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What's in your front yard?

Science Abuse

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Science Abuse

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Started off simple enough. Some people had a sink hole in their front

yard, with a dark bit in the bottom. Small cave, word gets around to

the ODNR, who goes to have a quick look. Has an ancient chainlink

cover over it, which is packed with leaves, debris, and actual soil.

Shines a light into a gap at a funny angle and she sees a crack, bout

4ft deep, 2ft wide, runs off out of sight.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/2225/holezb9.jpg

Emails are passed around, a few volunteers show up. Fortunately I have

a camp-shovel in the subaru's "WTF Kit", so I get to digging out the

steel gate. As I dig, bits fall in the cave and go "plunk" into some

water. We notice that it's taking a really long time for them to go

plunk. Neat!

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/5972/pitip2.jpg

The old crap is off, revealing a deep dark hole. Everyone is remiss

for not bringing their vertical gear, no one thought that they might

run into something like this....

...Except me. Conversation:

Me: "I've got a harness and some rope, looks like some one could get

in and out of there"

Group: "Nuts, we didn't bring anything"

Me: "I've got spares, willing to share. Who's going in first?"

Group: "*blink*....*blink*...you."

So I got to rappel through this wee crack. Once through, things open

up into a room about 12ft long, 6ft wide, and a 16ft ceiling. I'm also rapping down

next to a huge floor to ceiling flowstone formation with a pot at the bottom, definitely the biggest in central ohio.

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1166/roomsq6.jpg

The ceiling is dripping like rain, so I only got a couple of bad pictures.

There are a few small cracks that lead to a lower (and oddly dry)

room. No one else is coming down, so I opt not to risk it.

Getting out was a difficult mix of rope climbing and rock climbing. If

one were to fall down there, they wouldn't get out. I don't think

paramedics could get you out without snapping your likely broken neck.

I felt that, at any moment, some one would shout down "It puts the

lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again".

 

You can see the sinkhole from Section Line Road, the entrance to the cave is only 100ft away, but no one's been down this thing before. Boldly going where no man wanted to go before.

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zeitgeist57 Newbie

zeitgeist57

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My buddy was clearing an old addition to a house in German Village he was renovating. He was motoring around the backyard with a Bobcat...when the ground crumbled beneath him and he almost fell with the Bobcat into a 12ft deep cavern. Was an old heating oil or water well of some sort that was still more than half full of dead water. Freaked him the fuck out. He called me saying how he could've drowned. The Bobcat was moving forward when the ground caved and if he didn't keep moving it would've swallowed him and the 'Cat in a second.

 

Bottom line - - - you're a ballsy man for volunteering to drop down a newly discovered chasm in the ground. :thumbup:

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Science Abuse Newbie

Science Abuse

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My buddy was clearing an old addition to a house in German Village he was renovating. He was motoring around the backyard with a Bobcat...when the ground crumbled beneath him and he almost fell with the Bobcat into a 12ft deep cavern. Was an old heating oil or water well of some sort that was still more than half full of dead water. Freaked him the fuck out. He called me saying how he could've drowned. The Bobcat was moving forward when the ground caved and if he didn't keep moving it would've swallowed him and the 'Cat in a second.

 

Dayum! Sure it was man-made? May be a sistern?

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datsunissan28 Newbie

datsunissan28

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Started off simple enough. Some people had a sink hole in their front

yard, with a dark bit in the bottom. Small cave, word gets around to

the ODNR, who goes to have a quick look.

 

Which department of ODNR was out there? My dad works for the Geological Survey at ODNR.

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Science Abuse Newbie

Science Abuse

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Which department of ODNR was out there? My dad works for the Geological Survey at ODNR.

 

Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, specifically Ecology.

 

Clay: Sure ti was all man-made? :) It's not rare for people to find a cave on their property and convert it into something else. Most commonly, it's wells. I've heard of at least one old well that just looks like a well at the top, and a fair bit of the way down. But at the bottom of the well, there's an underground stream and a narrow cave. The one I was in would have made a great sinstern, all they'd have to do is cement the small crack that drains the floor.

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ImUrOBGYN Newbie

ImUrOBGYN

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Well, that's fucking awesome. I don't think I've ever come across a cave someone else hasn't come across though I did find some hot springs in Nevada on one of my desert excursions. (Almost didn't come back from one of those one summer.)

 

This sounds right near my house. Can you pm me where it's at exactly? I have no rappelling equipment and wouldn't do that by myself anyway, but would love to shine a flashlight or just take a gander; maybe show the gf or throw that body, uh, I mean throw a coin in and make a wish.

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Science Abuse Newbie

Science Abuse

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got 2 in my yard and almost each neighbor has one

 

Sink holes, caves, or sisterns? :)

 

Has anyone been in them? Mind if I come have a quick look? Should only take a few minutes each, just basically shining a light down any cracks I see. What we're doing is a continuation of the Ohio Cave Survey, trying to log all of these things.

 

Could you PM me an adress so I can mark them on an area map? Would like to see where you are relative to previously mapped "Karst Terrain". This is quite cool. :cool:

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Science Abuse Newbie

Science Abuse

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This sounds right near my house. Can you pm me where it's at exactly? I have no rappelling equipment and wouldn't do that by myself anyway, but would love to shine a flashlight or just take a gander; maybe show the gf or throw that body, uh, I mean throw a coin in and make a wish.

 

Ehh that would be very frowned upon. "In some ones front yard" was not an exageration. When you bent over to look in there, you'd be wiggling your ass at their front door. :p

plus, it's so deep, wet, and warm (compared to the outside) that you wouldn't see much other than your light refraction off the fog.

 

If you want to get buggy, I've got a cave for you over in Dillon State Park. The folk I was with were collecting specimines of various things. I managed to find and capture a wee cave isopod. It was full of cave crickets, many small weird things, and gobs of these spiders:

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/298/metaei0.jpg

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Science Abuse Newbie

Science Abuse

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Is there a good link of any good caves in the area that arent well known about?

 

Not really. They're generally protected and almost always on private property. The local exception being at Indian Village Camp down in hilliard. The caves are in a ravine just south of the rowing clubs boat house.

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Qtr_pndr Newbie

Qtr_pndr

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Sink holes, caves, or sisterns? :)

 

Has anyone been in them? Mind if I come have a quick look? Should only take a few minutes each, just basically shining a light down any cracks I see. What we're doing is a continuation of the Ohio Cave Survey, trying to log all of these things.

 

Could you PM me an adress so I can mark them on an area map? Would like to see where you are relative to previously mapped "Karst Terrain". This is quite cool. :cool:

 

nobody been in them as far as i know and you got a pm

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Nitrousbird Newbie

Nitrousbird

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Not really. They're generally protected and almost always on private property. The local exception being at Indian Village Camp down in hilliard. The caves are in a ravine just south of the rowing clubs boat house.

Really; I am a 3 minute walk from the boat house. Will have to go snooping around and check that out.

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