October caving

The allure of unknown passage in Busted Turtle cave provided enough incentive to get back and continue surveying. Tanya and Robbie joined me.

I did not leave Raleigh until 7:30 in the morning having overslept; my new alarm clock has a feature were the alarm can be set for weekdays or weekends; my error now apparent. However with very little traffic I was able make good time and was not late. The weather the entire trip was not the best, cloudy and occasional rain. Marion had no rain, just wind.

The cave is less than 10 minutes from Tanya’s house; before we knew it we had driven through the property and were hiking to the cave entrance. We took out the log that was impeding the entrance (though I’m not sure it made it any easier to get out).
Surveying started in the entrance pit, lead number one. The lead was a large room that looked that it had great potential but stopped after 40ft. Lead number two was a bit smaller than I remembered; “small” surveyors will be needed to continue. So we skipped it in favor of lead number three. The lead led us southward. It was not well decorated, but Robbie thinks we located Peccary tracks; he’s going to follow up and get back to us on that one. The lead yielded some good yardage but eventually stopped too.

Onto lead number four, this lead resulted in much more interesting cave. We got into some really nice soda straws, helictites, and other smaller formations. Unfortunately we were not the first as was clearly marked by the “fresh” vandalism of the cave’s formations. Also of interest was the number of bones found. There had to be more than one set of bones, animals unknown. The lead had some smaller passage then opened up again only to stop. There is more cave here, but will require “small” surveyors.

Finally lead number five, a high lead that Robbie checked out; to my great disappointment the lead was only a single room. We surveyed that quickly and called it a day. The survey resulted in 370ft of cave passage, for a total of 800+ feet.

There are three leads yet to survey; two leads will require either smaller individuals or significant time behind digging gear. Both leads have a combined distance of more than 100ft and the likelihood they continue as the passages round a corner leaving one to dream of trunk passage ahead! The third lead is at the bottom and will require a bit of rock manipulation. It holds high potential as well, probably higher than the other two. I’m hoping we can get the proper body configurations and proper blasting skills to get to the remaining leads.

On Sunday, of which was an absolutely gorgeous day with the sun, cool temperature, and fall foliage, we set out to do some ridge walking. Tanya had two areas to check out. It was noted there was to be a cave above the spring Tanya and Ken had found on a previous trip, now connected to a huge culvert and a road overhead. Either there was no cave or it suffered the fate of being buried when the road was constructed.

Our next stop was just up the street to another spring with a documented cave nearby. After poking around the spring and walking the hill a bit, we set out to dig a promising spot. After twenty minutes we had ourselves another cave. I scooped about 100ft of it and it is still going. It’s small and has a few inches or water in it of course. Several people will be getting wet when surveying that one unless it drys up during drought periods.

Lover's Leap Cave Trip Report

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Tanya McLaughlin was good enough to allow Matthew Van Fossen, Ken Walsh, and Matthew Lubin to stay at her house Friday night, October 2. After a hearty breakfast at the new Pioneer Restaurant, not far from the old, the skies were gray but remained closed on Saturday morning above Lover’s Leap Cave, and stayed closed long enough to allow them to climb the hill to the cave and descend to the entrance without getting soaked. Surveying was a learning process for the two Matthews. We covered about 200 feet in length, encountering a bat and some possible evidence of cave rat habitation along the way, and a couple of previously marked survey points. Leads were examined and new positions marked. In the army, “familizarization” with each new piece of equipment and in particular with weapons is a well-worn process for new recruits; “familiarization” with the clinometer and compass for the two Matthews consisted of a series of angles shot both forwards and backwards, with no more than a 2-degree variation permitted between the measurements. One line from a point on a low cave ceiling to a point on a slightly higher rocky outcropping, hovering above a deep pit, proved particularly challenging, but was useful in teaching the value of settling into the best possible position to take instrument measurements, whether that involves acrobatics that would make a Chicago Bulls halftime rubber man proud, or simply taking one’s helmet off to avoid scraping a low ceiling.
Stretching from about 11 in the morning to slightly past 5, the trip was quite uneventful and added some new information on Lover’s Leap Cave to our previous store. The strains of bluegrass once again greeted those exiting the cave. Lubin struggled to get the line for climbing up the hill from the cave entrance back, so that Walsh passed some tricky moments on hands and knees endeavoring to get up a steep slope unaided by any rope. Eventually the summit was reached, and the subsequent climb down was by earlier standards uneventful. After dinner with Tanya, they returned to Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

