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Ellison's Cave

46 points by dataminer 3y ago

pajko 3y ago
There's a map and a nice writeup about the cave at https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/35a3b48eccb5cf8a3f3e84f686b34382/reuter/index.html https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/35a3b48eccb5cf8a3f3...
- 2sk21 3y ago
  Thanks - that was just amazing!
mjfl 3y ago
For the casket you can get a T-shirt: "I died in Fantastic Pit!"
Diapason 3y ago
"[...] the two deepest pits in the contiguous United States: Fantastic (586 feet) and Incredible (440 feet).[2] These two pits lie on opposite sides of the cave. Nearby and parallel to Fantastic are Smokey I (500 feet), Smokey II (262 feet)[...]" That's the most confusing statement either. "A and B are the two deepest, with C nearby (being deeper than B)"
- cmpalmer52 3y ago
  It is poorly written. I assume it’s because Fantastic and Incredible are “unobstructed, free fall pits” and Smokey I is partially obstructed or not a clear vertical drop in some way.
pavlov 3y ago
I thought this would be like Plato’s Cave except the shadows on the wall are Oracle license prices.
c2xlZXB5Cg1 3y ago
Dissapointed this is not where Oracle benchmarking results are kept
s_c_r 3y ago
Pettyjohns Cave is another one on Pigeon Mountain: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettyjohn_Cave https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettyjohn_Cave Used to take creative writing classes there in college. It’s beautiful, just make sure to wear clothes you don’t mind getting covered in mud and try not to go after a big rain because it will flood. Temperature is around 70 year round and it’s mostly hiking. Take a headlamp and a friend, tell someone where you are going, and have fun. Really incredible experience.
Mister_X 3y ago
When I could still go caving 30+ years ago, I wanted to visit Ellison's and drop Fantastic Pit, yeah... 586 feet free, that would've been fun. But I was too busy discovering/exploring/mapping caves in California to ever make it to Ellison's Cave. In fact, I was working in a cave I discovered in Sequoia National Park that was 900 feet directly about another cave some friends had discovered several years before, Hurricane Crawl Cave. The small group of NSS cavers I was working with had an M.O.U. with the Natl Park Service to explore and map any caves we discovered, and we gated Hurricane at their request after we finished our survey and drafted a map of the cave. As it's a hazardous cave with a stream and deep vertical drops, it is now a locked closed gated cave, and only vetted cave explorers and scientists are allowed in. I was hoping to make a vertical connection between the two caves via a pit I hoped would be deep enough to shatter the depth record of Fantastic Pit, but my health ran out before I could make that connection. Perhaps some day a determined caver will continue the work I was doing and find that connection pit. "Caving... it's like Fun, only different."
- janosett 3y ago
  Thanks for sharing this story. I love when I can learn a little more about the experience of something fascinating like Caving but that I don’t have any personal experience with through someone’s comments on HN. How does one get into Caving or become a “vetted cave explorer”?
  - nathancahill 3y ago
    I highly recommend reading Blind Descent for the armchair caver.
  - raggles 3y ago
    Join a local caving group\club (grotto in the US I believe). Pretty much the only way, unless you happen to know an experienced caver that you can tag along with.
- prox 3y ago
  So interesting, caves are like another world probably. What got you to cave and take on the dangers of caving? What appealed to you?

46 points by dataminer 3y ago

There's a map and a nice writeup about the cave at https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/35a3b48eccb5cf8a3f3e84f686b34382/reuter/index.html https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/35a3b48eccb5cf8a3f3...

2sk21 3y ago
Thanks - that was just amazing!

mjfl 3y ago

For the casket you can get a T-shirt: "I died in Fantastic Pit!"

Diapason 3y ago

"[...] the two deepest pits in the contiguous United States: Fantastic (586 feet) and Incredible (440 feet).[2] These two pits lie on opposite sides of the cave. Nearby and parallel to Fantastic are Smokey I (500 feet), Smokey II (262 feet)[...]" That's the most confusing statement either. "A and B are the two deepest, with C nearby (being deeper than B)"

cmpalmer52 3y ago
It is poorly written. I assume it’s because Fantastic and Incredible are “unobstructed, free fall pits” and Smokey I is partially obstructed or not a clear vertical drop in some way.

pavlov 3y ago

I thought this would be like Plato’s Cave except the shadows on the wall are Oracle license prices.

c2xlZXB5Cg1 3y ago

Dissapointed this is not where Oracle benchmarking results are kept

s_c_r 3y ago

Pettyjohns Cave is another one on Pigeon Mountain: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettyjohn_Cave https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pettyjohn_Cave Used to take creative writing classes there in college. It’s beautiful, just make sure to wear clothes you don’t mind getting covered in mud and try not to go after a big rain because it will flood. Temperature is around 70 year round and it’s mostly hiking. Take a headlamp and a friend, tell someone where you are going, and have fun. Really incredible experience.

Mister_X 3y ago

When I could still go caving 30+ years ago, I wanted to visit Ellison's and drop Fantastic Pit, yeah... 586 feet free, that would've been fun. But I was too busy discovering/exploring/mapping caves in California to ever make it to Ellison's Cave. In fact, I was working in a cave I discovered in Sequoia National Park that was 900 feet directly about another cave some friends had discovered several years before, Hurricane Crawl Cave. The small group of NSS cavers I was working with had an M.O.U. with the Natl Park Service to explore and map any caves we discovered, and we gated Hurricane at their request after we finished our survey and drafted a map of the cave. As it's a hazardous cave with a stream and deep vertical drops, it is now a locked closed gated cave, and only vetted cave explorers and scientists are allowed in. I was hoping to make a vertical connection between the two caves via a pit I hoped would be deep enough to shatter the depth record of Fantastic Pit, but my health ran out before I could make that connection. Perhaps some day a determined caver will continue the work I was doing and find that connection pit. "Caving... it's like Fun, only different."

janosett 3y ago
Thanks for sharing this story. I love when I can learn a little more about the experience of something fascinating like Caving but that I don’t have any personal experience with through someone’s comments on HN. How does one get into Caving or become a “vetted cave explorer”?
- nathancahill 3y ago
  I highly recommend reading Blind Descent for the armchair caver.
- raggles 3y ago
  Join a local caving group\club (grotto in the US I believe). Pretty much the only way, unless you happen to know an experienced caver that you can tag along with.
prox 3y ago
So interesting, caves are like another world probably. What got you to cave and take on the dangers of caving? What appealed to you?