[trip] Bennett Cave Survey Part 4

We thought that this weekend would be the final trip into Tucker County's Bennett Cave, but the cave refused to let us finish it up. The TCSS met up Saturday morning at the Tucker Country Inn in Parsons and headed to the cave to gear up. Kevin and Justin K. met us in the morning but didn't go underground due to a skateboard-induced injury (Justin was skating, not Kevin).

Doug McCarty, Josh Flaugher, and Cullen Hencke started surveying into the high lead in the downclimb from the upper to lower level. Everyone thought that this small lead would pinch out within a few tens of feet, but they surveyed over 200 feet and finding the inside of the stream resurgence that we found on the surface. They named the room with sunlight shining in from above the "Spider Room"... that's one that I'm glad to have not surveyed myself. Doug was able to reach his hand completely outside the cave from here.

Brian Masney, John Harman, and myself (Dave Riggs) tried to finish the survey above the main waterfall. John scaled the waterfall first, getting soaked in the process, and put a tarp in place to try and cut down on the spray. While the tarp helped, we all still got plenty wet on the climb. We climbed up to the next level, where we found a large lead to the right and a low lead to the left.

The left lead went to a stair-stepped dome/canyon series consisting of two waterfall climbs, and ending in surface valley breakdown. We began to survey and realized that we did not have a pencil - oops! While Brian descended to go beg the other survey team for a pencil, John and I scooped the left passage.

A quick climb up and back down led to another waterfall climb on the right which ended in surface valley breakdown. To the left, we followed a canyon downstream, checking out a dome lead on the way, then I followed a low crawl which curved back around and turned out to be the smallest of the three waterfalls in the main waterfall room. John followed a low tube to the right which popped him out at the top of the Trash Dome, under and behind the main waterfall. The tight, water-carved passage also did a serious number on his cave suit.

Brian finally returned with a pencil, and we began to survey the right lead, then started on the left lead. We surveyed the upstream waterfall climb and the dome side lead, where I hammered my way into about 20 feet of miserable, muddy virgin passage. Cold, wet, and shivering, we decided to start tying our survey in to the rest of the cave before we were forced to leave it hanging. We did a 20 foot plumb shot down to the middle level, and surveyed to the main waterfall just as the second team showed up to find us. We shot down the main waterfall and tied into a known station down at base level, packed up, and left the cave.


Bennett Cave plan lineplot, as of August 2007.


Bennett Cave profile lineplot, rotated to show hypothesized fault plane. The limestone is bedded nearly horizontally.

While we racked up well over 400 feet of survey, the cave will still require at least one more good survey trip to complete. That's fine with me, as I've still got to do the map! We changed clothes after a good 7 hour trip and headed to CJ's for pizza. Afterwards, I drove to Oildrum Falls to camp for the night and head into Bradshaw Run Cave the next day.

Bennett Cave now stands at over 1800 feet long, 96 feet deep - 2nd deepest and 15th longest cave in Tucker County (exact numbers pending delivery of survey data to cartographer).

Bennett Cave is CLOSED by the landowner, and permission has been granted to the TCSS only to survey the cave.

[trip] Bennett Cave Survey Part 3

This month at Tucker County, we had only one survey team in Bennett Cave. Brian Masney, Josh Flaugher, and I (Dave Riggs) first surveyed the remainder of the downstream trunk passage. It meanders a bit, and the main stream juts in and out from under the wall a couple times. The ceiling gets very low - about 12 - 18 inches - and you must crawl for a few feet in the wide, shallow stream to pass it... but then it opens back up to 12 foot high trunk passage with high sediment walls. This big passage abruptly ends at a big sump pool with very slowly swirling water, depth unknown. Given the massive mounds of sediment around the pool, I suspect that even in low water (the water was relatively high today) the sump is impassable by lunged cavers. We did encounter two very large frogs here at the sump pool, hence it's dubbed name, the "Frog Pond".

We then headed back upstream to the waterfall room to knock out the lower two leads. We started from the red painted station on the ceiling under the waterfall and surveyed the left passage. This low, winding passage starts out small but opens up to crawling height shortly. Dry at first, a small stream is encountered, then old cans and bottles, a large salamander, followed by... a beautiful 15 foot high domepit. Brian did a sketchy climbup and checked a lead to the right, which he said was too tight. The water was coming from the left, and his view made it appear that attempting to push the low, wet lead would be torturous (so we didn't even try). My ability to survey backwards through this lead earned a name in my honor (which will not be uttered here).

Finally, we surveyed the right lead under the waterfall. This lead is never higher than 3 feet, but is extremely wide. It is fed by two infeeders, a too tight stream on the left, and a waterfall over frightening sandstone breakdown and surface debris from the ceiling on the right. I suspect that this right passage is fed directly from the surface stream above, while the left lead is fed from further upstream, closer to (or directly from) the garbage-filled FRO.


Bennett Cave lineplot as of May 2007

We netted about 400 feet of survey, the last of the major survey effort with the exception of the passage above the big waterfall. Several very small sections need mopped up, but these are trivial. If we can muster two survey groups next month, we should be able to complete the survey of Bennett Cave.

