Saturday, November 24, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tying Up Loose Ends
I was pleased to be joined by Bob Alderson, Rob Phelps, Robbie Spiegel, Karen Willmes, and Dave West at Hancock Cave Saturday morning. I was especially pleased that Howard and Hayden Holgate had already rigged handlines at the entrance drops, so we flagged them to let them know to leave them in place until we exited the cave.
I led the survey team of Bobs over to the high leads that remained in the Noogah Way while Dave and Karen admired the formations. The sticky crawl through the Noogah reminded me of the waves of ingredients in the Milky Way commercials, and it left me pretty muddy. I set the Bob/Rob/Robbie team up at their leads and headed back to Karen and Dave in the main passage. By the time I led them to the other leads, we were joined by the original Noogah boys, Gordon Bolt and Matt Jenkins.
Gordon drew the short end of the stick and was assigned to cave with me. Matt joined Karen and Dave in the survey of the Transportation Wing. Gordon and I began a profile of a section of the cave, beginning at the Earthworm Gym and extending back to the Funnel Tunnel. While I sketched, Gordon tried to find the survey stations we had set ten years earlier. Along the way we encountered Brian Bolt's sport trip that had chosen a particularly difficult route to begin; they turned around at the entrance to the Noogah, before their opportunity to see the real pretties.
After Gordon and I got all the way back to the Funnel Tunnel, we returned again to the Earthworm Gym area. The other two teams hadn't yet emerged from their leads, and I took this as a particularly good sign that they'd found lots more cave. Gordon and I then started checking leads ourselves. Because we only had two people, I chose the least promising lead first, a low passage that we had breezed by on an earlier circuit trip.
Breeze was where the debate came. Gordon saw little hope for the passage, but I was sure that it wasn't just dead air I felt when I wedged my body into the hole beside the mud wall. I pulled out Tanya's mini-pick-and-shovel and started digging at the dirt. I eventually got far enough in the dig that I could see that the passage continued forward at least a few more feet before turning right, but it was going to be a long left-handed dig. Before I was ready to quit, I sent Gordon back to the other side of the mud wall. He peered down a small hole, and we managed a voice connection. That killed the lead, but it really was live air I felt.
Next Gordon and I started a short survey into the flowstone above the passage where Karen and Dave had gone. We were hampered by only having one set of survey instruments, but the Bob team showed up shortly after we began the survey. They helped us get the readings. When I climbed up so that Gordon could show me the survey point, he sat down to get out of the way. Unfortunately he was practicing his Cornhole game at the time and left some of his coveralls atop a stalagmite (ask him for the fool story).
I gave the Bob team the choice of the remaining two leads from this room, and they chose the Earthworm Gym lead because it was blowing air. Gordon and I surveyed the opposite lead over some beautiful rimstone dams and up a flowstone slope. By the time we reached the second station, we could hear Karen and Matt excitedly rejoicing in the big walking passage that they had just discovered. Gordon enjoyed talking to them through a small hole in the wall, and they asked if they could be in passage that was already known. Although they sounded as though they were above us, I responded that the only walking passage I knew of there was the one where they started their survey. Dave West made Karen and Matt feel silly when he told them to tie their survey back into the existing station (at least the loop closure was good).
Gordon squirmed sideways beside a flowstone mound as we surveyed uphill. Beyond the pretty decorations the room transformed into a dank passage with broken ledges similar to the Harvest Domes. It petered out in a sharp bend. As we descended past the flowstone mound, Gordon discovered that his cheek muscles had recovered and were again functioning properly. However, I think that the Bob Team found the discussions amusing.
We gathered up all of the teams when the leads had all been surveyed and exited the cave together. We celebrated the survey conclusion with a bottle of champagne. Forty-five surveyors made nearly fifty trips into the cave to close 58 loops. The cave length now stands at 13,153 feet, just 47 feet shy of 2.500 miles, and I have a big map to produce. Thanks for all the assistance with surveying over the last eleven years.
I led the survey team of Bobs over to the high leads that remained in the Noogah Way while Dave and Karen admired the formations. The sticky crawl through the Noogah reminded me of the waves of ingredients in the Milky Way commercials, and it left me pretty muddy. I set the Bob/Rob/Robbie team up at their leads and headed back to Karen and Dave in the main passage. By the time I led them to the other leads, we were joined by the original Noogah boys, Gordon Bolt and Matt Jenkins.
Gordon drew the short end of the stick and was assigned to cave with me. Matt joined Karen and Dave in the survey of the Transportation Wing. Gordon and I began a profile of a section of the cave, beginning at the Earthworm Gym and extending back to the Funnel Tunnel. While I sketched, Gordon tried to find the survey stations we had set ten years earlier. Along the way we encountered Brian Bolt's sport trip that had chosen a particularly difficult route to begin; they turned around at the entrance to the Noogah, before their opportunity to see the real pretties.
After Gordon and I got all the way back to the Funnel Tunnel, we returned again to the Earthworm Gym area. The other two teams hadn't yet emerged from their leads, and I took this as a particularly good sign that they'd found lots more cave. Gordon and I then started checking leads ourselves. Because we only had two people, I chose the least promising lead first, a low passage that we had breezed by on an earlier circuit trip.
Breeze was where the debate came. Gordon saw little hope for the passage, but I was sure that it wasn't just dead air I felt when I wedged my body into the hole beside the mud wall. I pulled out Tanya's mini-pick-and-shovel and started digging at the dirt. I eventually got far enough in the dig that I could see that the passage continued forward at least a few more feet before turning right, but it was going to be a long left-handed dig. Before I was ready to quit, I sent Gordon back to the other side of the mud wall. He peered down a small hole, and we managed a voice connection. That killed the lead, but it really was live air I felt.
Next Gordon and I started a short survey into the flowstone above the passage where Karen and Dave had gone. We were hampered by only having one set of survey instruments, but the Bob team showed up shortly after we began the survey. They helped us get the readings. When I climbed up so that Gordon could show me the survey point, he sat down to get out of the way. Unfortunately he was practicing his Cornhole game at the time and left some of his coveralls atop a stalagmite (ask him for the fool story).
I gave the Bob team the choice of the remaining two leads from this room, and they chose the Earthworm Gym lead because it was blowing air. Gordon and I surveyed the opposite lead over some beautiful rimstone dams and up a flowstone slope. By the time we reached the second station, we could hear Karen and Matt excitedly rejoicing in the big walking passage that they had just discovered. Gordon enjoyed talking to them through a small hole in the wall, and they asked if they could be in passage that was already known. Although they sounded as though they were above us, I responded that the only walking passage I knew of there was the one where they started their survey. Dave West made Karen and Matt feel silly when he told them to tie their survey back into the existing station (at least the loop closure was good).
Gordon squirmed sideways beside a flowstone mound as we surveyed uphill. Beyond the pretty decorations the room transformed into a dank passage with broken ledges similar to the Harvest Domes. It petered out in a sharp bend. As we descended past the flowstone mound, Gordon discovered that his cheek muscles had recovered and were again functioning properly. However, I think that the Bob Team found the discussions amusing.
We gathered up all of the teams when the leads had all been surveyed and exited the cave together. We celebrated the survey conclusion with a bottle of champagne. Forty-five surveyors made nearly fifty trips into the cave to close 58 loops. The cave length now stands at 13,153 feet, just 47 feet shy of 2.500 miles, and I have a big map to produce. Thanks for all the assistance with surveying over the last eleven years.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Caving Opportunity
With a date having been set, a crew of cavers found, caves and objectives known, the wait began. There had been little rain all summer and very little this fall, perfect conditions for the caves planned (though the local citizens of Marion would disagree).
· Hancock – Funnel Tunnel sumps after it rains
· Atwells Tunnel – hoping the low water levels would reveal a passage through the sump
· Rowland Spring – surveying the mud passage would be slightly more pleasant without having to get wet as well as muddy.
With heavy rain resulting from a low passing through the southeast, all plans seemed in jeopardy; there was talk of not going, rescheduling, of mutiny before Ken even got anyone underground…could it even be possible? Fortunately we had some hearty cavers, or just cavers desperate to get out of town. The plan progressed forward, though backup plans were quickly being assembled.
A group of cavers left Friday and caved Hancock cave Saturday, their report can be read in a different posting. I left Saturday morning; my plans were to check out Atwells Tunnel. I had initially planned on bringing my dive gear along as a backup if the water levels were not low enough. I was certain I’d need it now given the inches of rain received.
I met up with Brian, Tanya, and Dale in Marion; after lunch we drove over the mountain and to the cave. It had been two years since I had been there; it seemed much further away than I remembered it. We walked to the cave and found the water level to be the same it has been on previous trips. It wasn’t worth hiking to the sump; I knew there would be no visible duck under.
Gear assembled and hauled to the sump within the cave; here it was donned, return time agreed to, I started the swim down the visible part of the sump. The silt was heavy and suspended in the water column, tying line along the way the sump was inspected for a duck under. None was found; instead the sump progressed to the depth of 23ft where the roof and floor pinched to less than 10 inches. Given the visibility, the plowing of mud to continue forward, the dive was stopped.
Mystery solved; the idea of a quick duck-under and continued dry passage found to be completely untrue. The rumors of school-aged kids traversing the entire cave now suddenly didn’t seem all that realistic…just rumors.
After packing up Tanya mentioned a sink on the property she had been meaning to investigate. With the weather being sunny, bright, and warm who could pass up an offer to walk. The sink was clearly evident; better yet it has to natural drains in the basin. Some digging would be in order, but with the amount of water that must collect off the surrounding landscape there is probably cave there.
Afterward we hiked more of the property; Brian found a small cave while I found a dead cow. The cave entrance was small and looked like a bear den (given the proximity of the carcass further entrenched that thought). Brian scooped his find; the cave was only 35ft or so in length, ending in a small room.
No further caves were found; the relaxing hour hike was a spectacular consolation prize. We then drove over to Hancock to see how the other team was doing. Finding the hand line in the main entrance signaled the team must have gotten back the Funnel Tunnel. Not knowing their timeline we didn’t suit up to join them; but rather went and had a delicious Mexican meal.
Sunday at Rowland Spring consisted of Brian, Ken, Robbie, and myself. The objective was to finish surveying the large room. The cave was dry; the stream that runs through the cave had no water.
