Tham Huai I Ko [Cave PL35] [Tham Hueykoh] [CM0234]
19.360500,99.063559
Location
The cave is in Ban Huai I Ko, about 100m from the buildings, at the foot of the mountains surrounding the village on the north. There is a convenient path to the cave. The entrance is very large with a height of several meters and is divided by huge blocks of rock into several smaller openings. The entrance is on a bearing of 148¦.
Description
The main passage, leading to the north-west narrows quickly and after a short restriction opens into a triangular chamber with a high ceiling. Going along a narrow rift on the left leads after 30m to a junction: left leads to Entrance III, straight on soon closes down while right leads to Entrance IV via a chamber. Back in the triangular chamber the righthand exit traverses over some holes in the floor (the way to the lower series) and ascends to another chamber, which has the Entrance V. The triangularchamber is also connected to this Entrance V chamber with a 12m pitch in the upper chamber's south-east corner. A passage from the south-west corner of the upper chamber leads to Entrance IV. This passage is wide and steep, and tranverses over holes that link with the lower series. Other passages are narrow, nearly horizontal and rather poorly decorated with only small stalactites on the ceiling and coating the walls. The floor is sand and clay with sometimes protruding sharp flakes of rock, the result of intense water activity. The walls are smoothly washed. The passages are generally orientated NE-SW although there are many transverse, blind branches. From the triangular chamber, descend the holes to the lowest level of the cave, which is 20m below Entrance 1, and then follow the passage up and after ascending several climbs a short chimney leads to a large hall with a length of 25m and width 10m. In its south-western edge in the roof there is a narrow slit which gives direct access from this chamber to the chamber with Entrance V. The floor of the large chamber is boulders and clay. It is well decorated with stalagmites, various styles of curtains and draperies, as well as various colours and forms of flowstone. A 2.5m passage leads from the north-east end of the hall. The passage first falls and then rises to Entrance II, which is in the upper parts of the main entrance (Entrance I). Before reaching Entrance II there is on the righthand side the entrance to another small chamber, in which there are openings connecting to the lower series. A second upper series, adjacent to Entrance V, is easiest to get to from Entrance IV. After descending down the passage, traverse over the drop to the lower series and continue past nice stalactites and ascend to the upper chamber with Entrance V. You can also get there by taking the left passage at the traverse û this passage has a width of 2m and height increasing from 1.4 to 6m. In the upper part of the chamber a 3m climb is the entrance to the series that first ascends to the north-west, and then north-east and has a lot of side branches. Throughout the cave there were many spiders and bats. No traces of ancient people were noted in the upper and lower parts.
Topographie
Surveyed by Alpinistyczny Klub Eksploracyjny w Sopocie (February 1987) Grade UISv2 3-3-A. UIS (1999) symbols. UTM grid on WGS 1984 datum Redrawn by Martin Ellis (December 2016)
Documents
Bibliography 03/07/2019Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.7 | Cave CM0298 [The Mammoth Cave] | ||
| 2.6 | Cave PHD14 [Grotte a Gaz] [CM0043] | 200 | 2 |
| 3.9 | Cave PL36 [ CM0235] | 250 | 15 |
| 4.3 | Cave CM0309 | ||
| 4.3 | Tham Phra Phutthabat Pang Daeng - CM0171 | 50 | 5 |
| 4.5 | Tham Aley - CM0044 | 150 | 0 |
| 4.5 | Tham Wai Nam Lin - CM0149 | 180 | 0 |
| 4.6 | Tham Pha Bart Maejon [CM0266] | 30 | 0 |
| 7.5 | Tham Suwan Khuha [CM0103] | 50 | 0 |