BENEATH THE ISLAND

Curtis Bliss, Kennedy Smid, Myles Fullmer, Tim English (r)
Aug 25 2022

Off of Hornby Island on the first ferry heading out on a 8 day cave adventure. I felt a fast photo tour of Riverbend Cave would be a perfect way to start my trip. I parked in line 12 hours early and was still back of the line for the first sailing off of Hornby Island. Luckily I made my connecting ferry and arrived at Horne Lake Caves Park with enough time to bottom Riverbend and make my way North by noon.

I met up with the guides and we rushed away to the cave. We pushed our way towards the vertical sections as we can photograph the rest of the cave anytime of the year.

Just before the half way point of explored cave we reach the siphon. For those who don’t know, the cave floods to the ceiling so a hand pump was installed to drain the passage from both sides of the sump to allow us cavers in. Myles assured me that the drained crawl is only 3 Myles long.

The 17 foot drop, a perfect rappel. This is a great entry level rappel for anyone keen on getting started and a great warm up to the cave. It’s just high enough to give you a rush but not so high that it is intimidating.

Next was the rope ladder, the easiest I have ever climbed. The park operators have done a great job securing this ladder so it doesn’t swing all over the place when you climb it.

We arrived at the top of the Rain Barrell. The ever so beautiful vertical barrel with glistening water running down the entire circumference is really quite a sight even for a seasoned caver. Myles quickly sent Curtis and Kennedy down the 7 story drop and sent me up! Right up to the ceiling. This made for a great vantage point to grab a shot of Kennedy rappelling while Curtis so kindly shuffled my flash around on a very difficult vertical face.

The China Shop is one of the most decorated sections of cave in the park. It was untouched when the original vandalism of the cave occurred where the upper sections of the system were spray painted with red markers. There is beautifully sculpted flowstone with all kinds of different intricate formations.

There is a great photo of Richard Varela in the cave park visitor center bridging over a small body of water with some beautiful calcite formations behind him. We thought it would be fitting to re-enact this pic with the new park operator and guides. The results were great.

At the bottom of the cave I thought I’d ask to see what time it was so I could make my noon exit. Myles informs me its 12:30 haha oh well guess I’m on cave time. A quick exit and off to The Reappearing River and Minigill.