I remember following Ken in Russell's and we were in that tight spot and I could hear Ken's heart beating. I also heard the dog barking. Maybe it was the dog's heart beating...
-Ed Snyder- Sent from my iPhone > On Mar 11, 2014, at 8:36 AM, Ken Harrington <[email protected]> > wrote: > > In 1966 or 1967 four of us set off for a two day dig in Russell's Crawl. > Members of the party as I remember were Gary Davis, Ed Glenn, Ed Snyder and > myself. We entered the cave on Friday evening and proceeded to the dig face > at the end of Russell's Crawl. At that time the Hoeman's Passage had not > been started and we were following the air straight ahead in Russell's Crawl. > We took turns digging and had been digging for about 24 hours so it was late > Saturday night or early Sunday morning when Ed Glenn returned from his stint > at the dig face. He proceeded to tell us about the lovely young girl that he > had met and how enchanting she was. At that point in time the rest of us > determined that he was hallucinating and it was time to get out of there. We > exited the cave with no further problems except that Ed was firmly convinced > that he had actually met the young lady and that he was not hallucinating. > On another dig trip with Ed Snyder, Gary Davis, John King and myself we were > digging in Russell's Crawl when we all heard a dog barking. It was strange > because at first none of us wanted to admit that he had heard a dog barking. > The source of the dog barking was never determined. > I believe that the folding shovel with Gary Davis's name on it may have been > left there on one of these digging adventures. > > Ken > > > Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass - It's about dancing in the > rain. > > Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:51:38 -0500 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > CC: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [SWR] A New Thread: Crawlways > > I remember my first trip through the infamous Russell's Crawl. It was in > 1971 or there about. The sand siphon is only 6 inches high and it descends > at a 15% angle. One has to dig the sand out, push the sand behind you and > literally bury yourself as you worm your way in. I was new to caving and > didn't like tight crawls. By the time that I was through, I was in a near > panic. I wanted out of there. About 10 or 15 from the siphon, I tried to > turn around. Too tight. When it opened up after another few feet, I was > like Curly of the Three Stooges lying on the floor and trying to walk myself > in a circle. "Whew, whew, whew!" I could have gone another 10 feet, where > the passage opened up, but noooooooo. Fortunately, the sand siphon is much > easier to exit than enter. I went there a couple of years later, but never > went much farther than the twin rooms. > > Steve, you want to do Fool's Crawl? I am sure that we can get some poor fool > to push a camera ahead of him or her and we can watch it from the comfort of > our respective living rooms. > Mike > > On 3/11/2014 8:39 AM, Steve Peerman wrote: > Mike, > An interesting topic, and it brings back memories -- but not of Fool's > Crawl, because I wasn't on any of those trips. I've never been through > Fool's Crawl -- it had to have been someone else. > > One interesting crawlway memory that I have involves Russell's Crawl, not > far from the entrance of Fort Stanton Cave. Russell's Crawl is not muddy > like Fool's Crawl, but does have a section where one has to "swim" through > the sand that almost fills the crawlway. At any rate, I was in Russell's > Crawl during an SWR regional many years ago, when a desperate need to visit > the rest room hit me (take a dump; pinch a log; drop a load; i.e., defecate). > I did not have a burrito bag with me. > I faced the choice of using my pack as a toilet or attempting to make it to > the surface to the one-holer that used to be just downhill from the fence > gate. A number of issues were on my mind. #1 -- I had to swim through the > sand crawl -- not an easy task, even when you don't have something else > "pressing". #2, there is a substantial amount of vertical relief between > Russell's Crawl and the surface. Exercise generally acts as a stimulant for > a bowel movement. #3 -- the main and fence gates would likely be open, > considering that this was a regional, but perhaps not. Any unnecessary > delays could be messy. #4 -- (my worst fear) the toilet might be occupied. > I told my companions about my dilemma, and they did not see using my pack as > a toilet as a viable option in the small passage. So I began the journey to > the surface. You know how everything seems to take longer when you are in a > hurry? The swim through the sand crawl seemed to take forever. Even though > it was only maybe 10 or 15 feet long, progress seemed to go by fractions of > an inch. Once out of the crawlway, I was on a dead run for the surface. The > main gate was fortunately open. I recall passing another group in the > entrance sink. I didn't pause for conversation, but said, "you didn't lock > the gate did you?" "Ah no, what's the hurry?" Perhaps they saw the > desperation in my countenance. I don't know, I didn't wait around to discuss > the matter. I flew out the gate and headed down the hill, yelling, "anyone > in there?" as I approached. The gods were smiling. It was unoccupied. > Relief. I made it. > Moral of the story -- always have a burrito bag. Or better yet, visit the > bathroom before the caving trip. > > On Mar 10, 2014, at 7:00 PM, Michael Lorimer wrote: > > I would like open up a new discussion thread. We have all had many wonderful > caving experiences, some of them bordering on the fantastic. I would like to > start the ball rolling with crawlways. How about writing something about > your best or worst crawlway experience? The good, the bad, the muddiest, the > most horrible, the funniest. You name it. > > Fool’s Crawl, Fort Stanton Cave, New Mexico > > I first ‘heard’ of Fool’s Crawl when I saw it in 1970 on the > standard map that the BLM handed out with its permits. While I was > interested, I was too busy digging with Lee Skinner and “super digger” Dennis > Engle to check it out. It was around the spring of 1974 that I made my first > attempt to worm my way through what was rumored to be a rather tight and > nasty crawl. Now my memory isn’t good enough to recall those who accompanied > me on these trips, but I believe that Steve Peerman was on every trip. As we > entered the Sewer Pipe, almost immediately we encountered water. At first, > it was only a little soupy mud. Then it became water-filled footprints. As > we traveled farther into the Sewer Pipe, we sloshed through 3 inch deep > water. The water became deeper as we progressed. Soon we were sliding over > slick mounds of clay as the ceiling lowered and the water deepened to a > couple of feet. Our little adventure was halted when we came to where the > cave siphoned. I crawled to where theceiling met that water and looked to > see if I could spot the infamous crawl. Nope. From hindsight, I estimate > that we were some ten to twenty feet from the actual Fool’s Crawl. As a side > note, there were many little irregular shaped rafts that were some 3 or 4 > inches in diameter and composed some sort of calcareous material floating on > the water near the siphon. It reminded me of the snowflakes in Snowflake > Passage. > > Later that year or the next year, we tried it again. I must > confess that I hate tight crawlways as I am a bit claustrophobic. With that > in mind, I ‘researched’ the crawl by talking to veteran cavers. What I heard > was basically, “It is tight, but it opens up rather quickly.” Because of my > fear of tight spaces, I led. If I can keep moving, if only inch by painful > inch then my mind isn’t occupied by thoughts of where I am, which is entombed > by millions of tons of unescapable rock. I hate moving forward and seeing a > pair of boots blocking my way and having to wait for someone or many someones > to slither their way through a tight spot. When I came to the crawlway, the > water level was down and only a puddle remained at the tightest and lowest > spot of the crawl. The crawlway is roughly 15 inches wide and perhaps a foot > tall. I tried to go through with my belly down and my shoulders parallel, > but my shoulders were too wide. I wiggled in on my back with my right arm > extended over my head, pushing my pack and my carbide light-equipped helmet > ahead of me. My left arm hung uselessly down at my side. At the tightest > spot, I discovered that the puddle was some 6 inches deep and, with my body > displacing most of the water, the level rose. Now I was in a passage with > water filling it to about 2 or 3 inches from the ceiling. I remember the > water lapping at my face. It was very slippery and I wiggled like an eel to > squeeze my body through that tight, water-soaked mud hole. Relief flooded > through me when I finally exited from the fool’s part of the crawl. Now the > passage had risen to a whole 14 or 15 inches and was about 3 feet wide. The > ceiling, walls and floor were coated with wet slippery mud > and so was I. It might as well have had ice for all the progress I was > making, but make progress I made, a half inch at a time. After about 2 or 3 > body lengths of slowly working my way forward, I was able to crawl on hands > and knees into Snowflake Passage. I knew that I could and would take the > easy exit via the Skyscraper Domes. One of the advantages of being first is > that you can listen to the complaints and swearing coming from deep within > the passage that you just vacated and greet your muddy friends as they exit. > > A year later, I tried the crawl again. I had a fresh crop of > novice cavers who were willing to try something challenging. This time > Fool’s Crawl was dry. Fort Stanton Cave never quite dries out though. Now, > instead of being super slippery, the walls, floor, ceiling and I were coated > with sticky mud. It was like I was wearing a Velcro suit and the cave was > wearing the hooks. As before, I went first as I pushed my pack and helmet > ahead of me. I couldn't drag myself forward as the floor acted like glue. I > had to lift my body up a half inch, push forward and come down. Repeat. > Repeat. I can’t remember how many times I did that simple action. Once I > was past the tight spot, I discovered that if I lifted myself a little too > high, I stuck to the ceiling. I was also sticking to the floor. Lift, move > forward a 1/2 inch. Down. And repeat. Progress was made a > slow half inch at a time. By comparison, being a wet muddy fish in that wet > muddy crawl was easier (but not by much), than being a caving "tar baby" in a > tight passage coated with the sticky equivalent of caver tar. That was the > last time I went through Fool’s Crawl. I imagine that the crawl hasn’t > changed since Steve and I crawled through it some 30 years ago. If you are > inclined to brave the tight stuff and would like to sample a bit of > claustrophobia, you might give Fool’s Crawl a try. I am too old and too fat > to do it again. Thank goodness. > > > -- > Michael D. Lorimer > 1826 Mount Joy Dr. > San Antonio, TX 78232 > 575 644-1763 > _______________________________________________ > SWR mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET > > Steve Peerman > > > "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by > the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, > Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your > sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." > attributed to Mark Twain, but no record exists of his having written this. > > > -- > Michael D. Lorimer > 1826 Mount Joy Dr. > San Antonio, TX 78232 > 575 644-1763 > > _______________________________________________ SWR mailing list > [email protected] http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr > _______________________________________________ This list is provided free as > a courtesy of CAVERNET > _______________________________________________ > SWR mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
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