Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

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