Island Ford - 11/19/2023

Harriet Flynn reporting

On Sunday 11/19 a group of 7 of us went in Island Ford Cave. Harriet, Katie (new to caving), Maya (2nd cave), Patrick, Lucas (new to caving), Nate, and Sherry (new to caving).

We entered the cave right around noon and started our clamber through the cave. With the dry conditions we have had we were not sure how much water would be in the creek but all water levels seemed normal! Part way through the cave we started hearing voices of other people in the cave. Nate had mentioned seeing a group of Mennonites come into the cave after us but they didn't have any caving gear. So we assumed there must be another cave group ahead of us. Although we saw no evidence of this in any of the parking areas near the cave. At one point they were yelling up to us asking where we were and we thought that maybe they had gotten themselves lost in the creek part of the cave. We were up above the creek. We continued on and figured that if they were still there on our way out then we would figure out where they actually were. As we continued, it seemed their voices were ahead of us, then below us, and then behind us. It was pretty confusing. We took a short break at the 3/4th point and as we hung out there a head appeared with a flashlight. Turns out the voices were from the mennonite group that Nate had seen. There were 6 of them, no helmets, handheld flashlights, and their regular clothes walking up the creek to the back of the cave. We gave them a head start and then continued on our journey to the back of the cave. Once back by the sump we couldn't see the other group but we could hear their music and their singing. After a few songs they headed back towards the entrance and we continued to hang out by the water.

After a good amount of time we headed back to the start of the cave, everyone was a lot more confident in their movements and comfort in the cave. We got to the start of the cave at about 2pm.

At the entrance we met a family who was just driving back and saw the cave and our cars. They got out and explored the entrance of the cave and Nate explained caving and gear to them.

I would say this was a successful cave trip and that all three of our new cavers are willing to go caving again!

Photo by Maya Alexander