SULLIVAN CAVE TRIP - 1985-1

Many formations in caves take thousands or hundreds of thousands of years to form. As such they are priceless and irreplaceable. So that others may be able to enjoy the cave...

NEVER break any formations!

NEVER take anything out of the cave except trash!

View of Sullivan Cave entrance.

A close up view, looking down into the entrance.

Beautiful flowstone just inside the cave. The entrance is up behind the caver.

A caver coming up into the Backbreaker from the waterfall entrance.

Just entered the Backbreaker.

Caver in the Backbreaker. Can you guess why it is called the Backbreaker?

Another part of the Backbreaker.

The T of the Backbreaker and the Merry-Go-Round.

Between the 'T' and the Mountain Room. In 1/3 of the way into Helectite Passage

The entrance to the mountain room. One must crawl under a ledge for about 15 feet to get into the Mountain Room. This entrance is not a natural entrance. After mapping, it was realized that the Mountain Room passage was only feet from Helectite Passage. Cavers used spoons to dig out the connection! Art Davis had a venetian blind business in Indianapolis, and was the discoverer of the Mountain Room. He also pushed exploration to the First Bathtub, and for many years the First Bathtub was considered to be the northern end of the cave.

Caver starting the crawl to get into the Mountain Room.

The Mountain Room is a huge room of breakdown. Breakdown is rock that has fallen from the ceiling. The Mountain room is 50ft to 100ft in diameter. The cavers are moving down, in the direction of the Flood Route.

A view of a caver on top of the breakdown in the Mountain Room. Note how the ceiling appears to have layers. These layers have broken away and fallen into the pile shown in the foreground. This is how a 'dome' is formed. Note the large darker area near the left side of the picture, just below the vertical center. This is the back door to the Mountain Room.

A view of the Mountain Room entrance to the Flood Route to the Quarry Room.

The Flood Route is flooded during/after a rain. Otherwise, as shown here, it is an underground stream.