Steger's Cave

A dedicated group of VAR cavers have been working on “Cave Hill” for a couple of years in an extensive survey effort. All caves known to exist, several new caves have been found as the result of ridge walking, are being surveyed and plotted onto a single map. Caves include Grand Caverns, Fountain, and Madison among others. Many intriguing mysteries have presented themselves during the work. One of the outstanding mysteries is an underwater cave known as Steger’s Cave. The originally survey from November of 1980 resulted in a rough sketched map; the map generated more questions than answers.

Several scheduled dates had been planned, but fell through for various reasons. Brian Williams and Dave Duguid met at Grand Caverns on a perfect fall day on the 11th of November. The sun was shining and the temperature according to the forecast was to be in the 70’s. The intent was to get a handle on any riddle that Steger’s may hold. Bob and Jim were to assist with surface support.

Steger’s entrance is a Karst window near the base of Cave Hill. The window is a vertical fissure approximately five feet long and two feet wide; from the window to the water level is approximately 10 feet. Less than 25 feet from the cave is a river that happened to be running high and slightly milky.

After installing an aluminum ladder, a loose plan was put into place. The first step was to verify the correctness of the previous map and look for any additional passage not on the map. The second step in the plan, well that would be worked out after the completion of the first step.

I suited up, worked myself down to the water column, rigged my dive configuration as the individual components were lowered down, and submerged with a time limit of 30 minutes.

Dropping down the fissure it immediately became clear the cave was not well represented in the map. The 80-foot visibility enabled for a very good view of what lay ahead. The fissure cracks are more narrower, deeper, and more pronounced. I continued my descent and observed that the left wall consisted of a crusty clay substance that flaked off. Particles from percolation ranged from clay to small chunks of debris. The larger pieces were a bit unnerving as they rained down; I could feel them hitting my legs. The right wall was solid, though it did have large thin blades that with a little effort could be pulled off.

Following the pre-existing line, though not using it, I descended all the way to the bottom. At the bottom there was a six-foot karst window on the left leading to another vertical fissure. The two fissures were completely traversed at the bottom looking for additional passage. The only additional passage was a window the size of a softball. There were many isopods to be found swimming around.

Retreating along the line in a rainstorm of debris and rapidly falling visibility several short “jumps” off the line were made to insure there was no other passage at a shallower depth that was missing while descending. 28 minutes after the dive started I breached the surface.

After getting all equipment and myself out of the cave I updated all on my findings and drew a simple map. The second part of the plan was established; Brian would make a dive to gather the survey data and to take a few pictures. We waited over an hour before Brian geared up and descended into the cave. 30 minutes later Brian surfaced.

Brian’s first statement was the visibility did not clear up despite waiting. It would probably take days for the cloud to settle. Brian continued to describe his actions; he retraced much of my path through the cave with a few extra minutes spent at shallower depths hoping to find a new lead.

Both Brian and myself were satisfied, though disappointed, there was no more cave to be explored; and that we had sufficient data to generate a map that is a more accurate rendition of the cave.

Being that it was still early, we drove over to Madison cave. Madison is rarely open as it has historical significance as well as endangered isopods. The cave was open today as part of a resurvey effort. Jim provided us with a very thorough tour of Madison.

I found out that Madison was a commercial cave in the late 1700’s and early 1800s. The soot from the torches used remains present in the cave, thus giving the cave a dark appearance. Stopping to see George Washington’s signature in the cave was an unexpected bonus. The tour ended at the back of the cave where two sumps are present. The water clarity and surrounding cave looks very much like Steger’s.

The dive profile was as follows:
32% nitrox mix
89ft for 28min
Estimated distance of 200ft covered
No deco required, five minute safety stop done