Lost River - Karst Information Portal

drop. At the bottom of this drop is a knee-deep
plunge pool. The cave continues as a canyon way
for another 100 feet before ending at the fourth
pit. This pit is 22 feet deep and a 100-foot rope
is required for rigging. At the bottom of the
fourth drop the way on is a 12-foot climb-up.
At the top of the climb-up is a hole leading to
a nice 40-foot-tall dome. The way on is straight
on through a body-length belly crawl. On the
other side of the belly crawl the main route is
back down to the stream, while an upper-level
canyon on the right leads to the far side of the
fifth pit. In about 50 feet of stream canyon way
the fifth pit is reached. This pit is 78 feet deep
and a 130-foot rope is required for rigging. At
times this pit can be wet. In fact the cave can
flood to a level of about 20 feet above the top
of the pit. At the bottom of the fifth drop is a
plunge pool. The water cannot be followed and
the cave basically ends there. The only way on
is to go over the pit in the upper level canyon.
This leads to couple of small canyons and also a
dry rig point for the fifth drop. At this rig point
one can descend partway down and swing over
to a natural bridge and then rappel down a
little more to a balcony. Off this balcony is a
narrow canyon that leads to the Bowels of the
The entrance to Birthday Plunge is a
medium-sized hole in the bottom of a
small sinkhole that opens into a 67-foot freefall
pit. Thirteen feet off the floor is an adjacent
dome with an 18-foot climb-down on the
opposite side. Near the bottom of the climb
a 1½-foot-diameter tube leads to a double pit
consisting of a 35-foot drop to a ledge followed
by a 30-foot drop. Both drops can be rigged
off a muddy boulder that rests on a miniature
balcony at the top of the first drop. A 100-foot
rope is required.
At the bottom of this 30-foot drop is a
gallery 100 feet long and 15 feet wide. A short
climb into a formation alcove halfway up the
talus slope is worth checking out. At the top
Birthday Plunge
Harrison County Caves
Yvonne Droms on rope in Big Rock Swallow Hole.
Photo by Chris Schotter.
Earth, which is the deepest and muddiest point
in the cave.
By Dave Black
of the slope the cave continues past a squeeze
into another room. This chamber has a 22foot
rope drop which drops into a rimstonefloored
passage with a canyon at the bottom.
The canyon leads to small and muddy domed
alcove.
A joint-controlled crawlway off the higher
room leads to a 36-foot drop which can be
rigged with a 60-foot rope from one of the
numerous boulders. Care should be taken at
the top of the pit since several loose boulders
and rocks line the top. At the bottom of the
pit is some pretty flowstone and some white
stalagmites with a short climb-down to a nice
room with an active stream.
Past the 36-foot pit is a circular-shaped
33