Eight Month Wait - Busted Turtle Cave

Tanya found this cave through the owner’s daughter late last year; the January trip was to cave this cave. However due to various reasons we changed our plans; one reason was there were rock climbers coming out of the cave. It was interesting in that one of the climbers knew of a cave just over the hillside; knowing of no caves had been reported on this hill we quickly jumped on the opportunity to cave the other cave, now known as Cotton Cave. This left the original cave on the project list. I had tried several other times to get a trip planned but it didn’t work; this trip I had a vertical oriented crew of Robbie, Rob, and Brian.

The cave requires vertical experience; in fact the cave has three drops totaling over 145ft. We managed to survey 475 feet with some very promising leads left for another day. I can see at least a few more trips to this cave!

Getting back to the day’s activities; we came prepared with ropes and more ropes. One rope was used to repel the entrance pit and was used to drop a nuisance drop immediately following. Large passage awaited us on both sides. Given a solid vertical crew we chose to keep going down; the idea was to determine just what was in store for future planning.

The second drop put us in a large room with various bone piles; the most intriguing was the skeletal remains of a large turtle. The turtle was much too large to be a box turtle which probably leaves only aquatic turtles; what an aquatic turtle was going this high up on the hill would be anybody’s guess. The cave is more decorated than originally thought; most of the formations are old and not active. The top two levels appears to be quite dry.

Robbie was bird dogging out in front while Rob, Brian, and myself surveyed. Robbie found the third pit and rigged it while we surveyed toward him. Given there was nothing in the immediate vicinity to tie into he had to use webbing and rig to some formations about 20ft back. The bolting kit we brought was not of much use as the walls and floor were simply mud and very soft rock.

The bottom of the pit landed us in a large fissure with a stream. The stream came into and out of the cave in very low leads, something that would require some serious digging if the stream ever dried. There were a few leads through some small passage; these leads opened into another fissure that immediately terminated.

Robbie was cold from digging in a wet, muddy section of the cave; he did find another strong lead but it would require a bit of cave modification to take the edge off some rock. While waiting for the others to ascend the third pit I went back to check a few of the open leads; and leads they are.

I’m very excited to get back to this cave. Hopefully I can drum up some interest; the challenging pit has been dropped and doesn’t yield any great interest to work on those leads until the other, much more promising leads are proven out.

Don't Look Before You Leap

Friday evening Tanya McLaughlin shared an account of a felonious escape from Lovers Leap Cave with Matthew Van Fossen and me. The flowery description was written long ago and told a tragic tale of a man trapped underground. It didn't tell us about the obstacles that awaited us.

We met Blaine Schubert of Eastern Tennessee State University at the Food Country grocery. He pointed into the air to let us know where the cave entrance was located. We turned to see the top of a nearby cliff on the edge of town. He has gained permission to let Ty Gosnell collect samples for a Masters Thesis, and the TriTrogs have volunteered to help by producing a cave map. Apparently the caves high on the cliffsides are more likely to produce older fossils, and an account had listed a Pleistocene peccary fossil found in the cave.

We pushed through 50 feet of vegetation to find ourselves in a forested wood, at the base of a steep hill. We zigzagged along deer paths, but there were too few that headed up the hill. I'm guessing that we climbed 500-600 feet vertically to reach the top of the hill. Then Blaine showed us the short path down to the cave entrance.

Matthew and I thought it wise to dress for the cave trip before descending the path. We dropped our backpacks and dressed for the caving trip, left our packs atop the hill, and commenced the slide down to the entrance. I rigged about 80 feet of webbing as a handline to make the ascent easier, but I quickly realized that it also made the descent a lot less frightening. The sloping ledge starts wide but narrows down to a few feet wide near the end of the webbing and shortly before arriving at the cave entrance.

The entrance presented the next challenge to my long legs. To get inside, I had to snake down through the breakdown, but the 90-degree turn is challenging until you figure out the wiggles necessary to drop your legs in the right hole. Blaine and Ty led us down to the main room in the cave. After an easy climb over breakdown, Blaine led me down a slope to a pit that we can explore later (likely won't need more than a cable ladder).

