October caving

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lover's Leap Cave Trip Report

Saturday, October 10, 2009

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

Eight Month Wait - Busted Turtle Cave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't Look Before You Leap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Escape

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seneca/Stratosphere West Virgina: Wild and Fungus-y

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gas Kills

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

End of Hibernation Vertical Practice (April 12)

I counted about fifteen people who came out to our first vertical practice for 2009. Cooler weather than we expected, but that meant that Christian didn't overheat in his longer climbs. We also had some great picnic food. After the rock climbers found out how slowly prussik knots move up ropes, my belay rope ran a lot faster for the rest of the afternoon.

Because I was belaying most of the time, it was kind of everyone to load up photographs on my camera. Everyone had opportunities on the rope or the cable ladder:
--Linda teaching friends how to stand on one foot

--Proof that you're never too young to climb a cable ladder in a skirt

--Dave grilling while on rope (nothing flame-broiled!)

--Mike demonstrating that a rope crossover can get very complicated if you also add a cable ladder to the mix

--Dave, John, Christian, and Linda completely disassembling and then reassembling my rig in the dark


I'll eventually post my photos to the new grotto photo gallery (when it opens), but for now folks can enjoy the rest temporarily at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019500&id=1463527306&l=e0b364ddd8.

Grand Photography

March 8, 2009

For the last seventeen years I've enjoyed retelling a story about someone who had been caving since the 1960s and was befuddled by his lamp's low power when we visited Rehobeth Church Cave. Instead of focussing on his lamp's operation, I recommended removing his sunglasses.

Mark Little and I drove from Raleigh up for another Grand Caverns weekend. We planned the trip with Ericka Hoffmann in order to practice our cave photography skills. A chilly Friday night welcomed a warm Saturday, and we headed up the hill toward Fountain Cave. Mark played with his camera while Ericka played with the snakes, and I headed down the hill in the hopes to hurry along the RASS cavers carrying the key to the cave.

We followed the RASS cavers back to the dig spot where they've been working for two and a half years and helped them photodocument their progress. Then we began our series of photo shots as we moved back toward the entrance. We took turns setting up shots with a variety of cameras, practicing what we've learned from some great cave photographers. I seem to be adequate at lighting and framing my shots, but my lack of knowledge of the complete digital camera operation often hinders me. I struggled with the viewfinder and remaining with an F-stop of 4 through the cave. With the help of Ericka's flash bulbs, I was able to get one great shot.


Ericka and I wanted to visit Grand Caverns and practice our skills further. I forgot that I left my SD card in Mark's vehicle (which had disappeared), but Ericka loaned me one of hers. When we climbed the hill to the cave, we found the lower level door had been locked. Scott Davis came to our rescue.

Inside we started by focussing on a single shield in the Cathedral Passage. I figured out how my camera had lost its bulb setting. At that point Ericka and I discovered that I still couldn't focus my shots well, and I still needed far more flash than made sense. I remembered that I should be able to remove the lens filter because it might be dirty. It turns out that I had been using a polarizing lens filter all day long, and that had messed up all of my previous shots. What a dope.

After Ericka shot some photos of the Bridal Veil, we spent several hours catching photos near the Shield Room. Despite the sticky mud off the tourist trail, we collected many macro shots as well as tripod-supported shots of the shields.

Return to Smyth County

The New Year's trip previously posted could not have ended with a better cliff hanger- Literally a beautiful waterfall with at least one lead to be explored in Worley's Cave. Originally I had hoped that a full crew would be able to go this weekend and help us survey miles and miles of unknown cave- my imagination was stirring at full tilt of what we might discover based on the intriguing waterfall we'd left behind.

Alas, only Ken and his total newbie surveyor (me) were able to commit to the full weekend, but we did find a few even newer folks from Duke who wanted to go sport caving half a day. Up for any form of caving Ken and I headed up to Marion on Friday night to crash again with super cave finder Tanya. A fun discussion of all things speleological ensued until we had to sleep and dream of discoveries to come.

