The survey of Rowland Spring cave continues. A plan intended to yield the maximum data derived; and it may have been a good plan if everything remained constant. Constant, things were not. Despite the ever-changing environment, the trip was a success; fun and safe caving, additional survey data, and a renewed understand of the cave system.
To set the stage: It had rained in the Marion area two weeks prior, it also happened to have been bitterly cold only days before, and there was even snow on the ground. We know there is an active stream in the cave, but it has been dry for some time; and we know the cave had a tendency to be cold due to the significant flow of air between the two entrances.
Walking to the cave Saturday morning, there was evidence of the recent rain. The streambed outside the cave was decorated with an array of fresh leaf dams formed from heavy rains. The good news however was the stream was dry; if there was any connection between the outside stream and inside stream, the dry streambed was an encouraging sign.
Inside the cave the interior stream could immediately be heard, not that surprising given the stream in only 50ft from the entrance. Climbing down to stream level resulted in two observations; the stream was higher than ever seen before, but still below boot level. And the lower level of the cave was downright cold; in fact, the mud on the floor was frozen in a honeycomb of ice crystals a few inches high.
The pit was rigged and Ken descended first; his goal was to check out the stream level at the bottom of the pit. His initial report was satisfactory to continue into the cave. However, two leads in the stream passage were immediately scratched from the agenda.
As the remaining team dropped the pit, Ken’s continuing report became a bit less appealing. "The water could not be avoided, and the water was up to his knees." Knowing the remaining leads were out of the stream, we continued. Side note: the height difference between Ken and Lisa is such that water level for Lisa was well above her knees.
Out of the water and the settled cold air, the team initially set out to tackle the first lead. The lead presented an interesting climb; Mike managed to climb up with encouragement from Lisa and an excellent belay from Ken. Fortunately the lead looped back to one of the three leads we skipped in the stream; from this vantage point the second lead in the stream could be better viewed, the lead did nothing. Three leads knocked out!
The next lead was another promising pit, dropping mud into the pit resulted in a plunk rather than a splat…water. Ken found the deepest section in the big room to have water; at least 5ft of water. The pit would be done another day.
The next lead was a climb up a chimney; Mike continued to demonstrate his solid climbing skills. I on the other hand, opted to climb the rope. The lead ended in a solid rock hole that even Lisa would not be able to get through, disappointing as what little could be seen there appeared to be at least an additional room. Another lead completed.
As Mike and I wrapped up the lead Ken and Lisa investigated a different lead; their lead was a small vertical crack. Their effort, confirmed by a visual connection, brought the lead into a previously surveyed room. Once more lead down.
Mike and I investigated a lead near the graffiti in the big room; the lead has excellent potential and leads into some new passage. It was determined a team of three would be preferred, otherwise the survey effort would be hampered by one individual doing instruments, book, and sketching.
Instead, we found Ken and Lisa in time to check out a high lead. Sending Lisa,we were able to get a visual connection; in the process, Ken found a section of the cave I had previously hand drawn, he thought best to survey. In one section, a stream could be heard beyond a narrow, soda straw infested restriction. Yet one more strong candidate for continued cave, that came to an end.
Knowing what lay in front of us we opted to exit the cave. The exit went smoothly despite the bone chilling water. Before long we were all out of the cave enjoying warmer temperatures, a good Italian meal, and Mike’s home brew.
The good news, the cave continues to grow. While we knocked off quite a few leads, there are four remaining. The pit, a climb, a low muddy crawl, and the continued passage confirmed this trip. I am looking forward to seeing what other secrets this cave may reveal.
240ft surveyed, cave length now at 2840ft.
It should be mentioned that on a previous trip an unusual concentration of dead bats in a very localized part of the cave was found; Ken contacted a biologist whom recently published an article regarding an unknown bacteria that seems to be effecting bats to see if there could be any connection. The biologist was provided pictures and reported to Ken what to look for. We did not find any live bats showing any signs of the bacteria, nor did we find anymore dead bats.
Sunday’s caving put us back at Hancock; Ken had one more unconfirmed report of cave that needed to be investigated. After talking to the landowner regarding the status of his new house and a few other things, we looked around the rock ledge for something that fit the description. Ken found a passage, and it fit the description he had.