We managed to finally get the exterior wall completed and then preceded to fill in the interior content. In addition, we dropped into the breakdown and found a few smaller passages underneath; this area is the lowest spot in the cave by 4ft. Good thing the cave was as dry as it was.
Brian brought his camera, he had time to explore and photo document a majority of the big room and its splendor. I have yet to see the pictures, but will try to post a few on the web page.
The statistics for the day:
· 40 stations for 535ft
· We closed four leads
· Have two new leads.
There are a few promising leads for the next trip. The date for the next trip is not yet known, but hopefully we can locate a few additional cavers to assist with this beautiful cave.
· Hancock – Funnel Tunnel sumps after it rains
· Atwells Tunnel – hoping the low water levels would reveal a passage through the sump
· Rowland Spring – surveying the mud passage would be slightly more pleasant without having to get wet as well as muddy.
With heavy rain resulting from a low passing through the southeast, all plans seemed in jeopardy; there was talk of not going, rescheduling, of mutiny before Ken even got anyone underground…could it even be possible? Fortunately we had some hearty cavers, or just cavers desperate to get out of town. The plan progressed forward, though backup plans were quickly being assembled.
A group of cavers left Friday and caved Hancock cave Saturday, their report can be read in a different posting. I left Saturday morning; my plans were to check out Atwells Tunnel. I had initially planned on bringing my dive gear along as a backup if the water levels were not low enough. I was certain I’d need it now given the inches of rain received.
I met up with Brian, Tanya, and Dale in Marion; after lunch we drove over the mountain and to the cave. It had been two years since I had been there; it seemed much further away than I remembered it. We walked to the cave and found the water level to be the same it has been on previous trips. It wasn’t worth hiking to the sump; I knew there would be no visible duck under.
Gear assembled and hauled to the sump within the cave; here it was donned, return time agreed to, I started the swim down the visible part of the sump. The silt was heavy and suspended in the water column, tying line along the way the sump was inspected for a duck under. None was found; instead the sump progressed to the depth of 23ft where the roof and floor pinched to less than 10 inches. Given the visibility, the plowing of mud to continue forward, the dive was stopped.
Mystery solved; the idea of a quick duck-under and continued dry passage found to be completely untrue. The rumors of school-aged kids traversing the entire cave now suddenly didn’t seem all that realistic…just rumors.
After packing up Tanya mentioned a sink on the property she had been meaning to investigate. With the weather being sunny, bright, and warm who could pass up an offer to walk. The sink was clearly evident; better yet it has to natural drains in the basin. Some digging would be in order, but with the amount of water that must collect off the surrounding landscape there is probably cave there.
Afterward we hiked more of the property; Brian found a small cave while I found a dead cow. The cave entrance was small and looked like a bear den (given the proximity of the carcass further entrenched that thought). Brian scooped his find; the cave was only 35ft or so in length, ending in a small room.
No further caves were found; the relaxing hour hike was a spectacular consolation prize. We then drove over to Hancock to see how the other team was doing. Finding the hand line in the main entrance signaled the team must have gotten back the Funnel Tunnel. Not knowing their timeline we didn’t suit up to join them; but rather went and had a delicious Mexican meal.
Sunday at Rowland Spring consisted of Brian, Ken, Robbie, and myself. The objective was to finish surveying the large room. The cave was dry; the stream that runs through the cave had no water.
We managed to finally get the exterior wall completed and then preceded to fill in the interior content. In addition, we dropped into the breakdown and found a few smaller passages underneath; this area is the lowest spot in the cave by 4ft. Good thing the cave was as dry as it was.
Brian brought his camera, he had time to explore and photo document a majority of the big room and its splendor. I have yet to see the pictures, but will try to post a few on the web page.
The statistics for the day:
· 40 stations for 535ft
· We closed four leads
· Have two new leads.
There are a few promising leads for the next trip. The date for the next trip is not yet known, but hopefully we can locate a few additional cavers to assist with this beautiful cave.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wanta Buy a Hammer?
A bad cold, the flu, eight inches of rain. The odds were again against me being able to finish the survey of Hancock Cave on October 13, 2007. I had even proposed to Dave Duguid that I would trade survey dates with him with the hopes that water levels in Hancock Cave would drop down after last week's drenching. Mark Little, Melanie McCullough, and I woke up Saturday morning at Tanya's house to a much clearer day than we had seen all week. Still I had plans to take photographs in the front part of the cave and maybe dig above Which Glob Pit because the rain had been so severe.
My plans to dig required tools, none of which anyone brought to Tanya's house that weekend. After a leisurely breakfast, we stopped at the local hardware store where we bought a four-pound hammer, cold chisels, and center punches to help with the dig. Then we drove out to the cave. Apparently the drought had been more severe than the rain. I noticed that Bear Creek was still way down, and I returned to my original plans. Mark, Melanie, and I found the creek outside Hancock Cave to be dry, so we headed for the Funnel Tunnel.
I was utterly amazed that the Funnel Tunnel hadn't changed since our last visit there in August. It was still dug open over ten inches high, and I opened it up even more to make it easy for everyone to get through. I think Melanie could've gone through on her hands and knees. We had gotten a late start because we expected so little, but now we had some goals to meet.
I dragged Mark and Melanie back to the Tortoise Shell Room and our first leads. We lucked out again because the lower lead (would've been six shots) tied right into the upper lead and saved a painful survey start. Although the survey dropped us down to a five-foot belly crawl, it opened back up into walking passage that tied back into the known passage after eight shots total.
We headed back to the Chocolate Wall, and I found the next lead (a two-foot high crawl into a flowstone mound). On the second long shot in, Mark was already standing. This lead had opened up into big walking passage. Too bad Mark and Melanie wanted to drive back to Cary that evening. In this new passage we found rimstone dams, cave coral, and a four-foot long strip of cave bacon. It also had Hancock's signature pendants and large breakdown, but the really amazing thing was the flowstone shelf suspended four feet off the floor by the pendants. No one else may have noticed it, but I saw it form the outline of a viking ship with an unexplored passage beneath.
Our goal was to knock off the seven remaining leads. Instead on Saturday we surveyed 310 feet (cave length now 2.39 miles with 56 loops--38th longest in Virginia), knocked off three leads, and created two more. Too bad I couldn't have kept Mark and Melanie in there all night long.
On Sunday I joined Dave Duguid's survey trip to Rowland Springs Cave. We surveyed a lot of footage through fins and formations but never seemed to get far from the big room where we started. There I discovered that my new frog system falls into the class of "sit-stand-bang your shoulder-repeat" single rope techniques.
My plans to dig required tools, none of which anyone brought to Tanya's house that weekend. After a leisurely breakfast, we stopped at the local hardware store where we bought a four-pound hammer, cold chisels, and center punches to help with the dig. Then we drove out to the cave. Apparently the drought had been more severe than the rain. I noticed that Bear Creek was still way down, and I returned to my original plans. Mark, Melanie, and I found the creek outside Hancock Cave to be dry, so we headed for the Funnel Tunnel.
I was utterly amazed that the Funnel Tunnel hadn't changed since our last visit there in August. It was still dug open over ten inches high, and I opened it up even more to make it easy for everyone to get through. I think Melanie could've gone through on her hands and knees. We had gotten a late start because we expected so little, but now we had some goals to meet.
I dragged Mark and Melanie back to the Tortoise Shell Room and our first leads. We lucked out again because the lower lead (would've been six shots) tied right into the upper lead and saved a painful survey start. Although the survey dropped us down to a five-foot belly crawl, it opened back up into walking passage that tied back into the known passage after eight shots total.
We headed back to the Chocolate Wall, and I found the next lead (a two-foot high crawl into a flowstone mound). On the second long shot in, Mark was already standing. This lead had opened up into big walking passage. Too bad Mark and Melanie wanted to drive back to Cary that evening. In this new passage we found rimstone dams, cave coral, and a four-foot long strip of cave bacon. It also had Hancock's signature pendants and large breakdown, but the really amazing thing was the flowstone shelf suspended four feet off the floor by the pendants. No one else may have noticed it, but I saw it form the outline of a viking ship with an unexplored passage beneath.
Our goal was to knock off the seven remaining leads. Instead on Saturday we surveyed 310 feet (cave length now 2.39 miles with 56 loops--38th longest in Virginia), knocked off three leads, and created two more. Too bad I couldn't have kept Mark and Melanie in there all night long.
On Sunday I joined Dave Duguid's survey trip to Rowland Springs Cave. We surveyed a lot of footage through fins and formations but never seemed to get far from the big room where we started. There I discovered that my new frog system falls into the class of "sit-stand-bang your shoulder-repeat" single rope techniques.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
VAR/MAR 2007--Alpena Cave
Friday morning was mighty damp. As I helped Philly Grotto set up for the 2007 VAR/MAR, the sky sprinkled every hour or so. I looked down at the cave description for the survey trip I was planning to lead to Middle of Nowhere Cave, and I added the phrase "may be damp" to the entrance description.
At 10 PM the signup sheets went out, and people hurriedly scribbled their names beside the trips they wanted. At least three people came over to me at Registration to announce that no one had signed up for my trip yet. By the morning, I couldn't even find one of my sketchers and we were down to the two leaders. Cancel the trip.
I myself then signed up for Barry Horner's trip to Alpena Cave. We had a blast with just six people making the through trip. Barry had dug open the back entrance, surveyed the cave, and used chemical persuasion to make the connection large enough for humans. Therefore, our trip included full descriptions of the exploration of the 2001 connection all the way through.
As for the character of the cave, I was a little reluctant about my ability to make the through trip because the description read that a 44-inch chest size was the limit, but Barry convinced me I'd fit. As it was, I don't really know where the tightest spot was because I never had any difficulty with a squeeze.
We entered by climbing down the breakdown in the sinkhole entrance and then spent most of the time following a downstream passage. The ceilings were often high, and we crossed over and through very little breakdown. The most fun part was descending the cascading stream as it plunged from one pool to the next.
The least fun came when the ceiling dropped down near the stream. We laid down in an inch or two of water and scooted along. The scooting was easy, but the wait for the people in front of me made my legs cramp a bit. Fortunately the stream was low enough to avoid the passage becoming an ear dip, but unfortunately the stream belly crawl was about fifty feet long. Still a lot of fun because it didn't get tight until I was near the end and could see people standing in front of me.
