[trip] Elk River Cave-a-palooza

On Friday, Llew and Justin Williams, and Lorin Long went into the Historic Entrance of Simmons-Mingo Cave, down to the main stream passage, and explored upstream. Dave Riggs and Nikki Green rappelled the sink entrance of Falling Spring Cave but found the cave itself to perhaps be silted shut; they then visited Justright and bounced Just Cave. On Saturday, Llew, Justin, Dave, Nikki, Johnny Williams, and John Powell went into the Elk River Entrance of My Cave, rappelled the 80 foot Outhouse Drop, and found the cave stream low and the waterfall non-existent, then did a through-trip out the Dry Branch Entrance. Always a glutton for punishment, Dave bounced Outhouse Drop again, and reports that climbing the mud slope at the top is a pain in the butt. That night, Johnny, John, Dave, and Nikki went into the Zarathustra Entrance of Simmons-Mingo, which has a newly-opened sinkhole slope entrance, went back to see the lake, then traveled down and followed Canadian River's trunk passage to the bottom of Oildrum Falls, where a new rope appears to have been rigged, before heading back out Zarathustra.

[trip] Bradshaw Run, Dreen, Just Caves

This weekend, I left Morgantown late on Friday night and arrived at the Oildrum Falls campsite just after midnight. Doug McCarty, Llew, and Justin Williams were exhausted enough from their trip into the historic side of Simmons-Mingo Cave that I didn't wake them. There had been flash thunderstorms throughout the week in Morgantown, and I assume that the Elk River area had some precipitation as well. On Saturday morning, we met up with Doug Bell, Jesse Miller, and John Barth, and headed to Bradshaw Run Cave.

The entrance to Bradshaw Run was taking a good deal of water - much more than the previous time we'd visited the cave. I rigged the rope to a fallen tree outside, and then headed in. The top of the drop was lined with large cobbles and washed-in rocks. I kicked the most obviously-loose ones down, but the entire floor was covered with plenty more - great. We opted to rig the rope to a bolt on the left hand wall, which kept the rope from sweeping loose rocks down the drop. Water was pouring in from the ceiling in many places, and a soaker of a waterfall was flowing down and over the drop.

I rappelled 8 feet down to the ledge and placed a rope pad, then rappelled the rest of the drop - only 20 or so, but with the waterfall pouring down right over my head. Justin came down next, then Llew, until the three of us were all completely soaked and waiting at the bottom. Since this was to be Doug, Jesse, and John's first in-cave rappel, it was decided that we should probably pick something a bit drier for them. The trip was aborted. On the way out, one of the loose rocks dislodged from the top, bounced off the ledge and was sent flying a good distance out from the bottom of the drop - beware of the wide splash zone due to rocks bouncing off this ledge.

We took a quick detour - everyone driving their vehicles while soaking wet and in full vert gear - to check out Falling Spring Cave, which I think is one of the most amazing cave entrances in WV. Though there was no water flowing over the falls, the massive logs jammed into the cave entrance hint that this cave is not the place to be during a serious storm.

Our next stop was Dreen Cave. I rigged the drop immediately on the left-hand passage, which was nice and dry. This drop is an ideal beginner rappel - it's about 35 feet deep, is very easy to get on and off rope, and is a completely free drop with walls within reach if you need them. Everyone bounced the pit once or twice, with Jesse, Doug, and John getting their first in-cave rappels under their belts - they all did a great job.

At this point - around 3:30pm, Doug McCarty had to leave but the rest of us were still itching to get some more caving in. We headed to Just Cave for some more vertical action. Llew and Justin had rappelled Just before, but I had never - they helped me rig it, and I headed down first. The "pit" is a very long, but narrow vertical fissure. Until you reach the bottom, it doesn't bell out any more than 3 feet wide at its widest. We rigged to the side closest to the entrance, which gave us (unfortunately) the shortest rappel - perhaps 40 feet. Llew, Doug, and Jesse rappelled down as well, then Llew and I chimneyed through another vertical fissure to check out the rest of the cave. We went down a few tens of feet through breakdown, where everything was completely covered with mud and silt. A cave stream appeared, rounded a bend, and headed into some low passage, which we didn't bother following. There were some excellent crinoid fossils in the lower limestone, including a few arms.

