Stephen's Gap

Over the weekend a group of us from the Huntsville Grotto got together to go do Stephen's Gap - hunting season finally being over. Stephen's Gap is just about the most picturesque drop you can get, it was even featured in National Geographic a few years ago. There were nine of us - Michelle, Tommy, Nathan, Danielle, DJ, Ethan, Jennifer, Paul and I - a good size group and all in high spirits. And Stephen's Gap was prepared to give us a good show. The main waterfall was flowing as heavy as I had ever seen it, and there were smaller waterfalls trickling and spilling out from cracks the the ceiling that I'd never seen then trickle from. There are multiple places you can rig the double entrance. We rigged two drops to start - one of which was a might bit moist, as Tommy found out. Some folks from Birmingham showed up and rigged the "Key Hole" - a simply fantastic free drop that pops out of the solid rock ceiling into the middle of the double entrance offering a view of the main waterfall. A few of us were able to mooch their rope before they left. I have a few fun pictures to share so I'll let them do the talking. I had to post the photos in 3 sets of 5 each - so keep scrolling down till you see all 15 of them. And I'm sure there will be some pics in the next couple days that Nathan took on his website too, so be sure to check it: Realms of Reality

Tommy, Michelle and Paul ready for the hike

A Hepotica flower along the trail to Stephen's Gap

The Waterfall flowing into the right entrance from the outside of the cave

The waterfall on the right side from the inside of the cave. You can see Nathan climbing up and Danielle standing on the right side in a red shirt.

Paul just inside the walk-in left hand entrance