Rich and Dave ascend the first wall of the via ferrata. We are carrying rappelling gear that we never actually got to use. (Photo: Jason Thomas)
See also my via ferrata photos.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Via Ferrata
After the WVUSG's beginners weekend, we climbed the via ferrata at Nelson Rocks WV. I've never rock climbed before (but I've got plenty of rappelling experience), and I was able to do the course easily. The entire course is bolted with steel rungs and steel cable. You have two lanyards attached to your harness so that when clipping into the next piece of protection, you always have at least one lanyard attached. You get some serious exposure and the views from up on the rock cliffs are absolutely breathtaking. In my opinion, it is easily worth the $35 fee to do the via at least once. Sadly, there was a fatality there the weekend after our visit - I believe the first major accident there ever.
Rich and Dave ascend the first wall of the via ferrata. We are carrying rappelling gear that we never actually got to use. (Photo: Jason Thomas)
See also my via ferrata photos.
Rich and Dave ascend the first wall of the via ferrata. We are carrying rappelling gear that we never actually got to use. (Photo: Jason Thomas)
See also my via ferrata photos.
[trip] Tucker County Survey
Brian Masney, Mary Schmidt and I went into our current Tucker County cave this weekend (2006-09-16) with the original intention of resuming the survey from where we left off last time - about 2.5 - 3 hours back into the cave. We were in cave around 10:30am, and the water level was the lowest I have ever seen it in the cave (which is also what I said last time).
We made it to the end of the main survey in 3 hours, 45 minutes, including two side-excursions to push tributary leads. Frustrated with the time and effort required to get back here, we decided to abort the survey trip and push forward to either find better passage or another entrance. The upper, main passage continues forward for a ways, and goes from walking passage to stooping passage to crawling on breakdown flakes. It primarily zig-zags following regular joint sets. At some point we dropped down the the middle level, but were kept up off the stream level the entire time. Travel became slow and painful through the breakdown flakes. We passed several right-hand side passages, though none looked very promising. Airflow was very weak and we were not having fun.
We eventually came to another right-hand side lead, this one very curiously keyhole shaped, while the "main passage" continued as a nasty breakdown crawl. Both appeared to be virgin passage - we chose the keyhole. This passage went for 30' or so, then got wider and more rectangular with one or two small, meandering, phreatic tubes in its side. We found a window in the floor, for the first time in several hundred feet revealing water to us again. Excitedly, I rushed on to find a way down, scurried down a nice chute, and shouted back up "we've got cave!" This interesting passage has almost vertical walls, about 3' wide, and almost completely parallel, making it look like an aqueduct (at least, it would have had the cave not been so dry - it was more of a mudduct). The passage had faint airflow. Mary took the lead and scooped about 150' - 200' of walking passage which kept getting larger and eventually taking on a meandering shape. Deciding that we needed something to coax us back into this cave again, we turned around in nice walking passage. We had travelled at least 500 (unpleasant) feet from the current survey.
We were out of the cave at 7:45pm, stopped by Kevin's house to check in, and then had pizza at CJ's.
We made it to the end of the main survey in 3 hours, 45 minutes, including two side-excursions to push tributary leads. Frustrated with the time and effort required to get back here, we decided to abort the survey trip and push forward to either find better passage or another entrance. The upper, main passage continues forward for a ways, and goes from walking passage to stooping passage to crawling on breakdown flakes. It primarily zig-zags following regular joint sets. At some point we dropped down the the middle level, but were kept up off the stream level the entire time. Travel became slow and painful through the breakdown flakes. We passed several right-hand side passages, though none looked very promising. Airflow was very weak and we were not having fun.
We eventually came to another right-hand side lead, this one very curiously keyhole shaped, while the "main passage" continued as a nasty breakdown crawl. Both appeared to be virgin passage - we chose the keyhole. This passage went for 30' or so, then got wider and more rectangular with one or two small, meandering, phreatic tubes in its side. We found a window in the floor, for the first time in several hundred feet revealing water to us again. Excitedly, I rushed on to find a way down, scurried down a nice chute, and shouted back up "we've got cave!" This interesting passage has almost vertical walls, about 3' wide, and almost completely parallel, making it look like an aqueduct (at least, it would have had the cave not been so dry - it was more of a mudduct). The passage had faint airflow. Mary took the lead and scooped about 150' - 200' of walking passage which kept getting larger and eventually taking on a meandering shape. Deciding that we needed something to coax us back into this cave again, we turned around in nice walking passage. We had travelled at least 500 (unpleasant) feet from the current survey.
We were out of the cave at 7:45pm, stopped by Kevin's house to check in, and then had pizza at CJ's.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
[trip] Simmons-Mingo at OTR
On Saturday of the 2006 OTR, Judi Wasilewski, Llew Williams, Brian Masney, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Garth Dixon, and myself (Dave Riggs) took a trip into the historic entrance of Simmons-Mingo Cave. Most of us had been to this entrance of the cave less than two months ago but had been stopped by a wet stream crawl. Our intention this time was to bypass the stream crawl by rappelling a ledge that bypasses it.