We headed out, packed up camp, and Llew, Justin and I headed directly for Mama's Kitchen in Elkins for great hot meal. Mama's no longer has cave/caver photos on the wall, but instead has a large WV-themed mural which features at least two caves. We're already planning a return trip back into Bradshaw Run.

[trip] Spring VAR 2007

Spring VAR 2007 was in Durbin, WV, and hosted by the Frontroyal Grotto. I arrived Friday and set up camp with the WVU Student Grotto. We were celebrating the grotto's 30th birthday, having become an official grotto of the NSS in April, 1977.

Saturday morning, a group of us headed to the Elk River and planned to do Bradshaw Run Cave, but the Elk was up way too high to even bother going to the entrance. Instead, we headed over to check out Just Cave and Justrite Cave, neither of which were very interesting (Just looked too sketchy to rig). I managed to forget my real glasses, so I spent the day caving in my prescription sunglasses - with StenLight on "turbo", I never knew the difference!


Group in the sloping entrance to Just Cave. L-R: Jason Thomas, Cullen Hencke, Josh Flaugher, Dave Riggs, John Tudek. Photo by John Harman

We then headed over to Dreen Cave, rigged to a sturdy chockstone, and rappelled down to check out the lower level. While there wasn't a lot to check out where we rappelled, it was very nice looking arching passage about 30 feet tall, which led to a very nice domepit with waterfall. Everyone ascended up, then we checked out the rest of Dreen. For an easy, mainly horizontal and dry cave, Dreen is quite enjoyable.


Cullen Hencke descends into lower Dreen Cave. Photo by John Harman

We all headed back to Durbin just in time for dinner. Thanks to the Frontroyal Grotto for providing a vegetarian dinner option! After dinner, I gave a short, nervous speech, and presented our faculty advisor of 30 years, Dr. Henry Rauch, a plaque on behalf of the WVU Student Grotto. Afterward, current and alumni members from every generation mingled, told old war stories, and ate birthday cake provided by Frontroyal - thanks again!


The plaque that we presented to Dr. Rauch. Photo by John Harman


WVU Student Grotto alumni celebrating our 30th birthday. Front: L-R: Melissa Parker, Quincy, Jason Thomas, Kirby, Tom Hay, Katherine Gurtler, Jessica Morning; Middle: L-R: Greg Adamson?, Bob Livingston?, Henry Rauch, John Harman, Dr. Garth Dixon, Scott Maphis, John Tudek, Dave Riggs, Jeff Bray, Mary Schmidt, Bill Balfour, ?; Back: L-R: Cullen Hencke, Josh Flaugher, Ryan Ellers, Kristen Matak, Brian Masney; Photo by Tim Bleech

On Sunday, everyone packed up, then went caving with Grotto alumni Scott Maphis and Tom Hay. We visited Tub Cave, which is located in an absolutely enormous sinkhole, and consists of one giant room. It was impressive to see, and the area is very beautiful. On the way back to the car, the local landowner stopped us and asked if we'd like to visit a small cave on his property. We crossed the street and popped into McKeever's Cellar, a cave perhaps 40 feet long with two entrances, and wooden bins where a farmer used to literally use the cave as a cellar.


Great shot of the big room in Tub Cave by John Harman


Tom's daughter Beryl in McKeevers Cellar. Photo by John Harman

It was one of the best VARs that I've attended, many thanks to the Frontroyal Grotto and to the members and alumni of the WVU Student Grotto for making it a great time!

