Summer Surveying

“I think Ken can get in through the squeeze, but I’m not sure he can get back out.” These words don’t inspire me to sign up for a trip with Carlin and Dave, so I invited Tanya McLaughlin to help me survey in Saltville Quarry Cave last Saturday. I was happy to hear that Brian Williams had sent her a new wetsuit because she’d want to wear it in the passage where I was leading her.

The landowner was very friendly and pointed us to two other hillside cave entrances, but we were ready to survey the big stream lead I had looked at last December. Unfortunately Tanya didn’t bring her new wetsuit along. Underground I was much happier than her in my new neoprene pants (purchased at a sidewalk sale).

The cold water was just over knee deep for me, but the problem was that Tanya and I sank into the mud if we stayed in one place too long. Take a survey shot, take three steps back, and then approach again to light the station for the other reader. Fortunately the seventh survey shot landed Tanya back up on a solid bank.

Unfortunately that’s where the water got deeper. I walked back to the entrance so Tanya could warm up, and then I sketched the section for those seven survey shots. Normally I’d like to sketch as I go along, but juggling gloves, instruments, tape, protractor, ruler, book, and reading glasses would’ve been tough when there were few dry ledges for stuff. Tanya warmed up out in the summer sun.

After I finished sketching, Tanya wanted to find a drier passage, cave, or county. We walked to the cave entrance where the landowner had seen fog rolling out in the winter. I didn’t quite fit into the entrance. I hauled up the hill through poison ivy bushes to find the other destination where the owner had spotted a cave. It turned out to just be an eight-foot deep talus cave. I dug open a cave above the quarry’s spring. It was just two body lengths long.

Tanya conceded that I had made a good faith effort at finding dry cave, so she agreed to re-enter the stream passage long enough to get a few more stations. The second time in she noticed how white and well decorated the cave was a few feet above the water level. I had no time to look around while in the deep part of the passage; I thought my wellies would fill with mud.

The cave just got prettier as I moved on back, and I was delighted to find a pair of spring salamanders and a pair of crayfish underwater. Numerous cave salamanders clung to the side walls. Tanya and I both elected to stop after a few more shots, and I arrived at an intersection. Unfortunately the only good station was one that I had to reach on tiptoes.

On Sunday I convinced Mike Broome to continue surveying that same stream passage (the side passage dead ended after a few shots). We progressed all the way back to the sump.  Then I sketched the plan view while Mike collected cross sections.

On the way out, Mike found a side lead I had overlooked the day before, but we were too cold to survey it at the time. We beat a hasty retreat for the entrance and happened across Carlin Kartchner, Dave Duguid, and Lisa Lorenzin. They had surveyed their way from a tight lead to the too-tight entrance.

After I warmed up a bit, I took Carlin and Dave back in to survey out Mike’s lead. Their rewards included well decorated passage, a spring salamander, and wet crotches. Overall we surveyed in Saltville Quarry Cave just under 800 feet more over the weekend, tripling the length and finishing the survey.