We met at 11am at the Monongahela Grotto's tent. We very carefully 4-wheeled out of the muddy OTR campsite and caravanned to Mingo Flats. Llew bribed the landowner's mean-looking dog with a granola bar, and he instantly became Llew's best friend. As we were almost completely geared-up, the Cleveland Grotto showed up behind us; they planned on taking a horizontal trip into the PSC passage. Even though there had been very significant rain the last several days, the stream at the parking area was low and sunk into its sediment bed, and the spring at the cave entrance was dry.
The way to a mean dog's heart is apparently through his stomach. Llew with his new best friend.
Our team descended the entrance climb, aided by the existing handline. We headed down, down, down the mountains of breakdown, taking a quick detour to peer into a really deep pit on the right. Continuing down, down, down the breakdown, we spotted the Cleveland team on the breakdown mountain above us coming down like a line of christmas lights, which was a cool sight. They followed us to the start of the PSC passage, and Llew gave them directions from there. We eventually made it down to The Etrier room.
This is a 12' overhung ledge rigged with an old webbing etrier which leads down to a mid-level room. The mid-level room goes to a small, wet, stream crawl on the left, and a 30' ledge to a lower room on the right. We decided to rig a rope above the etrier, down the drop, around the corner, and down the ledge. This turned out to be a bad idea due to the large number of rub points involved. Next time, we'll either get wet in the stream crawl, or we'll rig the pit to the right just before the etrier drop (which looks like it connects to the later stream passage).
Anyway, everyone descended the two drops, ditched our vert gear, and headed down a passage towards the stream. It's here that Simmons-Mingo Cave really starts. The stream passage moves a lot of water and has carved a giant canyon passage. The floor is filled with potholes that make it look like swiss cheese. We climbed down into the canyon passage and headed upstream since it looked like we'd stay dryer than going downstream. Though the water didn't seem very high, we all got wet before long. After touring the upstream branch and poking leads, we decided to head back.
Bob and Mary in the big canyon passage. The cave stream is about 10' below them.
One-by-one we ascended up the first ledge. Progress was slow as several people were working out kinks in their frog systems. I was the last one up, pulled and stuffed the rope, then realized that my pack was sitting back down at the bottom. Damn. Rather than make everyone wait on me to rappel and ascend back up, I opted to try out the stream crawl instead. As I'd heard, it was definitely a wet crawl, with my chest in the water and butt against the ceiling. It's obvious by the size of the cobbles in this stream that it moves a good bit of water. We'll need to bring spare dry clothes if we take this route next time.
After derigging the rope, the climb back up and out all that breakdown began. This was pretty tiring work while wet, muddy, and carrying rope and vert gear. Brian took some good photos in one of the big rooms on the way out, then he sacrificed one of his flash units to the cave gods. We were back outside after about 6 hours, and the Cleveland Grotto had already left. We packed up and stopped for dinner on the way back to the campsite.
Group at the historic entrance to Simmons-Mingo Cave. (L-R) Brian Masney, Dave Riggs, Judi Wasilewski, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Llew Williams, Garth Dixon
All photos by Brian Masney
We met at 11am at the Monongahela Grotto's tent. We very carefully 4-wheeled out of the muddy OTR campsite and caravanned to Mingo Flats. Llew bribed the landowner's mean-looking dog with a granola bar, and he instantly became Llew's best friend. As we were almost completely geared-up, the Cleveland Grotto showed up behind us; they planned on taking a horizontal trip into the PSC passage. Even though there had been very significant rain the last several days, the stream at the parking area was low and sunk into its sediment bed, and the spring at the cave entrance was dry.
The way to a mean dog's heart is apparently through his stomach. Llew with his new best friend.
Our team descended the entrance climb, aided by the existing handline. We headed down, down, down the mountains of breakdown, taking a quick detour to peer into a really deep pit on the right. Continuing down, down, down the breakdown, we spotted the Cleveland team on the breakdown mountain above us coming down like a line of christmas lights, which was a cool sight. They followed us to the start of the PSC passage, and Llew gave them directions from there. We eventually made it down to The Etrier room.
This is a 12' overhung ledge rigged with an old webbing etrier which leads down to a mid-level room. The mid-level room goes to a small, wet, stream crawl on the left, and a 30' ledge to a lower room on the right. We decided to rig a rope above the etrier, down the drop, around the corner, and down the ledge. This turned out to be a bad idea due to the large number of rub points involved. Next time, we'll either get wet in the stream crawl, or we'll rig the pit to the right just before the etrier drop (which looks like it connects to the later stream passage).
Anyway, everyone descended the two drops, ditched our vert gear, and headed down a passage towards the stream. It's here that Simmons-Mingo Cave really starts. The stream passage moves a lot of water and has carved a giant canyon passage. The floor is filled with potholes that make it look like swiss cheese. We climbed down into the canyon passage and headed upstream since it looked like we'd stay dryer than going downstream. Though the water didn't seem very high, we all got wet before long. After touring the upstream branch and poking leads, we decided to head back.
