speleonews feb15

2 The Windy Ci ty Speleonews, February 2015 Vol . 55

THE W INDY C ITY SPELEONEWS

PUBLISHED QU ARTERLY B Y

T HE W I ND Y C IT Y G R OT T O OF T HE

N A T IO N A L S P E L E OL OG IC A L S OC IE T Y

Phi l Go ldm a n 414 N . E lm S t .

Mt . P ro spec t , I l l i no is 60 056

Send e xc ha nge s/co r re spo nde nce to t he ed i to r :

Ra lp h Ear la nd so n 802 S . H ig h la nd Ave.

Oak Park , I l l i no is 6 0304 -15 29

Grot to m em ber sh ip s, w i t h t he Speleonews , a re $15.00 per ye ar . Fam i l y -d epe nde nt m em ber -sh ip s, w i t ho ut t he Speleonews , a re $ 5.0 0. Ava i lab le to p ub l i sh ing gro t to s b y e xc ha ng e. Adver t is i ng a vai la ble . Co nt ac t e d i to r f o r m ore inf orm at io n.

ISSN 0148 -28 23 The W ind y C i t y G ro t to U nder gro und P re ss

WCG BO ARD MEMBERS

C HA I R P E RS O N - - Phi l Gol dma n ph i l@ ho useof go ldm a n.or g (847) 632 -129 0

V IC E -C HA I R P E R S O N - - R ic h Page ls bage ls10 1@sbc g loba l . ne t (815) 793 -141 0

S E C R E T A R Y - - Greg Sc hmit cavec r i t te r 100@gm a i l . com (708) 387 -059 2

T RE A S U R E R - - La ura Sa ngai l a l sa nga i la@ya hoo .com (630) 306 -634 0

ME M B E R -A T - LA RG E - - B i l l Engl is h W CG_KaverB i l l@ya hoo .com (773) 342 -609 7

S P E L E O N E W S E D IT O R - - Ralph Ear la nds on ra lp h.e ar la nd so n@gm ai l . c om (708) 524 -121 5

COMM ITTEE CH AIRPERSONS

ME M B E RS H I P /D A T A B A S E - - Greg Sc hmit cavec r i t te r 100@gm a i l . com (708) 387 -059 2

S P E L E O N E W S E X C H A NG E - - Ra lph Ear la nds on ra lp h.e ar la nd so n@gm ai l . c om (708) 524 -121 5

L I B R A R IA N - - Ke n Rede ker redeke r .ke n@gm a i l . com (63 0) 80 3 -4 8 84

N E W ME M BE R S AC T I V IT IE S & P RO J E C T MG M T - - Adam Haydock adam ha ydock2 000@ ya ho o.com (847) 542 -413 5

S A F E T Y C HA I R PE R S O N - - Da n Le gni ni leg n in i@a p s.a n l . go v (630) 393 -224 0

C O NS E RV A T IO N C HA I R - - Jack W ood spe leo30@ ya hoo.com (773) 252 -977 3

P R O PE RT Y MA NA G E R - - Joe W ol f cavew o lf 00@hotm a i l . com (708) 503 -144 8

B A T H O US E P R O JE C T C HA I R- - S teve Scoutar is ssco u@ ya hoo.com

W E BS IT E AD M I N IS T RA T O R - - Ter ry Chambl iss Adm in@w ind yc i t yg ro t t o .org (773) 342 -609 7

htt p: / /www.wi ndyci tygro t to. org

GROTTO ELECTIONS

I t s not too ear ly t o t hink about your next WCG Board. The annua l gro t to elect ions wil l

be he ld at t he May meet ing on May 13.

Nominat ions wil l be t aken at t he Apr i l meet -

ing on Apr il 8 , and wil l be opened fo r each

o ffice just pr io r to t he vo t ing. The fo llowing

Board members wil l be e lect ed:

The Chairperson runs the grot to and

board meet ings and conduct s grot to co rre-

spondence.

The Vice-Chairperson is respons ib le for

programs at t he grot to meet ings and runs

meet ings in t he Cha irpersons absence. The Secretary keeps minutes o f t he

grot to and board meet ings.

