Telford Spring is located right on the Suwannee River. Labeled a river cave, Telford Spring is usually one of the first to go and the last to blow when there are heavy rains in the area. Considered a shallow cave with max depth about 70-80 ft in one section only, most of the cave is around the 50 ft depth. Any decompression requirement you might build up in the back sections of the cave are often cancelled by the shallow swim out in the early sections of the cave.

The majority of this cave is one main trunk that runs between 4,000 and 6,000 feet in length. I've personally only been 2,700 ft in here. There are some side passages, but many just loop right back to the main line eventually. There are some sidemount offshoot passages. You'll find several entrance holes to this cave including Telford Spring, Telford Sink, and Terrapin Sink (an offset sink). All openings are located within the first 400 ft of the Spring entrance. There are two line gaps that you need to connect at these entrance points. The flow in the cave is moderate and visibility is usually about 40 ft.

What is interesting about this cave is the variety of tunnel formation you will encounter. You will also see a good bit of silt. From the entrance, you enter a comfortably low section which eventually turns into vertical rock fissure, then to bedding plane, then back to vertical rock fissure, then to bedding plane, then to a real rocky area called Rolaids Road, and then to tubular shaped phreatic passage similar to Peacock Springs nearby. At the farthest point I've been, the cave turned vertical rock fissure again. Given the shallow depths, you can get some real penetration on doubles alone.

You may use DPVs and solo in this cave. There are no entrance fees. At the current moment, the cave recently closed via land access. A major issue with this spot is it's a local hotspot in summer months. There have been litter and theft issues here in the past. Usually the best time to dive this site is in the winter when the swimmers aren't there. Not everyone who accesses the swim area is a problem, but a few bad apples (usually involving alcohol) do spoil the whole bunch. It is hoped that this cave will be reopened to cave diving access in the near future, because Telford Spring has been a very popular cave for the tourist cave diver.

For more info:

http://www.tfn.net/Springs/Telford.htm

Written by  Allen Wooten.

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