Back in Rockport State Recreation Area forest near Alpena Michigan lies 12 relatively un-explored Devonian Era sinkhole karst features — flooded sinkholes that might contain archaeological clues from the last Holocene and the possibility of dormant cave passage. Certified cave divers Adam Haydock, Chris Parks, and Mike Apke brought gear to the Big Sink for an initial checkout dive. I stayed topside while Mike and Chris descended. Visibility 20ft at surface to 25-40ft depth. T

Pless Cave near Blue Springs Indiana — trip leader Dave Everton. Six cars of cavers. Walking entrance with rimstone dams, collapse entrance, flowstone climb to upper level, slot canyon passage into final formation room. Some sections required swimming and crawling with head turned sideways, ears in the water. Bacon drapery quite pretty. Thanks to Dave Everton for sharing this cave once again. 🎒 Gear for this: Petzl Tikka Headlamp · Petzl Vertex Helmet

Day 3 in Alpena Michigan. The SS Florida — a 271x40x15 wooden steamer sank May 1897 when the George Roby rammed her starboard aft in 10-12 minutes. She rests at 197ft bottom, deck at 176ft. Dove into 2-4ft waves and descended to find a massive, intact wreck — WOW. Swam her deck past artifacts lying everywhere in the holds. Three decks, multi-story cargo holds, fun swim throughs. Bridge house with axe visible under the window. Got into the tight bridge house quarters before th

Cave Capers 2015 in Springville Indiana. Brought Amreen as a first-time vertical caver to the Hoosier National Forest Swallow Hole — private property arranged through Cave Capers staff. She passed tree training and joined us on the 42ft first drop. Stream blocked by logs at the bottom. Over 20 people filtering in and out until darkness. Another wonderful Cave Capers weekend. 🎒 Gear for this: Petzl Tikka Headlamp · Petzl Vertex Helmet

Last dive of the weekend on the Kyle Spangler. Masts standing proud at 110ft, wreck at 185ft. In November 1860 the Spangler was rammed by the Racine with no lives lost — she was carrying a load of corn. Giant stride into the water as the sun started to show. Descended to around 170ft. The massive mast structures stood tall and the integrity of the wreck still looks awesome today. Worked my way to the bridge house — found it a bit cumbersome with all the tanks on me so I opted

Weeklong NCRC Level 1 cave rescue seminar in Park City Kentucky with Phil Goldman. Knot tying, ascending under time, patient packaging with ferno and sked, haul systems, litter packaging, cliff and cave rescue rig setups, medical first aid, and communications. In-cave lectures in Coach Cave at 48 degrees. The Mock: assigned to search team, found a vertical lead with multi-drop dome rooms and a 5.8 climb into a karst window. Everyone passed Level 1. Looking forward to Level 2.

Anmar Mirza led a photo trip to Jackpot Cave near Cave City — objective: Celestial Borehole. 50ft entrance shaft, breakdown Broken Patella crawl, traverses on cowstails over 60ft canyon pits. Camera broke in the crawls — David Angel's G15 saved the photography. Gypsum flowers grew more spectacular with each passage. Purplish methane-metabolizing microbes on the walls. Epsomite crystals, gypsum hairs curling in spirals. With David Angel and Ron Davis. Thank you Anmar. 🎒 Gear

Green Eye 2 at Cave Capers — a 65ft drop into a decent-sized room for Indiana standards. On the way up, the rope appeared heavily frayed. Completely floppy and soft to the touch — core shot. Isolated the damage with a double butterfly knot. The second as emergency backup. Group passed the knot on ascent without incident. A real-world rope inspection lesson that Cave Capers trips sometimes deliver. 🎒 Gear for this: Petzl Tikka Headlamp · Petzl Vertex Helmet

First dive of the weekend — the deepest one at 200ft. The Norman is a beautiful wreck, the sister ship of the Grecian. She was a steam cargo ship hit by a wooden ship called the Jack and went down in May 1895. We had an excellent dive but there is so much to see — only got into half the wreck before having to turn to our decompression schedules. No incidents, everyone had a successful dive. Our second dive was on the New Orleans but only after threading through thunderstorms

The Shawnee National Forest is the biggest woods on the southern sandstone escarpment of Illinois. 320 million years ago an ocean covered what we see today — only folded mud and sandstone strata layers remain. Drove down to the Garden of the Gods to view the sandstone spires standing tall over the ridge. Eagles flew into heated updrafts from the valley below. Hiked in 90-degree humidity before heading to Bell Smith Spring — blue-tinted water with a natural arch that reminded