The Treasurer is respons ib le fo r grot to

f inances and co llect s dues.

The Board Member at Large se l ls T-

shir t s, st ickers and o ther it ems, and rounds

out a six-pack o f beer .

The Editor is appo int ed by the five

e lect ed board member s.

To run fo r grot to o ffice, you must be a

Regu lar member o f t he grot to , t hat is , an

NSS member (o r membership pend ing) . All

pa id-up grot to members (bo th Regular and

Assoc iat e) may vo te in t he e lect ions.

ON THE COVER

Adam Haydock in a fo rmat ion room with

lo ng, whit e soda st raws in Cueva Sorbetos,

Puer to Rico . Adams report on his lat est t r ip to Puerto Rico , in Januar y, is in t his issue.

Pho to by Adam Haydock.

IN THIS ISSUE... GROTTO ELECTIONS - - 2

MEET INGS AND MEMBERSHIP - - 3

FROM THE T REASURER 3

THE BMALS COLUMN - - 4

CAVES IN ARCHAEOLOGY - - 4

CAV ING ACRONYMS - - 5

PUERTO R ICO : J ANU AR Y 11-18, 2015--

6

B INKLE Y CAVE T RIP , JANU AR Y 10, 2015--

16

SPENT CARB IDE - - 19

WCG MEMBERSHIP L IST- - 20

Vol . 55 The Windy Ci ty Speleonews, February 2015 3

MEETINGS Meet ings o f t he Windy Cit y Gro t to o f the

Nat iona l Spe leo log ica l Soc iet y are he ld on

the second Wednesday o f ever y mo nth at 7:30

p.m. The meet ing wil l he ld at Aurelio's

Pizzeria, 1455 W. Lake St . (US 20),

Add ison, IL 60101, phone (630) 889 -9560.

The next two meet ings will be February 11

and March 11 at Aure lio s. We are current ly searching fo r a su it able locat ion in Chicago

fo r meet ings in a lt er nat ing months.

The bus iness and announcement s part o f

t he meet ing is fo llowed by a program on a

caving re lat ed topic. Board meet ings, at

which gro t to bus iness is d iscussed, are open

to ever yone. The dat es and locat ions o f t he

board meet ings wil l be announced a t t he

grot to meet ings. The Apr i l Speleonews wil l

be assembled fo r mai ling dur ing the Apr i l

meet ing.

The dead l ine fo r each issue o f the

Speleonews is t he last weekend o f t he mo nth

preced ing the month o f is sue. All mater ia l

must be submit t ed in fina l fo r m, pre fe rably

via e- mail o r blog, at t hat t ime. The dead line

fo r t he Apr il Speleonews is t he weekend o f

March 28-29.

FROM THE TREASURER

WCG member s now have the opt ion to

renew the ir membership dues and make dona-

t ions onl ine. P lease vis it our webs it e

www.windycitygrotto.org and c lick on the

Payments and Donat ions menu to make pay-

ment s. You can pay us ing a Cred it /Debit card

o r a PayPa l account . This is t he pre fer red

method fo r renewing dues s ince it saves t ime,

paper , and post age cost s. Thanks to our

members generous donat ions, I m p leased to announce that t he Windy Cit y Gro t to ju st

purchased a s lice o f St ephens Gap Cave - a

35 foot dome - in support o f t he Southeast ern

Cave Conservancy's recent acqu is it io n o f t he

St ephens Gap Ca llahan Cave Preserve! Windy

Cit y Grot to wil l now appear on the SCCis map o f St ephens Gap Cave. Thank you to

ever yo ne who cont r ibuted!

- - Laura Sanga i la,

WCG Treasurer

THE CARBIDE DUMP

Nico le Mil ler has been dropped fo r non -

payment o f dues.

The fo llowing persons were invo lved in

t he product ion, co llat ing and mail ing of t he

December Speleonews : Ra lph Ear landson, Al

Goodcave, Phil Go ldman, Ken Redeker , and

Greg Schmit .

