When I take someone new to Pettyjohn Cave in North Georgia, I enjoy taking them on the Loop tour. It’s cool because the only part of the cave that the route crossed twice is about 250 feet of cave near the entrance. The round trip will take about four hours and will include tight squeezes, moderate climbs, and some mud, but not the actual mud. If the group really wants a challenge, add Flat Room and Z-bends. Side trips can also be made to the Over ‘N Under room or the Echo room for an even longer trip.
The Loop route consists of Pancake Squeeze or Z-Bends, choose one or split the group with half going through each. (Smaller cavers take the Z-Bends.) Next is the Raccoon room, The Freeway and then the Bridge room. Leaving the Bridge Room, crawl towards the Mason – Dixon Passage and into the Volcano Room, then return to the Main Entrance Room.
As one glides towards the Pettyjohn Inlet, one can’t help but notice the smooth slide of eroded rocks that thousands of cavers have slid down before. If it’s raining or wet and muddy cavers got out just before your group does, the last few meters of the cave can be quite challenging and will require most of your climbing skills just to get out of the cave. A quick turn to the left and down, then back to the right and the cave opens up into a huge cavern. Until your eyes adjust to the dark, take care to go down to the large entrance hall. The floor can be slippery, so while your eyes adjust, try to look at the large formations on each side of the room. The room is about 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide. About 200 feet into the cave is the first junction room and a rise.
Going down the floor in the first connection room is the route to the Signature Room, quite a trip for first-time cavers, with lots of sticky mud. The worn path up the rock on the left is hard to climb, but easy to get down on the way out. There is a leaning rock in the center of the passage that will have a distinctive crack for a step, followed by another leaning rock with a small weathered formation in the center that provides another step to the top of the climb. A few more steps and you will see a steep climb with a large jutting rock on the right and the vertical wall on the left.
Slowly go down the right side under the ledge to the bottom of the second connection room. This is where we started the Loop route and it is also the busiest route to the large waterfall on the lower level. There will be two holes at the bottom of the second binding room. The most obvious is a drop that I would not recommend. After checking, move away from the left wall and drop down through the breakdown, feet first, until you are below the hole. You can then see that there are no footholds or handholds if you went through the first hole.
Continue down below the left wall of the entrance room, the cave will open up with a steep slope away from the main entrance room. This is perhaps the most confusing area of our tour. On a recent trip I spent almost an hour here trying to find my way. I keep forgetting that there is another level to go down before going back up to a short passage of water that leads to the Pancake Squeeze. Head down a steep ledge to the right until you can’t go any deeper. Then turn left and look for a hidden passage above a small ledge. If the group chooses to take the Z-bends, stay low and continue in the same general direction but further to the right. Through a low, wide room called the Flat Room. Near the end of this room, look for a vertical crack to climb into and follow it until it opens. These are the Z-Bends, the higher you are, the harder it is to pass.
For the group that went up to the ledge, take the first side passage through the water about 8 inches deep to the end. Duck under the ledge on the right and crawl over to the Pancake Squeeze. The Pancake Squeeze is tricky, try looking ahead for the top and keep an eye to the left. If the grip starts to tighten, try moving more to the left. You may have to remove your helmet to get through. There is plenty of room on each side so crawling is not a problem. When you leave the pancake and enter the standing space, you should make contact with the group that took the Z-Bends. Make sure everyone is back together before continuing.
The next challenge will be a small drop of about 6 feet. If you’re tall, you can slide feet first to the rock floor below. A better route is along the left side between a stalactite and the left wall, where you can grab onto the stalactite and drop down to the ground. Continue along the right wall for another 50 feet and the left side will start to drop. Stay high along the right side of the passage. If you go down a muddy hole in the left wall to the level of the stream, you will be on the tourist route to the waterfall. Above this hole in the upper right is the Raccoon Room. This is a dangerous climb and there may be a hand line there but don’t rely on it as it has been there for years. Climb up and go over the ledge on the right.
