Trip report and photos of Rustys Cave and Cemetary Pit
Posted: Aug 24, 2015 2:54 pmhttps://flic.kr/s/aHskeTAK7k
A few weeks ago, Courtney and I met up in Staunton Va and headed down to TAG with the ultimate goal of viewing the Rumble a Room in Rumbling Falls Cave. After attending a Sewanee Grotto meeting and having an excellent time at Cavers Paradise, we elected to head to Rustys and Cemetary pit for our first day of caving. Rusty's is a 45 repel into one of the deepest caves in TAG (it goes to a depth of 400 feet underground). This was also our first time using a Petzl STOP descender and Croll chest ascender. We dropped Rustys with no problems and spent about an hour exploring the cave. In retrospect, it would have been great to spend more time there as the formations were gorgeous.
After Rusty's we headed over to Cemetery pit which is a 153 foot drop into miles of cave. We met a group led by Hazard who gave us the rundown on the cave. Courtney dropped first and I followed. Our 300 foot rope was more than enough to get us all the way down each of the 3 drops within ur incident. We went right to avid the 3d maze room, as reccomended by Hazard, and explored for quite some time before deciding to head back. The ascent was easy and without issue other than the unfortunate loss of a runner. We got back to the car around 7 and got back to plan our trip the following day to Valhalla.
A few weeks ago, Courtney and I met up in Staunton Va and headed down to TAG with the ultimate goal of viewing the Rumble a Room in Rumbling Falls Cave. After attending a Sewanee Grotto meeting and having an excellent time at Cavers Paradise, we elected to head to Rustys and Cemetary pit for our first day of caving. Rusty's is a 45 repel into one of the deepest caves in TAG (it goes to a depth of 400 feet underground). This was also our first time using a Petzl STOP descender and Croll chest ascender. We dropped Rustys with no problems and spent about an hour exploring the cave. In retrospect, it would have been great to spend more time there as the formations were gorgeous.
After Rusty's we headed over to Cemetery pit which is a 153 foot drop into miles of cave. We met a group led by Hazard who gave us the rundown on the cave. Courtney dropped first and I followed. Our 300 foot rope was more than enough to get us all the way down each of the 3 drops within ur incident. We went right to avid the 3d maze room, as reccomended by Hazard, and explored for quite some time before deciding to head back. The ascent was easy and without issue other than the unfortunate loss of a runner. We got back to the car around 7 and got back to plan our trip the following day to Valhalla.