As we started the survey, the rain also started; fortunately we were soon protected from the rain once inside the cave. However we were not protected by the cold; this cave still had ice from the recent cold snap.
The cave had a large daddy long leg population; I was very surprised to find the “spiders” actually moving. I have no knowledge of spiders, but I would have thought they would be frozen solid like the surrounding water.
The survey didn’t take long, I don’t have the actual survey data, but I would estimate the cave is under 50ft in length.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tying Up Loose Ends
I was pleased to be joined by Bob Alderson, Rob Phelps, Robbie Spiegel, Karen Willmes, and Dave West at Hancock Cave Saturday morning. I was especially pleased that Howard and Hayden Holgate had already rigged handlines at the entrance drops, so we flagged them to let them know to leave them in place until we exited the cave.
I led the survey team of Bobs over to the high leads that remained in the Noogah Way while Dave and Karen admired the formations. The sticky crawl through the Noogah reminded me of the waves of ingredients in the Milky Way commercials, and it left me pretty muddy. I set the Bob/Rob/Robbie team up at their leads and headed back to Karen and Dave in the main passage. By the time I led them to the other leads, we were joined by the original Noogah boys, Gordon Bolt and Matt Jenkins.
Gordon drew the short end of the stick and was assigned to cave with me. Matt joined Karen and Dave in the survey of the Transportation Wing. Gordon and I began a profile of a section of the cave, beginning at the Earthworm Gym and extending back to the Funnel Tunnel. While I sketched, Gordon tried to find the survey stations we had set ten years earlier. Along the way we encountered Brian Bolt's sport trip that had chosen a particularly difficult route to begin; they turned around at the entrance to the Noogah, before their opportunity to see the real pretties.
After Gordon and I got all the way back to the Funnel Tunnel, we returned again to the Earthworm Gym area. The other two teams hadn't yet emerged from their leads, and I took this as a particularly good sign that they'd found lots more cave. Gordon and I then started checking leads ourselves. Because we only had two people, I chose the least promising lead first, a low passage that we had breezed by on an earlier circuit trip.
Breeze was where the debate came. Gordon saw little hope for the passage, but I was sure that it wasn't just dead air I felt when I wedged my body into the hole beside the mud wall. I pulled out Tanya's mini-pick-and-shovel and started digging at the dirt. I eventually got far enough in the dig that I could see that the passage continued forward at least a few more feet before turning right, but it was going to be a long left-handed dig. Before I was ready to quit, I sent Gordon back to the other side of the mud wall. He peered down a small hole, and we managed a voice connection. That killed the lead, but it really was live air I felt.
Next Gordon and I started a short survey into the flowstone above the passage where Karen and Dave had gone. We were hampered by only having one set of survey instruments, but the Bob team showed up shortly after we began the survey. They helped us get the readings. When I climbed up so that Gordon could show me the survey point, he sat down to get out of the way. Unfortunately he was practicing his Cornhole game at the time and left some of his coveralls atop a stalagmite (ask him for the fool story).
I gave the Bob team the choice of the remaining two leads from this room, and they chose the Earthworm Gym lead because it was blowing air. Gordon and I surveyed the opposite lead over some beautiful rimstone dams and up a flowstone slope. By the time we reached the second station, we could hear Karen and Matt excitedly rejoicing in the big walking passage that they had just discovered. Gordon enjoyed talking to them through a small hole in the wall, and they asked if they could be in passage that was already known. Although they sounded as though they were above us, I responded that the only walking passage I knew of there was the one where they started their survey. Dave West made Karen and Matt feel silly when he told them to tie their survey back into the existing station (at least the loop closure was good).
Gordon squirmed sideways beside a flowstone mound as we surveyed uphill. Beyond the pretty decorations the room transformed into a dank passage with broken ledges similar to the Harvest Domes. It petered out in a sharp bend. As we descended past the flowstone mound, Gordon discovered that his cheek muscles had recovered and were again functioning properly. However, I think that the Bob Team found the discussions amusing.
We gathered up all of the teams when the leads had all been surveyed and exited the cave together. We celebrated the survey conclusion with a bottle of champagne. Forty-five surveyors made nearly fifty trips into the cave to close 58 loops. The cave length now stands at 13,153 feet, just 47 feet shy of 2.500 miles, and I have a big map to produce. Thanks for all the assistance with surveying over the last eleven years.
