The Story of Baby Hog Horror Hole

After talking to Gerald Moni, he convinced me that we should check out a lead from 1976 that Marion O. Smith, Jim Smith, Wayne Prince and Teddy Bear Thurmond had found in the Cross Creek area of Sherwood, Tennessee. John Stembel, Carl Anderson, and Jeff Dilcher joined Gerald and myself, to check out this lead and a couple of other caves in the same area. As usual this summer, it rained Friday night, and Saturday morning was cool and gray. This made everyone happy except me. But, by the time we were ready to walk up the mountain, the sun had come out, the humidity was up, and I was the only one happy.

Discovery Trip

Gerald showed us the Tennessee Cave Survey report forms for Prince Pit (TFR 178) and Smith's Cave (TFR 177). A comment on the form for Prince Pit was encouraging. Marion reported a small entrance next to the pit that was taking so much water that no one in their group checked it out. He said it should be checked by someone, but that it would not be him. After climbing the mountain, mostly on old logging roads, Jeff and I located the entrance to Prince Pit. My topo location was bad, and after relocating it, we estimated 460 feet of depth potential.

While waiting on the others, Jeff and I walked over to the lead. There was no water flowing into the entrance. It was disappearing in a small hole above the entrance sink. There was evidence that copious amounts of water could enter the cave. I moved a washed barrel and a few sticks from the actual entrance, which was walking-height for a very few feet. As the passage narrowed to a small canyon, Jeff and I noticed good air flow. This was encouraging. We exited and relayed this good news to the others, who were arriving one by one.

We were all dressed in polypro, except Gerald, who sported a wetsuit top. I started the push with hammer in hand. Jeff was next with a couple of short ropes, followed by John with two ropes, and Carl with two ropes. Gerald was performing his usual function, rope pad rather that rope bearer. As a rule, pushing a lead with this many ropes insures a quick death of the lead.

Within sixty feet of the entrance, that sure looked like what was going to happen to this one. the already small passage became narrower and began to descend. We squeezed down to the floor, through a couple of small pools and an awkward "Z" bend, "The Piggly Wiggly", to a slightly larger passage and a 14 foot downclimb. (This climb is now deemed a pit and rigged.) This was immediately followed by an 18 foot pit, with good natural rigs above the drop. Jeff came through The Piggly Wiggly and threw his ropes down the 14-foot climb. Meanwhile, John was having a Marion O. Smith-type tantrum in the narrow canyon, which scared Gerald. He did not even try it. Gerald wimped and went back to Nashville.

The 18-foot pit was followed by a 15 footer which dropped into a large dome room. The water went down a too-tight canyon, so we went high. At a point 6 feet higher in the canyon, a very tight passage continued. Jeff and I enlarged it with a hammer. I difficultly slid through to a small room only to find an even smaller passage at the top of a fourth pit, which turned out to be 34 feet deep. While I worked on enlarging the entrance to the pit, John and Carl enlarged a bypass around the previous tight spot. We finally made it through the restriction, "The Pork Rind", rigging to a natural bridge in the small room above the pit. At the bottom, a narrow canyon continued down a slope to the top of a 24 foot pit. We tied two short ropes together and rigged to a projection high in the canyon, with a backup to the previous rope. This pit dropped into a large dome room with a two stage 20 foot climbdown and an incoming waterfall. We assume this is the main water which disappeared above the entrance. Just when we thought the cave might improve, it really turned nasty.

A low air space water tube, "The Hog Wash", exited the room. Everyone caught up, we discussed our options, and I was elected to check out the grim passage. Once again, with hammer in hand and helmet off, I dived in. The air flow was very strong, so I figured the passage did not sump. Jeff was following with the big rope (the baby hog). Within 50 - 60 feet I exited the water and entered a low digable crawl which continued for 50 - 60 feet before enlarging to a hands and knees crawl and then walking passage. The water finally went into a low area, and a hands and knees overpass continued for 200 or 300 feet to a 20 foot climbdown. A short crawl connected with borehole and the water, which quickly disappeared down a tube. A breezy breakdown borehole continued a short distance to a six- foot climbdown and the top of a 101 foot free fall pit which we named "Hog Well". We broke through the Hartselle formation with this one.

Our last two ropes had to be tied together to get to the bottom. The way we rigged the pit, with a main anchor of a boulder on the floor, and a flowstone rebelay, the lip was very difficult for most climbing systems. At the bottom, a small hole in a partition had to be enlarged to enter a parallel room to a narrow canyon. Past a short climbdown, a very tight restriction was encountered. Jeff and I worked on it, and after a couple of attempts I made it through to a slightly larger area clogged with formations and mud. After harvesting formations and removing mud, a too tight fissure was reached. No way would anyone fit through without chemical persuasion. The air flow was very strong. It was clear that a second trip would be necessary, with an explosive expert as part of the crew.

Exploration with the help of Chemical Persuasion

On July 27, Gary Burwasser, Jim Smith (explosive expert), Laura Campbell, Mike Rogers, John Stembel, Gerald Moni (after much convincing that he might fit if he worked hard enough), Marion O. Smith, Dave Doolin, Carl Anderson, Shirley Sotona, and myself executed assault number two. There was one thin different for this trip. The area had received one inch of rain and there was water flowing into the entrance. I did not think it would pose a problem unless it rained while we were in the cave.