After meeting up with Doug McCarty and Kevin Keplinger, who had just finished surveying the small new cave on the Bennett property (which while only 35 foot long, apparently got them soaked with dripping water), we headed to CJ's for pizza. Brian and I then drove to Dolly Sods, which supposedly got a large amount of snow the previous night. We didn't find any snow, but the wind was absolutely incredible! I tested out my new Hennessy Hammock, which did an excellent job of keeping me dry in the rain and wind. In the morning, Brian and I hiked around 8 beautiful miles in excellent weather.

[trip] Bennett Cave Survey Part 2

Tucker County Speleological Survey headed back into Bennett Cave this month. Our team - Dave Riggs, Brian Masney, John Harman, and Josh Flaugher - headed in to survey above the waterfall. I scaled the questionably-old rope first, getting soaked in the process. One bye one, everyone climbed the 20ft waterfall, each being drenched with cold water in the process. At the top, we found a small chamber with a sketchy 15ft chimney rigged with a length of webbing. Brian scaled up it and examined the passage above - another waterfall climb. Already chilled, we decided to abort the waterfall survey until next month (with wetsuits and extra dry polypro).

We then headed downstream and surveyed about 150ft of muddy passage, (almost) killing the left side lead. Doug McCarty's team surveyed from the big room into the waterfall room, then under and towards the left.


Bennett Cave lineplot as of April, 2007.

After exiting the cave, a local took us to a "hole" which had recently opened on the property. We walked over with him, and I went in to check out this new virgin cave. It consists of a single 40ft gothic-shaped passage, with nice vertical fluting. The ceiling is between 10 and 20ft tall, but the cave is never more than 4ft wide. With a bit of digging in the floor, it may be pushed further - but no air movement was noted.


Dave Riggs exiting the small new Tucker County cave. Photo by Brian Masney.

Finally, John, Josh, and I did a surface survey from the trash-filled FRO to an insurgance point where the stream drops 10ft down enlarged joints, to the Bennett Cave entrance.

Bennett Cave is now just over 800ft long. Remaining leads are the downstream main passage, under waterfall right passage (low and wide), and whatever wet passage exists above the waterfall.

Bennett Cave is located on private property and is CLOSED for recreational caving. The Tucker County Speleological Survey has been granted permission explicitly to survey this cave.

See also: Brian Masney's photos

[trip] Bennett Cave Survey

This month, the Tucker County Speleological Survey had a huge turnout - Kevin Keplinger, Brian Masney, Dave Riggs, Justin Keplinger, Doug Bell, Jesse Miller, Josh Flaugher, John Harman and Doug McCarty all showed up even though the roads were covered with snow and ice. Thanks to the incredible hospitality of the landowners, we were permitted to survey Bennett Cave, and were given a warm, dry place to change clothes - thanks very much!

The entrance to Bennett Cave is a six foot deep crevice opening in a small limestone outcrop in the middle of a valley wall. A muddy talus slope leads down into a large entrance room with dimensions roughly 45x25 feet, and a height of up to 20 feet. A free-climbable twisted pit leads down to a lower room of about 10 foot in diameter with a 15 foot ceiling. The entrance slope and climbdown are both littered with broken glass, discarded small appliances, and animal remains. A 100' rope rigged outside the entrance serves as a useful handline for exploring the cave.


Josh Flaugher in the entrance to Bennett Cave. Photo by Brian Masney.

From this lower room, a very tight pinch in the floor leads to a low, wide crawl, which then opens up into breakdown into another large room. This breakdown-floored room is 45x35 feet, and up to 25 feet tall. To the right, one may climb down through breakdown to a chamber featuring a pair of 20 foot tall waterfalls. One waterfall is rigged with rope, and has going passage at the top. The waterfall room appears to be formed along a small fault or angular unconformity. To the left, one may follow the trunk stream passage, up to 8 foot in diameter, for over 200 feet. The floor is lined with large cobbles and the stream meanders back and forth, eventually disappearing under the right wall. Two high leads go in opposite directions at the end of the dry stream passage, as another small infeeder joins the passage.


Brian Masney, Johsh Flaugher, John Harman, and Jesse Miller at the base of the left waterfall. Photo by John Harman.


Right waterfall showing possible fault from upper left to lower right. Photo by John Harman.

We split up into two survey teams, with one team surveying the upper passages, and my team starting below. Our (lower) team thought that we had gotten the short end of the stick as we surveyed through a steep, tight pinch and into very low passage. However, as soon as we broke into the lower big room and saw the two waterfalls and booming trunk passage, we were all completely elated! Combined, our groups surveyed over 400 feet of passage in the two levels of the cave. We will return next month to complete the survey, mopping up the two leads at the end of the stream passage and the lead atop the waterfall.


Josh Flaugher in the lower stream trunk. Photo by Brian Masney.

Bennett Cave is located on private property and is CLOSED for recreational caving. The Tucker County Speleological Survey has been granted permission explicitly to survey this cave.

See also: Brian Masney's photos, John Harman's photos.