We popped out of that hole and headed straight for the entrance. After putting on dry clothes, we spent some time bouldering around Bear Heaven before heading back to the TRA site. The Lions Club dinner and dessert were tremendous (not to mention the sheet cakes), the presentations by Doug Medville and the Japanese Exploration Team were fun (with some great photos by the Japanese), and Ericka's superb performance with the live bluegrass band astonished everyone. Overall a great VAR/MAR with good, cool weather in the end. Happy 60th Anniversary to Philly Grotto.
At 10 PM the signup sheets went out, and people hurriedly scribbled their names beside the trips they wanted. At least three people came over to me at Registration to announce that no one had signed up for my trip yet. By the morning, I couldn't even find one of my sketchers and we were down to the two leaders. Cancel the trip.
I myself then signed up for Barry Horner's trip to Alpena Cave. We had a blast with just six people making the through trip. Barry had dug open the back entrance, surveyed the cave, and used chemical persuasion to make the connection large enough for humans. Therefore, our trip included full descriptions of the exploration of the 2001 connection all the way through.
As for the character of the cave, I was a little reluctant about my ability to make the through trip because the description read that a 44-inch chest size was the limit, but Barry convinced me I'd fit. As it was, I don't really know where the tightest spot was because I never had any difficulty with a squeeze.
We entered by climbing down the breakdown in the sinkhole entrance and then spent most of the time following a downstream passage. The ceilings were often high, and we crossed over and through very little breakdown. The most fun part was descending the cascading stream as it plunged from one pool to the next.
The least fun came when the ceiling dropped down near the stream. We laid down in an inch or two of water and scooted along. The scooting was easy, but the wait for the people in front of me made my legs cramp a bit. Fortunately the stream was low enough to avoid the passage becoming an ear dip, but unfortunately the stream belly crawl was about fifty feet long. Still a lot of fun because it didn't get tight until I was near the end and could see people standing in front of me.
We popped out of that hole and headed straight for the entrance. After putting on dry clothes, we spent some time bouldering around Bear Heaven before heading back to the TRA site. The Lions Club dinner and dessert were tremendous (not to mention the sheet cakes), the presentations by Doug Medville and the Japanese Exploration Team were fun (with some great photos by the Japanese), and Ericka's superb performance with the live bluegrass band astonished everyone. Overall a great VAR/MAR with good, cool weather in the end. Happy 60th Anniversary to Philly Grotto.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Back To Grand Caverns
It had been almost a year since having been to Grand Caverns; this time was to be a new experience. I took my two oldest boys with me; I had promised a caving adventure and some camping since spring. Our family trip to West Virginia during the summer months didn’t produce any caving opportunities and for camping, it’s just been far to hot.
Even though the typical format for the caving weekend is to arrive Friday night, we left Saturday morning; insuring we had avoided a front that produced a significant amount of rain throughout the entire region. We entered the park around 2pm and found no one around; there was only one camp set up. The ranger indicated that Carol had retrieved the key to Fountain cave. The ranger provided some additional detail to the lightening strike on Grand Caverns and the damage done; Carol mentioned in an earlier email that we wouldn’t be in Grand Caverns this weekend.
Concluding someone must be in Fountain, we geared up and hiked the hill. We found no sign of anyone at Fountain; the gate was locked and no key was sitting on the ledge. Not having a clue where anyone was at, we hike the remaining hillside to Jefferson Cave and then continued to the top. We wandered around the hilltop before returning back to Fountain; still no one. We then hiked over to Madison cave on an off chance the group was working a different cave today.
We returned to the park and goofed around until dinnertime. We ate at the Wood Fired Oven, Pizza of course. Returning back to the park no one had arrived; again we goofed around in the baseball field until bedtime. The kids tried their best at ghost stories amongst all the laughing until lights out.
In the morning we met up with the other campers, three. The group ridge walked a piece of property Saturday; the effort yielded no new cave. We ate a good breakfast and got Scott on the phone; he was interested in taking one of his kids into Fountain. A small group entered into Fountain cave. The kids enjoyed fountain and wanted to explore all passages; Dawson was sure he’d found a new part of the cave and wanted to map it. Next time I go into Fountain with the kids I need to bring a stronger light; I think the cave would have been much more interesting if the lighting was better.
Scott mentioned he had the key to Madison and we could go over there quickly. Dawson immediately remembered an earlier discussion revolving around George Washington’s signature. He was overjoyed knowing he would get an opportunity to see the signature. Madison is a much smaller cave; we found Washington’s signature surrounded by a slew of others. The three boys enjoyed reading the various signatures and wanted to leave their own; I don’t think they fully understood why that was no longer the proper cave etiquette.
Thanking Scott, we headed down to Crozet Tunnel. Crozet Tunnel was built in 1858; it was the first tunneling effort in the US where teams dug from both sides and met in the middle. A significant engineering accomplishment considering the year accomplished and that the effort yielded only a few feet of error. The tunnel is no longer used; there is a larger tunnel beside it for today’s larger trains.
Dawson and Dylan enjoy trains; yes we have a large collection of “Thomas” paraphernalia. Due to time constraints we didn’t bring lights; we would just hike to the tunnel and go in just a little bit. The boys thought it was cool; even though they were hoping a train would come through the parallel tunnel. No luck. Not hiking through left the opportunity for a future trip.
Even though the typical format for the caving weekend is to arrive Friday night, we left Saturday morning; insuring we had avoided a front that produced a significant amount of rain throughout the entire region. We entered the park around 2pm and found no one around; there was only one camp set up. The ranger indicated that Carol had retrieved the key to Fountain cave. The ranger provided some additional detail to the lightening strike on Grand Caverns and the damage done; Carol mentioned in an earlier email that we wouldn’t be in Grand Caverns this weekend.
Concluding someone must be in Fountain, we geared up and hiked the hill. We found no sign of anyone at Fountain; the gate was locked and no key was sitting on the ledge. Not having a clue where anyone was at, we hike the remaining hillside to Jefferson Cave and then continued to the top. We wandered around the hilltop before returning back to Fountain; still no one. We then hiked over to Madison cave on an off chance the group was working a different cave today.
We returned to the park and goofed around until dinnertime. We ate at the Wood Fired Oven, Pizza of course. Returning back to the park no one had arrived; again we goofed around in the baseball field until bedtime. The kids tried their best at ghost stories amongst all the laughing until lights out.
In the morning we met up with the other campers, three. The group ridge walked a piece of property Saturday; the effort yielded no new cave. We ate a good breakfast and got Scott on the phone; he was interested in taking one of his kids into Fountain. A small group entered into Fountain cave. The kids enjoyed fountain and wanted to explore all passages; Dawson was sure he’d found a new part of the cave and wanted to map it. Next time I go into Fountain with the kids I need to bring a stronger light; I think the cave would have been much more interesting if the lighting was better.
Scott mentioned he had the key to Madison and we could go over there quickly. Dawson immediately remembered an earlier discussion revolving around George Washington’s signature. He was overjoyed knowing he would get an opportunity to see the signature. Madison is a much smaller cave; we found Washington’s signature surrounded by a slew of others. The three boys enjoyed reading the various signatures and wanted to leave their own; I don’t think they fully understood why that was no longer the proper cave etiquette.
Thanking Scott, we headed down to Crozet Tunnel. Crozet Tunnel was built in 1858; it was the first tunneling effort in the US where teams dug from both sides and met in the middle. A significant engineering accomplishment considering the year accomplished and that the effort yielded only a few feet of error. The tunnel is no longer used; there is a larger tunnel beside it for today’s larger trains.
Dawson and Dylan enjoy trains; yes we have a large collection of “Thomas” paraphernalia. Due to time constraints we didn’t bring lights; we would just hike to the tunnel and go in just a little bit. The boys thought it was cool; even though they were hoping a train would come through the parallel tunnel. No luck. Not hiking through left the opportunity for a future trip.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
How to Beat Down Surveyors (or How to Knock Off Fourteen Leads)
We had had a wonderfully productive survey trip last December in Hancock Cave, but then the rains and snow melt kept us from passing through the Funnel Tunnel for many months. On August 11, Dave Duguid and Will Summer joined me for another survey trip into Hancock Cave. This time we meant business. I knew that when Dave vigorously started widening the Funnel Tunnel to a size that allowed Will and me through (Tanya loaned us a great shovel).
I was really impressed that Dave and Will had their readings agree right from the start. There was a little bit of grumbling when I suggested they always choose passages to the right (because it was more likely to lead away from known cave), but they went along. The first right passage turned into a decorated stoopway but widened out before it joined in with a walking passage.
The end of the walking passage found us in several short domes, including the highest point beyond the Funnel Tunnel (almost 33 feet above the cave entrance). After surveying the domes, Dave discovered a survey marker we left in the 1990s. When I pulled out all of my notes, I realized that we had discovered the back way into the famed Noogah, closing a really big loop.
There were several leads in the Noogah area that we knocked off the map from there. One involved a climb up to a mouse nest with six mice surprised be Dave's visit. Another low lead was too small for me, but Dave pushed his body through and sketched the room. We looped up and down to close some other loops in that area. The remaining lead in the Noogah area involves a high step-across onto an iffy rock, and we chose to save that one for a fresher start.
Instead we went back near the beginning of our survey that day and surveyed down a long water-sculpted passage with at least one shot over forty feet long. Dave and Will liked these long shots, so I next to them to the other side of the main passage to mop up the dry stream leads. It was easy surveying for Will, but Dave was the one who had to drag tape from one station to the next. Will and I just walked around in the main passage.
Nearest the Funnel Tunnel the stream passage got extremely low. Dave couldn't even drag his body along the cobble after a certain point. Fortunately we could visually connect the stations from both sides, so I'll be able to sketch that to the final map.
It was late when we got out, so we were stuck with the Pizza Hut. One would think that the only customers in the restaurant could've been fed in less than 50 minutes, but the staff seemed to be in no hurry. Around 12:30 AM, we bedded down at Tanya's.