Tanya, Matthew, and I returned to the cave entrance to begin our survey while the paleontologists moved on to collect samples. Survey down through the breakdown entrance was tricky, but we were entertained by live old time country music resonating up the valley. Before I entered the cave again, I noticed that the sky was clouding up. I grabbed the webbing and did a Batman climb up the slope. I grabbed Matthew's pack and my own, carried them down the slope to a dry spot near the cave entrance, and watched rain begin to pour.

Inside the cave we surveyed back down into the main room and then took a sharp left. The left passage took us into a high room and then a fissure with some nice boxwork. Tanya found a deadend at the far end of the fissure, and I managed to slide my body up about fifteen feet to find no leads in the ceiling. The station at the fissure bottom was 48 feet below the entrance, but the cave promises considerably more depth.

Matthew had more luck back in the earlier room. Tanya and I convinced him to climb up on a ledge, cross the room, and ascend toward the ceiling. Matthew found some going leads and then tried to return to us. Six feet above the floor he took some time evaluating the ways he could get back down. As the elapsed time approached ten minutes, we dubbed this room Van Fossen's Conundrum because of his intent puzzling about ways to return to the floor without allowing us to help.

Matthew and Tanya were ready to head out of the cave at this point, but I convinced them to shoot down a passage that I presumed would end shortly. Tanya found that her hips got stuck as she tried to follow the passage. Matthew easily slid through, but I was limited at the same point as Tanya. I just couldn't lie on my side and lift my left hip into the air. Fortunately my head could get into Matthew's room far enough for me to complete my sketch.

Then we headed out of the cave and enjoyed the music emanating from the valley below. Tanya found the climb to the top of the hill very challenging and exhausting. The earlier rain had left the slope muddy. Matthew climbed up next, and I tried to follow with my backpack. The backpack hit the cliffside and knocked me out of my Batman stance and down to my knees. Crawling showed me how hard the slope climb could be. When I got to a place where I could stand again, I rose too quickly and got dizzy for a second. After I got to the top, Matthew headed back for the last pack and found that the climb gets harder with wear.

We managed to slide down the muddier hill and return to my vehicle shortly after dark. Tanya vowed that she won't go ever again to Lovers Leap, and Matthew was receptive to her thinking that evening. Who's ready for the next trip? I don't want to wait until it snows.

Weekend Escape

Mark Little, Howard Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, and I joined Tanya McLaughlin to help her finish her survey of Flat Ridge Cave and the connecting Potato Bin Cave a few feet away. We began by driving down to the Sugar Grove lumberyard, and I checked out a previous insurgence that has now completely filled. While returning, wasps bit through my socks until Howard rescued me by hauling me back onto the bridge.

Mark didn't want to survey between the cave entrances, so he convinced Tanya that he could convert GPS coordinates into a vector that she could add to her survey program. We entered the resurgence to the cave after seven years and were happy to find it dry.

The muddy floors in this section of the cave looked familiar to me, and Tanya led the group toward a low belly crawl that headed toward Frog Bottom. Mark and Howard were more interested in an alternate non-belly route that I presented. Unfortunately Tanya and Bryce didn't wait for us beyond the belly crawl. We called out to them, headed down a few different passages, and eventually heard them respond to our calls. After getting turned around ourselves following the sound of their voices, we joined our leader again.

Then we found ourselves headed directly down a passage with no significant side routes. That's the way I remembered the path to Frog Bottom. I seemed to come to the passage end when I saw the NSS symbol on the ceiling, but a small hole in the floor offered hope. I slid on through and beckoned the others to follow into the big rooms beyond while I checked Tanya's map. With my compass in hand, I found that we were at the opposite end of the cave from Frog Bottom! I climbed down a hole to see the passage to the Birth Canal where Ericka Hoffmann had photographed a twisted me, and I knew for sure.

Fortunately we were on the side of the cave where we had hoped to break into Potato Bin Cave, the cave with a door beside Route 16 in Sugar Grove. We had little luck with the mud in the nearby passages. None of the leads seemed to go. I pressed up a dirty hill to find the vertical shaft up to nowhere that we had found about eight years earlier. The bottom of the shaft had a small hole where I remembered passage, but I now didn't even come close to fitting. Eventually I figured out that the passage we had explored in the bottom had filled in. It took fifteen seconds to correct that. I barrelled down into the next room and began digging furiously at a hole in the floor that blew air. Someone in the group began complaining about the cold, so I had to leave that dig for another day. I dropped in some flagging to find from the other side.