Bob and Mary in the big canyon passage. The cave stream is about 10' below them.
One-by-one we ascended up the first ledge. Progress was slow as several people were working out kinks in their frog systems. I was the last one up, pulled and stuffed the rope, then realized that my pack was sitting back down at the bottom. Damn. Rather than make everyone wait on me to rappel and ascend back up, I opted to try out the stream crawl instead. As I'd heard, it was definitely a wet crawl, with my chest in the water and butt against the ceiling. It's obvious by the size of the cobbles in this stream that it moves a good bit of water. We'll need to bring spare dry clothes if we take this route next time.
After derigging the rope, the climb back up and out all that breakdown began. This was pretty tiring work while wet, muddy, and carrying rope and vert gear. Brian took some good photos in one of the big rooms on the way out, then he sacrificed one of his flash units to the cave gods. We were back outside after about 6 hours, and the Cleveland Grotto had already left. We packed up and stopped for dinner on the way back to the campsite.
Group at the historic entrance to Simmons-Mingo Cave. (L-R) Brian Masney, Dave Riggs, Judi Wasilewski, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Llew Williams, Garth Dixon
All photos by Brian Masney
OTR 2006
The 2006 Old Timers Reunion has come and gone; the rain seemed to scare away some of the kooks making it pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, the rain also made it cold, wet, and incredibly muddy... but you'll have that. Judi and I did some truck camping to avoid sleeping in a nasty tent, but we still wound up leaving at around midnight on Saturday to head back to warmer and dryer quarters.
Highlights:
- Instructions at the gate on the way in: "Do something weird."
- Caving trip into the historic entrance of Simmons-Mingo Cave
- Bill Biggers told me that I look just like Lew Bicking
- I picked up the Northern Pocahontas WVaSS Bulletin, the Karst Hydrology Atlas of WV, and the '89 SERA Guidebook
- Being videotaped for the blockbuster new film, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Druid Cave
- Seeing lots of friends and meeting lots of new ones
Monday, August 14, 2006
[trip] New River Cave BSA Trip
Judi Wasilewski and Pete Sauvigne of the VPI Cave Club and myself, Dave Riggs, led Boy Scout troop 140 of South Carolina into New River Cave this weekend. Our group consisted of 18 scouts, four adults and the three guides.
Troop 140 along the road below New River Cave
New River Cave is the longest cave in Giles County, VA, at over 5 miles in length. Access to the cave is forbidden without written permission from the owner, Tim Kilby. Parking is along the New River, and the sole cave entrance is up an extremely steep hillside. We slowly climbed up to the entrance, did a final equipment check, and all met in the entrance room just inside the cave. The land-owner had prepared a nice written statement to introduce everyone to the cave and to caving.
We broke the large group up into three smaller groups of 6 scouts each. My group, age group 15 - 18, spent about 3 hours in the cave. We headed back in to the register room, through lots of decorated passage, and back to a big fault chamber with a steep dirt slide down the fissure. They had a great time, asked lots of questions, and did an excellent job of traversing the cave terrain. Upon exiting the cave and realizing that we were the first ones out, they were eager to head back in and explore the cave aimlessly (and to try their best at surprising the other groups)!
The last group made it out after about 4 hours in cave, and everyone headed back down the mountainside to eat sandwiches. The scouts and the trip leaders both had a good time on this trip, and I'd enjoy leading another BSA troop in-cave again.
Troop 140 along the road below New River Cave
New River Cave is the longest cave in Giles County, VA, at over 5 miles in length. Access to the cave is forbidden without written permission from the owner, Tim Kilby. Parking is along the New River, and the sole cave entrance is up an extremely steep hillside. We slowly climbed up to the entrance, did a final equipment check, and all met in the entrance room just inside the cave. The land-owner had prepared a nice written statement to introduce everyone to the cave and to caving.
We broke the large group up into three smaller groups of 6 scouts each. My group, age group 15 - 18, spent about 3 hours in the cave. We headed back in to the register room, through lots of decorated passage, and back to a big fault chamber with a steep dirt slide down the fissure. They had a great time, asked lots of questions, and did an excellent job of traversing the cave terrain. Upon exiting the cave and realizing that we were the first ones out, they were eager to head back in and explore the cave aimlessly (and to try their best at surprising the other groups)!
The last group made it out after about 4 hours in cave, and everyone headed back down the mountainside to eat sandwiches. The scouts and the trip leaders both had a good time on this trip, and I'd enjoy leading another BSA troop in-cave again.
Monday, August 07, 2006
[trip] GVKS Survey 2
Another survey trip for the GVKS again last week, this one 16 hours with zero feet surveyed!
Terry McClanathan and I ascended the Southwest Dome, currently the tallest known pit in WV, to get an accurate measurement of its height. There's a rebelay about 185' off the floor; it's at a small loft so you can get off rope onto your feet when you cross the rebelay. The loft is large enough for a couple people to stand and keep clear of rockfall from above. You pendulum about 10' to the left and continue upwards, the top of the dome slowly getting narrower and narrower to the point that there's a nice "helmet check" shelf to avoid near the top.