Dave, Will, and I managed to survey 760 feet of passage on that trip with more than fifty shots. Everyone knows that Hancock Cave is the longest surveyed cave in Smyth County, Virginia. The surveyed passage is now up to 2.33 miles in length (depth of 170.5 feet) for the survey we began in December 1996. This length means that Hancock is now longer than Patton Cave (2.040 mi), Buchanan Saltpeter Cave (2.060 mi), Clover Hollow (2.103), Cave of the Winds (2.147 mi), Cave Mountain Cave (2.200 mi), Kennamer (2.326 mi), and Sinnett-Thorn Mountain Cave (2.329 mi). It's approaching the lengths of Trout, Fletcher, Ape, and Low Moor Caves, but there are only about seven leads left to explore this fall.
I was really impressed that Dave and Will had their readings agree right from the start. There was a little bit of grumbling when I suggested they always choose passages to the right (because it was more likely to lead away from known cave), but they went along. The first right passage turned into a decorated stoopway but widened out before it joined in with a walking passage.
The end of the walking passage found us in several short domes, including the highest point beyond the Funnel Tunnel (almost 33 feet above the cave entrance). After surveying the domes, Dave discovered a survey marker we left in the 1990s. When I pulled out all of my notes, I realized that we had discovered the back way into the famed Noogah, closing a really big loop.
There were several leads in the Noogah area that we knocked off the map from there. One involved a climb up to a mouse nest with six mice surprised be Dave's visit. Another low lead was too small for me, but Dave pushed his body through and sketched the room. We looped up and down to close some other loops in that area. The remaining lead in the Noogah area involves a high step-across onto an iffy rock, and we chose to save that one for a fresher start.
Instead we went back near the beginning of our survey that day and surveyed down a long water-sculpted passage with at least one shot over forty feet long. Dave and Will liked these long shots, so I next to them to the other side of the main passage to mop up the dry stream leads. It was easy surveying for Will, but Dave was the one who had to drag tape from one station to the next. Will and I just walked around in the main passage.
Nearest the Funnel Tunnel the stream passage got extremely low. Dave couldn't even drag his body along the cobble after a certain point. Fortunately we could visually connect the stations from both sides, so I'll be able to sketch that to the final map.
It was late when we got out, so we were stuck with the Pizza Hut. One would think that the only customers in the restaurant could've been fed in less than 50 minutes, but the staff seemed to be in no hurry. Around 12:30 AM, we bedded down at Tanya's.
Dave, Will, and I managed to survey 760 feet of passage on that trip with more than fifty shots. Everyone knows that Hancock Cave is the longest surveyed cave in Smyth County, Virginia. The surveyed passage is now up to 2.33 miles in length (depth of 170.5 feet) for the survey we began in December 1996. This length means that Hancock is now longer than Patton Cave (2.040 mi), Buchanan Saltpeter Cave (2.060 mi), Clover Hollow (2.103), Cave of the Winds (2.147 mi), Cave Mountain Cave (2.200 mi), Kennamer (2.326 mi), and Sinnett-Thorn Mountain Cave (2.329 mi). It's approaching the lengths of Trout, Fletcher, Ape, and Low Moor Caves, but there are only about seven leads left to explore this fall.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Deal, Survey Style
Anxious to continue sketching Rowland’s, Ken and I stuck a familiar deal. I would help him in Hancock if he helped me in Rowland’s. A date was selected; we set out to find others to assist; Will helped us on Saturday and Tanya and Robbie on Sunday.
Hancock
After a home cooked breakfast, thanks to Ken, we set out for Hancock. Ken had a plan already in place; the leads he was interested in were past the funnel tunnel. The funnel tunnel can only be passed when there hasn’t been, nor will there be, rain. Obvious to most all, the southeast is under near drought conditions.
Even though Hancock is currently over two miles in length, getting to our initial lead did not take long. The lead took us generally north and not into anything very tight. The lead eventually took us into a room that had been surveyed to via another direction; closing off another lead on Ken’s list.
While in the general area Ken had a few other leads. One high lead led into a formation choke; through the formations gray field mice could be seen milling around. One of the leads seemed very promising but in the end looped back to the room we had surveyed to earlier. There was one high lead, with a deep crag below, that I opted out of; it might be more appealing as the first lead on fresh legs.
Ken had one more lead to survey, a low stream passage; and the correct motivation, another home-prepared breakfast if we could break 750ft of surveyed passage. With 50ft to go, who could resist! I pushed in, however low meant really low. While lying on the bed of mud-glued coble stone, trying to dig it up, I simply called it quits. We surveyed what we could; fortunately it amounted to more than 50ft.
We exited the cave around 10:15 to a hot, humid, sound invested night. Receiving very low service at Pizza Hut landed us back at Tanya’s around 12:30. Keeping to his word, Ken made breakfast the following morning.
Rowland Spring
Pulling up to the owner’s house we were rewarded with a bit of information. On the last trip we found a signature in the cave; asking the owner if he knew any of the names, a gentleman standing next to him confessed to being one of the guilty party. The individual provided details of using a rope and climbing hand over hand through the known pit; all the wild speculation of how the signature got there came crashing to an end.
Rowland’s is not a large cave at this point, however to get back to the survey area takes some time. There’s a series of climbs and of course a pit to drop. There was no water in the stream and the mud exceptionally sticky.
The start of the survey immediately put us into a large room, which we never surveyed out of. I don’t think we surveyed but thirty percent of the room. The room is very impressive; it is difficult to define where the walls are, our lights where not bright enough to penetrate to the opposite side. The room has very large blocks of breakdown making traversing the room quite interesting.
The survey tally for the day was 416ft; the remainder of the room waits to be surveyed and any leads off of the room.
Hancock
After a home cooked breakfast, thanks to Ken, we set out for Hancock. Ken had a plan already in place; the leads he was interested in were past the funnel tunnel. The funnel tunnel can only be passed when there hasn’t been, nor will there be, rain. Obvious to most all, the southeast is under near drought conditions.
Even though Hancock is currently over two miles in length, getting to our initial lead did not take long. The lead took us generally north and not into anything very tight. The lead eventually took us into a room that had been surveyed to via another direction; closing off another lead on Ken’s list.
While in the general area Ken had a few other leads. One high lead led into a formation choke; through the formations gray field mice could be seen milling around. One of the leads seemed very promising but in the end looped back to the room we had surveyed to earlier. There was one high lead, with a deep crag below, that I opted out of; it might be more appealing as the first lead on fresh legs.
Ken had one more lead to survey, a low stream passage; and the correct motivation, another home-prepared breakfast if we could break 750ft of surveyed passage. With 50ft to go, who could resist! I pushed in, however low meant really low. While lying on the bed of mud-glued coble stone, trying to dig it up, I simply called it quits. We surveyed what we could; fortunately it amounted to more than 50ft.
We exited the cave around 10:15 to a hot, humid, sound invested night. Receiving very low service at Pizza Hut landed us back at Tanya’s around 12:30. Keeping to his word, Ken made breakfast the following morning.
Rowland Spring
Pulling up to the owner’s house we were rewarded with a bit of information. On the last trip we found a signature in the cave; asking the owner if he knew any of the names, a gentleman standing next to him confessed to being one of the guilty party. The individual provided details of using a rope and climbing hand over hand through the known pit; all the wild speculation of how the signature got there came crashing to an end.
Rowland’s is not a large cave at this point, however to get back to the survey area takes some time. There’s a series of climbs and of course a pit to drop. There was no water in the stream and the mud exceptionally sticky.
The start of the survey immediately put us into a large room, which we never surveyed out of. I don’t think we surveyed but thirty percent of the room. The room is very impressive; it is difficult to define where the walls are, our lights where not bright enough to penetrate to the opposite side. The room has very large blocks of breakdown making traversing the room quite interesting.
The survey tally for the day was 416ft; the remainder of the room waits to be surveyed and any leads off of the room.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Tight Squeeze: Five Cave Trips in One Weekend
I left my office around 4 PM on Friday afternoon. I enjoyed an easy drive past and through Boone out to Blountville, Tennessee. I expected to meet Zoey and the Girl Scouts at their camp at the commercial Appalachian Caverns. However, no one was in camp when I arrived. I did notice two people in coveralls up by the cave entrance, so I went up to talk to them. They were the trip leaders for the Girl Scout wild cave trip that hadn't left yet (it was almost 9 PM).
I threw on my coveralls and joined Wes and Tanya and walked in to meet the scouts. Wes and Tanya had a lot of experience making wild cave tours as sporting as one might hope. They began by pushing the willing through a side loop that finished with a tight squeeze. They claimed that it was 7-1/2 inches at the tight spot, but I'm guessing it was more like 8-1/2 inches (since I fit). Wes had the girls crawling through the sides of walking passages, and they didn't care that I kept meeting them as they exited the squirmy crawls. He even poured water from his bottle to make a sliding board that he had to pull the girls down. Near the end of the trip that evening, we found a mud puppy (a creature I never see in Virginia caves). We exited the cave around 11:30 PM Friday evening.
Everyone was awoken Saturday morning at 6:30 AM to begin the next day. This Girl Scout trip was being set up as a 5-day-long caving camp, so there were lots of things to learn. Teaching the drowsy scouts about cave maps at 8 AM was not my shining moment; the early hour really prevented them from showing much interest.
A local caver named Jared and I followed Zoey's car out of the campground to head toward the cave (about an hour later than expected). However, the van full of scouts took about fifteen minutes more before they joined us at a nearby intersection. We then headed to Renfro Cave where we were allowed to split into two groups. The old saltpeter cave is marked by pinnacles exposed by the mining, and the girls in my group had a good time clambering around and testing their climbing skills. We headed back to the room nearest the entrance, and I passed out map outlines of the cave and keys to NSS map symbols. The object was for the girls to figure out where they were on the map and then fill in the map's blank spaces. Blank stares. I think they later appreciated that sketching a good map isn't easy.
We had an extra half hour to go explore, so I led my group to a dead end. They then took us high up in the cave where I spotted the alternate entrance. We were all too big to exit that way, so we returned to the vans a little bit later than the other group. The van took off for lunch, and then we headed to the same park to meet them. Unfortunately the park had multiple parking areas, so we ended up in different places. This led to a late arrival at Morrill's (Worley's) Cave.