I led the survey team of Bobs over to the high leads that remained in the Noogah Way while Dave and Karen admired the formations. The sticky crawl through the Noogah reminded me of the waves of ingredients in the Milky Way commercials, and it left me pretty muddy. I set the Bob/Rob/Robbie team up at their leads and headed back to Karen and Dave in the main passage. By the time I led them to the other leads, we were joined by the original Noogah boys, Gordon Bolt and Matt Jenkins.
Gordon drew the short end of the stick and was assigned to cave with me. Matt joined Karen and Dave in the survey of the Transportation Wing. Gordon and I began a profile of a section of the cave, beginning at the Earthworm Gym and extending back to the Funnel Tunnel. While I sketched, Gordon tried to find the survey stations we had set ten years earlier. Along the way we encountered Brian Bolt's sport trip that had chosen a particularly difficult route to begin; they turned around at the entrance to the Noogah, before their opportunity to see the real pretties.
After Gordon and I got all the way back to the Funnel Tunnel, we returned again to the Earthworm Gym area. The other two teams hadn't yet emerged from their leads, and I took this as a particularly good sign that they'd found lots more cave. Gordon and I then started checking leads ourselves. Because we only had two people, I chose the least promising lead first, a low passage that we had breezed by on an earlier circuit trip.
Breeze was where the debate came. Gordon saw little hope for the passage, but I was sure that it wasn't just dead air I felt when I wedged my body into the hole beside the mud wall. I pulled out Tanya's mini-pick-and-shovel and started digging at the dirt. I eventually got far enough in the dig that I could see that the passage continued forward at least a few more feet before turning right, but it was going to be a long left-handed dig. Before I was ready to quit, I sent Gordon back to the other side of the mud wall. He peered down a small hole, and we managed a voice connection. That killed the lead, but it really was live air I felt.
Next Gordon and I started a short survey into the flowstone above the passage where Karen and Dave had gone. We were hampered by only having one set of survey instruments, but the Bob team showed up shortly after we began the survey. They helped us get the readings. When I climbed up so that Gordon could show me the survey point, he sat down to get out of the way. Unfortunately he was practicing his Cornhole game at the time and left some of his coveralls atop a stalagmite (ask him for the fool story).
I gave the Bob team the choice of the remaining two leads from this room, and they chose the Earthworm Gym lead because it was blowing air. Gordon and I surveyed the opposite lead over some beautiful rimstone dams and up a flowstone slope. By the time we reached the second station, we could hear Karen and Matt excitedly rejoicing in the big walking passage that they had just discovered. Gordon enjoyed talking to them through a small hole in the wall, and they asked if they could be in passage that was already known. Although they sounded as though they were above us, I responded that the only walking passage I knew of there was the one where they started their survey. Dave West made Karen and Matt feel silly when he told them to tie their survey back into the existing station (at least the loop closure was good).
Gordon squirmed sideways beside a flowstone mound as we surveyed uphill. Beyond the pretty decorations the room transformed into a dank passage with broken ledges similar to the Harvest Domes. It petered out in a sharp bend. As we descended past the flowstone mound, Gordon discovered that his cheek muscles had recovered and were again functioning properly. However, I think that the Bob Team found the discussions amusing.
We gathered up all of the teams when the leads had all been surveyed and exited the cave together. We celebrated the survey conclusion with a bottle of champagne. Forty-five surveyors made nearly fifty trips into the cave to close 58 loops. The cave length now stands at 13,153 feet, just 47 feet shy of 2.500 miles, and I have a big map to produce. Thanks for all the assistance with surveying over the last eleven years.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Caving Opportunity
With a date having been set, a crew of cavers found, caves and objectives known, the wait began. There had been little rain all summer and very little this fall, perfect conditions for the caves planned (though the local citizens of Marion would disagree).
· Hancock – Funnel Tunnel sumps after it rains
· Atwells Tunnel – hoping the low water levels would reveal a passage through the sump
· Rowland Spring – surveying the mud passage would be slightly more pleasant without having to get wet as well as muddy.