We checked out some leads for Tanya that all turned out to be dead ends and then headed to the big entrance room for a short break. Howard discovered some great spiders along the way with teardrop egg cases.

Then we headed for Frog Bottom. Howard was in front and reported that the Frog Bottom siphon had filled with mud to the ceiling. Frog Bottom had been an 8-foot slope down sand with a corresponding slope up on the other side. I couldn't believe that it had filled with mud, so I plunged in...almost up to my neck in muddy water. The leads beyond Frog Bottom would have to wait for another day.

Mark, Bryce, and I then surveyed down through the Vermi Chapel for about 75 feet more passage in six shots. Hieroglyphic vermiculations decorated the walls of the passage and the draperies we surveyed past. [According to Cave Minerals of the World, vermiculations are "thin, irregular, discontinuous deposits composed of incoherent materials (usually mud and clay), which are commonly found on the walls, ceilings, and floors of caves."]

When we joined Howard and Tanya to connect Potato Bin Cave to Flat Ridge, we grabbed the shovel and hoe from my brand new Escape Hybrid (a worthy caver's vehicle). Mark Daughtridge had poked into a hole in Potato Bin with little success last January, so we meant to open it up into Flat Ridge Cave. I could get my helmet in at first but not my head. I started digging with the hoe. I could then get my head in but only saw wall before me. I dug some more and got my chest past the tight spot and into a small box above. That still afforded me no view, and I only had one arm above me. Tanya put her feet against mine so I could get some traction, and I shoved myself into the box up to my waist. With some twisting and turning, I was disappointed that the box had no hope of exit by any other route. And no flagging tape.

It was still early in the day, so we headed over to Rich Valley in clean street clothes to check out some springs for Tanya. The first one was just a spring with plenty of dead air places to dig; good luck finding the cave there without erosion refilling it from the steep mountainside.

The second spring ran near a road built in the last decade. The spring was flowing heavily out of a 6-foot diameter concrete culvert that road crews had placed there. I straddled the stream and walked in about 100 feet to find that the spring actually leads to a cave, an adventure for another day.

Seneca/Stratosphere West Virgina: Wild and Fungus-y

On June 5, 2009, I made the 5 1/2 hour drive from Durham to the quaint crossroads of Seneca Rocks, WV. After a great Saturday of guided rock climbing on the beautiful, starkly exposed fins and thin technical summit of Seneca, I enjoyed a leisurely run by the upper Potomac river, a couple of beers, and a tasty pizza as I pondered how to spend my Sunday in this mountain paradise. My spartan little hotel room at Yokum's was such a luxury compared to usual tent that I decided to sleep in, nestled comfortably as I was between the peaceful river 30 yards behind and the melodious 3 am rumblings of the occasional big rig only 30 feet from my front door.

Forgoing further climbs or strenuous hikes I settled on a plan to take advantage of some of the many commercial caves I'd passed on the long drive in. First priority was the closest- Seneca Caverns, touted as the "largest and most beautiful in W. Va!" Skeptical of this claim I asked our lovely guide, Holly, who clarified that the 3/4 of a mile of electrically lit passage included in the tour constituted the largest commercial cave in WV. Aha!

Nonetheless, I was thrilled for the chance to cave in my street clothes even if it wouldn't be the 5 miles of underground sidewalk I'd enjoyed in Mammoth KY. Even better, I learned that a 2nd cave only 200 yards away was also open for business, and better still was considered a guided "wild" cave!

Barely able to wait long enough to scarf down the rather edible lunch offered on site, I quickly bought my tickets and donned the helmet provided. I was bummed that no outside flashlights were allowed, but once Holly learned that I was a true caver, she not only permitted my peeks around with my discretely pocketed headlamp, but was eager to discuss "real" caving with me as we waited for parents and munchkins to flee from darkness to the next floodlights in the sequence of switches that move groups through the tour.