I think we managed to enter Morrill's Cave around 4:30 PM. We stayed in one long line as we trampled along the trunk passage. My group stopped about a half mile in with buckets and scrub brushes. The girls learned how to clear graffiti from the cave walls in their conservation efforts, and they were dedicated workers while we waited for the other group to return. The other group did not return. My group headed after them down the Railroad Passage, and I gave some advice to would-be cave photographers as we passed some pretty formations and deep rimstone dams. Everyone was back to the parking area by 7 PM, except the van driver and van. After a few wrong turns on the way to dinner with girl scouts, I skipped out and headed up to Virginia for Sunday caving with other TriTrogs.
After a good night's sleep, Dave Duguid, Diana Gietl, and Tanya McLaughlin took me back to the upper entrance of Rowland Springs Cave on Sunday morning. A warm breeze blew into this entrance, so no one got cold when we weren't moving. Dave improved his earlier survey notes, Diana balanced her tripod and camera on dolomitic flowstone, Tanya learned how to pose, and I cursed at blue flash bulbs. While we didn't do any entranceway shots, I think that Diana managed some nice formation photos (based on her 1-1/2 display screen).
We exited after several hours and then regrouped at the lower entrance of Rowland Springs Cave. The cold wind was roaring out this entrance, and I could see my breath plummet down the hillside. This was new cave to me. We climbed down to the stream level and then back up a cable ladder into a huge room. Dave and I discussed how to sketch the room, and then he began a massive cross section to capture the immensity of this relatively short cave. Meanwhile Diana rigged Dave's new rope to drop a 30-foot pit.
After Diana discovered passage at the bottom, Dave, Diana, and I surveyed down the pit, with me in the middle setting station. While hanging on rope, I measured 95 degrees for the azimuth down to Diana, and her reading was 30 degrees off from mine. What a way to start a survey! However, the fact that both our clinometers read 85 degrees vertical drop meant that the trig works out to less than a foot in error. With me hanging on rope and Diana sliding down a slope with nearly vertical measures on a compass, that was the best pair of readings Dave could get from us.
The three of us found an active stream passage at the bottom of the pit, and a few high leads would've taken us back up to other levels. We continued surveying away from the known cave passage, and the stream eventually gurgled into a small hole in the wall. The stream-level passage ended shortly thereafter in mud plugs, so we headed uphill. It was nice to leave the wet stream, but a cool breeze took over at the higher level. Diana took us up a dry slope until we arrived at some incredible formations. Delicate white rimstone dams and thick draperies were much prettier than anything else I had seen all weekend.
We stopped surveying at big borehole-like passage, with promises of lots more formations for the next survey team. Unfortunately my time lying in the stream and the prospect of driving back to the Triangle that evening made us turn around at that point. The next sets of surveyors have a lot to look forward to. We also did pretty well with our survey, eighteen stations covering about 275 feet in under four hours. Overall, I sure can't complain about a regular weekend with five cave trips.
I threw on my coveralls and joined Wes and Tanya and walked in to meet the scouts. Wes and Tanya had a lot of experience making wild cave tours as sporting as one might hope. They began by pushing the willing through a side loop that finished with a tight squeeze. They claimed that it was 7-1/2 inches at the tight spot, but I'm guessing it was more like 8-1/2 inches (since I fit). Wes had the girls crawling through the sides of walking passages, and they didn't care that I kept meeting them as they exited the squirmy crawls. He even poured water from his bottle to make a sliding board that he had to pull the girls down. Near the end of the trip that evening, we found a mud puppy (a creature I never see in Virginia caves). We exited the cave around 11:30 PM Friday evening.
Everyone was awoken Saturday morning at 6:30 AM to begin the next day. This Girl Scout trip was being set up as a 5-day-long caving camp, so there were lots of things to learn. Teaching the drowsy scouts about cave maps at 8 AM was not my shining moment; the early hour really prevented them from showing much interest.
A local caver named Jared and I followed Zoey's car out of the campground to head toward the cave (about an hour later than expected). However, the van full of scouts took about fifteen minutes more before they joined us at a nearby intersection. We then headed to Renfro Cave where we were allowed to split into two groups. The old saltpeter cave is marked by pinnacles exposed by the mining, and the girls in my group had a good time clambering around and testing their climbing skills. We headed back to the room nearest the entrance, and I passed out map outlines of the cave and keys to NSS map symbols. The object was for the girls to figure out where they were on the map and then fill in the map's blank spaces. Blank stares. I think they later appreciated that sketching a good map isn't easy.
We had an extra half hour to go explore, so I led my group to a dead end. They then took us high up in the cave where I spotted the alternate entrance. We were all too big to exit that way, so we returned to the vans a little bit later than the other group. The van took off for lunch, and then we headed to the same park to meet them. Unfortunately the park had multiple parking areas, so we ended up in different places. This led to a late arrival at Morrill's (Worley's) Cave.
I think we managed to enter Morrill's Cave around 4:30 PM. We stayed in one long line as we trampled along the trunk passage. My group stopped about a half mile in with buckets and scrub brushes. The girls learned how to clear graffiti from the cave walls in their conservation efforts, and they were dedicated workers while we waited for the other group to return. The other group did not return. My group headed after them down the Railroad Passage, and I gave some advice to would-be cave photographers as we passed some pretty formations and deep rimstone dams. Everyone was back to the parking area by 7 PM, except the van driver and van. After a few wrong turns on the way to dinner with girl scouts, I skipped out and headed up to Virginia for Sunday caving with other TriTrogs.
After a good night's sleep, Dave Duguid, Diana Gietl, and Tanya McLaughlin took me back to the upper entrance of Rowland Springs Cave on Sunday morning. A warm breeze blew into this entrance, so no one got cold when we weren't moving. Dave improved his earlier survey notes, Diana balanced her tripod and camera on dolomitic flowstone, Tanya learned how to pose, and I cursed at blue flash bulbs. While we didn't do any entranceway shots, I think that Diana managed some nice formation photos (based on her 1-1/2 display screen).
We exited after several hours and then regrouped at the lower entrance of Rowland Springs Cave. The cold wind was roaring out this entrance, and I could see my breath plummet down the hillside. This was new cave to me. We climbed down to the stream level and then back up a cable ladder into a huge room. Dave and I discussed how to sketch the room, and then he began a massive cross section to capture the immensity of this relatively short cave. Meanwhile Diana rigged Dave's new rope to drop a 30-foot pit.
After Diana discovered passage at the bottom, Dave, Diana, and I surveyed down the pit, with me in the middle setting station. While hanging on rope, I measured 95 degrees for the azimuth down to Diana, and her reading was 30 degrees off from mine. What a way to start a survey! However, the fact that both our clinometers read 85 degrees vertical drop meant that the trig works out to less than a foot in error. With me hanging on rope and Diana sliding down a slope with nearly vertical measures on a compass, that was the best pair of readings Dave could get from us.
The three of us found an active stream passage at the bottom of the pit, and a few high leads would've taken us back up to other levels. We continued surveying away from the known cave passage, and the stream eventually gurgled into a small hole in the wall. The stream-level passage ended shortly thereafter in mud plugs, so we headed uphill. It was nice to leave the wet stream, but a cool breeze took over at the higher level. Diana took us up a dry slope until we arrived at some incredible formations. Delicate white rimstone dams and thick draperies were much prettier than anything else I had seen all weekend.
We stopped surveying at big borehole-like passage, with promises of lots more formations for the next survey team. Unfortunately my time lying in the stream and the prospect of driving back to the Triangle that evening made us turn around at that point. The next sets of surveyors have a lot to look forward to. We also did pretty well with our survey, eighteen stations covering about 275 feet in under four hours. Overall, I sure can't complain about a regular weekend with five cave trips.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Rowlands Continued
Sunday morning was a bit of a mix-up, the restaurant we were to meet Robbie as was closed due to a family emergency. It took a bit to get things straightened out, and was soon at the property talking to the landowner. His brother and himself were outside; they both are very friendly and supportive of our effort. He is very appreciative of the work we are doing to clean up and protect his cave. Both have plenty of stories about caving in Rowland as boys. That cave has real significance and memories to both of them.
We started the survey from the lower level; near the cable ladder climb, as it has become known. In some of the breakdown there was a hole in the floor, which led into tall canyon-like passage. The passage is actually the continuation of the canyon before the cable ladder climb. It was not noticed as such previously due to the amount of suspended breakdown. The canyon continued until reaching a short climb to the right (and a dead raccoon to the left).
The climb looked very promising; at the top of the climb the cave T’ed. The right passage was one terminal shot, darn. To the left, we were presented with another entranceway into the big room we started to survey on the last trip. The survey continued into the big room. It was nice to complete the big room and to knock off two leads, but disappointing the leads didn’t continue on. In the big room there is one lead that was not surveyed. This lead will require vertical gear; it is a pit. The stream can be heard from within the pit; while the bottom was not visible the depth the streambed would be estimated at about 25ft below.
We ventured to the upper level to check out three other leads; one lead was declared not safe to attempt with the current equipment with us and will require another try, with a 12ft ladder. The other lead did just as I suspected, looped back into a lower room we had previously surveyed. The last lead wasn’t really a lead, we knew the passage; the brothers used to traverse a rather creepy pit. The passage leads to the big room below. We surveyed the small section to add to the map for completeness.
Much of the cave surveyed was not nearly as decorated as other portions of the cave. However, the cave continues to impress me; it is not a long cave but has tremendous volume given the two large rooms. I remain optimistic the pit will provide more passage, only another survey trip will reveal the truth.
We started the survey from the lower level; near the cable ladder climb, as it has become known. In some of the breakdown there was a hole in the floor, which led into tall canyon-like passage. The passage is actually the continuation of the canyon before the cable ladder climb. It was not noticed as such previously due to the amount of suspended breakdown. The canyon continued until reaching a short climb to the right (and a dead raccoon to the left).
The climb looked very promising; at the top of the climb the cave T’ed. The right passage was one terminal shot, darn. To the left, we were presented with another entranceway into the big room we started to survey on the last trip. The survey continued into the big room. It was nice to complete the big room and to knock off two leads, but disappointing the leads didn’t continue on. In the big room there is one lead that was not surveyed. This lead will require vertical gear; it is a pit. The stream can be heard from within the pit; while the bottom was not visible the depth the streambed would be estimated at about 25ft below.
