Hannacroix Maze, 01/28/2023

At the inhuman waking hour of 6 AM, myself and 6 companions set out through the cold Bostonian air for Talbot for the convening of our company. We journeyed, born by robot car, to New York and the Hannacroix Maze Cave awaiting us there. After a brief stop in a Stewarts at which the makings of a glorious cheese stick/granola bar sandwich were acquired, we journeyed through the twisting, snow-covered, ice-sheeted roads of upstate NY to a tennis court which we believed to be proximitous to our aimed destination. After suiting up and wandering through icy woods for 45 minutes peering into holes, we managed to locate the entrance that we would make use of (sleeping alligator as we would later discover it was called) on the North face of the mound, looking over a frozen swamp. Before this, we found a small cave that several members of our party entered and promptly exited upon discovering the extent of the flooding and general shallowness of the passage.

Once we lowered into the entrance, we crawled forward to a larger cavern, where the water droplets looked like gold flakes when illuminated by our headlamps. Our party then proceeded to quest into a set of parallel, low-ceilinged, raccoon print adorned passages to what we considered dead ends after an intersection, which we used to turn around. These pacssages had the benefit of not being flooded, which is more than can be said for much of the cave floor. Once back from the elongated donut, we passed a notably alligator-shaped rock formation in a waterlogged pass on our way to the higher ceilinged area we came from. From there some members of our group traveled west into a very tight squeeze (so tight one had to keep their head sideways), which led to the appropriately named gallery (of spiders) and eventually the outdoor world through a entrance we had considered earlier. These members would rejoin the others who went East over some large slabs of stone (there was a waterlogged passage that I believe would have led to the same location). In the overpass we made acquaintance with some of the locals (spiders and crickets), while appreciating the rock formations present (_____rorrrrryyyyy).

We then proceeded to crawl south in a stalagtite-chandeliered passage, which eventually joined up with the alligator passage through a window. In the other direction, we waded through the fungus footpath (to which I found a watery shortcut) to Lew’s room, which presented the opportunity to stand vertically with feet out of the water (an oddity in this cave) by balancing on a tent-shaped stone. Meanwhile, Michelle had found a different cavernous space where one could stand, although the need to plunge her body up to her neck in the cold water to access this space discouraged others to attempt it too, especially since Lew’s room had significantly more interesting visual appeal. Nearing our cold tolerance, we decided to go on a bit toward the Choice entrance, which I attempted to make use of as an exit, which turned out to be a bad choice, since it was flooded half way and a branch blocked the way. We turned back, passed some shell and orthoceras fossil-covered walls, and paused in Lew’s room again to turn off lights in the hopes of experiencing true darkness. This attempt was thwarted by the light peaking through from the somewhat nearby entrances reflecting through the passages and an unintended headlamp rave in a bag. With frozen toes, some attempted to remain dry by crawling along the ledges on the sides of the cave passages. Others (myself included) went for the faster, colder way out of speedrunning through the water toward the main entrance, where we joined the above-ground world after about 3 hours in the hole.

Soaked wetsuits and layers traded for dryer clothes, we trekked back to the car for the long return journey homeward, where we could decontaminate our severely muddied gear.

All in all, Hannacroix Maze Cave provided more than enough winding passages for one visit, and I for one would like to return to see the remaining twists (although perhaps in a warmer and less wet time of year).