       |
|
Natural Bridges Cavern Photo Trip September 2005 Brian Williams Photos by Brian Williams and Sean Roberts
 One day in July of 2005, I got this call from our good friend Paul Unger up in Kentucky. Seems some folks from the Wayne County Friends of Karst Group up there had gotten permission to explore a stream passage cave that had previously been off limits to cavers. It turns out the cave had a big surprise inside, a really BIG surprise. Sean Roberts and I had both previously provided Paul with photographs from other cave projects he had been involved with and he knew our work, so he thought we’d be the cavers for this job. It got even more interesting when he casually informed us that he needed us to come up and photograph what could possibly be the largest cave passages in Kentucky. Of course, we had to take some time to consider whether or not we wanted to go…I think our combined time for making that decision was about 1.2 seconds total. Acts of God and gas prices conspired to shut down our trip. Hurricane Katrina came roaring ashore and knocked out production in the Gulf Coast gas belt and fuel prices shot through the stratosphere over night. We heard it was 6 bucks a gallon in Georgia, a state we had to pass through to get to Kentucky, and there was talk of gas shortages in other places. Given that chances like this don’t come along everyday and if Paul said this cave was something special, we were determined to get there come hell or high gas prices. The first thing we did was order an express delivery of antique Sylvania flash bulbs. From what Paul had described, we knew we were going to need all the light we could get. Sean had already had lots of experience with this type of cave photography using multiple large flashes with remote flashguns and open shutter techniques. In addition to these tried and true methods, we would also utilize the latest in lighting by taking our cave diving High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights as well. With this type of lighting, we would be able to "paint" the room as long as we wanted without wasting expensive flash bulbs on a single shot. The flash bulbs would be used at 2 and 3 per shot and would give us one type of exposure, while the HID would allow us to experiment and capture 360’s and other unique lighting effects. Just as soon as our bulbs arrived in good condition, we packed all our gear into my truck, strapped on a couple of spare 5 gal tanks, grabbed a pocket full of cash from the ATM machine, and headed north. The Florida team traveling together consisted of Sean and Becky Roberts, Bill Walker and Brian Williams. Additional hauling and lighting duties on the trips were provided by Paul Unger and Melissa Hendrickson. Arriving around 2:00 pm on a Friday, we met Paul at the "Shire" and quickly decided that a nap was in our immediate future. We spread out and crashed for a couple hours to shake off the trip lag. Once Paul aroused us from our fitful slumber, he took us over to the cave for our first look. This "short" trip lasted 8 hours, and we spent this time photographing the stream passage all the way up to the first big room. This cave is located in a large drainage area and at various points cuts through limestone formations including the Kidder, Bangor, and Pennington. Currently the cave is still being surveyed, and there may be some more side passages and underwater leads, but the total passage to date stands at 9147.9 feet (1.73 miles) with a vertical extent of 187.1 feet. The entrance is a small, 10 ft wide opening about 3 feet tall in a vertical rock face with a beautiful stream issuing forth over the moss-covered rocks at the entrance. It was quite hot and humid gearing up at the truck and hiking to the cave, but the 54 degree water convinced us that the wetsuits were the way to go for this section, at least. You are wet before you even set foot in the cavern zone and it gets really cold setting up for all those pics. Paul informed us that about 200 ft in we would be coming to the first swim and after that we had about 1000 more feet of stream passage. Banded Sculpins and huge crayfish were spotted as we made our way upstream through passage riddled with black chert nodules, multiple small waterfalls, and beautiful plunge pools. Finally, we reached the first big room and stopped on "Plymouth Rock" to gawk at the size of what we just entered. After a few test shots with the HID, I ran up the breakdown slope just to get a better view. On this trip we did not bring our change of clothes and I highly recommend against climbing the breakdown in this enormous room while wearing a full wetsuit. Overheated and beat, I was quickly refreshed after plunging back into the chilly stream passage. This first trip in we spent about 6 hours photographing the stream using a variety of strobe techniques for lighting. The next day we would pull out the big guns, but for now we needed to head out, get some food and some much needed sleep. Day One - Stream Passage 1. The entrance 2. Sean Roberts in the entrance 3. Bill Walker in the stream passage 4. Banded Sculpin 5. Brian Williams in the stream passage 6. Plunge pools and sculpted rock 7. Brian Williams at a plunge pool 8. Becky Roberts 9. Sean Roberts sets up for a shot 10. Brian Williams