With only a twenty percent chance of rain, we entered B.H.H.H. with a "Junior Hog" (to replace the two ropes in Hog Well) and an additional short rope. This would give us a total of three push ropes. the plan was that half the crew begin the mapping project. The rest of us headed to the bottom to blast. Mike Rogers was going to set a bolt at the 15 foot pit, then join the mapping crew, which consisted of John, Dave Carl, and Shirley in two teams. Gerald was on his own, hammering and chiseling to fit. The mapping crew was going to join us after four hours.

Jim brought five charges. One got wet, so we didn't count it. The first blast was designed to remove the tight spot before the fissure lead. It was flawless. the second blast removed enough of the wall to squeeze through to a small room. the air flow was so strong that we didn't have to wait at all for the fumes to clear. the continuing passage was very low and grim.

I started digging in the mud which turned into diarrhea. Within 12 feet was a slightly larger crawl, but the floor turned to flowstone and the passage lowered to six or seven inches for a six foot stretch. Beyond, I could see a larger passage and a possible pit. I could also hear the main water again. We named this crawl "The Hog Waller".

Jim went in and did a third blast. He placed it on the floor and removed about three feet of the ceiling restriction. The fourth blast he placed in the ceiling. This one id very little. By this time the mapping crew had showed up. At the bottom of Hog Well, the cave 309 feet deep and over 900 feet long (no side passages were mapped). Gerald made it to the top of The Pork Rind, but didn't attempt it out of fear of the high water and his lack of wetsuit. There would have to be one more exploration trip.

Another Deep One - The Third Push

August 3,1991 saw the return of John Stembel, Jim Smith Laura Campbell, Dave Doolin, Marion O. Smith, Gerald Moni, Mike Rogers, Jack Thomison, Jeff Dilcher, and myself. No one expected to see Gerald, but for him this was the "do or die" expedition. Jim and I headed in first, to do some re-rigging, padding, and begin the blasting process.

I got to the bottom of Hog Well first and made a super sticky blast pack of mud. Jim headed into the Hog Waller to place the first charge. While digging around, he found the unexploded charge from the previous trip. Only the cap had gone off, which would explain why nothing was removed from the ceiling. He placed both charges in the new mud pack. This blast may have worked too well. He crawled down to find the passage completely blocked by ceiling debris.

It took over an hour for him to clear the passage. Meanwhile, everyone else had gathered in the waiting room before the Hog Waller. We rigged a rope for the estimated twenty foot pit. Jim was in the crawl headfirst and I backed in. There was an extremely tight spot before the pit, the "Pig's Vagina", which actually turned out to be a climbdown. Jim was using a mud coated mini-mag, so he really wasn't able to see the bottom. I joined Jim in a large room with a steeply descending breakdown floor, "The Hog Rock Cafe". (Named thusly because on the way out of the cave, Dave was cooking near the top of the room and it made the whole room smell like a restaurant.)

Marion came through next with great difficulty. He suggested that Gerald not even try it. This prompted everyone else except Dave and Jeff to rout with Gerald. In the big room, the main water entered as a waterfall. We cleaned some of the mud off and Jim and I proceeded. Marion was yelling at us. Something about not being able to see and calling us assholes for running off scooping. We went down a 15 foot climbdown to a very dangerous climbdown of 35 feet. This dropped into a large lower room.

I went to the left to a junction with one incoming passage, which had very strong air flow blowing in my face. I knew I did not want to go that way, at least then. Jim had gone to the right following the air flow. we climbed down some breakdown to a small room with two junctioning streams. The air went up through a too-tight restriction We thought we had bottomed the cave and went back to the stream junction to wash off.

I noticed a stream crawl against the wall. We had found a difficult way on, a windy dig crawl. The dig lasted for fifty feet and ended in a large room This was voice connected back to the windy dome with the too- tight restriction. The passage lowered at the other end of the fifty-foot long room. Jim and I traversed a 1000 feet (estimated) of mostly crawl and two consecutive low digs which only I fit through. About 200 feet past where Jim stopped, I was halted by a six-inch high crawl that I could see continuing for at least fifty feet. It would be a massive dig project to continue. The ceiling was chert and the floor was partially cemented gravel, which is difficult to dig.

We feel that the very strong air flow is somehow connected with a two- mile long (estimated) cave named Flat Cave (TFR 11). This extremely strong summer blowhole is located 80 feet above the valley floor down cove in Cross Creek. We never fully explored that cave, nor did we reach a basement stream level. The local residents don't know of any other summer blowholes in the area.

As Jim and I exited the basement crawl, we met Marion and Jeff. They along with Dave had explored the windy passage I had first looked up at the bottom of the 35 foot climbdown. Marion said they stopped in the muddiest passage in the cave, which is hard to believe. The named the are the "Hog Lot". It was never fully explored because Marion dropped his glasses in the mud rendering them useless. The other two lost enthusiasm.

The cave was left rigged so that the mapping project could be completed. We estimate the depth at 460 feet and length at around 3500 feet. Baby Hog Horror Hole is one of the more challenging deep caves in TAG, and gives those of us who like that type of cave added incentive to keep looking for the deep ones.

Originally typed and uploaded by Jeff Dilcher and Dave Doolin