Clean at the Start, or When Electronics Go Bad

Dave West led another survey trip to New River Cave and managed to scrape up eight other willing souls. Before the trip, he shared what the draft map looks like. It’s incredible that he’s found an artistic way to lay out all the levels in an understandable manner.

Dave had Karen Willmes and me join him as he sketched cross sections from the entrance to the Attic Room. My job was to keep Karen company while Dave worked. As we entered the cave, I’m happy to report that the walls TriTrogs cleaned several months ago still appear graffiti-free.

Before we even got to the Register Room, Dave dropped his disto electronic distance finder from a height of roughly six inches. It wouldn’t work again, even with fresh batteries. Suddenly Dave’s cross sections got much harder for him to draw. He now needed Karen and me to pull a tape measure across the cross sectional diagonals. I think that they averaged about 35 degrees in inclination and roughly fifty feet along the diagonals. I spent a good deal of time on the perches.

When we got to the back of the Attic Room, we also added some resurvey so that Dave would have a better idea of how disparate previous surveys reconciled. I guess it turned out that I was more essential when electronic devices fail.

While at dinner that evening, we got word that the National Speleological Society will acquire New River Cave. The TriTrogs can be proud after last year’s cleanup that the cave entrance area will be clean at the start of the NSS ownership.