Sunday 17 February 2013

OFD 2 - The Swamp Creek Connection

On a previous trip we made a unplanned decision to return via the Chasm, the Shakehole and Swamp Creek. With no survey or previous visit to this area it was a little impulsive and this navigationally challenging multi level route led us to miss the connection to the final section of Swamp Creek and having to return the way we came in. On this trip we wished to find the connection that we had missed so that we had the whole route in our minds for a future trip. We headed into the cave guided by Jess and took the route at the bottom of the Corkscrew via sandy crawls to lead us into the Swamp Creek area. We followed the sandy passages North to find two routes that would connect to the Swamp Creek route. One route led to a balcony overlooking Swap Creek where traverses would take you upstream to reach the chamber which we located at the end of the earlier trip. Following the other route Keith and Mark were able to follow a couple of difficult climbs to drop down into the chamber at the start of the traverse section. Now knowing that a short section of traversing onwards from the chamber would have taken us into the sandy floored passages beside Swamp Creek we were happy and continued to our Next objective Peter's Pretty passage. On route we stopped off at the top of the Knave to take photos and video while some exploration of side passages was undertaken. We had some entertainment at the climb up into Peter's Pretty Passage and ended up leaving the cameras and tackle at the bottom. With our call out time fast approaching we headed out of the cave and will return at some point to take video and photos of this area.

Jessica approaching the Nave.

Jessica approaching the Nave.

Ian approaching the Nave.

Keith approaching The Judge

Chloe in the sandy passages overlooking Swamp Creek

Present: Jessica Harding, Mark Burkey, Keith Edwards, Ian Millward, Chloe Burney and Brendan Marris

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