We ventured to the upper level to check out three other leads; one lead was declared not safe to attempt with the current equipment with us and will require another try, with a 12ft ladder. The other lead did just as I suspected, looped back into a lower room we had previously surveyed. The last lead wasn’t really a lead, we knew the passage; the brothers used to traverse a rather creepy pit. The passage leads to the big room below. We surveyed the small section to add to the map for completeness.
Much of the cave surveyed was not nearly as decorated as other portions of the cave. However, the cave continues to impress me; it is not a long cave but has tremendous volume given the two large rooms. I remain optimistic the pit will provide more passage, only another survey trip will reveal the truth.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Middle of Nowhere (Spring VAR 2007)
Some may consider Durbin, WV to be in the middle of nowhere, but fans of the Green Bank Observatory, old-fashioned railroads, and caving know better. I showed up Friday night after registration closed, during the party where Smiling Bob Gray and his wife were spinning the tunes. It was incredibly cold, and I lost one leg of my convertible pants, the only long pants I had brought along. The folks I knew at VAR were mostly already signed up for trips and weren't planning pickup trips of their own. I didn't think my options were looking very good unless I wanted to join Dwight Livingston on a Cassell Cave through trip.
However, I was pleased to find a cancellation on a horizontal trip with Doug Medville with possible surveying or ridgewalking. Score! On top of that, it was only a few minutes drive away. A drive up a forest road until the cars could penetrate no further and then a 1.5-mile hike. Normally that long a hike in caving gear would be unpleasant, but the cold temperatures and heavy clouds made the suit quite comfortable. The hike along the forest road was filled with foot-deep mud puddles that the ten of us avoided whenever possible.
I was hiking at the front with Doug when we neared where he thought the cave might be. His only trip into the cave had been in 1973, and the surface drainage had changed a bit since then. He knew that a pit was nearby but didn't know if it went anywhere, so Van carried along a cable ladder. We found the pit easily, and I free climbed down without any problems. At the bottom the echoing lead with water beyond it was too small for me to fit into. I spotted a shorter person down the climb, but it was too small for her as well.
Just up the stream from there, Doug remembered the cave we were headed for. Unfortunately it seemed to terminate after about 20 feet. Maybe he was wrong. In any case, the hillside hadn't been well ridgewalked, so we had lots of opportunities to find the cave. Doug found another entrance just below a pair of springs. I dropped down into it, saw a lot of water dripping from the stream above followed by a 9.5-inch high crawl. We elected to save this lead for the hike out.
We ridgewalked for another hour or two, finding lots of springs but no reasonably sized caves. Five of the party had headed back to the cars, not that Cheryl Suitor had a key to get her clean stuff from my car. Back at the wet tight lead, two folks explored it while I dug at one of the nearby springs. As it turns out, they found the place we were aiming for: Middle of Nowhere Cave. It was fun naming the other FROs we discovered along the way: East Edge of Nowhere, Going Nowhere Fast, etc. We chose not to survey that afternoon since half of the party had already departed. Everyone liked the idea of going back at OTR or Fall VAR when it's drier. Maybe Lisa should add that cave to her trip list for the Fall VAR.
When we returned to camp early in the afternoon, Ericka Hoffmann and I wandered through Durbin with her camera shooting some interesting black-and-white shots of the railcars and store fronts. I put on one leg of the convertible pants and explained to the Baltimore folks that it seemed that the best way to find the other leg was to advertise the missing one. Fifteen minutes later someone returned my missing leg. I now have my own Cinderella story.
I got even luckier later that evening. Gordon Birkheimer set up a poster showing twenty different cave entrances, and the goal was to name as many as you could. I teamed up with Ericka, and we nailed ten of them. That was enough to tie Craig Hindman and Carol Tiderman, and a coin toss won us a T-shirt, some stickers, and the title.
However, I was pleased to find a cancellation on a horizontal trip with Doug Medville with possible surveying or ridgewalking. Score! On top of that, it was only a few minutes drive away. A drive up a forest road until the cars could penetrate no further and then a 1.5-mile hike. Normally that long a hike in caving gear would be unpleasant, but the cold temperatures and heavy clouds made the suit quite comfortable. The hike along the forest road was filled with foot-deep mud puddles that the ten of us avoided whenever possible.
I was hiking at the front with Doug when we neared where he thought the cave might be. His only trip into the cave had been in 1973, and the surface drainage had changed a bit since then. He knew that a pit was nearby but didn't know if it went anywhere, so Van carried along a cable ladder. We found the pit easily, and I free climbed down without any problems. At the bottom the echoing lead with water beyond it was too small for me to fit into. I spotted a shorter person down the climb, but it was too small for her as well.
Just up the stream from there, Doug remembered the cave we were headed for. Unfortunately it seemed to terminate after about 20 feet. Maybe he was wrong. In any case, the hillside hadn't been well ridgewalked, so we had lots of opportunities to find the cave. Doug found another entrance just below a pair of springs. I dropped down into it, saw a lot of water dripping from the stream above followed by a 9.5-inch high crawl. We elected to save this lead for the hike out.
We ridgewalked for another hour or two, finding lots of springs but no reasonably sized caves. Five of the party had headed back to the cars, not that Cheryl Suitor had a key to get her clean stuff from my car. Back at the wet tight lead, two folks explored it while I dug at one of the nearby springs. As it turns out, they found the place we were aiming for: Middle of Nowhere Cave. It was fun naming the other FROs we discovered along the way: East Edge of Nowhere, Going Nowhere Fast, etc. We chose not to survey that afternoon since half of the party had already departed. Everyone liked the idea of going back at OTR or Fall VAR when it's drier. Maybe Lisa should add that cave to her trip list for the Fall VAR.
When we returned to camp early in the afternoon, Ericka Hoffmann and I wandered through Durbin with her camera shooting some interesting black-and-white shots of the railcars and store fronts. I put on one leg of the convertible pants and explained to the Baltimore folks that it seemed that the best way to find the other leg was to advertise the missing one. Fifteen minutes later someone returned my missing leg. I now have my own Cinderella story.
I got even luckier later that evening. Gordon Birkheimer set up a poster showing twenty different cave entrances, and the goal was to name as many as you could. I teamed up with Ericka, and we nailed ten of them. That was enough to tie Craig Hindman and Carol Tiderman, and a coin toss won us a T-shirt, some stickers, and the title.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Continuation of Rowland Spring Cave Survey
Diana and I left Durham around 2:30 on Saturday amidst one of the more beautiful sunny days we’ve had in some time; the weekend was to be so nice there was a brief right side / left side struggle in my brain. Perhaps the weekend would be better spent outside than underground. But the desire to connect the two entrances prevailed, even if we had to connect the two by a surface survey.
Getting into Marion around suppertime was a pleasant variation to most trips. It was nice to enjoy a relaxing dinner and conversation with Tanya, and still get to sleep before 11pm. I even got a chance to walk Tanya’s dog, Daisy, that evening before the sunset. Our start was a bit slow on Sunday, but after breakfast we rolled out toward Rowland Spring.
The plan was to continue to survey in the upper entrance. There were two leads to complete before trying to figure out how to navigate into the lower section. And, of course, to leave ample time to perform an overland survey should it be necessary.
We started the survey off of station C20 that lead us generally west for a few shots before ending. We proceeded to the lead off of station C12, leading general southeast. There were several deep rim stone dams along this passage, and a formation choke that was blowing copious amounts of air; I would guess air from outside based on the location.
The second lead brought us back to the hole in the floor that leads to the lower section. Since Diana and I brought our vertical gear we decided it would be better to drop the vertical section and determine the best route to safely get all cavers to the lower level.
As Diana prepared to drop the pit, the airflow passing though was clearly evident by Diana’s carbide flame curling in the direction of the pit regardless of which way she faced. The pit ended up being much deeper than expected, 48ft to be exact. I was going to drop the pit and help her look for the lower entrance climb; but she found the station left from survey B quickly. We opted to pass Diana the cable ladder and rig the other side. Tanya and myself cleaned up our gear and left for the lower entrance.
Upon getting to the climb, there awaited the cable ladder. Soon we were all in an enormous room. From this room we were able to detect the sound of the stream on the northwest side of the room. While taking a break; I checked out a possible lead to the north of the room and found continuing passage, and a dead possum.
Getting back to the survey, we had the task of trying to sketch the room. We started with the south end since it appears to have no going leads. It wasn’t long though before the continuous airflow in this room chilled us to the bone. We opted to connect the two entrances and call it a day.
We surveyed 292ft of passage, with only one set of instruments…that is another story. The surveyed passage is now over 1000ft and has a vertical drop of 116ft. The most significant statistic though, there is more cave to be surveyed!
Getting into Marion around suppertime was a pleasant variation to most trips. It was nice to enjoy a relaxing dinner and conversation with Tanya, and still get to sleep before 11pm. I even got a chance to walk Tanya’s dog, Daisy, that evening before the sunset. Our start was a bit slow on Sunday, but after breakfast we rolled out toward Rowland Spring.
The plan was to continue to survey in the upper entrance. There were two leads to complete before trying to figure out how to navigate into the lower section. And, of course, to leave ample time to perform an overland survey should it be necessary.
We started the survey off of station C20 that lead us generally west for a few shots before ending. We proceeded to the lead off of station C12, leading general southeast. There were several deep rim stone dams along this passage, and a formation choke that was blowing copious amounts of air; I would guess air from outside based on the location.
The second lead brought us back to the hole in the floor that leads to the lower section. Since Diana and I brought our vertical gear we decided it would be better to drop the vertical section and determine the best route to safely get all cavers to the lower level.
As Diana prepared to drop the pit, the airflow passing though was clearly evident by Diana’s carbide flame curling in the direction of the pit regardless of which way she faced. The pit ended up being much deeper than expected, 48ft to be exact. I was going to drop the pit and help her look for the lower entrance climb; but she found the station left from survey B quickly. We opted to pass Diana the cable ladder and rig the other side. Tanya and myself cleaned up our gear and left for the lower entrance.
Upon getting to the climb, there awaited the cable ladder. Soon we were all in an enormous room. From this room we were able to detect the sound of the stream on the northwest side of the room. While taking a break; I checked out a possible lead to the north of the room and found continuing passage, and a dead possum.