MEMBERSHIP NEWS Our annua l Grot to membership list shows

a tot al o f 67 members o f t he Windy Cit y

Grot to, inc lud ing 44 regu lar (NSS) and 23

assoc iat e member s. The NSS members

inc lude nine li fe members o f t he grot to . This

compares with 47 regu lar and 10 associat e

members fo r a tot al o f 57 Grot to members in

March 2014 . All names and addresses appear

in t he membership list in t his issue.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Br ian Hunsaker

2424 Reflect ions Dr .

Auro ra, IL 60502

g ivemeso mesugar @sbcg lo ba l. net

The fo llowing member , recent ly dropped,

has been re inst at ed:

Alan Meyer s, NSS 23317L

THE CARBIDE DUN

The fo llowing members, exp ir ing between

now and the next issue, are list ed be lo w by

mo nth o f exp irat ion. Pay at t he meet ing, o r

online at www.windycitygrotto.org , o r send

your payment to t he t reasurer , Laura San-

ga ila , 869 Bonnie Brae Lane, Bo lingbrook,

IL 60440. Note: Please make your check

payable t o Windy Cit y Gro t to. Dues fo r fu l l

membership is $15.00 per year .

Expiring in February 2015:

Herber t Tellfo rs

Expiring in March 2015:

Bob Sa lika

Expiring in Apri l 2015:

Pat ty Ruback St eve Scoutar is

Greg Schmit

Expiring in May 2015:

Mitz i Agost a Ken Redeker

Jo rge Barrera Tom Wolos

Andy McNeal Gerry Wo lt er ing

Toni Pat r ick

Alan Meyers sent me the fo llowing: On

page 3 o f t he Winter 2015 issue o f t he Wil l

County Forest Preserve Dist r ict s newslet t er, is an art ic le about t he new bat condo , in-

st alled at Hammel Woods this year as par t o f

a process to relocat e a maternit y co lony o f

big brown bat s from a near by p icnic she lt er .

Present at t he September inst a llat ion, as an

observer , was Janet Tyburec, who worked fo r

Bat Conservat ion Int ernat iona l fro m 1989 to

2012. The ar t ic le descr ibes t he new st ructure,

exp la ins many int erest ing fact s about bat s

and ment ions bat mort a lit y issues, inc lud ing

WNS. Ca ll (815) 727-8700 fo r a free copy.


THE BMALS COLUMN

I am happy to report t hat t he BMAL sa les

d ivis io n o f WCG has ju st received a shipment

o f new spe leo -symbo lic devices d ir ect fro m

the NSS o ffice in Hunt svil le ! We have large

ye l low bat st ickers, (t his is t he t rad it io na l

darker ye l low, not t he br ight ye l low) . This

des ign and co lo r is ava i lable as a magnet in

bo th large and smal l s izes. But wait ! There 's

more! For t he fir st t ime ever , t here is a c lo th

patch bat st icker ava i lable ! T hese wil l be se ll ing fo r $5.00 ea. Of course, no BMAL re-

port would be complet e without a ment ion o f

T-shir t s. While mak ing room fo r our new in-

vento ry, I ran across t his invento ry o f WCG

T-shir t s from Februar y o f 2003! We had 14

XL in blue, 14 XL, and 3 L in grey, and XL

in black. Current ly, t here are 5 grey and 1

blue in XL! That 's a ll t hat 's le ft o f t his o ld style shir t ! (Yeah, o f course I know Old Style is a beer , brewed by the G. Heileman

Brewing Co mpany, La Crosse, WI. ) However

in t his context it re fers t o t heCaving in t he USA grot to T -shir t . The list o f caves on the back o f t he shir t are ones t hat were vis it ed by

WCG members. Wit h only s ix le ft , t his is t he

t ime to purchase a p iece o f wearable WCG

histo ry. Stop by befo re or aft er t he meet ing

and check out all t he neat stuff!

- - B il l Eng l ish,

Board Member at Large

CAVES IN ARCHAEOLOGY

As a subscr iber to Archaeology magaz ine,

I m a lways on the look out fo r references to or art ic les about caves, and the ir impor t ance

in ( t yp ica l ly) human histo ry. What fo l lows

are a few ar t ic les from the September /

October (2014) issue and the Januar y/

Februar y (2015) issue.

