Was seriously cold here in NW Fl yesterday morn and we met some
friends to look for caves. They had obtained a list of sinks adjacent
to roads from the Dept of Trans so we went to look at em. Turns out,
almost all had been filled with road debris, however, while looking at
one by the road we could see far into a pasture a tiny area of trees
with a fence around it, a sure sign the farmer does not want his cows
falling into a hole. Finally located the owner and got permission to
investigate. Impressive narrow deep hole. My 13 yr old daughter
volunteered to get on rope and be lowered down (she really did
volunteer). She went down about 35' to the bottom only to find it
blocked by ancient roofing debris.
People often dump garbage into such holes and think "out of sight, out
of mind". We often see pesticide drums in these holes no more than a
few hundred feet from the farmers well. Do they wonder why their kids
have birth defects? Did once find a hole that had served as local
dump around 1900 filled with ancient bottles. Selling the bottles
allowed us to clean up the hole.
Another farmer gave us a tip for the location of a cave in a large
wooded area so we went to check it out. Took awhile but we found it,
a nice walk-in entrance in the side of a ridge. It was probably upper
30s outside but was 72 inside, an amazing thing to feel. Large bat
colony which looked to be a maternal colony and we decided not to
disturb them so we left.
Age has diminished my once very good sense of direction and we emerged
from the woods far from where we had gone in giving me a good scare.
In the woods, I have rarely gotten turned around in direction so I was
shocked to have this happen. I resolve to carry a compass even on
short trips into the woods from now on.
A good day to roam the woods