See also: John Harman's photos of Spring VAR, Just, Justrite, and Dreen Caves, Tub Cave and McKeever's Cellar; Brian Masney's photos of Spring VAR 2007

[trip] Simmons-Mingo Rescue

At 4:40AM, the morning of Monday, April 23, 2007, I got a call from Doug Moore that there was a cave rescue callout at Simmons-Mingo Cave. Brian Masney, Josh Flaugher, and I rounded up our gear and headed South. We arrived at the historic entrance and were instructed to go to the Zarathrusa entrance and do a through trip, sweeping the cave for 5 lost cavers who had attempted a through trip from the same entrance on Saturday morning.

We arrived at the Zarathrusa entrance where Jason Thomas was waiting, but no one else was present. As we got geared up, a group of cavers and a communication team arrived and prepared to lay down telephone line behind us. We were in cave by about 10:30am and started doing whistle calls and checking side leads as we headed in the direction of the other end of the cave.

Eventually we made it to a steep muddy slope leading to an enormous lake. We were unable to find a way around, and the map that we were provided offered no help. We decided that the most prudent action would be to head back to the comm team as fast as possible for better directions. We made it all the way back to the entrance without encountering them - a hint that something was up.

Everyone climbed out the nasty Zarathrusa entrance, and there was nobody topside on the Dry Branch. We jumped in our vehicle and drove to the historic entrance, where we were very happily greeted. The lost cavers had been found within 1000 feet of the historic entrance, less than half an hour after we'd gone underground. Four of the cavers were already topside under their own power, and the fifth was currently being hauled out on a litter. The rescue crew was elated to see us because they'd expected that they'd have to wait there for us to complete the through trip.

By afternoon, the rescue operation had become extremely organized and more than 60 people had showed up to volunteer help. Three of the rescued cavers were taken to a hospital via ambulance, and another was flown via helicopter to be treated for mild hypothermia. All five returned home safely that night.

See also: Simmons-Mingo rescue on the NSS discussion forum, photos by Brian Masney

[trip] Cook Pot

On Saturday, March 24, I headed down to southern Pocahontas County to help John Chenger on a bat project. We were to find and descend Cook Pot, recording temperature and humidity data while looking for evidence of past bat roosting in the cave.

Doug Medville's description of the cave entrance didn't help us much - it took over an hour to find the cave, which was just a few hundred feet from the road. The entrance to Cook Pot is located where a small spring-fed blind valley meets the main stream. The spring's water flows down over a small limestone waterfall, and the cave's entrance is located in the outcropping. The narrow, sloping entrance crevice opens to a narrow pit about 30 foot deep, with a smaller 10 foot pit offset from a ledge. Continuing through an opening at floor level, a 20 foot pit is reached. A 150 foot rope may be used to drop this entrance series by using a bolt which is placed at the top of this lower pit. The remains of old wooden ladders are still located in these entrance pits, presumably from the early 1970's.

From the next room, a low stream crawl for about 100 feet leads to the top of a waterfall going into a 45 foot pit. Here one chimneys out over narrow canyon passage at ceiling level for about 30 feet to a platform where rigging allows a free drop into the middle of the beautiful pit. The slot at the top of this drop can be a bit tight.


Dave Riggs ascends Cook Pot's big pit.

From the bottom of the big pit, we headed downstream following a wildly meandering cave stream until it dropped out from under us at the 15 foot Fork Falls. Continuing forward for a few tens of feet, the passage intersects another cave stream flowing down from another waterfall, Spoon Falls. We followed this stream downstream as 40 foot tall canyon passage intersected with many domepits and interrupted with several huge breakdown blocks.


Dave Riggs posing in front of Spoon Falls.

After returning to the big pit, we went upstream for a few hundred feet, where the passage consists of very tall, dry, gothic arched hallways. We then headed back to the surface, and were surprised to find that we'd spent 5.5 hours in cave. Cook Pot has over a mile of surveyed passage, and we only saw a small amount of it - despite being off the beaten path, it was a very enjoyable vertical cave.

See also: more of John Chenger's Cook Pot photos.

All photos copyright John Chenger.