That evening at the Shire we had a great meal cooked by various cavers staying over the weekend. We were introduced to many of the cavers who were in the process of surveying the cave, as well as Melissa, who would accompany us in the following morning to help with gear and strobes. Early the following morning, we carefully packed up all our photo gear and the delicate, expensive flashbulbs for the long trip ahead. We piled into my truck and headed over to the barn to gear up. Paul would come in later and meet us in the big room to help with the long shots. On this trip, in addition to our photo gear, we would also haul in dry cave suits for changing in to once leaving the stream passage and entering the first big room. Arriving at the entrance, we were stunned as we watched in frigid amazement while Melissa entered the stream wearing only a pair of shorts and a sports bra. Us Florida folks were all quite impressed by her insanity, er, I mean endurance. The big paleo passage ahead called to us and we were not to be disappointed. After a quick change and gear prep, Sean had us spread out over this enormous room at various locations for optimum flash placement. We took a few test shots and experimented some with the HID. Paul arrived a short time later to help out as we sent Melissa up to the highest point atop a pinnacle of rock in the corner of the passage. We sent Bill Walker almost to the top of the breakdown pile, placed Paul on a huge rock in the center, Becky Roberts back on the other side, and I went down below the big rock near Paul. FCR radios were used to communicate across the expanse and send the signal to fire the flashguns. After several nice shots were taken using multiple flashbulbs, we set up for the 360 using HID lighting and painting the room one 100 ft section at a time. Sean photographed from the large breakdown rock in the middle of the room as I lighted each section. This entire sequence took over 45 minutes to complete. After more than 3 hours in the first big room, we headed over to other sections of the cave, photographing as we went.
Our bulbs were spent, our batteries were shot, our energy was gone, and our thrill for photographs had waned significantly after 9 hours. We headed back to Plymouth Rock and our awaiting clammy wetsuits. An hour later, we were back at the truck and tossing all the gear and bodies in for the ride back to the Shire where a hot shower and another wonderful meal was waiting. Thanks for cooking the delicious apple pie, Melissa ! It was a long trip up from Florida and a lot of money spent on fuel, bulbs, etc, but well worth it. What an amazing cave, what fabulous size and beauty! At 234 ft wide, we were fortunate to be allowed to capture photographic documentation of what surely has to be the largest underground passage in Kentucky. A big thank you to Paul Unger for inviting us up and to Tim Pyles for letting us venture in and photograph this amazing cave.
Day 2 - Big Room Shot The first 3 photos are of the big room. Note Bill Walker in orange at the top of the breakdown pile and Melissa Hendrickson in blue on the pedestal. Beyond the breakdown pile is a rotunda style room. 1. Big paleo passage. Brian Williams in foreground 2. Photo by Brian Williams 3. In this shot the distance from the camera to the breakdown pile is about 600' 4. Melissa Hendrickson (from Maine) in sports bra and shorts 5. Becky Roberts (from Florida) in semi-dry suit 6. The group stops for lunch on Plymouth rock 7. Brian Williams holding a flash 8. Melissa Hendrickson in a scalloped breakdown passage 9. Melissa Hendrickson in a scalloped breakdown passage 10. Sean Roberts and Bill Walker on the top of the natural bridge ("no one remembers #2, Sean") 11. Brian Williams on the bridge 12. Brian Williams in one of the large passages 13. Spent flash bulbs 14. The photo team 15. Melissa Hendrickson, Bill Walker, Sean Roberts, Becky Roberts, Brian Williams, Paul Unger at the Shire
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
