Ken Walsh, Peter Hertl, and myself (Robert Harris) traveled to Old Timers Reunion (OTR) together over Labor Day weekend. From OTR we chose to make a trip to Nelson Cave, WV because it an only open cave that Ken had not previously been in. Peter and I were not choosey.
Nelson Cave is on beautiful property with a farm and forest. I lost my sunglasses in a stand of spruce trees while looking for the cave entrance. Nelson is an easy cave suitable for beginners and interesting enough for more experienced cavers to take time to look around. The crawls and one small climb were fairly easy on my ACL ligament which is recovering from an operation five months ago. Nelson is mainly linear with little change in elevation, though I did not see the map. There are only two junctions (aside from a small stream-filled branch) so it is easily navigable.
Nearly out of the twilight zone, there is a kink in the progression of the cave which Ken wanted to poke his head into in order to potentially discover a new lead. It proved to be too tight, but we did find two salamanders in this area which we took time to photograph and observe while Pete returned to the entrance to retrieve his camera.
Both salamanders in this area were the same species and It has a very good match to a long-tailed salamander Errycea longicauda.
Ken and I simultaneously explored both branches of the first fork while maintaining a voice connection until we realized that the branches diverge. We decided to progress down Ken's branch on the left side because it was larger and easier. This branch had much more organic material than I am used to seeing in most caves including dark soil, tree bark, and leaves plastered to the four-foot high ceiling from flooding. There was progressively more water and mud in this part of the cave until we came upon the second fork. The smell of rotting leaves was noticeable in this room, but not overly unpleasant. We took the small tunnel to the left which was mostly a belly crawl through mud and over some streams. This looked like it was ending, but in fact went to a squeeze, around a bend, went about 30 feet further, then ended.
Back out at the second fork we then explored the right branch. After a few face crawls in the mud and over streams, Pete decided to leave his pack in a room while we checked a lead that didn't look like it would turn out to be much. Soon we found a larger species of salamander that posed for us in Pete's gloves.
This salamander is possibly a Gyrinophilus subterraneus (which is rare and has only been found in General Davis Cave, Greenbriar County, WV) but more likely a spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus.
Progressing past this area Pete, as an entomologist, complained a bit as I destroyed a spider's newly built web. It is not normal to see spider webs deep into caves. Right around the corner within about 20 feet was the beautiful surprise back entrance to the cave. We went outside of the cave to explore, but could not tell for sure where we were. There were thorned fruit trees. Later we were told by the land owners that we were on the other side of the mountain and either in or very close to a cemetery, though we did not see any evidence of that. Pete was out of luck without his pack for a water and snack break, but surely we would not have found the back entrance if he had brought it along, Ken reasoned.
Heading back into the cave through this entrance it became apparent to me that it is much better to start at the front entrance as we did. This is because the back entrance requires cavers to soon crawl through low mud filled areas. I like a cave that eases me into the nastiness because it is less noticeable that way.
We made our way back to the first junction where Ken was excited by the amount of air flow on the right side, so we went in. This branch has a soft but firm mud floor on a long crawl that tightens down to a belly crawl. This part made my knee uncomfortable and actually the belly crawl was preferable because it took the pressure off my knee. Towards the end there is a very welcome 12 foot climb (the only climb in the cave) and a breakdown terminus. There is still air flow though a small hole, but it seemed too tight and filled with sharp formations. We spent some time in this room looking closely at the rock strata and discussing how much we did not know about geology.
On the way out, we checked on the first salamander again and Pete tried to fit though the small slot in the kink without avail. Back outside we were greeted by a lot of cows who come to look at us. I pessimistically walked back to a stand of spruce trees to look for my lost sunglasses. I was surprised to immediately find them hanging at eye from a thorny vine.
Back at OTR, Peter competed and won the rope climbing contest for the 5th (?) year in a row. Here he is pulling rope for another competitor.
Ken and I competed in the survey contest. Ken did well earning 5th place, while I landed 8th place out of 18 contestants. Here I am surveying from a patch of poison ivy at the base of a large tree. I did end up getting poison ivy on my ankle.
OTR was a lot of fun with all kinds of interesting things happening, and I would like to see more of our grotto attend in the future. Here is a picture of one of the cavers' stores set up by the vendor OnRope1.
Rob
Disclaimer: The description of the layout of this cave may be subject to error.
No comments:
Post a Comment