The 2 gurus decided that no reliable map of Roberts cave existed with the latest being done in 1952 by paces and compass only. With only limited time before meeting the Dukies in the afternoon we headed to Roberts, instruments in hand. An easier wild cave entrance won't likely be found- the parking area of the state park announces the Roberts Cave Trail, where 100 yards ahead a handful of obvious holes beckon.

The first hole went only a few feet and the 2nd we checked was obviously the main cave, opening immediately to extensively decorated walking passage. All that we surveyed was level, clear open, displaying relatively clean looking flowstone. We got a good look at a big brown bat too. It was nice surveying the entrance with actual sunlight illuminating the instruments.

Unfortunately we didn't have much time or get very far, but did establish that it's worth some return trips. We dropped off Tanya at her house, inhaled a quick lunch and dashed over the mountain to meet untold numbers of Duke students for my first look at Ken's favorite completed (or was it?) map project- Hancock!

Thanks to Ken's expert driving of my speedy Prius we arrived in time for me to have a quick peek into Little Hancock while he kept watch for Dukesters. Although small, it boasts some nice fossils on the left, exactly where Ken said they'd be, and some nice formations all along the right wall. We also saw a cool ice formation outside an impassable 2nd entrance to Hancock.

A few minutes later the untold number of Dukies could be told- Two. I guess the others had to study or watch Duke beat up on Maryland or whatever it is Dukies do. (I went to that other school. :-) ) Justin had done one wild cave before and Hannah had only been a few feet into some old mines, so everyone but Ken was in for some new treats in Hancock.

Ken nominally let me lead with an old version of the map and I promptly detoured from my initial plan and first explored intriguing passages under and left of the entrance. To get there we had to descend 2 handlines at the start, so Ken was not shy about introducing the newbies to some short vertical passages.

I lost my lead privileges after taking us down an unexciting dead end crawl, so Hannah and Justin led us out of the Octupus room towards the Funnel Tunnel, the one place Ken said we shouldn't go on a day with snow melt and new cavers. The steep round edges of the first 2 "Toliet bowl" formations were enough to dissuade the new leaders so we back tracked to see why getting to one room had earned it the name "Whine Cellar" but didn't go all the way to it.

We played around with the climb to Rapunzel's Tower and then headed back toward In the Pendants Hall. We were all suitably impressed by the maze capacity of this cave. Dare I say we were amazed at how complex it is?

Ken, having memorized the complexity, had some fun with it, making sure Justin and I took the first passage on the left which we crawled out of to see Ken and Hannah walking towards us from the 2nd much easier passage on the left only a few feet further on. That area was interesting enough on it's own, but Ken pointed out another detour for us to try sans packs. About 10 feet up on one wall was a hole I doubted was much bigger than me with spiny protrusions right where my spine would be if I got up there. With a boost from Ken I did get into the hole and as expected kicked my legs around comically in the air behind me as I wiggled my upper half through to the room beyond. I knew there was nothing to kick against but kept doing it despite what my brain tried to tell my legs. Justin was cool enough to endure the same comic route even after being amused at seeing me do it. We saw some cool water trickling in to clean the rocks there and presumed it was probably near the icy entrance I'd seen earlier. One small pit there smelled of ammonia and then we rejoined the others. I highly recommend the "cartoon hole" for those willing to entertain others getting through it.

We came to a chamber that resonates low tones in entertaining echos where we slithered carefully around some cool formations onto a false floor room above a very deep pit. I enjoyed that room immensly until I laid down on the floor and saw that the inch thin slab continued more than my body length beneath me above the open chasm. I took the tightest way I've done yet out of there, remembering a few techniques I've heard veteran cavers describe. It wasn't bad since it was plenty open on either side, was less likely to impact formations and I also knew there was the other way around it.

The opposite ledge of the false floor chasm held a small mud sculpture that presumably was made during the ample time Ken had once spent rappelling, surveying and ascending back from the chasm. It was much more detailed than the other mud sculptures we saw elsewhere and contributed to ourselves.

