Tham Pha Dam 3 - LO0119
17.553537,101.908574
Location
From Loei town take the H2138 eastwards towards Na Duang. Turn north onto the H2249 as far as Ban Phia. In the village take the turning to the east next to the wat and follow the road past the turning to the Phu Pha Lom Forest Park. The wat is signed to the south-east of the road before reaching the large Wat Tham Pha Ya. The dirt track ends at a wat and the cave is about 30m above the car park.
From Loei town take the H2138 eastwards towards Na Duang. Turn north onto the H2249 as far as Ban Phia. In the village take the turning to the east next to the wat and follow the road past the turning to the Phu Pha Lom Forest Park. The wat is signed to the south-east of the road before reaching the large Wat Tham Pha Ya. The dirt track ends at a wat and Tham Pha Dam is about 30m above the car park. Tham Pha Dam 2 is located 100m to the left of the upper entrance to Tham Pha Dam while Tham Pha Dam 3 is located a further 100m beyond Tham Pha Dam 2.
Description
One hundred concrete steps lead up to the large, oval entrance which is developed as a shrine and monk's living quarters. Behind the shrine the passage continues to ascend and there are concrete steps. Where the passage levels out there is a passage on the left that loops around to a balcony overlooking the entrance. The main way on is to ascend to the right, below a 10m pitch to an upper passage (the bamboo poles have not been ascended to investigate this passage). Halfway up the slope a passage on the right leads to a bat chamber and a balcony with a 10m pitch back down to the start of the sloping passage. At the top of the slope a small passage on the right leads to a couple of small entrances which straight ahead, continuing up the boulders, is a large entrance. The main passage continues, below this boulder slope up to this large entrance, going north and then trending round to the east to a chamber below a 40m aven with a small skylight at the top. On the left is a 2m ascent to a mud slope at the top of which there is 50m of passages which all close down. Back in the chamber with the skylight entrance a small hole at the back of the chamber opens up into a wide, 30m long chamber. At the end of this chamber is another low crawl that soon opens up into a passage that ascends to an entrance.
Topographie
SMCC June 2006 Grade UISv2 2-0-F. Rob Harper and Martin Ellis 2 March 2014. Grade UISv2 6-3-BF Ellis, Martin (2018)
Documents
Bibliography 16/03/2020- ***Ellis, Martin (2018) "Some caves in Thailand Part 5" Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 13 No. 7 pp299-323 FONTAINE, HENRI; SALYAPONGSE, SIROT; SUTEETHORN, VARAVUDH; TIAN, PANNIPA; VACHARD, DANIEL (2005) "Sedimentary Rocks of the Loei Region, Northeast Thailand: Stratigraphy, Palaeontology, Sedimentology" Bureau of Geological Survey, Department of Mineral Resources, Bangkok. 165pp VOGT, NILS B. (2013) "Temple Caves & Grottoes in Thailand: A Picture-Guide Book" Booksmango, Bangkok ISBN 978-616-222-160-6 214pp
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Tham Pha Dam 2 - LO0079 | 50 | 12 |
| 1.1 | Tham Bpra Gaai Phet [LO0118] [LO0054] | 75 | 15 |
| 1.3 | Pha Kham 2 (Tham) [LO0181] | 5 | 0 |
| 1.3 | Tham Pha Kham - LO0101 | 30 | 0 |
| 3.0 | Tham Pha Ya - LO0053 | 270 | 32 |
| 4.1 | Nu (Tham) [LO0196] | 80 | 0 |
| 4.3 | Tham Pha Lom - LO0049 | 355 | 18 |
| 4.3 | Tham Wat Phu Pha Lom [LO0182] | 10 | 0 |
| 4.3 | Tham Pha Lom Ru Rai [LO0195] | 25 | 0 |