I've always wanted to visit Culverson Creek Cave but was disappointed when I arrived at the VAR registration desk. We were told that all of the sign up sheets had been filled before 10:30 PM. On the outside chance that something might still be open, I went to the pavilion to find many empty slots on several trips. The TriTrogs split up onto different trips, and I joined Dave Socky for my first trip to Culverson Creek.
We squeezed into the Wildcat Entrance and found that the climb down into the stream passage consisted of well dug holes with an easily traversed path. Wandering down the stream passage it was hard to hold a quiet conversation. Every word reverberated from the walls. Along the stream we managed to get wet up to our ankles, but no one seemed to notice.
I must admit that I had more trouble with the Hairy Spot than anyone else. Climbing onto the wall twelve feet above the stream was easy, but I couldn't seem to lower myself to the footholds that laid below. It may have been because my elbows were in the wet potholes instead of just my hands, but my hips kept pushing me off balance. That was the only tough spot on the trip, but we had more adventures. Boot sucking mud, salamanders, millipedes, a fifteen-foot high log jam, crayfish, sliding boards, frogs, and a belly crawl along loose gravel all marked the way to the Echo Tubes.
The Echo Tube made the whole trip worthwhile. That passage, like many others in Culverson Creek Cave, were formed when the water flow was too massive to be controlled by the log jam. The phreatic tube was twelve feet high and twenty feet wide. The Echo Tube ran hundreds of yards polished smooth and slippery. The pools of water all along the passage let us know that it still floods regularly.
The Echo Tube ended in an unexplored breakdown pile. I dug in to find a passage that sumped about fifty feet down in one direction. Unfortunately the other direction of the pile ended in impenetrable breakdown after walking a few hundred feet. During the trip out we were covered in fog but managed to exit in just 1.5 hours. Plenty of time to get back for the VAR dinner. I even had time to wash the mud off my face.
