After Cannonball Cave, I wanted to get back into clear water, so we planned a longer trip: drive from Manhattan down to cave country, dive for 4 days, and drive back. Total drive is around ~22 hours each way, which is too much to do in one push with a trailer, so we broke it into legs and camped along the way. Three camps total — two on the way down, one on the way back. We towed the teardrop behind the 4Runner the whole way. The gas mileage was horrible with the 4Runner/Luna towing Koru, but we didn't really get Luna for its gas efficiency 😝 .
Camp 1 - Mark Twain National Forest, MO
About 6 hours from home, so we got in with a couple hours of light left. The site is down a gravel two-track that crosses a creek, and the whole camp sits on a bench of exposed limestone right next to the water. Flat rock everywhere, which made setting up easy and made the fire pit easy to place. We ran the Solo Stove on bare rock and did not have to think about it. The next morning, we used the "crawl" function of Luna to get us over the creek and up the slope. We may not necessary need it, but it was fun!
Breakfast was bacon, fried eggs and cut melon on the rock next to the fire ring, which is about as good as camp breakfast gets.
Camp 2 - Talladega National Forest, AL
Second leg took us into Talladega National Forest. The roads turn into orange clay, with two-tracks cut through planted pine. We pulled the rig up onto a ridge and camped in the open, with a long view out over the pines on one side. It had rained just before we got there and the clay was slick. We had to engage 4WD for the whole trip in the park, with the steep ups and downs on the clay tracks. At times, it was quite nerve wrecking, but overall, it was extremely fun! The storm clouds were looming around most of the evening, but it held off. Great sunset, and we got a few photos of the rig up there.
The diving - Florida
The contrast with Cannonball is total. Florida cave water is warm and clear, with visibility is INFINITY feet instead of 30, and there is no "milk tea" layer to get through. Sunlight actually reaches down into the entrance. Florida has been experiencing a drought spell, and most of the springs water are low. We were planning to dive Peacock Spring, but that got cancelled due to sightings of crocodile. We didn't dive Orange Grove either as the water is very low, and getting in and out of the water is such a hassle. The duckweed on the surface didn't help either.
We dove Cow Spring for two days. It was great to get familiar with Cow Spring because I got really stuck at the entrance of the cave, while laying the line. However, we now know which way to go in order not to get stuck with the restriction. On the second day, we met Mike Stine (retired professor and cave diver), and got some nerdy discussion about biology etc.
We took a day break and went did some FL "off-roading" driving at Dixie Mainline Road to Horseshoe Beach. There were signs that they were still recovering from the previous hurricane - but we really like that place, and had placed a "alert" on Zillow for housing for sale in Horseshoe Beach 😏
On the last day, we dove Ginnie's Springs. I had always wanted to try the "Catacombs", and we did it! Yay.. and it was fun.
Dive July 15
Site: Cow Spring
Depth: 23.7m
Duration: 57 mins
Dive July 16
Site: Cow Spring
Depth: 24.5m
Duration: 63 mins
Dive July 17
Site: Ginnie's Springs - Devil's Eye -> Catacombs
Depth: 28.9m
Duration: 72 mins
Camp 3 - Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park
On the way home we stopped at the Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park break up the drive. This campsite has a waterfall, a wide limestone staircase, 60 feet wide, with water coming down over four or five stepped ledges with moss. We walked down to the overlook first thing in the morning with the sun coming in through the trees. One of the best stop of the trip.