With heavy rain resulting from a low passing through the southeast, all plans seemed in jeopardy; there was talk of not going, rescheduling, of mutiny before Ken even got anyone underground…could it even be possible? Fortunately we had some hearty cavers, or just cavers desperate to get out of town. The plan progressed forward, though backup plans were quickly being assembled.
A group of cavers left Friday and caved Hancock cave Saturday, their report can be read in a different posting. I left Saturday morning; my plans were to check out Atwells Tunnel. I had initially planned on bringing my dive gear along as a backup if the water levels were not low enough. I was certain I’d need it now given the inches of rain received.
I met up with Brian, Tanya, and Dale in Marion; after lunch we drove over the mountain and to the cave. It had been two years since I had been there; it seemed much further away than I remembered it. We walked to the cave and found the water level to be the same it has been on previous trips. It wasn’t worth hiking to the sump; I knew there would be no visible duck under.
Gear assembled and hauled to the sump within the cave; here it was donned, return time agreed to, I started the swim down the visible part of the sump. The silt was heavy and suspended in the water column, tying line along the way the sump was inspected for a duck under. None was found; instead the sump progressed to the depth of 23ft where the roof and floor pinched to less than 10 inches. Given the visibility, the plowing of mud to continue forward, the dive was stopped.
Mystery solved; the idea of a quick duck-under and continued dry passage found to be completely untrue. The rumors of school-aged kids traversing the entire cave now suddenly didn’t seem all that realistic…just rumors.
After packing up Tanya mentioned a sink on the property she had been meaning to investigate. With the weather being sunny, bright, and warm who could pass up an offer to walk. The sink was clearly evident; better yet it has to natural drains in the basin. Some digging would be in order, but with the amount of water that must collect off the surrounding landscape there is probably cave there.
Afterward we hiked more of the property; Brian found a small cave while I found a dead cow. The cave entrance was small and looked like a bear den (given the proximity of the carcass further entrenched that thought). Brian scooped his find; the cave was only 35ft or so in length, ending in a small room.
No further caves were found; the relaxing hour hike was a spectacular consolation prize. We then drove over to Hancock to see how the other team was doing. Finding the hand line in the main entrance signaled the team must have gotten back the Funnel Tunnel. Not knowing their timeline we didn’t suit up to join them; but rather went and had a delicious Mexican meal.
Sunday at Rowland Spring consisted of Brian, Ken, Robbie, and myself. The objective was to finish surveying the large room. The cave was dry; the stream that runs through the cave had no water.
We managed to finally get the exterior wall completed and then preceded to fill in the interior content. In addition, we dropped into the breakdown and found a few smaller passages underneath; this area is the lowest spot in the cave by 4ft. Good thing the cave was as dry as it was.
Brian brought his camera, he had time to explore and photo document a majority of the big room and its splendor. I have yet to see the pictures, but will try to post a few on the web page.
The statistics for the day:
· 40 stations for 535ft
· We closed four leads
· Have two new leads.
There are a few promising leads for the next trip. The date for the next trip is not yet known, but hopefully we can locate a few additional cavers to assist with this beautiful cave.
· Hancock – Funnel Tunnel sumps after it rains
· Atwells Tunnel – hoping the low water levels would reveal a passage through the sump
· Rowland Spring – surveying the mud passage would be slightly more pleasant without having to get wet as well as muddy.
With heavy rain resulting from a low passing through the southeast, all plans seemed in jeopardy; there was talk of not going, rescheduling, of mutiny before Ken even got anyone underground…could it even be possible? Fortunately we had some hearty cavers, or just cavers desperate to get out of town. The plan progressed forward, though backup plans were quickly being assembled.
A group of cavers left Friday and caved Hancock cave Saturday, their report can be read in a different posting. I left Saturday morning; my plans were to check out Atwells Tunnel. I had initially planned on bringing my dive gear along as a backup if the water levels were not low enough. I was certain I’d need it now given the inches of rain received.
I met up with Brian, Tanya, and Dale in Marion; after lunch we drove over the mountain and to the cave. It had been two years since I had been there; it seemed much further away than I remembered it. We walked to the cave and found the water level to be the same it has been on previous trips. It wasn’t worth hiking to the sump; I knew there would be no visible duck under.
