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This was probably our most challenging caving trip thus far.  Not just the actual caving part but the whole shebang including the trip planning and getting permission just to enter this awesome cave.  We were able to enter the cave as long as we had an experienced guide, and that he definitely was.  We owe the whole trip to our guide, Joe Gabrella from the Escabrosa Grotto.  He knew this cave like the back of his hand and was a great leader for our little expedition.

We took yet another trip down to southeast AZ for another caving trip and did Onyx the first day and Bells again the next day.  Because of the difficulty of Onyx, the girls stayed behind at the campsite while Chris, Steve, and went on ahead with Joe (Jared couldn't make it because of a torn achilles).  This cave required us to be harnessed up a few times and ropes had to set up  for some climbing and traversing.

The cave had the most formations of any we had been in, mostly because of the tight security.  The cave was gigantic and we probably only saw just a small percentage of it.  Almost the entire ceiling was covered in small straw formations.  There were also shields everywhere.  The obstacles included many squeeze points and a few climbing opportunities.  One of the places we had to traverse along the side of a wall to avoid the deep hole below

Among the rooms we got to see, the Cathedral room was the biggest.  It was lined with formations all the way around.  We stopped there for a rest and some food and then continued the trail loop.

Joe also pointed out where Devil's Drop was and told us how a guy died falling into the 200ft deep hole.  Apparently he fell a little way first and then when he was trying to climb back out, he plummeted the rest of the way down.  They didn't even check to see if he was alive.  By the time they finally got the rescuers in they had already pronounced him dead.  Oh, and by the way, Joe's motto was, "Everybody's going to fall eventually."

Anyway, we finished our "tour" after a good 4 hours in, and headed back out to the camp for some real camp food.  Joe joined us and told us more about his various caving trips and experiences.  He left and then we got the camp ready to catch some z's for the next day's trip into Bells.

You can see this trip's Cave of the Bells pics by clicking the gallery button on the left.