in there, I notice more rocks on the floor. As beautiful as it is, I don't much like to hover in one place in there any more

How big was the boulder? Cavers in general don't like falling rocks, I've been hit in the head from a falling rock in a dry cave approximately the size of a baseball from about 20' above. Thank God I had my cave helmet on, never stand under a man or woman on rope. The limestone in that area of the cave seemed pretty lithofied. I guess rocks falling is an inherent risk of cave activitys.
CaverCraig

[Craig G.]

Craig:

As often as I've made that circuit over the years, I still gap it for 2 reasons:

1. It confirms that I've completed the circuit and returned to my gap reel.

2. If the area where the gap is at gets completely blown out for some reason, there's no delay and stress in finding my way back to the permanent line.

Considering the fact that this was your very first dive there and that the route was completely unfamiliar to you, there should've been no question in your mind about gapping it first before proceeding into the Godzilla Room.

Take what we've all said as constructive criticism and not as a flame.

Frank

Good point Frank, when we passed the Gap that ended the circuit I was not sure if that was the end of the actual circuit so I placed my very own custom marked giant yellow line arrow in between the jump arrows. When we finished the circuit the end of the line was no more than 10' away. I could easily see my initials on my marker from the end of the Godzilla line, at that point of 99.999999999999999% percent confidence I still left my buddy at the end of the line while I swam over to verify it for sure. If something were to happen I was no father than 10' away from my buddy on the end of the Godzilla circuit line. He could have easily tied his safety to the line and retrieved me. That part of the cave has nice flow in it which would clear up moderate silt quickly. Another point is I often swim 10' off the line to get off the floor and dive near the ceiling 1 it reduces deco time 2 it's a much better view and 3 it doesn't cramp the neck. If I can swim 10' off the line what difference does it make if I swim 10 feet off the line to check a marker? I really believe that what we did was safe it was the next thing to a T. However, it would have even been better to place the Gap and retrieve it upon exiting the circuit I was just not certain that the place I left my marker was indeed the jump. If it was not we were fully prepared to go back the way we came and not complete the circuit if my marker wasn't there. However my marker was there and it was close and clearly evident. We did the jump one at a time for added safety I am sorry for upsetting any cavers and I truly appreciate the concern for my safety.
Thanks CaverCraig

Craig,

In your defense, you didn't technically break rule #2 (always have a continuous guideline to the surface) as long as you could maintain eye contact with the line you were leaving as well as the line you were jumping to; however, in the event of a siltout you would have had to retrace your route back through the Godzilla Room.

I run a gap reel.