BIG SPRING - NORTH CONDUIT - explored during the drought of 2019-2020, first by Kayak, Jeff Hamilton.
The mouth of the Big Spring in Big Spring, KY lays directly under Hwy333 and adjacent to "the True" intersection of the three counties known locally as the Tri-County region of Meade, Hardin, and Breckinridge counties.
I am not, nor have never been, a member of the Louisville Grotto. But I visited a grotto meeting to share my findings. I was offering access to that group due to their proximity to the Tri-County region, while explaining the fact that water levels were low enough that a group of cavers could assist me in surveying and mapping the section directly under Hwy333 and the combined Tri-County lines for Meade, Hardin, and Breckinridge.
In the end, I travelled the length of the North Conduit five times. One of those trips was accompanied by several members of the Louisville Grotto, who choose to simply follow my path and take photographs of formations along the way. We did no surveying. Any chance after that was lost once the drought brought and the rains fell across this karst landscape. Waters quickly rose and remain high, cutting off access to the only entrance for another "who knows how many" years! Record that group Kayak trip upstream is documented by the photo featured on the press material for the Louisville Grotto's Speleofest 2020.
The remaining photos were all taken by me on trips of increasing length prior to the group kayak trip. It was these photos that I presented at that Louisville Grotto meeting that started getting the name Big Spring Cave back in people's minds!
I am not, nor have never been, a member of the Louisville Grotto. But I visited a grotto meeting to share my findings. I was offering access to that group due to their proximity to the Tri-County region, while explaining the fact that water levels were low enough that a group of cavers could assist me in surveying and mapping the section directly under Hwy333 and the combined Tri-County lines for Meade, Hardin, and Breckinridge.
In the end, I travelled the length of the North Conduit five times. One of those trips was accompanied by several members of the Louisville Grotto, who choose to simply follow my path and take photographs of formations along the way. We did no surveying. Any chance after that was lost once the drought brought and the rains fell across this karst landscape. Waters quickly rose and remain high, cutting off access to the only entrance for another "who knows how many" years! Record that group Kayak trip upstream is documented by the photo featured on the press material for the Louisville Grotto's Speleofest 2020.
The remaining photos were all taken by me on trips of increasing length prior to the group kayak trip. It was these photos that I presented at that Louisville Grotto meeting that started getting the name Big Spring Cave back in people's minds!