Ralph E. Powers wrote:What I am looking for is the toughest cave
YOU'VE (the reader) done so far in the state that you live (or frequent for your caving trips) ... personally... both Horizontally and Vertically (meaning you had to put on a harness and use vert gear to get in and out of the cave).
Like I said some caves are easy for some others are just plain kick butt (physically). Just want to know what's yours for the sake of ... well whatever!
The toughest cave I have done is probably Hamilton Cave (the Airblower and beyond to the Bowl Room). The Airblower is a pretty long tight crawl. Beyond the Airblower, there are several more crawls (they aren't as tight as the Airblower though). And then there is a long chimney/slot canyon where it is too narrow at the bottom to stand so you have to chimney with your legs and arms on either side of the wall kind of like you are doing elbows and knees crawling except chimneying (the sides of my lower legs got pretty bruised and beaten up after this and it took a while to heal so I still had bruises on my lower legs several days afterward). These two sections are probably the toughest/most brutal parts of the cave. The Airblower isn't too bad coming in but coming back out is the toughest because there is a 10 foot drop that you have to climb up to get back in the Airblower and squeeze yourself back into (that happens to also be the tightest portion of the Airblower). You are already tired enough from all the crawling to and from the Bowl Room (the largest room in the cave).
P.S. Don't wear a cave suit for the Airblower (we weren't wearing cave suits on our trip but I'll include a portion of a trip report below from someone who did wear a cave suit to show you why you shouldn't wear one).
"On the way into the Airblower, I tore out the sides of the coveralls which gave me some movement. On the way back out, I got stuck with my arm pinned to my side. The tightness of the sleeve kept me from moving my arm, and I lost feeling in it. I was stuck for about 45 minutes, I think. I could have backed out any moment but I would have had to start all over again. In the end, my wife rescued me by going behind me and pushing on my feet. This allowed me to release the tension of my cave suit and give me some movement. That's the hardest experience I have ever had in a cave."