The very top of the dome is really just a mud-floored shelf; another pit is visible to the left, and there's no obvious passage from there, though I never unclipped from the safety line to check. There were several small solutional passages intersecting the pit on opposite wall on the way up, but no water was noted from below the rebelay to the top of the dome.
The rebelay pendulum was a bit tricky on the way down, but from there you've got a straight rappel down the rest of the pit - at least, you would if the rope weren't so muddy. I had to feed my microrack most of the way down because it was so gritty! The last 75' of rope seemed clean, presumably from the small amount of spray present (we did not get wet on rope). The pit measured 247' from bolt to floor, 240' from the upper ledge.
It was amazing to follow the bolt route up this huge dome, what an incredible effort it must have been!
Frogging up the tallest known dome in WV... 20' off the floor, only 220' left to go!
This cave is NOT open to the general caving public. It is only open for survey by the Germany Valley Karst Survey under contract to Greer Industries. OTHER CAVING IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.
Photos by Brian Masney
Terry McClanathan and I ascended the Southwest Dome, currently the tallest known pit in WV, to get an accurate measurement of its height. There's a rebelay about 185' off the floor; it's at a small loft so you can get off rope onto your feet when you cross the rebelay. The loft is large enough for a couple people to stand and keep clear of rockfall from above. You pendulum about 10' to the left and continue upwards, the top of the dome slowly getting narrower and narrower to the point that there's a nice "helmet check" shelf to avoid near the top.
The very top of the dome is really just a mud-floored shelf; another pit is visible to the left, and there's no obvious passage from there, though I never unclipped from the safety line to check. There were several small solutional passages intersecting the pit on opposite wall on the way up, but no water was noted from below the rebelay to the top of the dome.
The rebelay pendulum was a bit tricky on the way down, but from there you've got a straight rappel down the rest of the pit - at least, you would if the rope weren't so muddy. I had to feed my microrack most of the way down because it was so gritty! The last 75' of rope seemed clean, presumably from the small amount of spray present (we did not get wet on rope). The pit measured 247' from bolt to floor, 240' from the upper ledge.
It was amazing to follow the bolt route up this huge dome, what an incredible effort it must have been!
Frogging up the tallest known dome in WV... 20' off the floor, only 220' left to go!
This cave is NOT open to the general caving public. It is only open for survey by the Germany Valley Karst Survey under contract to Greer Industries. OTHER CAVING IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.
Photos by Brian Masney
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Misc.
Judi and I drove down to Mingo Flats/Elk River Valley and met Llew Williams, Bob & Mary, and a few others for a trip into the historic entrance of Simmons-Mingo Cave. Llew had his camp set up in the mouth of the cave to keep cool. We climbed down and down a few breakdown hills, then descended a cable ladder to a nice pit and a wet crawl. Nobody had on vert gear, and the majority voted against getting wet, so we never made it to the Good Stuff.
One of my New Years Day Cave trip reports was published in this month's West Virginia Caver, does this make me a BNC?
Hellhole is now the 16th longest cave in the US at 23.90 miles. (Edit: 2006 season closed with 24.92 miles, passing Sloans Valley for 15th place!)
I got my TRA membership in the mail today... not bad considering I mailed it in the day before the deadline. See you at OTR!
Judi Wasilewski and Dave Riggs in Simmons-Mingo Cave. Photo by Llew Williams.
One of my New Years Day Cave trip reports was published in this month's West Virginia Caver, does this make me a BNC?
Hellhole is now the 16th longest cave in the US at 23.90 miles. (Edit: 2006 season closed with 24.92 miles, passing Sloans Valley for 15th place!)
I got my TRA membership in the mail today... not bad considering I mailed it in the day before the deadline. See you at OTR!
Judi Wasilewski and Dave Riggs in Simmons-Mingo Cave. Photo by Llew Williams.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
[trip] Barton Cave Beginner Trip
Doug McCarty, Brian Masney, John Tudek, John ?, and myself met at the Exxon on route 857 at 6pm for a beginner's trip into Barton Cave. We waited for half an hour, but the beginners never showed. We drove to the cave, geared up, and headed in. The cave takes about 45 minutes to get to from Morgantown, and is a 10 minute hike from the parking area. It's a very easy cave, horizontal, not too crawly, and mostly dry. It's formed in very sandy limestone or limey sandstone. We were back in Morgantown in time to get Mexican for dinner.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
[trip] GVKS Survey
This weekend I managed to get on a GVKS survey team into a legendary closed cave. Brian Masney and I were on a survey team with Dwight Livingston; we were to find and survey a lead off a particular large room. We rigged and dropped the beautiful entrance drop around noon on Saturday and traveled about 4.5 hours into the cave, doing three more rappels on the way. Parts of the cave felt like going on a hike in the mountains, climbing steep hills or walking rocky trails in wide-open, massive passage. Of course, there were also plenty of squeezes and crawls, which were just as nasty as the borehole was spectacular. We spent a few hours investigating every lead we could find in the area, but couldn't find any that had not yet been surveyed. At least Brian got some awesome photos of the area. The trip out was exhausting but still enjoyable. We were above-ground at 1:30am.
