Piercys Mill & Piercys
Harriet Flynn Reporting
On Friday, April 18, Josh, Tristen, Chris, Maya, Will, Margo, Erik, and myself met up at went to Piercys Mill and Piercys cave. We had a grotto trip to the same caves last April and the water level was perfect (no dry rim stone pools) so we figured that this would be another great time. We were not disappointed!
As we pulled in there were cows and calves in the field which was a nice welcome. We chatted with the landowner and met his dogs before gearing up and heading into Piercy Mill. Josh and Will got distracted on the walk to the cave entrance and poked around another opening to see if it went anywhere. When they made it to the group we all slid down the banks and right into the very cold, and waist deep water. We entered the cave at 11:45am. The water was a good few inches higher than last year and had a current so it was a fun adventure getting in and out of the water and up the muddy banks. We headed back towards the rimstone pools and after a climb up a rock/ dirt scramble we could see down into the first room. Each pool was full to the brim and flowing down into the ones below it. We moved through the first room and into the second, bigger room. We saw a crawfish! This was a great time to do some exploring and take some great photos. Josh and Margo adventured down a crawl while Eric and Chris climbed up and explored a different passage. The rest of us took photos and admired the deep blue pools. After a while we were all getting chilly so we headed back towards the entrance making a few more stops. Tristen, Josh, and maybe Will or Erik (I don’t remember, I was down a different passage) crawled down a passage to see where it went while Maya, Margo, and I crawled through a dry passage with lots of old signatures.
Once we were all back together we made our way down the rocks and headed towards the exit. On the way out we saw multiple salamanders and frogs which is always an exciting time. We exited the cave at 2:00pm.
We took 30 minutes for a lunch/ sun break and then headed to Piercys. Piercys is very different from Piercy Mill. It is still a wet cave but a different water source and the ground is all sand. It is a wide open passage that heads back pretty far (I would assume close to a mile?). Erik, Chris, Tristen, and Will hung out not too far from the entrance while Erik climbed a rope that Mark and Yvonne had set up about 20 years ago when they were doing a dig. Maya, Margo, Josh and I continued toward the back of the cave weaving left to right from one sandy bank to the other. We didn’t make it all the way to the back but did walk for a good long time. At about 4:45pm we headed out of the cave and met up with the others at the cave opening.
Once back at the cars half the group was interested in going into the mystery cave that Josh and Will had peaked in earlier. Josh, Will, Margo, Tristen, and Chris all headed in. This one was a full body submersion into cold water (they report that it was colder water than the previous two caves that day). They made it through the water and explored a dry section for about 20 minutes before heading back out. They reported that it was super cool there and we have all decided that we will go back and explore it further. Maybe when the water is slightly lower?
Enjoy the photos below and if you want to see more you can check out the google album
