Yesterday Logan McNatt wrote in response to Jim Kennedy's Punkin Cave trip
report saying, " I think a lot of us on the list would enjoy reading more trip
reports from those who actually go caving." I for one honestly didn't realize
that. Thanks for saying so, Logan.
Here are a couple of trip reports:
Texans Do TAG: There is a feature article in the works about this trip for an
upcoming issue of the Texas Caver.
On Saturday, Nov. 19, Ellie Watson (Bexar Grotto), Mallory Mayeax (Greater
Houston Grotto), Steve Webb and I (DFW Grotto) drove from Irving, Texas to
Scottsboro, Alabama and met up with Jim Smith of Atlanta. For the next three
days the four of us (with Jim as our faithful guide) did some classic TAG pits:
164' Neversink, 147' Stephen's Gap, 227' Valhalla, and 285' Mystery Falls. On
Wednesday morning we were joined by Arkansas cavers Deitra Roberts and Brent
Biely (actually lives in Oklahoma) and that day did 186' Cagle's Chasm and the
80' second drop in it, rigging a crossover, and at dusk did 165' The Sinkhole.
I climbed out of The Sinkhole first and then drove solo about 120 miles to
Nashville to pick up Diana Tomchick at the airport. In the dead of night Diana
and I found everyone else on a farm near Sparta, TN, where 37 mile-long Blue
Springs Cave is located.
The next day was Thanksgiving Day and in the morning legendary TAG caver Marion
Smith (he told me that he's been in 7,500 different caves) and sometime Texas
resident Phillip Rykwalder showed up and went with us deep into Blue Springs
Cave. We went 3 1/2 miles into it and back out, with over two miles of it in
gigantic borehole tunnel, though some of it was long and hard crawling. The BO
Crawl was said to be about 3,000 feet long, with a couple of respites where you
could stand up.
That night we had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast around a campfire, the
highlight of which to me, was the homemade cranberry and mango sparkling wine
Brent had made and brought.
On Friday we went to Cumberland Caverns, a renown show cave, and were guided
far off the tourist trails with one of the original explorers of it, Bill
Walter. Bill started exploring in Cumberland Caverns when he was 15 years old
and he's 73 years old now. We were warned ahead of time that it's not easy to
keep up with him, but we did, though it was not easy. He moves very effortless
through a cave.
Our time was running out, but we did squeeze in one more pit on Saturday
morning. Our last one was 251' Ferris Pit, said to be the deepest open air
free fall pit in TAG, and it's quite a beauty. It was wet, and everyone got
drenched, which is always good practice.
We headed back to Texas at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26, doing an all-nighter
with three drivers and getting back to Irving around 7:00 a.m.
Last Saturday, Dec. 3, there was a trip to Spring Creek Cave, Kendall Co.,
Texas. Spring Creek Cave is a DFW Grotto project and we have been pushing its
passages and mapping more cave there for the past three years.
Our objectives last weekend included doing a tank haul for Jean "Creature"
Krecja and and James Brown so they could push a low airspace passage (which may
sump soon) about a mile into the cave at the top of the Shower Stall waterfall.
Logistics kept the dive from happening, and a return trip this weekend with
mostly Austin cavers in support of Creature and James, should end up with more
exploration and mapping done upstream of the Shower Stall.
Once we tank haulers got Creature and James into their lead, we went to the
Soda Straw Heaven and Wallow side passage and pushed it another 14 survey
stations with 213 feet of survey before calling it a day and picking up dive
gear on the way out.
Now coming up for Diana Tomchick and me soon, in fact next Wednesday, we're
flying to Chongqing, China and caving on an Erin Lynch led expedition. The
cave is Er Wang Dong, and you can Google it if you're interested in what's been
going on there.
Happy holidays and good caving!
Bill Steele