Beautiful view of the entrance pit
Brian Masney models his new boots in some big passage south of the large room
Dave Riggs and shadow in another large room south of the large room
Photos by Brian Masney.
Beautiful view of the entrance pit
Brian Masney models his new boots in some big passage south of the large room
Dave Riggs and shadow in another large room south of the large room
Photos by Brian Masney.
Monday, June 12, 2006
[trip] Biology Study
Bob Griffith and I helped Dr. Daniel Fong and Dr. Horton Hobbs on a biology study this week, cataloguing invertebrate cave fauna. We took them to Beaverhole Upper, Maiden Run #2, and Maiden Run #1 on Monday, then to Beaverhole Lower on Tuesday. I'm now an honorary vertical biologist.
Horton Hobbs, Katie Schneider, Dan Fong, Dave Riggs
Horton Hobbs, Katie Schneider, Dan Fong, Dave Riggs
[trip] New Years Day Cave Survey
Aaron Bird, Brian Masney, Jason Thomas, and myself (Dave Riggs) made another trip back into New Years Day Cave this weekend (June 10). We first surveyed from the bedrock-on-bedrock crawl, through the Whack-A-Mole™ Way, to the last dig. We then broke up into two teams, and together surveyed through Jason's wormhole, past the dome, past the low/wide stuff, and into the crumbly canyon passage that we last turned around in.
We were in cave about 9 hours and surveyed about 1010', which brings New Years Day Cave to a whopping 2499' length - now the longest cave in Monongalia County (topping Maiden Run Cave #1 at 1800')!
Amazingly, we do this for fun.
The line plot shows NYDC heading directly for the end of Druid Cave, with about 400' straight-line distance between their surveys. We turned around in canyon passage that requires a hammer to continue forward, and the Druid wind is still very strong in this far end of the cave.
Photo by Brian Masney
We were in cave about 9 hours and surveyed about 1010', which brings New Years Day Cave to a whopping 2499' length - now the longest cave in Monongalia County (topping Maiden Run Cave #1 at 1800')!
Amazingly, we do this for fun.
The line plot shows NYDC heading directly for the end of Druid Cave, with about 400' straight-line distance between their surveys. We turned around in canyon passage that requires a hammer to continue forward, and the Druid wind is still very strong in this far end of the cave.
Photo by Brian Masney
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Hiking Maiden Run
I went for a nice hike along Maiden Run this afternoon. I took some photos of Maiden Run #2, Maiden Run #1, a FRO above Maiden Run #1, and a small opening that may be Maiden Run #3 (see better photo from last visit). I also tried to find a sinkhole that the Mon Grotto dug in 1975 (see email discussion), but didn't have any luck.
Entrance to Maiden Run #2 is a down-sloping crawl to stooping passage with a cave stream. This cave lightly blows cool air.
Entrance to Maiden Run #2 is a down-sloping crawl to stooping passage with a cave stream. This cave lightly blows cool air.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
[trip] Caving in Tennessee
We had a large turnout at TAG this past weekend: Rich Finley, Jill Pile, Jason Thomas, Melissa Parker, Dave Riggs, Judi Wasilewski, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis (both showed up on Monday), Ryan Ellers, Garth Dixon and myself (Brian Masney).
We camped in Fall Creek Falls State Park in Central Tennessee on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
On Saturday, we went into Rumbling Falls Cave. We split into two teams: Jason, Brian, Dave and Judi comprised the first team that went in to get everything rigged. Later in the day, the derigging team (Rich, Garth and Ryan) came into the cave. Rumbling Falls has a 70' entrance drop. You continue upstream through walking passage. There are two 20' up climbs along the way. You continue upstream and the passage eventually becomes a hands and knees crawl and then it becomes a belly crawl in the stream. At this point, I thought: "Why did we come here? We have this kind of stuff back home in Morgantown!" It eventually opens up a little bit and it requires several climbs, crawls, chimneys, cussing, etc. to continue through the passage. You eventually cross a drainage divide. At this point, the passage slowly starts to get a little bigger. You walk a short distance and you come to the Rumble Room. It is 5 acres in size and there is a 201' rappel to the top of the breakdown. This is the biggest known underground room in TN and it is big enough to fit the Lousiana Superdome in there.
Judi at the top of the Rumble Room.
The 5 acre Rumble Room in Rumbling Falls Cave. Thanks to Jason Thomas and Dave Riggs for helping light up the room with their Sten Lights while I did a time exposure with my camera.
On Sunday, everyone went to Conley Hole. The cave is about 9/10 of a mile from the parking area. The first half mile is easy walking through a field. The rest of the hike requires bush whacking through the woods to find the cave. There isn't a trail to the cave. Luckily I had good GPS coordinates to the pit or else we wouldn't have found it. The entrance to the pit is 20' in diameter and it really opens up about 50' from the top. The pit is about 186' deep.