Gear assembled and hauled to the sump within the cave; here it was donned, return time agreed to, I started the swim down the visible part of the sump. The silt was heavy and suspended in the water column, tying line along the way the sump was inspected for a duck under. None was found; instead the sump progressed to the depth of 23ft where the roof and floor pinched to less than 10 inches. Given the visibility, the plowing of mud to continue forward, the dive was stopped.
Mystery solved; the idea of a quick duck-under and continued dry passage found to be completely untrue. The rumors of school-aged kids traversing the entire cave now suddenly didn’t seem all that realistic…just rumors.
After packing up Tanya mentioned a sink on the property she had been meaning to investigate. With the weather being sunny, bright, and warm who could pass up an offer to walk. The sink was clearly evident; better yet it has to natural drains in the basin. Some digging would be in order, but with the amount of water that must collect off the surrounding landscape there is probably cave there.
Afterward we hiked more of the property; Brian found a small cave while I found a dead cow. The cave entrance was small and looked like a bear den (given the proximity of the carcass further entrenched that thought). Brian scooped his find; the cave was only 35ft or so in length, ending in a small room.
No further caves were found; the relaxing hour hike was a spectacular consolation prize. We then drove over to Hancock to see how the other team was doing. Finding the hand line in the main entrance signaled the team must have gotten back the Funnel Tunnel. Not knowing their timeline we didn’t suit up to join them; but rather went and had a delicious Mexican meal.
Sunday at Rowland Spring consisted of Brian, Ken, Robbie, and myself. The objective was to finish surveying the large room. The cave was dry; the stream that runs through the cave had no water.
We managed to finally get the exterior wall completed and then preceded to fill in the interior content. In addition, we dropped into the breakdown and found a few smaller passages underneath; this area is the lowest spot in the cave by 4ft. Good thing the cave was as dry as it was.
Brian brought his camera, he had time to explore and photo document a majority of the big room and its splendor. I have yet to see the pictures, but will try to post a few on the web page.
The statistics for the day:
· 40 stations for 535ft
· We closed four leads
· Have two new leads.
There are a few promising leads for the next trip. The date for the next trip is not yet known, but hopefully we can locate a few additional cavers to assist with this beautiful cave.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wanta Buy a Hammer?
A bad cold, the flu, eight inches of rain. The odds were again against me being able to finish the survey of Hancock Cave on October 13, 2007. I had even proposed to Dave Duguid that I would trade survey dates with him with the hopes that water levels in Hancock Cave would drop down after last week's drenching. Mark Little, Melanie McCullough, and I woke up Saturday morning at Tanya's house to a much clearer day than we had seen all week. Still I had plans to take photographs in the front part of the cave and maybe dig above Which Glob Pit because the rain had been so severe.
My plans to dig required tools, none of which anyone brought to Tanya's house that weekend. After a leisurely breakfast, we stopped at the local hardware store where we bought a four-pound hammer, cold chisels, and center punches to help with the dig. Then we drove out to the cave. Apparently the drought had been more severe than the rain. I noticed that Bear Creek was still way down, and I returned to my original plans. Mark, Melanie, and I found the creek outside Hancock Cave to be dry, so we headed for the Funnel Tunnel.
I was utterly amazed that the Funnel Tunnel hadn't changed since our last visit there in August. It was still dug open over ten inches high, and I opened it up even more to make it easy for everyone to get through. I think Melanie could've gone through on her hands and knees. We had gotten a late start because we expected so little, but now we had some goals to meet.
I dragged Mark and Melanie back to the Tortoise Shell Room and our first leads. We lucked out again because the lower lead (would've been six shots) tied right into the upper lead and saved a painful survey start. Although the survey dropped us down to a five-foot belly crawl, it opened back up into walking passage that tied back into the known passage after eight shots total.
We headed back to the Chocolate Wall, and I found the next lead (a two-foot high crawl into a flowstone mound). On the second long shot in, Mark was already standing. This lead had opened up into big walking passage. Too bad Mark and Melanie wanted to drive back to Cary that evening. In this new passage we found rimstone dams, cave coral, and a four-foot long strip of cave bacon. It also had Hancock's signature pendants and large breakdown, but the really amazing thing was the flowstone shelf suspended four feet off the floor by the pendants. No one else may have noticed it, but I saw it form the outline of a viking ship with an unexplored passage beneath.