Reynards Cave in Doveda le -Derbysh ire (Eng land) is t he locat ion where archaeo lo -

g ist s fro m Br it a ins Nat iona l Trust recent ly found a hoard o f co ins. The 26 co ins made

fro m go ld and s i lver predate t he Roman inva-

s ion o f Br it a in in A.D. 43. According to t he

author, t he majo r it y o f t he co ins were at t r ib-

ut ed to t he I ron Age Cor ie lt avi t r ibe , but

t hree co ins are o f Roman or ig in. Add it io n-

a lly, t his is t he first t ime co ins from both

c ivi l izat ions have been found in a cave.

When most people (espec ia l ly cavers)

t hink about cave ar t , t hey immediat e ly t hink

o f p laces like Spa in o r France. However , ar-

chaeo log ist s have det er mined that images

found in a cave on the Indones ian is land o f

Su lawes i are ju st as o ld o r o lder t han those

found in Europe. It is be l ieved that a hand

st enc i l is about 39,000 year s o ld and that an

image o f what is descr ibed as a p ig like ani-mal is at least 37,500 years o ld. While many people are famil iar with t he process o f us ing

carbon dat ing to det ermine the age o f some-

thing that was once liv ing, it does not work

on ino rganic samples. Researchers have es-

t ablished the minimum age o f t he des igns by

us ing a process t hat ana lyzes t he rat e of de-

cay o f t races o f uranium found in miner a l de-

posit s cover ing the paint ings. Not surpr is-

ing ly, t hese d iscover ies have ra ised many

quest ions as t o t he o r ig ins o f ar t ist ic expres-

s ion. Wit h these drawings be ing contempo-

rary to t hose in Europe, t he quest ion is d id

t hey deve lop independent ly, o r was the deve l-

opment o f art much ear lier ? Some be l ieve it

began befo re humans le ft Afr ica, in which

case s imilar rock art shou ld be found in many

other places around the wor ld.

Escargot anyone? Be ing a French word

fo r sna i ls, it shou ld no t be a st ret ch to iden-

t ify eat ing them wit h France. While t his may

be a more recent associat ion, a t eam of re-

searchers excavat ing Barr iada Cave in south-

west ern Spa in have found evidence that

sna ils were eat en as long ago as 31,000

years ! They found a hear th t hat conta ined the

she lls o f about 150 sna i ls t hat had been

cooked on a bed o f coals. Since Neander tha ls

had d isappeared from the area, t he research-

ers be lieve that modern humans at e t hem. I f

so , t his is t he ear l ie st evidence o f people eat -

ing escargo t !

St ick ing with Neander tha ls, t his next art i-

c le exp lo res t he poss ibi l it y t hat t hey cr eat ed

ar t . Gorhams Cave in Gibra lt ar is t he s it e of a recent discover y where a des ign cons ist -

ing o f over lapp ing lines carved on a cave

wall was found. Pa leo lit hic ar t exper t Fran-

cesco dErr ico o f t he Univers it y o f Bordeaux ana lyzed the engraving and reproduced the

process o f mak ing it . His ana lys is shows that

a stone too l was used, and that each l ine was

carved prec ise ly, ind icat ing that it was made

by an exper ienced ar t ist . The ar t ic le fur ther

st at es t hat t he des ign at Gorhams Cave is t he c learest evidence yet t hat Neander tha ls made

ar twork.

Moving a lit t le c loser to home geographi-

ca lly and no t as far back in t ime, we have an

ar t ic le about a ske leton found in an underwa-

t er cave in Mexico s Yucatan. The cave, known as Hoyo Negro , o r black ho le is where d ivers found the near ly int act skeleton

o f a 15 to 16 year o ld g ir l. Although she was

found in 2007, it wasnt unt il t his year t hat resu lt s from mult ip le t est s conc luded that she

l ived between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago,

mak ing her one o f t he ear lie st humans ever

found in t he Amer icas. Here 's where it get s

int erest ing.

