The Sinks of Gandy

H

hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
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I'm psyched. I have always wanted to go thru the Sinks of Gandy but I have always been a bit hesitant since I have never gone before. Then I found this on the WV Highlands site:

July 30, Sinks of Gandy Caving trip. A beginners spelunking trip through the famed Sinks of Gandy, where Gandy Creek takes a plunge for a mile-long meander beneath Yokum Knob. We'll also visit nearby Stillhouse Cave. Helmets and 3 sources of light required. Contact Dave Saville 304-284-9548 daves@labyrinth.net.

So some friends of my wife and I have signed up. Should be very cool. Also near the Sinks is Laurel Fork Wilderness so we are gonna try to set up camp there Friday and Saturday night at either the Wilderness or Laurel Fork Campground!!

Here's a link to some good pic of the Sinks.

http://www.jtice.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Sinks-of-Gandy-Cave
 
That sounds like a lot of fun HD. I was going to say take some pics and share them, but I guess cave photography might be a bit tricky?

Have a great time!:)
 
I can take pics of the entrance but sounds like to get the pics those guys left the shutter open and then bathed the cave with light.
 
I've a buddy that does quite a bit of this stuff...plan on hooking up a couple of trips this summer.

Ought to be much more fun the the underwater caves I've peeked in...well...you can breath anyway.
 
I thought this was a thread abvout where Gandy used to wash his undies ! L:O:L
Man that just sounds great ! Remember your Kukuuri . I heard cave zombies have a nasty bite ..

P:S:for years I saw this billboard for the Howe Caverns . The sign fell into disrepair and I thought the place closed . Supposedly it is up and running just fine .
 
Dang it. I opened this thread hoping to see where a civil rights leader washed his dishes:grumpy:

Jake

edit to add...Darn it Kevin! You had to steal my joke:D;)
 
hollowdweller said:
I can take pics of the entrance but sounds like to get the pics those guys left the shutter open and then bathed the cave with light.
Click to expand...
I guess that would mean that the light source would have to illuminate with no build up or decay ?
 
hollowdweller said:
I can take pics of the entrance but sounds like to get the pics those guys left the shutter open and then bathed the cave with light.
Click to expand...

You should be able to get shots like theirs. They used a Canon PowerShot A95 - pretty basic camera. Exposure settings were 1/15 sec to 2 secs @ f/2.8. Probably only ISO 400 as that is the highest speed that camera has.

Looks like the lighting is just a lantern and flashlight. Get a couple of the $37 lights Spectre was talking about earlier and you'll have it covered.:D


Email me if you want some tips on low light photography.

Cheers,

Ted W.
 
Kevin the grey said:
I guess that would mean that the light source would have to illuminate with no build up or decay ?
Click to expand...

Actually, moving a flashlight around will "Paint" light on the walls and allow the details to show. You just have to leave the shutter open and move the light around.

Here's some links:

http://www.photo-seminars.com/Seminars/PaintLight/Paintlight.htm
http://www.pbase.com/shaun/painting
http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/nighttime.html

Oh well, probably more info than you wanted to know.

Cheers,

Ted
 
Used to be a cable release and a pocket tripod helped a bunch in long exposure pictures. Dunno about digital cameras.
 
Usually, my bark is worse than my bite...

Usually...
 
Ted I have so many projects right now that I have to focus on them to exclusion . I,m afraid my idea of a camera is one that does it all . I do like to learn about illumination though . If I het a chance I,ll give it a once over . Thanks .
 
Hi Hollow:

I may have missed something. Where is this cave? It sounds great.

I spent a long time cave diving (yeah my avatar) and I'm interested in this type of stuff.

I was always more comfortable in a cave filled with water than a dry cave though. We followed the same three light minimum rule. Interesting. We had lots of rules.
 
Steve Poll said:
Hi Hollow:

I may have missed something. Where is this cave? It sounds great.

I spent a long time cave diving (yeah my avatar) and I'm interested in this type of stuff.

I was always more comfortable in a cave filled with water than a dry cave though. We followed the same three light minimum rule. Interesting. We had lots of rules.
Click to expand...

Steve,

Maybe about 4 hours southwest from Washington DC in Northeast WV. It has water running thru it but it's not underwater.

There are a tremendous number of limestone caves in the Eastern part of the state. People really have to be careful with septic systems and stuff cause all the caves makes it easier to pollute the groundwater. (according to my wife the Public Health
official;) )

Bowden and Cass Caves are two of the more popular ones. A few folks have been killed in Cass Cave over the years I guess there's some big drops. Here's a link to some of the pics of Cass Cave. There's a huge drop you have to make to get in. Anus gripping!

http://www.geocities.com/~caves/ed28.htm
 
hollowdweller said:
Steve,

Maybe about 4 hours southwest from Washington DC in Northeast WV. It has water running thru it but it's not underwater.

There are a tremendous number of limestone caves in the Eastern part of the state. People really have to be careful with septic systems and stuff cause all the caves makes it easier to pollute the groundwater. (according to my wife the Public Health
official;) )

Bowden and Cass Caves are two of the more popular ones. A few folks have been killed in Cass Cave over the years I guess there's some big drops. Here's a link to some of the pics of Cass Cave. There's a huge drop you have to make to get in. Anus gripping!

http://www.geocities.com/~caves/ed28.htm
Click to expand...

Those were awsome pictures, Hollow. I have a lot of respect for dry cavers. They have to overcome obsticals we underwater cave divers could "float" over.

Dry cavers are injured or killed all too often. Caves of any type deserve a lot of respect. I have lost 8 dear friends to cave diving. I escaped with CNS damage from too much decompression sickness.

I lost a woman cave diver friend in a western PA cave in called Tytoona. It was a nasty side mount system.
 
hollowdweller said:
How bad did it mess you up? That's a damn shame:thumbdn:
Click to expand...

Hi Hollow:

To which do you refer, my friend? Losing my friends or DCS?

For 12 years I was the international safety officer for the NACD. Also sat on their BOD. Every cave diving fatality in the world came to me for accident analaysis and sometimes to send a recovery team. I published my results annually. That took it's toll.

I dove in caves professionally for 12 years and taught cave diving. I saw and did wonderful things. Thousands of decompression dives led to a number of DCS hits. Decompression diving will probably bend you sooner or later. I was treated in chambers 3 of those times. One time for two days. I should have gone to chambers more often, but I was stubborn. DCS symptoms covered the whole spectrum. Paralysis, blindness, migranes, pain, total loss of balance, extreme fatigue and so on.

But I was unusual since I dove as a profession. The last time I got hit was after a 300' deep cave dive in florida on tri-mix, nitrox and oxygen. Got bent monday night, spent tuesday in a chamber (was told to never dive again, again) slept like the dead wednesday and began teaching another 7 day full cave class to students from abroad with decompression diving thursday.

If I had been a sport diver I probably would never had been hit.

It took a few years to get rid of crippleing migranes after I had to give up diving. I also had to change careers. My balance isn't 100% but it's good enough to ride my harley every day without falling over. Except if I've been overserved!

Recovering from that much DCS injury wasn't a picnic, but my new career in the IT field is very enjoyable in it's own way.

What's the moral of this story? Now I've got to think. Not easy after the DCS! Avoid decompression diving. Cherish your friends. Accept responsibility for your own actions.

My avatar picture was taken in a cave under the yucatan jungle.

Whew, Hollow. That was a lot of talking.
 
you can explore the sinks of kroncke a lot cheaper (plus there's a pub less than a mile down the road).

sink.jpg


here's a picture i took speelunkin in that world-famous sink hole:

brownroughcast.jpg

guess i got a bit too close.
 
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