Judi at the entrance to Conley Hole. Photo by Dave Riggs.
The entrance to Conley Hole from the bottom. Notice the rappeller on rope.
Ryan and Dave standing under some formations in Conley Hole.
On Monday, everyone went to Mystery Falls Cave. This pit is 286' deep and it is the deepest known pit in Tennessee. The cave is gated and it requires a permit to visit the cave. There is about 100'+ of horizontal passage that leads you to the top of the 286' pit. The pit is highly decorated and it really bells as you get closer to the bottom.
Dave at the top of the 286' drop in Mystery Falls Cave.
Mary at the bottom of the 286' drop in Mystery Falls Cave.
All in all, the entire trip went really well. We had too many people in the pits though. This made some of the trips really long. Next time, we need to split up into smaller groups.
I uploaded photos from the trip to my Flickr account. Special thanks to everyone who helped out with the photos. See also Dave's photos from Conley Hole.
Photos by Brian Masney unless otherwise noted.
We camped in Fall Creek Falls State Park in Central Tennessee on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
On Saturday, we went into Rumbling Falls Cave. We split into two teams: Jason, Brian, Dave and Judi comprised the first team that went in to get everything rigged. Later in the day, the derigging team (Rich, Garth and Ryan) came into the cave. Rumbling Falls has a 70' entrance drop. You continue upstream through walking passage. There are two 20' up climbs along the way. You continue upstream and the passage eventually becomes a hands and knees crawl and then it becomes a belly crawl in the stream. At this point, I thought: "Why did we come here? We have this kind of stuff back home in Morgantown!" It eventually opens up a little bit and it requires several climbs, crawls, chimneys, cussing, etc. to continue through the passage. You eventually cross a drainage divide. At this point, the passage slowly starts to get a little bigger. You walk a short distance and you come to the Rumble Room. It is 5 acres in size and there is a 201' rappel to the top of the breakdown. This is the biggest known underground room in TN and it is big enough to fit the Lousiana Superdome in there.
Judi at the top of the Rumble Room.
The 5 acre Rumble Room in Rumbling Falls Cave. Thanks to Jason Thomas and Dave Riggs for helping light up the room with their Sten Lights while I did a time exposure with my camera.
On Sunday, everyone went to Conley Hole. The cave is about 9/10 of a mile from the parking area. The first half mile is easy walking through a field. The rest of the hike requires bush whacking through the woods to find the cave. There isn't a trail to the cave. Luckily I had good GPS coordinates to the pit or else we wouldn't have found it. The entrance to the pit is 20' in diameter and it really opens up about 50' from the top. The pit is about 186' deep.
Judi at the entrance to Conley Hole. Photo by Dave Riggs.
The entrance to Conley Hole from the bottom. Notice the rappeller on rope.
Ryan and Dave standing under some formations in Conley Hole.
On Monday, everyone went to Mystery Falls Cave. This pit is 286' deep and it is the deepest known pit in Tennessee. The cave is gated and it requires a permit to visit the cave. There is about 100'+ of horizontal passage that leads you to the top of the 286' pit. The pit is highly decorated and it really bells as you get closer to the bottom.
Dave at the top of the 286' drop in Mystery Falls Cave.
Mary at the bottom of the 286' drop in Mystery Falls Cave.
All in all, the entire trip went really well. We had too many people in the pits though. This made some of the trips really long. Next time, we need to split up into smaller groups.
I uploaded photos from the trip to my Flickr account. Special thanks to everyone who helped out with the photos. See also Dave's photos from Conley Hole.
Photos by Brian Masney unless otherwise noted.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
[trip] New Years Day Cave Push
This past Saturday, May 13, Brian Masney, Jason Thomas, Bob Kirk, and myself (Dave Riggs) made another trek into New Years Day Cave. NYDC is believed to be the still-unconnected upstream trunk of Druid Cave. The goal of this push trip was to get past a boulder blocking further progress into the cave - Bob had helped us past similar obstacles at the downstream dig, and was making his first trip into NYDC to help us continue forward.
We met in Morgantown around 9am, drove up to the lip of the Cheat Canyon, and started the trek downhill. All four of us suited up in wetsuits with warm layers over top, carried spare layers sealed up in dry packs, and packed in hand warmers, candles, and a heat tent. Armed for battle with a brutal cave, we headed underground at just after 10:30am.
Brian Masney, Dave Riggs, Jason Thomas, Bob Kirk prepare for another relaxing day in New Years Day Cave
Luck seemed to be with us; the water level was low and the moderate temperature outside meant that the cave air was relatively still. Because we were able to stay dry, we actually had to stop and cool off halfway through the sandy "beach" crawl - a wide silt stream bank with a very low ceiling. Everyone was soon soaked after trekking through the cave stream and going headfirst down into a much-loathed water crawl. From here, we did a short jog through the Mon County Borehole and made it to the rock-on-rock-slab crawl at the end of the current survey.
