Darby Ice Cave Round 2 7-28-12

[cookiecutter]

Inspired by the recent TR by Shane, we rounded up the buddies and made the hour or so drive to go through the Ice Cave. It had been almost 3 years since the last trip and if I didn't know any better I would have thought someone had turned on the water faucet and slowly filled the cave up for 3 years or so. This trip had FAR more water than our last trip, I would say more than double the depth in crotch lake, and the amount of time spent in the water was also greatly increased from last time. Despite the cold, we had a very enjoyable time. Total time in cave was just about 7 hours. We took our sweet time in the beginning taking pictures and enjoying every feature the cave had to offer, but once we hit crotch lake and the following sections of water we put the camera away and were all thinking it was about time we sped the pace up just a tad. Here are a few pics:

Looking at the entrance to the Wind Cave on the approach
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http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0079.jpg

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Loving one of a few belly crawls
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0112.jpg

An interesting crawl/down climb
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0185.jpg

Mr and/or Mrs. Mud. An interesting mud sculpture we noticed in one of the many hallways.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0201.jpg

The start of the long sections of water. Don't worry, it got deeper.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0203.jpg

Cascading water
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0207.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/cookiecutter12/IMG_0216.jpg

[mattandersao]

Seeing those underground belly crawls literally make me ill!

[Iceaxe]

Awesome :2thumbs:

I forgot about the Mud Man until your picture.

The Darby Ice Cave is one of the coolest things I've ever done, It's such a unique experience. Pictures just don't do the place justices.