Holly's well rehearsed spiel suggested familiar shapes in the many formations throughout the cave, for the benefit of the imagination-impaired. I would have had no trouble appreciating the variety of beauty in the cave without having to squint sideways to see donkey-kong in the flowtone, but it was an amusing spiel nonetheless.

We started out in a room with a large "dutch oven" mound of flowstone, that unfortunately had been partly removed and a deep pit filled in to make the entrance room flat and easy for the public. Later on we ended up below this room where a cut stone wall made from that removal now seals and protects an Indian burial chamber. Holly quietly told me that the owners believe there may be undocumented passages beyond that wall.

Just past the entrance there is a large room looking across to a 40 ft tall balcony ledge with nice formations flowing away below it. Snaking down and around on wooden stairs we entered a smooth tall chimney carved by a once deep pool that left a few small incut ledges along the smooth curvy walls where it's level had stabilized at times. Below this was the red-lit low point of the cave known as the Devil's oven, which could have claimed some small children had not some brave legendary child left a permanent hand print in the stone and scared the devil away with her strength. (Not sure if the handprint was natural formation or put there to go with the tale.)

After that we saw a thin strip of "bacon" artistically backlit, several old rimstone dams, but best of all was "mirror lake" where the water remained in the pools. A pit further on beneath the boardwalk clearly had some very deep mud, Holly reported it to be thigh deep on the last guy who'd been in. She later went back with the long handled reacher pole to try to retrieve the pacifier a previous tourist had donated to the mud.

When I found out that neighboring Stratosphere cavern actually afforded the opportunity to be as wild as I wanted it to be I quickly put on some long synthetic pants and old shirt instead of the chilly shorts and decent shirt I'd been wearing. This tour outfitted from a separate shelf of helmets that included headlamps and even offered a secondary mag light. "Zeb" was the fearless leader for Stratosphere- Unplugged! (no electric lights!) I was pleased for the 2nd time in as many days to have a guide for wild West Virginia to myself!

Fifty steep wooden stairs lead down into Stratosphere where the cool air immediately validated my choice for long pants. Continuing in we noticed right away the abundance of white fungus all over the wooden posts of the stairs in the dark cave proper. Stratosphere had been public before in 1939, but closed after the fungus had succeded in consuming the stairs beyond safety limits. All through the cavern what I first thought was mulch was the remains of the old stairs. Now there are posts with rope hand lines where stairs once were. We also found numerous rusty nails, which I later learned to avoid in crawlways.

Here as in Seneca Cavern the entry room had been filled in with gravel to level it out. At the far end a rock and mud slide plugged what must once have continued or been another entrance. Zeb speculated that one might find leads by digging the sides of the entry room too.

After the first turn he pointed out a hole that clients were welcome to drop into and expolre. He said I was the first client he'd ever taken in who actually did. :-) At the bottom was a small room with a tightening low crawlway. I scooted into the next little room and took off my strapless helmet to peer into the next bit. It might have kept going but was getting plenty tight by then and seemed unpromising this early in the cave.

I backed out and we continued, past a cool wide based column and a long fallen column. (Or was that in Seneca? One's mind tends to merge memories. . .) Down a slope where the hand line was appreciated, we found the back of the cavern at it's lowest point so far where the huge flowstone formation that names the cave resides. "Stratosphere" is a 3o foot high hot-air-baloon shaped feature with hollow fins that ring like organ pipes which Zeb demonstrated with a stick and his hands.

Zeb was very curious about potential leads and we explored high and low behind Stratosphere formation to no avail. Here in the featured room we found another type of fungus I hadn't expected- a perfect little mushroom at the base of the artificial wall we'd hopped down to enter the room. Above us a stream channel wound through the ceiling, reminding me of the stream above the waterfall in Worleys, VA which will surely work it's way through its stone floor too some day.

On the way out as we neared the top of the slope we stopped to explore a man sized whole on the lower left wall. It wasn't large enough to drop into feet first and get into the bit going horizontal. At my feet was also a downward passage possibly large enough to squeeze through and clearly still being shaped by the muddy flow trickling down. I wanted to go inverted, but our helmets were still strapless and I could picture mine lodging irretrievably down that shaft and preventing further opening by the water flow. So I let go the notion of peering in either direction from where my feet were, but paused for a listen. Far below water plunked through untold air into a pool beneath. I'm not sure if you can really tell how much water or distance is involved just from sound but for those of us not imagination-impaired the sound was truly tantalizing. I'd guess the water was dropping 10 or 15 feet into a pool the diameter of your average bistro 2-top table, but who knows it could have been 30 feet into an underground sea bounded with magical treasure.