Getting back to the survey, we had the task of trying to sketch the room. We started with the south end since it appears to have no going leads. It wasn’t long though before the continuous airflow in this room chilled us to the bone. We opted to connect the two entrances and call it a day.
We surveyed 292ft of passage, with only one set of instruments…that is another story. The surveyed passage is now over 1000ft and has a vertical drop of 116ft. The most significant statistic though, there is more cave to be surveyed!
Monday, March 12, 2007
From 0 to 80 in 24 Hours
March 10-11, 2007
The best laid plans are still subject to nature’s whims. Dave Duguid had assembled two teams of experienced surveyors willing to brave the Funnel Tunnel in Hancock Cave for the expected booty on the far side. Our December survey had indicated that we’d have lots of leads to survey through major maziness. Such was not our fate.
Bob Alderson, Gordon Bolt, and Matt Jenkins formed one team while Dave and Joe Fortuna joined me. The six of us arrived at the Funnel Tunnel to find water pouring from it. There was no air space at all in the low part. After some stream clearage there may have been an inch of air at the lowest part. It hadn’t rained or snowed all week, but the Funnel Tunnel flowed full charge. Gordon speculated that some of the Funnel Tunnel’s flooding likely reflects seasonal changes rather than just weather changes. Maybe winter snowmelt had finally thawed and trickled down Walker Mountain from near the top.
This left me with the difficult task of figuring out what else the teams could do. My team had vertical gear in the cars with them, but the others did not. My survey notes for the near side of the Funnel Tunnel had been left at Tanya’s house in Marion. I sat down and concocted a plan that avoided letting Gordon and Matt leave the cave to see the pretty weather outside.
Bob, Gordon, and Matt headed for Not-in-the-Face and You-Don’t-Know-Jack Pits, places where vertical gear can be more of a hindrance than an aid. They had digging tools, a bag of assorted vertical supplies, and two leads to survey. Dave, Joe, and I chose to exit the cave, retrieve vertical gear and a cable ladder for the others, despoil my first rope, and head for Hickory Dickory Pit.
Dave and I descended the pit while Joe listened to our gruntings. The pit drop is more a series of lips than any free pit. At the bottom of the drop, we found a mud wall that I dug my way up to get into the passage. I had never been down there before, and I finally understood why Linda Andrews had sketched the passages down there in such a strange way: they all overlap one another. It was very pretty and remained pristine, so I worked hard to avoid making muddy tracks across the formations. I was able to determine that the area really had no remaining leads, a fact that I was pretty sure about but unable to totally discern from the three-dimensional nature of the sketch. I applaud the survey efforts by that group through twisty, muddy passages with undisturbed formations.
The climb over all of the Hickory Dickory lips with a stiff, muddy rope was a real challenge for me and my ropewalker. When I reached the top, the steam I generated became so thick that Joe and Dave lost visual contact just ten feet apart.
Our next hurdle was the Whine Cellar. Dave yo-yoed it three times until he convinced himself that the right way was definitely that tight hole where the rope naturally dropped. When Dave got to the bottom, Joe was sure that he heard Dave’s voice from the direction of the Toilet Bowls. Joe found Dave below him in that four-inch crack that only Linda Waters will fit through. Not even Joe could climb down that, and so we knocked those off as potential leads. No new survey but useful notes to help complete the map.
The other team managed to survey one of the leads at the base of Not-in-the-Face Pit during that time. Sixty grueling feet down an additional pit. We found them giggling about the connection over to their other lead. Matt and Gordon seemed unwilling/unable to make the connection. Eventually their team joined us outside.
The next day took us to Rowland Springs Cave. Tanya McLaughlin, Dave Duguid, and I surveyed beginning at the upper entrance to the cave while the underground screech owl surveyed us from his perch. He was quite safe halfway up the wall, among the thirty-foot high flowstone formations. I was surprised to see such a well decorated dolomite cave.
The survey began easy, until we discovered passage beneath formations. We surveyed past many rimstone dams and the dolomitic stalactites, marked by their stubbiness. We Sunday-surveyed 336 feet in just over four hours, roughly 80 feet per hour. Meanwhile, Joe had generously watched the stream launder my vertical gear and new rope. Returning to Raleigh with clean gear is always a plus.
The best laid plans are still subject to nature’s whims. Dave Duguid had assembled two teams of experienced surveyors willing to brave the Funnel Tunnel in Hancock Cave for the expected booty on the far side. Our December survey had indicated that we’d have lots of leads to survey through major maziness. Such was not our fate.
Bob Alderson, Gordon Bolt, and Matt Jenkins formed one team while Dave and Joe Fortuna joined me. The six of us arrived at the Funnel Tunnel to find water pouring from it. There was no air space at all in the low part. After some stream clearage there may have been an inch of air at the lowest part. It hadn’t rained or snowed all week, but the Funnel Tunnel flowed full charge. Gordon speculated that some of the Funnel Tunnel’s flooding likely reflects seasonal changes rather than just weather changes. Maybe winter snowmelt had finally thawed and trickled down Walker Mountain from near the top.
This left me with the difficult task of figuring out what else the teams could do. My team had vertical gear in the cars with them, but the others did not. My survey notes for the near side of the Funnel Tunnel had been left at Tanya’s house in Marion. I sat down and concocted a plan that avoided letting Gordon and Matt leave the cave to see the pretty weather outside.
Bob, Gordon, and Matt headed for Not-in-the-Face and You-Don’t-Know-Jack Pits, places where vertical gear can be more of a hindrance than an aid. They had digging tools, a bag of assorted vertical supplies, and two leads to survey. Dave, Joe, and I chose to exit the cave, retrieve vertical gear and a cable ladder for the others, despoil my first rope, and head for Hickory Dickory Pit.
Dave and I descended the pit while Joe listened to our gruntings. The pit drop is more a series of lips than any free pit. At the bottom of the drop, we found a mud wall that I dug my way up to get into the passage. I had never been down there before, and I finally understood why Linda Andrews had sketched the passages down there in such a strange way: they all overlap one another. It was very pretty and remained pristine, so I worked hard to avoid making muddy tracks across the formations. I was able to determine that the area really had no remaining leads, a fact that I was pretty sure about but unable to totally discern from the three-dimensional nature of the sketch. I applaud the survey efforts by that group through twisty, muddy passages with undisturbed formations.
The climb over all of the Hickory Dickory lips with a stiff, muddy rope was a real challenge for me and my ropewalker. When I reached the top, the steam I generated became so thick that Joe and Dave lost visual contact just ten feet apart.
Our next hurdle was the Whine Cellar. Dave yo-yoed it three times until he convinced himself that the right way was definitely that tight hole where the rope naturally dropped. When Dave got to the bottom, Joe was sure that he heard Dave’s voice from the direction of the Toilet Bowls. Joe found Dave below him in that four-inch crack that only Linda Waters will fit through. Not even Joe could climb down that, and so we knocked those off as potential leads. No new survey but useful notes to help complete the map.
The other team managed to survey one of the leads at the base of Not-in-the-Face Pit during that time. Sixty grueling feet down an additional pit. We found them giggling about the connection over to their other lead. Matt and Gordon seemed unwilling/unable to make the connection. Eventually their team joined us outside.
The next day took us to Rowland Springs Cave. Tanya McLaughlin, Dave Duguid, and I surveyed beginning at the upper entrance to the cave while the underground screech owl surveyed us from his perch. He was quite safe halfway up the wall, among the thirty-foot high flowstone formations. I was surprised to see such a well decorated dolomite cave.
The survey began easy, until we discovered passage beneath formations. We surveyed past many rimstone dams and the dolomitic stalactites, marked by their stubbiness. We Sunday-surveyed 336 feet in just over four hours, roughly 80 feet per hour. Meanwhile, Joe had generously watched the stream launder my vertical gear and new rope. Returning to Raleigh with clean gear is always a plus.
Monday, February 26, 2007
A Good Weekend to Be Underground
February 17-18, 2007
Diana was interested in photography, and Hayden and his buddy Rick were more interested in sport caving. To please them both, I took Ericka Hoffmann up on her invitation to join her on a photo trip during the Sligo Grotto trip to Franklin. I figured that Hayden, Rick, and Howard would cave over at the John Guilday Preserve on Saturday where they could stay dry. I got most everything wrong.
Diana backed out, along with the folks that planned to go to the John Guilday Preserve. Instead Howard, Hayden, and Rick joined Meredith and Alan on a trip to Mystic Cave, the same place the photographers planned to go. Pretty brave of them considering that the temperatures the previous night went down to 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ericka, Steve Rexrode, and I entered Mystic Cave near Seneca Rocks with Howard's group. Ericka laid down in the stream to photograph some ice-mites, but I wasn't ready to get that cold that soon. I waited until we got further inside and pulled out my camera in a room where we heard Hayden and Rick chasing crayfish. Unfortunately the last time I'd done cave photography was Labor Day, so I had a tough time figuring out why I couldn't get the flash to work in bulb mode. I read the manual for a while and then just used the flashes I was carrying in the Pelican case.
Ericka and I took turns setting up my camera and remote on the tripod for room and passage shots, so I didn't dare change the settings back to snap closeups. After an exhaustive series to get one good shot (see the TriTrog photo gallery), I needed a break from posing. While Ericka did a lot of closeup photography in that room, I wandered off to scope out my next shot in the trunk passage.
I set the camera up on a tripod and practiced how I'd get the shot when Ericka and Steve joined me later. I think I like these practice shots better than the well-lit one because they just show my shadows and a yellow streak from my carbide lamp moving down the passage. I captioned the photo "Tinkerbell chasing Peter Pan's shadow."
After another series in the main passage, Ericka posed for a set of shots for me. I had to explain to her that both Steve and I were too tall for the shot. I managed to backlight a waterfall in a strange way, and the flash decay actually makes the water drops look as though they're dripping up instead of down. Too bad I can't remember which electronic flash we were using for that shot.
We then sport-caved for a while, and I got wet up to my waist (Ericka and Hayden up to their chests). However, we found one more shot to set up (notice the dampness of my bottom half) and didn't leave the cave until 6:30 PM to a chilly 17 degrees.