We went ahead and to the Whack-A-Mole™ passage, so named because the finger-like protruding shelves needed whacked with a hammer to comfortably walk through. This was my first time past the last survey station, and I was honestly impressed with the size, the speed we were able to travel, and the distance that this passage covers. For New Years Day Cave, being able to stand upright and walk forward for more than a hundred feet is a welcome treat. I expect the next survey trip to add a good bit of distance because of this passage. Notable here was a large number of shell fossils embedded in several of the limestone beds along the walls.
Finally, after close to two hours(?), we reached our destination: a narrow trench going down from an upper passage to the stream level below, blocked at the very bottom by a boulder just barely larger than the opening it guarded. Jason, Bob, and I started to work on it immediately. Jason and I each drilled a hole, but progress was slow. The passage was apparently blocked with the only sandstone boulder in the entire limestone cave - it would quickly crumble and fill any hole we drilled, while the edges would crumble under the pressure. Meanwhile, Brian suited up, grabbed a shovel, and pushed a parallel lower path in the stream. He made it forward almost to where our boulder was, but was obstructed by more breakdown.
After unsuccessfully trying to tug the boulder out of the way with webbing, it was decided that our best bet against the unwilling rock was to simply pulverize it with the hammer. We easily rounded all the corners, but it was extremely difficult to swing powerful blows in the bottom of the 18" wide slot - progress was again slow. In addition, we were very weary of some sketchy breakdown seemingly balanced on the rocks adjacent to our sandstone foe. We took turns pounding on it, gradually chipping it smaller and smaller, and keeping us from becoming too chilled.
Near 4:30pm we succeeded in rolling the deflated boulder out of the way, leaving a huge mound of powdered rock behind in its place. I squeezed through the opening, being careful not to touch the breakdown on my side, and crawled forward in the stream passage. I shouted back, "It goes... but it sucks!". I went about a body length in and could see that the tunnel shrunk up ahead to painful proportions, with no visible place to turn around. Worse still was the backside view of the sketchy breakdown... the protruding bottom rock itself appeared to be held in place just by the weight of the piles of rock above it. I squirmed out and Jason popped in to confirm that this was at best an obstacle to tackle another day, and given how unstable the adjacent wall seemed, could at worst be the end of the line for New Years Day Cave.
Everyone huddled up above to discuss the situation. Frustrated that this nasty cave could defeat us after all the trips in and out over the past two years, Jason decided to prove to NYDC who was in charge. He went head-first into the sketchy upper "passage", a pile of breakdown supported by breakdown with a roof made of... breakdown. He started pushing and shoving rocks aside, and inching his way forward - head-first, downhill, without room to turn himself around. And after at least 15 grueling minutes of this...
Jason Thomas triumphs over NYDC
...Jason had broken into a virgin room.
We clamored one after one through his wormhole, each of us prying or tossing aside a rock or three so we could fit. The room is about a dozen feet tall, one side frighteningly walled by a mudslide. You drop down to stream level, follow the stream forward a bit and the ceiling becomes lower, to stoop height. A dome, 15 - 20' high awaits, with the first real formation I've seen in New Years Day Cave. From here the stream meanders a bit, the ceiling gets lower and lower, the passage gets very very wide - probably 40' at its widest width, 2.5' at its lowest height.
A couple-hundred feet in, there is a boulder intersection, which we went around and followed the wind down a crawl. Here the passage becomes very different - fingery canyon passage, narrow but 6 - 8' tall, meandering with the water. The "limestone" has a black coating and the fingers can be easily broken off, as if composed of some rotten mud-rock. The Druid winds continued, but we turned back to save the booty for another survey trip.
Jason in the virgin canyon passage, note the rotten limestone walls
The trip back out was exhausting. The pointed shelves in the Whack-A-Mole™ passage are shaped such that they poke and grab at every piece of your suit and pack on the way out. We were all coated with sandy mud, and our packs were filled with gear (Bob measured his with a fishing scale afterwards - 50lbs). We finally exited, before dark, scrubbed ourselves off in Lick Run, then hiked back up the brutal hill with mixed emotions. Brian summed everyone's feelings up by saying "Jason, I don't know whether to hug you or kick you!"
Photos by Brian Masney
We met in Morgantown around 9am, drove up to the lip of the Cheat Canyon, and started the trek downhill. All four of us suited up in wetsuits with warm layers over top, carried spare layers sealed up in dry packs, and packed in hand warmers, candles, and a heat tent. Armed for battle with a brutal cave, we headed underground at just after 10:30am.
Brian Masney, Dave Riggs, Jason Thomas, Bob Kirk prepare for another relaxing day in New Years Day Cave
Luck seemed to be with us; the water level was low and the moderate temperature outside meant that the cave air was relatively still. Because we were able to stay dry, we actually had to stop and cool off halfway through the sandy "beach" crawl - a wide silt stream bank with a very low ceiling. Everyone was soon soaked after trekking through the cave stream and going headfirst down into a much-loathed water crawl. From here, we did a short jog through the Mon County Borehole and made it to the rock-on-rock-slab crawl at the end of the current survey.
