The Sinks of Gandy

Tucked away in a farmers field among the many back roads of Randolph County The Sinks of Gandy can be found. The Sinks of Gandy is a small cave system cut into the soft sedimentary rock by the steady flow of water over the years.

Yesterday I had the chance to visit and explore this cave and see for myself just what the fuss is about. The entrance is hidden from view and hard to find if you don't know where it's located and the interior is full of fallen chunks of stone that have let go of the ceiling at one point or another and now rest in the creek as a maze of obstacles. One thing I quickly realized is just how on edge you can get when you're walking under mammoth sized boulders with visible cracks that are fighting an ongoing and ultimately futile battle to stay put. Unlike other caves I've been in you won't find many stalactites in this cave as it's constantly flooding, eroding, and collapsing in on itself and making the journey from one end to the other will require wading in cold water, possibly swimming, and climbing on, over, or around many obstacles. 

My journey began with me in my usual flip-flops, swim trunks, and a Hawaiian shirt (yeah I was dressed for the occasion lol) within five minutes of entering my flip flops decided to fall apart which left me barefoot for the rest of the adventure. The entrance and initial room were clear and very photogenic however as we went deeper into the cave particulates in the air quickly made any attempt to use the flash on our cameras result in a grainy unusable shot. We managed to make it back to the area where swimming was required and decided to turn back from there as we were carrying several expensive cameras and they don't mix well with water. While we were there several other people were exploring the caves and it wasn't uncommon to see lights coming from one direction or the other as groups passed by on their own adventure to discover the depths.


More to Come....

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