"There's still no bottom in sight," diver Mike Young says
The KISS Rebreathers dive team answered questions from the public Saturday night at a meet-and-greet style event hosted by Roaring River State Park officials. Shown above, left to right, are: Roaring River Park superintendent, Joel Topham; divers Neil Brownlow, Greg Ables, Colonel Tony Bryant and his service dog, Stutz, Randall Purdy, Mike Henry, Charles Walker, Jon Lillestolen, Gayle Orner and Mike Young with his canine companion, Roni; Roaring River State Park Interpretive Resource Specialist, Kelly Koch; and diver Joe Heinrichs. Photo courtesy of Sheri Young, of KISS Rebreathers.
September 29, 2021
Sheila Harris
Almost 100 people were in attendance Saturday night for a “Meet the Divers” question and answer session hosted by Roaring River State Park. The purpose of the event was to give interested members of the public the opportunity to meet the KISS Rebreathers divers who have made scheduled monthly weekend dives into Roaring River Spring since May. Attendees were also privileged to a demonstration of the differences between standard SCUBA gear used by 1970s divers and the rebreathers used by the KISS (Keep It Super Simple) team.
Roaring River State Park superintendent Joel Topham said, in reference to the exploratory dives for the purpose of remapping the cave, “we’re living history right now.”
“We’ve already made history,” he added.
Indeed, they have. When asked by someone in attendance how deep the spring is, head diver Mike Young answered, “We don’t know.”
With the water flow at seven cubic feet per second over the weekend, the lowest it’s been since the team began diving in May, the divers had an easier time with both visibility and navigation. They were able to attain a depth of 344 feet on Sunday’s exploratory dive, which now makes Roaring River Spring the deepest in Missouri. It also puts it in the running for the deepest known spring in the nation. Phantom Springs Cave in West Texas currently holds that position, with an explored depth of 462 feet.
“There’s still no bottom in sight in Roaring River Cave,” KISS Rebreathers CEO and head diver, Mike Young, said.
When asked how deep he would be able to go, he replied, “If we haven’t reached another restriction before then, I’ll probably stop at 400 feet and let more experienced cave divers take over.”
By the next day, Young had already changed his story.
“Well, you know how it is,” he said, with a laugh, “as long as there’s something more to find, I’ll keep going.”
Finding “the bottom” of Roaring River Cave is not necessarily a goal in itself, rather, it’s one among others.
Randall Purdy, from Kearney, Nebraska, acts as the team’s chief underwater photographer, and explained that a 20-story building - or perhaps larger - could easily fit into the huge cavern below the recently breached restriction at a depth of 225 feet in the cave. It’s that large cavern that Young and cartographer, Jon Lillestolen, attempted to find the limits of on their Sunday dive.
According to Mike Young, a handheld sonar device, designed to signal when an obstacle is within 100 feet of it, reads “out-of-range” in the lowest cavern, indicating that walls and ceiling and a floor were somewhere beyond the point where they tested.
According to Lillestolen, a lateral swim below the restriction yielded the discovery of a canyon which, after about 100 feet of line - in addition to the 200 feet already laid - became too complicated to navigate.
“There may or may not be a passage (in that canyon),” he said, “but with that much water, there’s a large passage somewhere.”
Lillestolen then descended to a depth (below the surface) of 300 feet, before running out of time for further exploration.
Lillestolen and the other divers tasked with cartography use basic compasses and safety lines knotted at 10-foot intervals to establish directions and measurements. These “stick map” measurements, as they call them, are then recorded in small waterproof notebooks, from which details can later be entered into a computer.
“The goal,” Lillestolen said, “is to end up with a 3-D representation of the cave, as well as a publishable map for the park’s use. Maybe, too, a new visual surface map for visitors to the spring.”
Under the direction of Tim Bass, of NWA Adventure Dive, a video for use in the park’s nature center, as well as a feature-length documentary, are being created.
Aside from the divers’ cave explorations, Bass has plans to include plenty of local history and culture in the documentary, to add to its appeal for the non-divers among us.
In response to a question from the audience, diver Randall Purdy explained that the diving and film-making project is self-funded.
“We’re a no-shoestring, no-shoe operation,” he quipped. “Food donations are always welcome, especially homemade brownies.”