Fo r t hose o f you were at t he Januar y

grot to meet ing, you may reca l l t here were

some new people who were not famil iar with

a ll t he acronyms we casua l ly t o ss about .

Well, heres one that may no t be famil iar to many o f you. NAGPRA, o r Nat ive Ame r ican


Graves Prot ect ion and Repat r iat ion Act . This

act , as t he name might imply, has to do with

the prot ect ion o f Nat ive Amer ican graves.

They were rout ine ly loo ted fo r grave goods.

The act makes it i l lega l t o possess many

types o f art ifact s and fur ther st at es t hat any

ske let a l remains be turned over to a loca l

t r ibe fo r rebur ia l. The pa leo -ar t ifact s hit t he

proverbia l fan back in 1996 when the remains

o f a 9,000 year o ld hunter was found in

Washington st at e. A phys ica l examinat ion o f

t he sku ll showed features more close ly asso -

c iat ed with ear ly Europeans than any contem-

porary Nat ive Amer icans. S ince the act put s

no t ime frame on mater ia ls t hat must be repa-

t r iat ed, Nat ive Amer icans c la imed that t he

remains were one o f t he ir ancestors, and

shou ld be returned to t hem fo r rebur ia l . Not

surpr is ing ly, archaeo log ist s were up in arms

over t his, c it ing no co rre lat ion between the

ske leton and Nat ive Amer icans.

I recall read ing about one researcher who

was do ing a fac ia l reconst ruct ion based on

the sku ll. He kept saying that he hoped the

f inished work wouldnt look like Pat r ick Stewart (aka Capt . Jean Luc P iccard from

Star Trek, t he Next Generat ion) . When the

reconst ruct ion was co mplet ed, it did bear a

st r ik ing resemblance to t he acto r. Fast fo r -

ward near ly 20 years, and based on mitochon-

dr ia l DNA samples t aken fro m Naia, (t his

name co mes fro m the Greek, and means water

nymph) , it does appear t hat , while phys ica l

appearances do d iffer , t hey are more like ly

the resu lt o f environmenta l inf luences , and

no t a dist inct separat e lineage. So, whi le

Naia and Kenewick Man, as t he Washing-ton st at e ske leton became known, appear

European, t he DNA shows that she has genes

assoc iat ed with modern Nat ive Amer icans.

What t his wou ld seem to suggest is t hat both

Na ia, Kenewick Man and modern Nat ive

Amer icans share a common ancest ry from the

same source populat ion, a group that is

t hought to have been iso lat ed on the land

mass t hat once connected Asia and the

Amer icas. How coo l is t hat !

- - B il l Eng l ish

UPCOMING EVENTS Apri l 24-26. Spr ing MVOR at Hanson Hil ls

Campground near Co lumbia, Missour i.

May 8-10. SERA Cave Car niva l at East Fork

Stables, Jamestown, Tennessee.

May 22-25. Kentucky Spe leo fest at Lone

Star Preserve, Bonnievil le , Kentucky.

July 13-17. NSS Convent ion, Waynesvi l le ,

Missour i. Severa l MVORs were he ld her e.

CAVING ACRONYMS

(A PARTIAL L IST)