Zeb had not paused to listen that way before and was intrigued to possibly explore this lead someday soon. Amidst the old mulched stair remnants we found another single-leaf plant sprouting 5 inches high, guarded by an earthworm that was mostly white but retaining a bit of pink suggesting he hadn't been solely cave dwelling for many generations yet. Our last treat on the way out was several very healthy and plump looking bats. One Zeb identified as a Virginia Long-eared amongst all the smaller pipstrelles.

A high ledge near the entrance/exit would have been an easy climb even in running shoes, but Zeb said the six rooms above weren't very impressive. If only I'd had reliable Ken there to spot me and a few more hours of daylight for the long drive I probably would have gone up anyway.
Returning to the muggy summer yielded one more excitement as I changed out of the muddy clothes and shoes for the drive home. A model helicopter was darting to and fro above the tall grassy within range of its radio operator. Suddenly it began to wobble widly, sputtered and landed with a painfully ungraceful thud amongst the weeds. I didn't stick around long enough to see if it was airworthy again, but the owners didn't seem to distraught as they went searching for it.

Unfortunately my leisurely day had me passing the several other commercial caverns along the way too late on a Sunday evening to stop and investigate, but I hope to catch some of them and Virginia's Natural Bridge on future trips.

Gas Kills

Dave Duguid and I stayed with Daisy, Tanya, and Smoke up in Marion Friday night. The next morning saw an early morning start off to Worley's Cave in Smyth County. No trouble climbing down the long sloping entrance room to get to the Sandwich Passage. We all slid through easily and then progressed into the room where the 2003 survey had left off.

Dave first slid into a crawlway downstream and announced that there was indeed a good deal more cave to explore. Our intent was to start into these passages from the old survey station, but it was not to be found after all these years. We went back two stations and surveyed in. By the time we got there, Dave was so proud of his station setting that he told us we could survey from any of the side passages and hit this station. We tested him.

While I sketched, I sent Dave and Tanya under the waterfall to survey down from the station where we left off in January. I could hear their voices through different holes the entire time. They found the old survey station, and then I heard Dave beginning to grunt. He sounded like he was only a few feet away, but he found himself sliding down a steep slope of breakdown with little ceiling above him. He never even made it close to the hole in the wall where I would've dug him out. When I plotted the data afterwards, it seems that the station where Dave started couldn't have been more than four feet above me. Therefore, I have to guess that he was crawling toward me at a lower level in this chert-riddled cave.

Then they tried to connect through another passageway. We could see one another's lights but get no closer as the passage pinched out.

I joined Tanya and Dave to survey at the base of the waterfall. Dave declared a side passage a dead end, but I could see 30 feet up a passage from there. It'll just require an easy dig for a small person, and it heads in a direction away from the rest of the cave.

Then we climbed up the waterfall. After I boosted Dave up, he found a great place to triple rig a cable ladder above the falls to make for an easy climb for Tanya and me. We surveyed through a hands-and-knees crawl and up into a 40-foot long chamber. Water dripped from the ceiling, and a waterfall dropped down one wall. However, the most notable feature of this room was the floor. The seemingly solid floor had many traps where footfalls into deep mud covered the tops of my boots. The most notable quickmud was right below the survey station.

After the passage sumped, all three of us were very wet. We beat a hasty retreat to the cave entrance with just 206 feet of survey. I changed my clothes in the coolness near the cave entrance while Dave and Tanya headed for the car. I arrived to find them still in their coveralls; apparently I missed them chasing the horses.

After an early dinner Dave and I headed over to Determination Dig near Rowlands Creek Cave. Dave was on a mission to make the surface dig into a cave. Eventually it was big enough for him to squeeze inside. He pulled some more dirt forward, and I pulled it out of the cave. This went on for 90 minutes. Dave kept going a little further inside, and I used Tanya's hoe to rake out the dirt.

At one point he warned me that I was about to have an unpleasant extraction. I thought he was referring to the skull that I found rolling toward me, but Dave insisted that his fart had nearly suffocated him. Maybe the two events were connected.