After breakfast we headed out to Manti La Sal National Forest outside Moab — a different canyon environment at 9000ft elevation with birch trees and pine, 60-degree air. Patrick met us at the trailhead and joined solo. Reached the birch line and found the wash to the first drop — around 20ft. Rapped down on 8mm double rope to a cavernous section at the bottom. Rap 2 was a double drop totaling around 60ft. Rap 3 had a nasty lip but manageable at 20ft. Rap 4: an 80ft water slid

Got permits one minute before the ranger station closed — blind luck and they were reluctant to open the computer. Cooked dinner at the Wilhite trailhead before hiking out to the rim with an hour of sunlight remaining. Got turned around finding the route around a couple ridges to the lip of the rim. Winds blowing at a sustained 30-35 mph as the sun set and the cooler air moved over the desert. Eventually found the trail that descends from the rim — the jaw-dropping view of th

We headed to Arches National Park to check out the 3AII canyons and escape the tour bus loads at Delicate Arch. We could see Delicate Arch from a distance — a line of hikers in single file working their way up. Parked at the Park Ave trailhead and hiked up a steep talus slope a couple hundred feet to the top of the buttress where three canyons sit: U-Turn, Tierdrop, and Not-Tierdrop. Of course I chose the most challenging. At the top of the first drop, beautiful canyon views

Crystal Geyser in Green River, Utah is a natural cold water CO2 geyser located on the banks of the Green River just outside town. Unlike Yellowstone's thermal geysers, Crystal Geyser is driven by dissolved carbon dioxide in the groundwater. It erupts every 30 minutes to heights up to 60ft, depositing a colorful mineral mound on the river bank over thousands of years. The multi-colored orange, yellow, and white banding on the tufa mound rivals anything in the National Parks. F

Little Brush Creek Cave in the Ashley National Forest northeast of Vernal is one of the longest cave systems in Utah with over 7 miles of mapped passage. The cave floods significantly in spring and early summer — late fall and winter visits give the best access to the deeper passages. The cave is in the Madison and Deseret limestone of the Uinta Basin, with significant formation rooms and active stream passages. Part of the Ashley National Forest cave circuit alongside Big Br

Red River Gorge in the Daniel Boone National Forest is one of the premier rock climbing destinations in the eastern United States with over 1,000 sport and traditional climbing routes on Corbin sandstone cliffs. The Gorge is also known for its extensive network of natural stone arches — the highest concentration of arches east of the Rockies — and old-growth hemlock-lined hollows. The 'Land Before Time' section of the Red River Gorge captures the ancient forested landscape th

Telephone Canyon in Zion National Park is a technical canyon route that exits into the Virgin River Narrows — one of the most satisfying finishes in Zion canyoneering. The canyon has multiple rappels through sculpted Navajo sandstone before opening to the canyon floor and confluence with the Narrows. Part of the Zion big canyon week October 2015. 🎒 Gear for this: Sterling Canyoneering Rope · Petzl Grigri+ · Petzl Vertex Helmet · Petzl Canyon Harness

Imlay Canyon is the most committing technical canyon in Zion National Park. The first section of Imlay is three raps between 50 and 100ft. Then a 170ft drop to the canyon floor with a shelf that fits only one person at a time. Then The Grim — a dark sinister slot that goes on for hours longer than you expect. Hour 10 and we finally poked out into open canyon, but it wasn't over. Another 10-15 rappels with water disconnects, pothole swims, and pack tosses followed. I pulled ou

Owl Cave and Hatari Cave are paired desert cave features in the southern Utah plateau country near Kanab. Both caves are in the Colorado Plateau karst terrain. Part of the October 2015 Utah caves road trip through Cedar Mesa, Comb Ridge, and the Kanab area. 🎒 Gear for this: Petzl Tikka Headlamp · Petzl Vertex Helmet

Mystery Canyon is one of the premier canyoneering routes in Zion National Park. The East Mesa trailhead approach takes you past a seasonal lake and through open plateau before the canyon commits. A series of beautiful drops through Navajo sandstone narrows leads to the finale — a 120ft last rappel directly into the Virgin River Narrows with hikers below looking up in disbelief. Troy, Derek, Daniel, and the rest of the Chicago crew — all grinning at the bottom in the Narrows r