We went ahead and to the Whack-A-Mole™ passage, so named because the finger-like protruding shelves needed whacked with a hammer to comfortably walk through. This was my first time past the last survey station, and I was honestly impressed with the size, the speed we were able to travel, and the distance that this passage covers. For New Years Day Cave, being able to stand upright and walk forward for more than a hundred feet is a welcome treat. I expect the next survey trip to add a good bit of distance because of this passage. Notable here was a large number of shell fossils embedded in several of the limestone beds along the walls.
Finally, after close to two hours(?), we reached our destination: a narrow trench going down from an upper passage to the stream level below, blocked at the very bottom by a boulder just barely larger than the opening it guarded. Jason, Bob, and I started to work on it immediately. Jason and I each drilled a hole, but progress was slow. The passage was apparently blocked with the only sandstone boulder in the entire limestone cave - it would quickly crumble and fill any hole we drilled, while the edges would crumble under the pressure. Meanwhile, Brian suited up, grabbed a shovel, and pushed a parallel lower path in the stream. He made it forward almost to where our boulder was, but was obstructed by more breakdown.
After unsuccessfully trying to tug the boulder out of the way with webbing, it was decided that our best bet against the unwilling rock was to simply pulverize it with the hammer. We easily rounded all the corners, but it was extremely difficult to swing powerful blows in the bottom of the 18" wide slot - progress was again slow. In addition, we were very weary of some sketchy breakdown seemingly balanced on the rocks adjacent to our sandstone foe. We took turns pounding on it, gradually chipping it smaller and smaller, and keeping us from becoming too chilled.
Near 4:30pm we succeeded in rolling the deflated boulder out of the way, leaving a huge mound of powdered rock behind in its place. I squeezed through the opening, being careful not to touch the breakdown on my side, and crawled forward in the stream passage. I shouted back, "It goes... but it sucks!". I went about a body length in and could see that the tunnel shrunk up ahead to painful proportions, with no visible place to turn around. Worse still was the backside view of the sketchy breakdown... the protruding bottom rock itself appeared to be held in place just by the weight of the piles of rock above it. I squirmed out and Jason popped in to confirm that this was at best an obstacle to tackle another day, and given how unstable the adjacent wall seemed, could at worst be the end of the line for New Years Day Cave.
Everyone huddled up above to discuss the situation. Frustrated that this nasty cave could defeat us after all the trips in and out over the past two years, Jason decided to prove to NYDC who was in charge. He went head-first into the sketchy upper "passage", a pile of breakdown supported by breakdown with a roof made of... breakdown. He started pushing and shoving rocks aside, and inching his way forward - head-first, downhill, without room to turn himself around. And after at least 15 grueling minutes of this...
Jason Thomas triumphs over NYDC
...Jason had broken into a virgin room.
We clamored one after one through his wormhole, each of us prying or tossing aside a rock or three so we could fit. The room is about a dozen feet tall, one side frighteningly walled by a mudslide. You drop down to stream level, follow the stream forward a bit and the ceiling becomes lower, to stoop height. A dome, 15 - 20' high awaits, with the first real formation I've seen in New Years Day Cave. From here the stream meanders a bit, the ceiling gets lower and lower, the passage gets very very wide - probably 40' at its widest width, 2.5' at its lowest height.
A couple-hundred feet in, there is a boulder intersection, which we went around and followed the wind down a crawl. Here the passage becomes very different - fingery canyon passage, narrow but 6 - 8' tall, meandering with the water. The "limestone" has a black coating and the fingers can be easily broken off, as if composed of some rotten mud-rock. The Druid winds continued, but we turned back to save the booty for another survey trip.
Jason in the virgin canyon passage, note the rotten limestone walls
The trip back out was exhausting. The pointed shelves in the Whack-A-Mole™ passage are shaped such that they poke and grab at every piece of your suit and pack on the way out. We were all coated with sandy mud, and our packs were filled with gear (Bob measured his with a fishing scale afterwards - 50lbs). We finally exited, before dark, scrubbed ourselves off in Lick Run, then hiked back up the brutal hill with mixed emotions. Brian summed everyone's feelings up by saying "Jason, I don't know whether to hug you or kick you!"
Photos by Brian Masney
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
2006 Spring VAR
This is not a trip report! Brian and I drove down to VAR in Grottoes VA this weekend. They went into Grand Caverns, I didn't. We went to the Devil's Marble Yard in the Jefferson National Forest, which was awesome. I picked up an original printing of WVaSS Bulletin 5, Caves of North Central West Virginia from Speleobooks. On the way home, Brian and I hiked to the top of Seneca Rocks.
Brian Masney, Carrie Blankenship, Sam ???, John Tudek, Judi Wasilewski, Dave Riggs at the Devil's Marble Yard
See Brian's photos for more of a trip report than this posting is.
Brian Masney, Carrie Blankenship, Sam ???, John Tudek, Judi Wasilewski, Dave Riggs at the Devil's Marble Yard
See Brian's photos for more of a trip report than this posting is.
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