Back below the high entrance to the mutiny room Ken dropped down into a small pit mumbling that he didn't remember it, and was surprised to find a low room with interesting helictites on the ceiling, one reminiscent of the map of Italy. The room offered a view through formation far too tight to pass of another small room with a bit of snow white flowstone peeking through. Is any map ever really done?

Newest caver Hannah was the first to recognize the Octopus room and it's way out. Tired and hungry we eventually did navigate all the way back up the climbs and out into the 23 degree weather to find the log book had become a frozen mass of wet paper stuck to the mailbox.

Back home after consuming good Mexican food with Tanya, we activated the battery in a new cat toy on a stick and found that the squeeky mouse is great for exercising the dog as well.

The next day we slept in a bit, ate a nice breakfast and send the young Dukies on their way. Ken and Tanya and I headed to Worleys and went down to the "sandwich" passage, wherein the caver becomes the meat between close slabs of stone. Backing through the 18 feet or so of sandwich one's feet eventually come down onto a nice pedestal and into a room opening onto a giant clay sliding board of a room which was the last we got surveyed at New Years. The room is about 30 feet wide by 50 feet long at about a 35 degree angle, at least that's what my instruments/memory say, and I'm sticking to it until Ken corrects me.

We went straight to the crawlway about halfway up the left hand side of the room, which seemed to have less water flowing out of it than before. It opened up into the same beautiful room I'd only glimpsed at the end of the previous trip. My initial glance had been so hasty that I'd totally failed to realize that as the crawlway opens up there is another crawlway to the right, and underneath the falls is a larger, almost stooping height passage where the water drains down via another route than how we found the room. So, my coveted climb up the water fall would have to wait.

I wanted to go ahead and get wet and get to climbing, but we surveyed the larger passage below the falls first. With my poor novice station setting skills it took quite a while to do only a couple of shots, and we didn't get to see if it links up with a larger room Ken had explored below which I got to peek into on the way out from the main sliding board room.

The crawlway on the floor where we came in had a sleepy bat right in the middle of it so we saved that for another day too, and finally, I was ready to climb!

On the back of the water fall what looked like great footholds for the climbing shoes I had brought along for the occasion were just a thin black patena over mud. The bottom shelf about 3 feet up tested sturdy so I climbed up there, then onto Ken's shoulder and tested the suspect mud and rock at the upper rim. Finding a good blocky handhold that seemed attached to a well anchored shelf I pulled up into the opening above and quickly scooted back onto solid ground where the stream poured over the shelf to Ken below.

I ooohed and aahed about the pretty room I was in. Looking across the hole I'd just climbed up from the round room had redish and white striped stone polished smooth like a Utah canyon wall. A 2 foot round passage led away from the hole on the other side, a bit more risky climbing to get into on another day. Behind me the stream trickled over a few ledges of less than a foot high each as the narrow walking passage narrowed upstream to a crawl through.

I set a station looking down to the room below and got one good shot back down. Tanya didn't want to attempt the wet unstable climb and Ken could not stand on his own shoulders to get up there, so they commenced telling me it was time to move out as I checked out the opening a few feet up stream. I could hear more water falling in the room beyond and could not resist a glimpse.

The short crawlway opened immediately into a room at least the size of a bus. A small plain waterfall trickled down the far wall, origin unknown. To the right a drainage passage, to the left a room that could have other passages off it as well. A few quick pictures of my foggy breath and I was back to the opening, onto a helpful shoulder, lower shelf and the main floor again.

Tanya got to personally see the web worms we'd discovered last trip, and found Ken's gloves right where he'd left them on that trip too. As they made their way back down the sliding board using the stream as stairs I peeked into the room we think will connect to the lower waterfall drain passage which Ken had surveyed on still older trips.

We re-emerged from the sandwich then the cave itself to dust off in the late afternoon light before enjoying some good Italian food and heading for home. Worley's left us with more fun to discover, trading one lead for multiples as the survey and our intrigue grows. In all I got to see new-to-me territory in 4 different caves in the 2 days, the joy of being a new caver.

