"Project" Cave Continued

Disclaimer: The name and location of the project is not being provided externally until the conclusion of the project at the request of the park ranger.

The Tritrogs first organized trip to “Project” cave to assist the park work on their cave was a success. The team was small, Ken, Christian, Linda, and myself, the work accomplished grand. At the risk of repeating information, it is rumored the cave was purposely blocked to prevent people from going in to far; we are trying determine if that is true and what else lies within the cave.

Given the size of the cave, the number of participants was about correct; future trips may opt for one or two more individuals to help with dirt management once the dirt is outside the cave (the park management would like to sift through the dirt for any possible artifacts before disposing of the dirt).

Our mission was primarily digging, and digging we did. The dirt was rather loose and easy to dig; a garden hoe was the prized tool, unfortunately we had only one. The weather was actually appropriate for digging, in the high 60’s with heavy cloud cover and a fine rain.

Several potential leads were selected, then the team set to work. I worked on a lead that snaked slightly downward at the backside of the cave. Christian and Linda worked a lead nearby which also had a downward angle. Ken and Tanya hauled dirt out of the cave; interesting enough using “Flying Saucers”…you know the round things used for sledding! Ken and Tanya hauled all afternoon, an extra thanks goes out to them!

My lead pinched down to something impassable; Linda gave it a try just to insure I wasn’t loosing my sense of dimension due to being positioned head down for too long. We can with certainty say this passage was not traversed by anyone holding a torch.

I then worked on a lead we suspected Christian and Linda’s effort would connect into. At some point Linda focused on another lead between their original lead and the one I was now working. Eventually I was able to hear Linda’s efforts in my passage. A possible connection inspired Linda; she was determined to make the connection today. Soon Linda was digging from both sides…well not at the same time, but you get the idea. I moved further into the passage to work toward Christian; it wasn’t long before I could hear him, but more distant.

After the connection, I thought the effort would conclude but it was not meant to be. I went back to check out the tremendous effort Christian did, while Linda checked out the continuing lead I had been working. Linda and I quickly found we were closer than expected. Well Linda quickly jumped on the task of completing another connection. It wasn’t long before I was pushing dirt her way and working myself through. We may have robbed Christian of some glory, but we wouldn’t have been able to make the connection without him.

After a day of digging we feel confident that this section of the cave was not filled in by human efforts. It must have been filled in during repeated floods or surface erosion. How much cave remains is still unknown; there are more leads and significant amounts of dirt yet to be extracted. That will be another trip.

"Project" Cave

Disclaimer: The name and location of the project is not being provided externally until the conclusion of the project at the request of the park ranger.

The Triangle Troglodytes had received an email from a park ranger associated with a park that has a cave on its premises. The cave is thought to have historical significance. The park is looking to explore deep routed rumors pertaining to the cave. Among them is the strong possibility of there being more passage is the cave, the story is the cave was filled or blocked to prevent people from going in further than they should. I decided a trip to the park would be most beneficial in understanding what lay ahead.

I took Devin, my four year old, along with me; Devin was very excited to go caving (he enjoyed his previous caving experience). We met the park ranger, and she took us to the cave with the parks “gator”. Devin wasn’t so sure about riding a gator until he realized the gator being referenced was a small vehicle and not a reptile.

The present passage is probably around one hundred feet; there are several dig areas. Unfortunately it couldn’t quite be determined where the cave might have been filled in. Doing some digging revealed the soil that is actually loose and easy to dig. Devin enjoyed digging to.

The tour continued; there is “shelter” besides the primary cave that has a possible dig or two. Another small cave was pointed out, another dig. It was noted there is another cave on the property but location unknown at this time. And there is a distinct ridge all the caves appear to be in.

The cave sounds and looks like an interesting project.

Triangle Troglodyte Conservation Trip

The annual TriTrog cave conservation trip this year was planned for Marion County VA; more precisely, Hancock cave. Hancock actually has two entrances; the back entrance is part of a sink. Unfortunately the sink was used for household trash; the trash was buried with dirt during one of the sales of the property. However over time the dirt has eroded; the process of erosion has helped to fill in the back entrance and exposed the trash.

The trip ended up being a small group, but an effective group; Ken, Susanna, Mark, Tanya, Dave and his son Dawson. At the last minute we chose to stay at one of the cabins in Hungry Mother State Park. And once again, Virginia state parks continue to amaze me; the cabin we rented was really nice and included linen service…too bad our hours were such a fire in the fireplace just wasn’t an option.

Susanna did a terrific job organizing the cleanup. She had all the details worked out; the owner met us as we drove up, we had the correct tools (ok maybe garden sheers and wire cutters need to be added to the list), and an excellent lunch spread.

A sizeable dent in the trash was made, but another trip to get the smaller house hold trash is needed. Given some time the freshly exposed dirt will wash away allowing easier access to trash buried below. Some interesting discoveries were uncovered; a kitchen stove, drier, three washing machines, metallic shed roofing, TV, bike, bedsprings, chairs, big wheel toy, and freaky doll parts.

The cleanup culminated when the map of Hancock cave was presented to the owner. The landowner was extremely appreciative of the efforts performed by the caving community to help him understand, protect, and to work to keep his cave clean.

The afternoon was spent caving! During the cleanup a single lead found near a washing machine, it was worth investigating. Unfortunately the lead immediately led back into known cave, the top of a high fissure. In addition we stopped briefly in the back entrance to Hancock and Little Hancock.

We traversed over to the main entrance and ventured in for a three-hour tour. Dawson performed his first arm-rappel; something he still is talking about. Ken led us around various parts of the cave, some new areas for both Mark and myself.

Dawson informed us he was tired and ready to exit, however I suspect his abrupt interest in exiting was probably more related to the spaghetti dinner promised earlier. Ken took us through the breakdown staircase; it was the quickest way out. For those that have not been through that section, it is a series of step-downs through a vertical maze. Dawson did great, dad worried to much but was calmed by taking Ken’s mentally comforting suggestion…leashing Dawson to me with some webbing.

Sunday found us at Rowland’s cave, is anybody actually surprised? Ken, Dawson, and myself toured the lower section; found two new areas that need surveying. One will require some digging. Dawson named one of the rooms the Rock and Roll room; he found his name very funny, as there were rocks and the rocks rolled as we passed through.

The upper section was visited, as it is the prettier part of the cave; however Dawson was more focused finding new passage and wanting to know where every lead went rather than looking at the formations. The Screech Owl wasn’t in the cave; hopefully the owl will return when the weather cools more.

As it simply wouldn’t be right to go to Rowland’s without doing at something toward completing the ongoing project we did some digging in Sentinel cave. Ken found that to proceed might require more serious modifications to get through. An option we will hold off on for now as it would appear another lead was found below it. The dirt was easily dug, and soon I was able to get in about six feet to observe the airspace continues. And I think there was airflow; yet another promising lead to work on.