The Mystery of Hidden Well

My first introduction to DKSH took place during the 1988 SERA Cave Carnival. The cave was listed in the guidebook. A vertical profile drawn by Chris Kerr accompanied the description. For months after SERA I kept pulling out the guidebook and carefully studied the cave. I had never been to a deep multi-drop before, but this cave completely fascinated me. What fascinated me the most was this huge black dome that was named Hidden Well. It spanned over 200 feet of vertical extent and was obviously the largest feature in the cave. I was even more perplexed by how the vertical depth was noted on the map. The entrance had a vertical extent of +66 meters (216 ft) and the bottom -134 meters (439 ft). I kept imagining that there was some secret middle entrance to the cave at zero datum that was not on the map and it connected in through the top of Hidden Well. Later I found out Chris started the survey midway in the cave and that is why the depths were listed that way. The dream of coming into top of Hidden Well still held my imagination though.

My second introduction occurred on February 6th, 1993, when Alan Cressler led Doug Strait, Neeld Messler, Chris Hudson, Ted Wilson, Terry McClanathan, Pete Hall, and myself to DKSH. We completely rigged, bottomed, and derigged the entire cave using the historic entrance so we could experience the full vertical extent. This trip was epic. I remember being blown away by how big Hidden Well truly was. From the top of the 143, Hidden Well went upward into a tremendous blackness. The kind of experience that makes you realize how small and inconsequential our lives seem compared to the universe. After 14 hours I finally dragged my wasted body from the horrors of DKSH and felt myself lucky to have survived. That same day Nirvana was discovered. The next day we dropped it. Pete Hall and myself pushed the bottom and found a 1000 feet of virgin cave and a total depth something just over 270 feet. To my knowledge no one has ever been to the bottom of Nirvana since!

in the cave. During Gerald's trip they discovered more virgin horror passage and tight little infeeders but no big pits. Consequently the 400 foot rope was abandoned in the cave. Later Alan Cressler returned and rescued the rope. On February 14, 1997, I also led a large trip including Andy Zellner, David Cole, Doug Strait, Andreas Yankopolus, Lane Purser, Lynn Purser, Terry McClanathan, and Todd Dishong to DKSH using the Yuppie Boating Entrance. This was my first trip using this route and I was amazed at how much horror this cut out of the cave. I led this trip with the goal of trying to push the bottom of the cave. DKSH has another 540 feet or so of vertical potential below the known bottom and a water connection to Run to The Mill Cave. We spent 45 minutes at the bottom of the cave, digging in terminal breakdown. We gave it our best effort but could not penetrate the brecciated fault zone that blocks the way on.

While routing, I was the first one up the 54' deep Hartselle Pot. As I was climbing and approached the top of the pit, I looked out across the top of the flat Hartselle Sandstone ceiling and saw an obvious large borehole sized passage taking off about 40 feet away. With a sudden flash of insight, I realized that this was the way to top of Hidden Well and Gerald's 300 foot pit. At the top of the Hartselle Pot I stepped across the top of the pit into an obvious canyon passage. This led 15 feet to a hole through the Hartselle overlooking the 54 foot pit. I was able to straddle the hole and get across the exposed traverse. On the other side a short walking passage led 15 feet to the end of the canyon and another hole through the Hartselle. Below I could see down 9 feet to the floor of the borehole. The muddy lip of the hole was untouched and it was obvious that this was a virgin drop. We routed and had a total trip of 14 hours.

I sat on the lead for two years and did not get a chance to go back until February 6, 1999. Knowing that the lead could go to the top of Hidden Well, I invited a huge cast of thousands. I even told everyone that we were going to find Gerald's 300 foot pit. Some seemed to pooh-pooh the idea and found easier trips or did not show up. We were still able to pull together a good group that consisted of Alan Cressler, Shane Snyder, Paul Aughey, Ray Craig, Todd Bryan, Brent Aulenbach, Nancy Aulenbach, and John Schwartz. Alan wanted to try to photograph the 143 foot pit so he toted a huge load of camera equipment into the cave with the help of Brent, Nancy, Ray, and Todd. The rest of us made up the fast crew and we began to rig the cave. Unfortunately, Shane Injured his knee just before Jail Break and was forced to route. Continuing on we went straight to the lead and rigged a rope to a large natural bedrock column up high near the 9 foot pit. The hole was awkward to enter as the rope slid into a V-shaped crack in the rock and the ceiling was completely flat in all directions below the lip. Down 9 feet, I swung into the passage and tied the rope off. John and Paul came down next.

with excitement, knowing what would come next. I crawled ahead and the passage curved to the left. All of the sudden it just ended at a small ledge, overlooking an immense black void. So huge it just swallowed every bit of light. The ceiling was only 12 feet higher. It was completely flat and composed of Hartselle. Far across the other side the Hartselle was displaced downward 15 feet indicating a major fault. Below the roar of distant water crashed into the depths. I took a big rock and let it go, One Mississippi..... Two Mississippi..... Three Mississippi..... Fou, BOOOOOOOMMM!!!!! I was overwhelmed with joy, having solved one of the great mysteries of TAG caving. It was a dream come true. The top of Hidden Well was finally found!

After cleaning the lip I set two bolts and we tied our two longest ropes together. Alan, Ray, and Todd caught up and joined us when they found Hartselle Pot was not rigged. I rigged in my rack and carried our last short rope down in case the rope did not reach. The drop had a clean break-over from the lip then immediately went freefall. The great pit was huge, misty, and scary. Getting down to the knot I had to perform a change-over a hundred feet off the floor. It was very unnerving, having a major pucker factor. After crossing the knot, it was a smooth ride down the floor. The drop landed only 15 feet from the base of the 143' drop and about 12 feet higher. John, Todd, Ray, Paul, and Alan came down next.

It took a long time for everyone to cross the knot so we decided to route. The muddy crawl leading to the pit slimed everyone's gear and the rope became completely coated in mud. It was really terrifying when my ascenders began slipping 200 feet above the floor. Everyone got out without incident and we began to retreat from the cave. The 9 foot pit proved almost impossible to get out of. It took me three tries to get over the lip. Alan and I both called it "The Hardest Pit in TAG." Back on the surface we began to play the numbers game. I came up with a theoretical maximum depth of 275 feet using the known depths of the three drops from the original route plus gradient. I settled on a probable depth of 260.

On January 15, 2000, I returned with Ashley Chan, Paul Aughey, Nate Weiland, Doug Strait, and David Cole to go tape the drop. Terry McClanathan had intended on meeting us for the trip but he became deathly sick on the drive down. He was able to meet us but could not go in the cave. We made a deal to tote his 310 foot rope in the cave and leave it rigged so he could return in better health and bounce the drop. This also worked in our favor knowing we would not have to tote the hog back out of the cave. The trip went real smoothly. I set a bolt above the fifth drop in the Yuppie Boating route just above the junction room and set one above The Hardest Pit in TAG. Now it was no longer that difficult anymore. We connected Terry's 100 and 200 foot tapes together and Doug went down to tape the drop. The lie detectors measured the pit at 259 feet and 4 inches deep. So it is official, as of January of 2000, Hidden Well is the second deepest pit in Tennessee and the tenth deepest in TAG. For those that follow, I hope you enjoy the pit. To those that dream of finding Hidden Wells, follow your dreams. You never know when they may come true.