Our goal was to knock off the seven remaining leads. Instead on Saturday we surveyed 310 feet (cave length now 2.39 miles with 56 loops--38th longest in Virginia), knocked off three leads, and created two more. Too bad I couldn't have kept Mark and Melanie in there all night long.
On Sunday I joined Dave Duguid's survey trip to Rowland Springs Cave. We surveyed a lot of footage through fins and formations but never seemed to get far from the big room where we started. There I discovered that my new frog system falls into the class of "sit-stand-bang your shoulder-repeat" single rope techniques.
My plans to dig required tools, none of which anyone brought to Tanya's house that weekend. After a leisurely breakfast, we stopped at the local hardware store where we bought a four-pound hammer, cold chisels, and center punches to help with the dig. Then we drove out to the cave. Apparently the drought had been more severe than the rain. I noticed that Bear Creek was still way down, and I returned to my original plans. Mark, Melanie, and I found the creek outside Hancock Cave to be dry, so we headed for the Funnel Tunnel.
I was utterly amazed that the Funnel Tunnel hadn't changed since our last visit there in August. It was still dug open over ten inches high, and I opened it up even more to make it easy for everyone to get through. I think Melanie could've gone through on her hands and knees. We had gotten a late start because we expected so little, but now we had some goals to meet.
I dragged Mark and Melanie back to the Tortoise Shell Room and our first leads. We lucked out again because the lower lead (would've been six shots) tied right into the upper lead and saved a painful survey start. Although the survey dropped us down to a five-foot belly crawl, it opened back up into walking passage that tied back into the known passage after eight shots total.
We headed back to the Chocolate Wall, and I found the next lead (a two-foot high crawl into a flowstone mound). On the second long shot in, Mark was already standing. This lead had opened up into big walking passage. Too bad Mark and Melanie wanted to drive back to Cary that evening. In this new passage we found rimstone dams, cave coral, and a four-foot long strip of cave bacon. It also had Hancock's signature pendants and large breakdown, but the really amazing thing was the flowstone shelf suspended four feet off the floor by the pendants. No one else may have noticed it, but I saw it form the outline of a viking ship with an unexplored passage beneath.
Our goal was to knock off the seven remaining leads. Instead on Saturday we surveyed 310 feet (cave length now 2.39 miles with 56 loops--38th longest in Virginia), knocked off three leads, and created two more. Too bad I couldn't have kept Mark and Melanie in there all night long.
On Sunday I joined Dave Duguid's survey trip to Rowland Springs Cave. We surveyed a lot of footage through fins and formations but never seemed to get far from the big room where we started. There I discovered that my new frog system falls into the class of "sit-stand-bang your shoulder-repeat" single rope techniques.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
VAR/MAR 2007--Alpena Cave
Friday morning was mighty damp. As I helped Philly Grotto set up for the 2007 VAR/MAR, the sky sprinkled every hour or so. I looked down at the cave description for the survey trip I was planning to lead to Middle of Nowhere Cave, and I added the phrase "may be damp" to the entrance description.
At 10 PM the signup sheets went out, and people hurriedly scribbled their names beside the trips they wanted. At least three people came over to me at Registration to announce that no one had signed up for my trip yet. By the morning, I couldn't even find one of my sketchers and we were down to the two leaders. Cancel the trip.
I myself then signed up for Barry Horner's trip to Alpena Cave. We had a blast with just six people making the through trip. Barry had dug open the back entrance, surveyed the cave, and used chemical persuasion to make the connection large enough for humans. Therefore, our trip included full descriptions of the exploration of the 2001 connection all the way through.
As for the character of the cave, I was a little reluctant about my ability to make the through trip because the description read that a 44-inch chest size was the limit, but Barry convinced me I'd fit. As it was, I don't really know where the tightest spot was because I never had any difficulty with a squeeze.
We entered by climbing down the breakdown in the sinkhole entrance and then spent most of the time following a downstream passage. The ceilings were often high, and we crossed over and through very little breakdown. The most fun part was descending the cascading stream as it plunged from one pool to the next.