Hunger is, in fact, a priority issue to be addressed after the divers resurface.
The KISS Rebreathers are scheduled for another Roaring River diving expedition the weekend of October 22 - 24.
With renewed permits from the DNR at the end of the year, the team hopes to continue monthly explorations indefinitely.
“There are many of us on the edge of our seats waiting to see what they will discover next,” Joel Topham said.
Sheila Harris
Almost 100 people were in attendance Saturday night for a “Meet the Divers” question and answer session hosted by Roaring River State Park. The purpose of the event was to give interested members of the public the opportunity to meet the KISS Rebreathers divers who have made scheduled monthly weekend dives into Roaring River Spring since May. Attendees were also privileged to a demonstration of the differences between standard SCUBA gear used by 1970s divers and the rebreathers used by the KISS (Keep It Super Simple) team.
Roaring River State Park superintendent Joel Topham said, in reference to the exploratory dives for the purpose of remapping the cave, “we’re living history right now.”
“We’ve already made history,” he added.
Indeed, they have. When asked by someone in attendance how deep the spring is, head diver Mike Young answered, “We don’t know.”
With the water flow at seven cubic feet per second over the weekend, the lowest it’s been since the team began diving in May, the divers had an easier time with both visibility and navigation. They were able to attain a depth of 344 feet on Sunday’s exploratory dive, which now makes Roaring River Spring the deepest in Missouri. It also puts it in the running for the deepest known spring in the nation. Phantom Springs Cave in West Texas currently holds that position, with an explored depth of 462 feet.
“There’s still no bottom in sight in Roaring River Cave,” KISS Rebreathers CEO and head diver, Mike Young, said.
When asked how deep he would be able to go, he replied, “If we haven’t reached another restriction before then, I’ll probably stop at 400 feet and let more experienced cave divers take over.”
By the next day, Young had already changed his story.
“Well, you know how it is,” he said, with a laugh, “as long as there’s something more to find, I’ll keep going.”
Finding “the bottom” of Roaring River Cave is not necessarily a goal in itself, rather, it’s one among others.
Randall Purdy, from Kearney, Nebraska, acts as the team’s chief underwater photographer, and explained that a 20-story building - or perhaps larger - could easily fit into the huge cavern below the recently breached restriction at a depth of 225 feet in the cave. It’s that large cavern that Young and cartographer, Jon Lillestolen, attempted to find the limits of on their Sunday dive.
According to Mike Young, a handheld sonar device, designed to signal when an obstacle is within 100 feet of it, reads “out-of-range” in the lowest cavern, indicating that walls and ceiling and a floor were somewhere beyond the point where they tested.
According to Lillestolen, a lateral swim below the restriction yielded the discovery of a canyon which, after about 100 feet of line - in addition to the 200 feet already laid - became too complicated to navigate.
“There may or may not be a passage (in that canyon),” he said, “but with that much water, there’s a large passage somewhere.”
Lillestolen then descended to a depth (below the surface) of 300 feet, before running out of time for further exploration.
Lillestolen and the other divers tasked with cartography use basic compasses and safety lines knotted at 10-foot intervals to establish directions and measurements. These “stick map” measurements, as they call them, are then recorded in small waterproof notebooks, from which details can later be entered into a computer.
“The goal,” Lillestolen said, “is to end up with a 3-D representation of the cave, as well as a publishable map for the park’s use. Maybe, too, a new visual surface map for visitors to the spring.”
Under the direction of Tim Bass, of NWA Adventure Dive, a video for use in the park’s nature center, as well as a feature-length documentary, are being created.
Aside from the divers’ cave explorations, Bass has plans to include plenty of local history and culture in the documentary, to add to its appeal for the non-divers among us.
In response to a question from the audience, diver Randall Purdy explained that the diving and film-making project is self-funded.
“We’re a no-shoestring, no-shoe operation,” he quipped. “Food donations are always welcome, especially homemade brownies.”
Hunger is, in fact, a priority issue to be addressed after the divers resurface.
The KISS Rebreathers are scheduled for another Roaring River diving expedition the weekend of October 22 - 24.
With renewed permits from the DNR at the end of the year, the team hopes to continue monthly explorations indefinitely.
“There are many of us on the edge of our seats waiting to see what they will discover next,” Joel Topham said.