After a bit of car shuffling, seven of us assembled by the first river crossing at the end of the Pearse River road at about 9.15 on Sunday morning. The weather was warm, partly overcast with no sign of rain and the river was quite low. The first crossing next to the carpark gave us an introduction to the frigid water, there were to be another 10 crossings before we reached the resurgence. The first part of the track is through beech forest and a bit of scrubby grass and blackberry, then sidles high above the river, past the "bus stop", before dropping back down.
One of the many river crossings.
Unlike most valley tracks up rivers that are a pain, with constant sidling, this one is a joy, with long ferny river flats on a good well-marked track and only a few ups and downs. After the first few, everyone was getting the hang of the river crossings and when your feet are wet they can't get any wetter anyway. At one of the crossings we were lucky enough to see a pair of Blue Ducks frollicking in the rapids.
As we neared the resurgence we met some people coming out and they warned us that there were divers there. We could hear the sound of their compressor as we approached but were unprepared for the sight of a dozen or so tents and the mass of gear that they had with them. This proved to be a highlight of the trip as it was a group of internationally renowned cave divers and support staff, funded by National Geo, who had flown in by helicopter to have another go at diving the resurgence. In 2020 they had dived to a depth of 245 vertical metres, that's about 800 feet or, in terms of pressure on the body, 23 atmospheres or 340 pounds per square inch ... astronomical forces! This time they hoped to go deeper in an endeavour to connect the resurgence with the Nettlebed cave system and try to find the source of the Pearse. The Adelaide, Australia, based anaesthetist Richard Harris, who had administered calming drugs to the boys in the Thai cave rescue so they could be brought out safely, was amongst them.
The sight that greeted us at the normally peaceful resurgence
They were a very affable group with a wealth of knowledge and it was fascinating to learn how they prepared to dive to those depths when little is known of the physiology on the body from the water pressure and the compressed gas mix they have to breathe. Water temperature in the resurgence is about 6 degrees C and during the deepest dives the divers are in the water for the best part of a 24 hour day, most of it decompressing at various levels on the way up. Not everybody's cup of tea!
Eventually the constant hammering of the compressor and generator drove us up the side creek for lunch, before heading over the steep saddle to Nettlebed and a peep into the cave as far as the vertical rope leading to the dark murky depths.
The walk out was uneventful, the highlight once again being the lovely scenery, a couple more whio (could have been the same pair) and one of our Canadian friends taking an unintended dunk in the river at one of the crossings (I promised I wouldn't mention his name).
Thanks to David, Beth, Jo, Annette, Ian and Larry for your company and sharing the experience. Trip leader and report by Chris .