trip report: STEPHENS GAP, SCOTTSBORO, AL

][ Technical

[Safety] Be sure your kneepads and protective gear are on hand--the initial squeeze down has its share of jagged edges jutting out even though it quickly opens up into the main pit. Once you reach bottom, depending on the time of year, this area is likely to have variable degrees of moisture, making the already muddy rock surfaces below quite slick. If rappelling down to the pedestal, about 100 ft. from the base of the pit, take extra precaution to get your footing right when standing, as the pedestal itself can be muddy and slick as well. If you're walking out rather than ascending, the ledge leading to the drier part of the cave is narrow and muddy, so take your time.

Although it goes without saying for anyone who has ever caved before---knot the end of the rope you're rapelling down in case you lose control of your rappel rack for whatever reason.

[Stephens Gap - Main Pit] The main cavern at Stephens Gap is an approximate 140 ft. open-air pit with several smaller adjoining caverns. For entry, we rigged a standard 11mm rope from one of the large sturdy tree bases we found about 80 ft uphill from the cavern entry site. We used a rope pad over a stony/rooted area right at the point of entry.

In rappelling down from this point, there's an initial tight squeeze, then the entry point quickly widens into the open air. Keep an eye out for sharp corners jutting from the cavern walls just below the entry point. After this point, it's a very spacious and scenic trip to the pedestal. On this trip, we stopped at the pedestal and didn't rappel the additiona 100 ft. down to the physical bottom of the cave.

An alternative to ascending back to the entry point is to walk out. The pit has a large opening back into the forest visible from the pedestal. It involves grabbing your way up a rocky slope, but the rocks are much drier than those right at the pedestal. The mouth spills out into a small sunken area of the woods, which you can free climb out of without any difficulty.

[Stephens Gap - 3 Stage Drop]

There's a nice multi-drop entrance about 300 ft or so from the main entry point we used. This is a very tight squeeze and hard to find. This series of drops is one of the extensions of the main pit and is completely enclosed until the very end, when it eventually opens up near the pedestal level of the main pit.

The first drop is less than 100ft and you can get banged around a bit by the rock ledges that jut out from the darkness at you. Stabilize yourself as best as you can during the rappel down and stay in the approximate center of the drop; I kept my legs somewhat extended to push off and around the ledges. Say hello to the occasional cave cricket as you drop down.

When we went in mid September, there was a slow flowing waterfall leading to the base of the first drop. From the bottom of the first pit, there's a narrow gap leading to the next drop point, which is less than 15 feet away.

[Safety] Careful! Although the rigging point for the next drop is close by, the actual opening for the second drop occurs about seven feet from the base of the first drop so keep an eye out. There's a small rift which quickly opens up into the second drop---the opening is almost flush with the ground level of the base of the first drop so it's easy to overlook. Don't rush. As KanYe West would say, "Drive slow, homey."

At the second drop, a rope was rigged around a rock "belt loop" structure. There's a waterfall right at the beginning ledge of the second drop, so we rigged around the belt loop to get out from the waterfall a bit. From there, it's about a 10-15ft drop to the third cavern.

The third cavern consists of a main tunnel which slopes downward sharply after a few turns. There's another waterfall at the slope and the nature of the tunnel at this point makes it awkward to get down to the next level in the cavern. Once we got past a small pool which was waterfalling onto a small ledge and then down to the main base, there were two bolts already in the cave walls from previous cavers. We rigged another rope from this set of bolts to eventually drop down to the true base of the cavern. This is where we used a cow's tail to guide ourselves from the waterfall pool ledge over to the main drop where we were then able to change over to our rappel racks onto the main rope down the next level. The tunnel splits and we we took the right-hand split to get to the final "waterfall room." In the final room, Eric showed me how to properly assemble a caver's coil. I still ahve some practicing to do with my square knots, among other things, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

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