New Year - New Caves

Is there a better way to start the New Year besides going caving? Ok it wasn’t officially the New Year, but it was great to go caving the first weekend of the New Year. Tanya had been compiling a to-do list; Ken, Mark, and myself made the trip from the Raleigh area to see what we could cross off the list.

A Friday morning departure was an pleasant variation. Upon arriving at Tanya’s, the landowner of a newly identified cave was contacted and we were under motion. Turns out there are at least two caves on the property (some ridge walking is probably in order). One of the landowners graciously showed us the cave; ironically a family friend, and buddies, was caving it. The cave has a pit entrance. With some quick directions we found the other cave, now named Cotton Cave.

Given the weather, time of day, and the involvement of rigging the pit we chose to survey Cotton Cave. The landowner opted to come with us, as she wasn’t familiar with the second cave and wanted to explore. Cotton cave was decorated with what I would presume to be very old formations. The cave has a small entrance but opens up to a large passage. The passage had a few low terminal leads. There is one high lead remaining; it will take some assisted climbing or a scaling pole to keep going. We completed all survey except for the high lead.

Ken found another promising lead while in transit between the vehicle and the cave. I didn’t see the entrance, but according to Ken it will require some digging and something about a jack.

While discussing caving opportunities Saturday morning, the team was split on returning to the vertical cave or doing a different cave. Weather, skill level, and other factors helped in the decision-making process; in the end safety and solid reasoning prevailed, the vertical cave would be done another trip.

Tanya had a lead on another cave in the northeast quadrant of Smyth County; we talked to the landowner and set out on foot to find the cave in the heavy fog. We split up; Mark and Tanya had found the cave. They didn’t go in due to the pile of trash at the entrance.

While Tanya and I went to find the local spring, Mark and Ken returned to the cave to determine whether to suit up and go caving. Returning from the spring we ran into Mark and Ken, apparently the cave has a penetrable distance of about 12ft. One item removed from Tanya’s list.

Next on Tanya’s to-do list was to survey Ward’s Saltpeter cave. The cave is known in the community but there isn’t a map available; there is now! Landowner notified, we set out driving around in the cow fields.

With the sun to our backs we started the survey. The main passage was a large, descending, walking passage with a jog to the right at the bottom. The cave immediately forked. It is presumed the left passage is where saltpeter was mined. To the right, water and the only formations in the cave.

The survey did not take long as the shot were typically 30ft and greater; but a great little cave to see. Another item removed from Tanya’s list.

Believe it or not, but we weren’t done caving yet. We stopped in the Sugar Grove area to survey a newly accessible cave; now to be called “The Flat” (locals claim someone lived in the cave for several years). Tanya had been in the cave and made a guess the cave would be a quick survey, well that was at least what she told us to get us to stop there.

The cave was typical for the Sugar Grove area, very random in direction and size. The cave has two immediate passages; the right most passage was completely surveyed. The left side was longer and a bit more challenging. When the leads got tight we called it a day; there are two leads left, one will end in a room, the extent of the other isn’t known though it will require several small people.

Sunday over breakfast the discussion of the days itinerary presented itself. I, of course, was hoping to get to Rowland’s; but due to the rain and the need to dig outside I quickly changed my perspective. The map of Worley’s, in Smyth County, hadn’t been completed. It was thought the effort could be wrapped up.

Worley’s a very cool cave; the front room is much more dramatic than I every figured. The next room we surveyed was very impressive as well, though a bit wetter. While checking for leads an interesting “worm” was found inside the cave. Ken’s web search found the “worms” to be larvae of fungus gnats (http://members.socket.net/~joschaper/webworm.html). As we were wrapping up the survey a short peek around the corner presented continued passage and more surveying needs.

We obviously didn’t complete Tanya’s list; there’s some very cool cave yet to survey and explore!

Statistics for the survey oriented individuals:
· Cotton Cave: 19 shots for 238 feet (28.7 feet deep)
· Ward Saltpeter: 14 shots for 376 feet (51.6 feet deep)
· The Flat: 15 shots for 192 feet (19.7 feet deep)
· Worley's Cave: 17 shots for 397 feet