ACA - Amer ican Caving Acc ident s

ACCA - Amer ican Cave Conser vat ion Asso-

c iat ion

ACS - Alabama Cave Survey

AGA - Amer ican Geo log ica l I nst it ut e

BCI - Bat Conser vat ion Int ernat iona l

BIG - Bloomington IN Grot to

BoG NSS Board o f Governors CCMS - Cave Conser vat ion and Management

Sect ion

CDS - Cave Diving Sect ion

CRF - Cave Research Foundat ion

CTF - Conservat ion Task Force

EIG - East ern Ind iana Grot to

GSS - Georgia Spe leo log ica l Survey

ICS - Ind iana Cave Survey

IKC - Ind iana Kar st Conser vancy

IMO - Inner Mountain Out fit t ers

ISS - Indiana Spe leo log ica l Survey

KIP - Karst Info r mat ion Port al

KOR - Karst -O-Rama

KSS - Kentucky Spe leo log ica l Survey

LEG - Lit t le Egypt Grot to

MAR - Mid- Appa lachian Reg io n

MVOR - Miss iss ipp i Va l ley-Ozark Reg io n

NCKMS -Nat iona l Cave & Karst Management

Symposium

NCKRI - Nat iona l Cave and Karst Research

Inst it ut e

NCRC -Nat iona l Cave Rescue Commiss ion

NNG - Near Normal Gro t to

NRO - Northeast ern Reg iona l Organizat ion

NSS - Nat iona l Spe leo log ica l Soc iet y

OR1 - On Rope 1

OTR - Old T imers Reunio n

PMI - Pigeon Mounta in I ndust r ies ( rope

manufacturer )

PU - Pro ject Underground

QAS - Qu ick At t ach Safet y

SCCi - Southeast ern Cave Conser vancy Inc.

SERA - Southeast ern Reg io na l Assoc iat ion

SKTF - SERA Karst Task Force Inc.

SRT - Sing le Rope Technique

TAG - A geographica l caving area compr ised

o f t he st at es o f Tennessee, Alabama, and

Georgia.

TCS - Tennessee Cave Survey

USCF - U.S. Cavers Forum

VAR - Virg in ia Area Reg ion

WCC - Western Cave Conser vancy

WCG Windy Cit y Gro t to MCKC - Missour i Caves and Karst Conser-

vancy

WNS - Whit e Nose Syndro me

WSS - Wiscons in Spe leo log ica l Soc iet y

- - Al Goodcave


January 11: Golondrina and Cathedral

I have been want ing to get out to Hawaii,

China, Borneo , and South Amer ica fo r qu it e

some t ime now but Puerto Rico keeps drag-

g ing me back ever y year and now here I am,

back aga in, on my 5th year vis it ing Puerto

Rico . I abso lut e ly lo ve the ra in fo rests t hat

Puer to Rico has to o ffer a long with the is-

lands that surround the main is land , t he

ocean, t he Dry Forest , and o f course, t he

caves. There are t housands o f cave and frag-

ment s o f o lder syst ems in t he Mogote Moun-

t ain karst be lt o f Puer to Rico with more just

wa it ing to be d iscovered fo r t he int rep id vis i-

to r to t he is land. Some o f t hese caves have

been deve lop ing and co llaps ing fo r mil l io ns

o f year s in a act ive so lut iona l dance that t he

karst topography has been do ing with the me-

ander ing watercourses. The Camuy Syst em

has one o f t he largest underground r ivers in

t he wor ld with leads that are st il l be ing d is-

covered. The Rio Encantado syst em st ret ches

fo r almo st 17km under t he ra in fo rest with

act ive caves and sumps that have been hy-

dro logica l ly connected through previous ex-

ped it ions.

Mil l io ns o f years ago , t he Rio Camuy

used to t ake a different course down to t he

ocean a long with other r iver syst ems like the

Tanama River , as t hey wou ld eat away the

l imestone into va lleys and caves unt il it en-

countered basa lt layers t hat would stop this

erosion fro m cont inu ing. This act ion would

work in conjunct ion with the usual carbonic

d isso lut ion process creat ing some mass ive

t runk passages ins ide these caves with ce il-

ings over 150ft and st ret ch a lmo st an equa l

d ist ance in width. The geo logy o f Puerto

Rico is int erest ing, as Puerto Rico rose out o f

t he South Amer ican seas near Pat agonia hun-

dreds o f mil l io ns o f years ago and shift ed

through t ectonic act ion to where Puerto Rico

is locat ed in t he Car ibbean today.

Puer to Rico has so me o f t he most impres-

s ive canyo n and cave syst ems in t he Car ib-

bean, so it s no quest ion as to why this beau-t ifu l is land keeps br ing ing me back to vis it .

The caves house a p letho ra o f li fe inc lud ing

cr icket s, boas, d ifferent spec ies o f bat s, sco r-

p ions, crabs, and the famous whip sco rp ion

ca lled the Guapa. On this t r ip we got t he op-

portunit y t o vis it 13 caves which ranged fro m

miss ing p ieces o f t he Camuy Syst em to frag-

ment s o f syst ems that have otherwise co l-

lapsed upon themse lves creat ing the ir own

ind iv idua l ident it y fro m one ano ther .