The least fun came when the ceiling dropped down near the stream. We laid down in an inch or two of water and scooted along. The scooting was easy, but the wait for the people in front of me made my legs cramp a bit. Fortunately the stream was low enough to avoid the passage becoming an ear dip, but unfortunately the stream belly crawl was about fifty feet long. Still a lot of fun because it didn't get tight until I was near the end and could see people standing in front of me.
We popped out of that hole and headed straight for the entrance. After putting on dry clothes, we spent some time bouldering around Bear Heaven before heading back to the TRA site. The Lions Club dinner and dessert were tremendous (not to mention the sheet cakes), the presentations by Doug Medville and the Japanese Exploration Team were fun (with some great photos by the Japanese), and Ericka's superb performance with the live bluegrass band astonished everyone. Overall a great VAR/MAR with good, cool weather in the end. Happy 60th Anniversary to Philly Grotto.
At 10 PM the signup sheets went out, and people hurriedly scribbled their names beside the trips they wanted. At least three people came over to me at Registration to announce that no one had signed up for my trip yet. By the morning, I couldn't even find one of my sketchers and we were down to the two leaders. Cancel the trip.
I myself then signed up for Barry Horner's trip to Alpena Cave. We had a blast with just six people making the through trip. Barry had dug open the back entrance, surveyed the cave, and used chemical persuasion to make the connection large enough for humans. Therefore, our trip included full descriptions of the exploration of the 2001 connection all the way through.
As for the character of the cave, I was a little reluctant about my ability to make the through trip because the description read that a 44-inch chest size was the limit, but Barry convinced me I'd fit. As it was, I don't really know where the tightest spot was because I never had any difficulty with a squeeze.
We entered by climbing down the breakdown in the sinkhole entrance and then spent most of the time following a downstream passage. The ceilings were often high, and we crossed over and through very little breakdown. The most fun part was descending the cascading stream as it plunged from one pool to the next.
The least fun came when the ceiling dropped down near the stream. We laid down in an inch or two of water and scooted along. The scooting was easy, but the wait for the people in front of me made my legs cramp a bit. Fortunately the stream was low enough to avoid the passage becoming an ear dip, but unfortunately the stream belly crawl was about fifty feet long. Still a lot of fun because it didn't get tight until I was near the end and could see people standing in front of me.
We popped out of that hole and headed straight for the entrance. After putting on dry clothes, we spent some time bouldering around Bear Heaven before heading back to the TRA site. The Lions Club dinner and dessert were tremendous (not to mention the sheet cakes), the presentations by Doug Medville and the Japanese Exploration Team were fun (with some great photos by the Japanese), and Ericka's superb performance with the live bluegrass band astonished everyone. Overall a great VAR/MAR with good, cool weather in the end. Happy 60th Anniversary to Philly Grotto.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Back To Grand Caverns
It had been almost a year since having been to Grand Caverns; this time was to be a new experience. I took my two oldest boys with me; I had promised a caving adventure and some camping since spring. Our family trip to West Virginia during the summer months didn’t produce any caving opportunities and for camping, it’s just been far to hot.
Even though the typical format for the caving weekend is to arrive Friday night, we left Saturday morning; insuring we had avoided a front that produced a significant amount of rain throughout the entire region. We entered the park around 2pm and found no one around; there was only one camp set up. The ranger indicated that Carol had retrieved the key to Fountain cave. The ranger provided some additional detail to the lightening strike on Grand Caverns and the damage done; Carol mentioned in an earlier email that we wouldn’t be in Grand Caverns this weekend.
Concluding someone must be in Fountain, we geared up and hiked the hill. We found no sign of anyone at Fountain; the gate was locked and no key was sitting on the ledge. Not having a clue where anyone was at, we hike the remaining hillside to Jefferson Cave and then continued to the top. We wandered around the hilltop before returning back to Fountain; still no one. We then hiked over to Madison cave on an off chance the group was working a different cave today.
We returned to the park and goofed around until dinnertime. We ate at the Wood Fired Oven, Pizza of course. Returning back to the park no one had arrived; again we goofed around in the baseball field until bedtime. The kids tried their best at ghost stories amongst all the laughing until lights out.