The next day we wandered into the New Trout maze and were duly impressed by the walls covered by brachiopods and other fossils. I chopped ice in an attempt to get us up to the Trout Cave entrance but determined that we could walk to Hamilton Cave faster than I was making progress. We spent just a few minutes in Hamilton before Hayden and Rick led us back out and down the hill. Then the long drive back home.
Diana was interested in photography, and Hayden and his buddy Rick were more interested in sport caving. To please them both, I took Ericka Hoffmann up on her invitation to join her on a photo trip during the Sligo Grotto trip to Franklin. I figured that Hayden, Rick, and Howard would cave over at the John Guilday Preserve on Saturday where they could stay dry. I got most everything wrong.
Diana backed out, along with the folks that planned to go to the John Guilday Preserve. Instead Howard, Hayden, and Rick joined Meredith and Alan on a trip to Mystic Cave, the same place the photographers planned to go. Pretty brave of them considering that the temperatures the previous night went down to 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ericka, Steve Rexrode, and I entered Mystic Cave near Seneca Rocks with Howard's group. Ericka laid down in the stream to photograph some ice-mites, but I wasn't ready to get that cold that soon. I waited until we got further inside and pulled out my camera in a room where we heard Hayden and Rick chasing crayfish. Unfortunately the last time I'd done cave photography was Labor Day, so I had a tough time figuring out why I couldn't get the flash to work in bulb mode. I read the manual for a while and then just used the flashes I was carrying in the Pelican case.
Ericka and I took turns setting up my camera and remote on the tripod for room and passage shots, so I didn't dare change the settings back to snap closeups. After an exhaustive series to get one good shot (see the TriTrog photo gallery), I needed a break from posing. While Ericka did a lot of closeup photography in that room, I wandered off to scope out my next shot in the trunk passage.
I set the camera up on a tripod and practiced how I'd get the shot when Ericka and Steve joined me later. I think I like these practice shots better than the well-lit one because they just show my shadows and a yellow streak from my carbide lamp moving down the passage. I captioned the photo "Tinkerbell chasing Peter Pan's shadow."
After another series in the main passage, Ericka posed for a set of shots for me. I had to explain to her that both Steve and I were too tall for the shot. I managed to backlight a waterfall in a strange way, and the flash decay actually makes the water drops look as though they're dripping up instead of down. Too bad I can't remember which electronic flash we were using for that shot.
We then sport-caved for a while, and I got wet up to my waist (Ericka and Hayden up to their chests). However, we found one more shot to set up (notice the dampness of my bottom half) and didn't leave the cave until 6:30 PM to a chilly 17 degrees.
The next day we wandered into the New Trout maze and were duly impressed by the walls covered by brachiopods and other fossils. I chopped ice in an attempt to get us up to the Trout Cave entrance but determined that we could walk to Hamilton Cave faster than I was making progress. We spent just a few minutes in Hamilton before Hayden and Rick led us back out and down the hill. Then the long drive back home.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Survey Weekend
The survey at Rowland Springs was the focus of an upcoming trip back to Marion. Tanya and I thought one more trip we would be able to complete the survey based on how we figured the cave would run. In addition to Rowland Springs, we thought Wide Mouth would be a good cave to continue surveying as a Sunday cave. Turn out for this trip was solid; Lisa Lorenzin, Joe Fortuna, Melissa Miller, Mary Frazer, Mark Little, Tanya Mclaughin, and myself.
People were slow to get started Saturday morning; it could have been the effects of stopping at Foothills Brewer in Winston-Salem (thanks to Lisa for the suggestion). Eventually we convened at the cave entrance. Based on the presumptions made by Tanya and myself a loosely organized plan came together. One team was to start at the top entrance and figure out how to descend into the cave and to meet the survey team, which was to use the lower entrance.
After a quick tour of the section of cave already surveyed, the groups set to their tasks. I was part of the surveying effort, which also included Mark, Tanya, and Mary. We started the survey at station A3; A3 provided direct access to the canyon Tanya and I avoided survey on last time. We surveyed for an hour or so before we heard voices from the other group of cavers. I figured they would be appearing before us any time; however that never happened, and eventually their voices faded completely.
After about two hours in the lowest portion of the cave and faced with an “interesting vertical challenge, everyone in the survey team opted for a break. We decided to exit and locate the other group. Upon getting to the other entrance Melissa was extremely excited to have located a screech owl in the cave; yes a very odd place of such a creature. Joe and Lisa explained what they have found. They were describing much more cave than Tanya and I ever imagined. The cave probably quadrupled in size and the sketching became much more complex given the massive rooms, multiple levels, and plentiful formations.
We all got a case of cave fever and put the survey effort aside; Lisa, Joe, and Melissa gave the survey team a tour of the cave. Some time was spent trying to determine how to get into a lower level not yet scooped out. It was eventually decided not to push the upper cave entrance any further, but to go back to the other entrance and finish a known side passage. Then continue to push forward toward connecting passage.
I relieved Mary from “the book” so she could join the others trying to figure out how to ascend the wall the survey team stopped at. After surveying the side passage and returning to the previous stopping point the other team had climbed the wall and put the cable ladder into place. From the room above, Joe mentioned this was a room he had dropped into from the other entrance earlier. We surveyed a few more stations before calling it quits.
After a well deserved Italian meal, a few of us headed up to Marion Quarry Cave for a 15-minute, causal tour. Part of Marion Quarry is a walking cave, no gear and no major disruptions to the food replenishing each and every cell in our bodies.
Sunday brought a quick breakfast at the Apple Tree in route to Wide Mouth cave. The goals here were for Lisa and Tanya to survey the known going passage. Joe and I were to continue to dig a section of passage that had previously been started. Mary and Melissa were going to explore Wide Mouth and the adjoining cave, Anderson.
Joe and I led into Wide Mouth; I was a bit taken back by the amount of dung in the cave entrance. The previous day’s talk about bear sightings around Rowland’s had me questioning my quest to get into the cave. Not being an expert on dung, I drew a tentative conclusion the dung was too small for a bear. After reaching a soft, mud area, I relaxed a bit more noticing the tracks were that of a raccoon. The dig ended up being a wash; previous rains had filled much of the passage back in. With little airflow, the effort was abandoned.
Joe backtracked to check out Anderson cave with Mary and Melissa. I located Lisa and Tanya and assisted with the sketching. Joe joined us some time later; it wasn’t long before we opted to stop the effort and return another day. On the way past Joe gave Lisa and I a quick tour of Anderson cave; no owls here, just a lone Harold Moth. Before leaving the area we received permission from the adjacent landowner to ridge walk his property. Ridge walking did produce a few more possible entrances into caves. Further investigation will have to be another day.
For survey-oriented individuals, we surveyed approximately 200ft and reached the lowest part of Rowland’s thus far; 40ft below the lower cave entrance. I would guess the upper level entrance is 60ft above the lower entrance.
People were slow to get started Saturday morning; it could have been the effects of stopping at Foothills Brewer in Winston-Salem (thanks to Lisa for the suggestion). Eventually we convened at the cave entrance. Based on the presumptions made by Tanya and myself a loosely organized plan came together. One team was to start at the top entrance and figure out how to descend into the cave and to meet the survey team, which was to use the lower entrance.
After a quick tour of the section of cave already surveyed, the groups set to their tasks. I was part of the surveying effort, which also included Mark, Tanya, and Mary. We started the survey at station A3; A3 provided direct access to the canyon Tanya and I avoided survey on last time. We surveyed for an hour or so before we heard voices from the other group of cavers. I figured they would be appearing before us any time; however that never happened, and eventually their voices faded completely.
After about two hours in the lowest portion of the cave and faced with an “interesting vertical challenge, everyone in the survey team opted for a break. We decided to exit and locate the other group. Upon getting to the other entrance Melissa was extremely excited to have located a screech owl in the cave; yes a very odd place of such a creature. Joe and Lisa explained what they have found. They were describing much more cave than Tanya and I ever imagined. The cave probably quadrupled in size and the sketching became much more complex given the massive rooms, multiple levels, and plentiful formations.
We all got a case of cave fever and put the survey effort aside; Lisa, Joe, and Melissa gave the survey team a tour of the cave. Some time was spent trying to determine how to get into a lower level not yet scooped out. It was eventually decided not to push the upper cave entrance any further, but to go back to the other entrance and finish a known side passage. Then continue to push forward toward connecting passage.
I relieved Mary from “the book” so she could join the others trying to figure out how to ascend the wall the survey team stopped at. After surveying the side passage and returning to the previous stopping point the other team had climbed the wall and put the cable ladder into place. From the room above, Joe mentioned this was a room he had dropped into from the other entrance earlier. We surveyed a few more stations before calling it quits.
After a well deserved Italian meal, a few of us headed up to Marion Quarry Cave for a 15-minute, causal tour. Part of Marion Quarry is a walking cave, no gear and no major disruptions to the food replenishing each and every cell in our bodies.
Sunday brought a quick breakfast at the Apple Tree in route to Wide Mouth cave. The goals here were for Lisa and Tanya to survey the known going passage. Joe and I were to continue to dig a section of passage that had previously been started. Mary and Melissa were going to explore Wide Mouth and the adjoining cave, Anderson.
Joe and I led into Wide Mouth; I was a bit taken back by the amount of dung in the cave entrance. The previous day’s talk about bear sightings around Rowland’s had me questioning my quest to get into the cave. Not being an expert on dung, I drew a tentative conclusion the dung was too small for a bear. After reaching a soft, mud area, I relaxed a bit more noticing the tracks were that of a raccoon. The dig ended up being a wash; previous rains had filled much of the passage back in. With little airflow, the effort was abandoned.
Joe backtracked to check out Anderson cave with Mary and Melissa. I located Lisa and Tanya and assisted with the sketching. Joe joined us some time later; it wasn’t long before we opted to stop the effort and return another day. On the way past Joe gave Lisa and I a quick tour of Anderson cave; no owls here, just a lone Harold Moth. Before leaving the area we received permission from the adjacent landowner to ridge walk his property. Ridge walking did produce a few more possible entrances into caves. Further investigation will have to be another day.
For survey-oriented individuals, we surveyed approximately 200ft and reached the lowest part of Rowland’s thus far; 40ft below the lower cave entrance. I would guess the upper level entrance is 60ft above the lower entrance.
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