Go through the raccoon room on the right hand side towards the back of the room. Avoid crawling down the cul-de-sac and stay to the right by crawling through several mud walls until you reach a canyon junction. The large walking passage to the right will come to a dead end after several turns. At the junction there will be a nice stalactite with water trickling into a pool with stone dams around the edge of the pool. Follow the canyon to the left and go up to The Freeway. The Highway is an easy passage to walk with ramps and mud banks on each side. Go through three rooms about 75 feet each until you reach the bridge room.
The Bridge Room is a nice place to take a break, dangle your legs over the edge and listen to the creek about 80 feet below. You could come down here and go to the waterfall. By crossing the bridge, which is a narrow muddy arch over the canyon, and continuing through a long log passage, the back sections of Pettyjohn Cave can be accessed. To continue the Loop, do not cross the bridge, but follow the narrow mud path along the right wall of the grand canyon and stay level near the roof.
At the end of the Bridge Room look for a small hole near the ceiling, this is the narrow passage into Mason – Dixon Passage. If you go down at this point and go under a ledge, you can follow the lower stream passage to the sinkhole at the very bottom of the cave, 235 feet below the entrance. Take off all the equipment and put it in the hole in front of you, then go through it. After about 20 feet it will start to open up and you can slide into the passage on the left. This passage will start at about 4 feet high and then open up for walking with a tighter gait halfway.
After about 500 feet there will be a large connection room. To the left is the Worm Tube that leads to the Echo Room, the largest room in the cave. The Worm Tube is 200 feet of very narrow passage and the climb up to the Echo Room is very difficult. But it’s well worth the effort to see the great room. To the right in the junction room and over a rock ledge and through a horizontal crack is a small room on the way to the Volcano Room. One more horizontal crack and then up towards the edge of the Volcano Room.
The Volcano Room is in the shape of a large funnel with steep sides and leads to the stream passage and sinkhole. For years, the only way out was to scale a vertical wall to a small window above the Volcano Room. We usually used a cable ladder when coming from the other direction. I have free climbed the wall, but it is very exposed. In the late 80’s someone dug a diversion tunnel under and around the vertical rise up to the window. To enter this crawl from the room side of the volcano, enter head first, pushing your gear. You work your way up by turning as you go. Try to stay with your back to it because you will have to crouch down last and if your back is not turned you will not be able to crouch or turn around. If you’re going the other way, you’ll want to go feet first and face up. Going down the hill is a little easier.
Coming out of the crawl and waiting for the others, it’s worth the view to go up to the window and look into the Volcano Room. There isn’t much space in the small vertical passage by the window, so before it fills up, go upstairs to the larger room. Go up to another room with a walking passage to the left and a climb up to the right. The dead ends of the passage on the left. Climb up along a narrow ledge, first to the right and then to the left and up into a large formation room. On the other side of this room and on one edge is another room that descends. Stay to the left and crawl in before the room. The tracking path will have a sharp turn to the right. The corner of the rock in the turn has been broken off to allow for the extraction of a poor spelunker who fell out of the window onto the Volcano Room and broke his leg.
Easy tracking continues upwards over a large breakdown to a small drop in a small room. When you are in this passage, you can talk to anyone in the Autograph Room above. If they are at the bottom of the Autograph Room, they should be only a few feet from this passage. But no eye contact could be made. As you descend into the small room, turn right and slide feet first into another small opening before fully entering the small room. Continue down this small dry dusty vertical crack until it levels out.
If you continue to the end of this passage, there is a hard climb that needs long legs to reach the footrests. Before you get to the end and shortly after it levels off, there is a hole that goes up and leads to the passage above. The upper passage is approximately 4 feet high and wide. It will lead to the fall at the end of the passage below. Continue down the passage, through a small window, and into what looks like a dead end. It is possible to climb through the fault and enter the main entrance room above, but it is very narrow and vertical. At the apparent dead end, lie on your side and slide under the wall, it’s about 12 inches high, but it opens up. Crawl onto a rock and enter another small junction room.
To the left is a passage to the east creek passage and Crowell Domes. Up and to the right is a 20 foot rise to the main entrance hall. One direction is the autograph room and the other direction is the second union room where we went down. Go down to the bottom of the room and then back up the left side. At the top, stay to the right and slide down along the right wall into the first junction room. From here it is an easy walk to the entrance and out of the cave via a slippery climb.