In the morning we met up with the other campers, three. The group ridge walked a piece of property Saturday; the effort yielded no new cave. We ate a good breakfast and got Scott on the phone; he was interested in taking one of his kids into Fountain. A small group entered into Fountain cave. The kids enjoyed fountain and wanted to explore all passages; Dawson was sure he’d found a new part of the cave and wanted to map it. Next time I go into Fountain with the kids I need to bring a stronger light; I think the cave would have been much more interesting if the lighting was better.
Scott mentioned he had the key to Madison and we could go over there quickly. Dawson immediately remembered an earlier discussion revolving around George Washington’s signature. He was overjoyed knowing he would get an opportunity to see the signature. Madison is a much smaller cave; we found Washington’s signature surrounded by a slew of others. The three boys enjoyed reading the various signatures and wanted to leave their own; I don’t think they fully understood why that was no longer the proper cave etiquette.
Thanking Scott, we headed down to Crozet Tunnel. Crozet Tunnel was built in 1858; it was the first tunneling effort in the US where teams dug from both sides and met in the middle. A significant engineering accomplishment considering the year accomplished and that the effort yielded only a few feet of error. The tunnel is no longer used; there is a larger tunnel beside it for today’s larger trains.
Dawson and Dylan enjoy trains; yes we have a large collection of “Thomas” paraphernalia. Due to time constraints we didn’t bring lights; we would just hike to the tunnel and go in just a little bit. The boys thought it was cool; even though they were hoping a train would come through the parallel tunnel. No luck. Not hiking through left the opportunity for a future trip.
Even though the typical format for the caving weekend is to arrive Friday night, we left Saturday morning; insuring we had avoided a front that produced a significant amount of rain throughout the entire region. We entered the park around 2pm and found no one around; there was only one camp set up. The ranger indicated that Carol had retrieved the key to Fountain cave. The ranger provided some additional detail to the lightening strike on Grand Caverns and the damage done; Carol mentioned in an earlier email that we wouldn’t be in Grand Caverns this weekend.
Concluding someone must be in Fountain, we geared up and hiked the hill. We found no sign of anyone at Fountain; the gate was locked and no key was sitting on the ledge. Not having a clue where anyone was at, we hike the remaining hillside to Jefferson Cave and then continued to the top. We wandered around the hilltop before returning back to Fountain; still no one. We then hiked over to Madison cave on an off chance the group was working a different cave today.
We returned to the park and goofed around until dinnertime. We ate at the Wood Fired Oven, Pizza of course. Returning back to the park no one had arrived; again we goofed around in the baseball field until bedtime. The kids tried their best at ghost stories amongst all the laughing until lights out.
In the morning we met up with the other campers, three. The group ridge walked a piece of property Saturday; the effort yielded no new cave. We ate a good breakfast and got Scott on the phone; he was interested in taking one of his kids into Fountain. A small group entered into Fountain cave. The kids enjoyed fountain and wanted to explore all passages; Dawson was sure he’d found a new part of the cave and wanted to map it. Next time I go into Fountain with the kids I need to bring a stronger light; I think the cave would have been much more interesting if the lighting was better.
Scott mentioned he had the key to Madison and we could go over there quickly. Dawson immediately remembered an earlier discussion revolving around George Washington’s signature. He was overjoyed knowing he would get an opportunity to see the signature. Madison is a much smaller cave; we found Washington’s signature surrounded by a slew of others. The three boys enjoyed reading the various signatures and wanted to leave their own; I don’t think they fully understood why that was no longer the proper cave etiquette.
Thanking Scott, we headed down to Crozet Tunnel. Crozet Tunnel was built in 1858; it was the first tunneling effort in the US where teams dug from both sides and met in the middle. A significant engineering accomplishment considering the year accomplished and that the effort yielded only a few feet of error. The tunnel is no longer used; there is a larger tunnel beside it for today’s larger trains.
Dawson and Dylan enjoy trains; yes we have a large collection of “Thomas” paraphernalia. Due to time constraints we didn’t bring lights; we would just hike to the tunnel and go in just a little bit. The boys thought it was cool; even though they were hoping a train would come through the parallel tunnel. No luck. Not hiking through left the opportunity for a future trip.
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