Kass ia Thormaha len and I arr ived at

Pipos wa it ing to hear about how the weather

was go ing to be like fo r Juan Nieves the fo l-

lowing day. Cueva Juan Nieves is a very wet

cave with rag ing waterfa lls and fast f lood

potent ia l, so a ft er t he loca ls looked up the

weather cond it ions, t hey d id no t want us to

venture into t he cave the fo llowing day. In-

st ead we slept at Pipos and drove over to Loudres, which is a baker y and a place where

loca l cavers meet up to vis it two other caves

in t he area, Cueva Golondr ina and Cueva Ca-

thedra l.

We go t to t he baker y a bit ear ly to find

out t hat ever yone was go ing to show up an

hour lat e, so we took a nap in t he car and

woke up when they ar r ived. We met up with

Ju lie Dut il, Tom Mil ler , and Car los Art iguez.

Car los was running lat er t han the o thers, so

we ended up go ing to t he fir st cave to r ig and

get set up without burning o ff too much day-

l ight . Go londr ina was l it era l ly down the

st reet and r ight o ff t he road. We could see

the ent rance fro m the road and I remember

dr iving past t his p lace on previous t r ip s c lue-

less as t o what was r ight o ff t he road. Amaz-

ing what is lit era l ly r ight o ff t he road. Ju lie

had a 300ft rope, so we r igged a t ens ionless

anchor to a viney pa lm t ree and set up a red i-

rect on a st alagmit e t o reduce rope abras io n.

This cave ended up us ing just about all o f

Ju lie s rope but t he pit it se l f is more o f a st aged st eep walk down wit h a couple small

sheer ledges, rather t han a st raight ve r t ica l

drop. I set up the de -direct and descended

down while laying out t he rope as I dropped

into the p it . Aft er pass ing the mid -drop I no-

t iced so me bags on some k ind o f co rd that

looked like they had dead chickens ins ide o f

t hem!! Car los was previous ly descr ibing that

t here were chickens found wit h the ir heads

cut o ff and cand les at t he ent rance drop o f

t his p it be fo re, so it was a bit creepy to find

this and I pondered voodoo as I bumped into

these decaying remains o f sacr if ic ia l go re,

was I was go ing to be possessed?

Anyway, I made it down to t he bo t tom

and ca l led o ff rope while I no t iced the suns rays blast ing through into this cave as t he sun

was light ing up the who le ent rance and re-

f lect ing an o range hue. It was beaut ifu l! !! ! !

This cave was a lso known to have t rash at

t he bot tom, so we wanted to survey and docu-

ment t his cave and reco mmend a c leanup e f-

fo r t be executed to keep this beaut ifu l cave in

good shape. There was broken g lass and

t ires at t he bot tom but overa ll it was not as

bad as I t hought I would be a ft er hear ing the

sto r ies be fo re ent er ing this cave. We a ll

he lped wit h the sur vey e ffo r t and eventua lly

PUERTO RICO: JANUARY 11-18, 2015 BY ADAM HAYDOCK


ascended out o f t he cave to go across t he

st reet to vis it Cueva Cathedra l. These two

caves must have connected at one t ime as

t hey are rea lly c lo se to each other and t rend

in a s imilar d irect ion.

We ran across t he st reet in our muddy

caving gear and ran into the fo rest to st art

out t rek down the sadd le o f a mogote t hat

leads to a va lley and the top o f t he beaut i-

fu lly decorat ed pit ent rance to Cueva Cathe-

dra l. This cave used to be a co mmerc ia l

cave, and people would pay a group to t ake

them into this cave syst em, but fo r some rea-

son it was shut down and is now vacant .

Down the va l ley is where Cueva Del Fa lso

Tr ibutar io is locat ed and is another cave that

we would be vis it ing in a couple o f days, but

fo r now we got to go down into the ho r izontal

ent rance o f Cueva Cathedra l. T he ent rance

was a pret ty impress ive one fo r Puerto Rico

st andards as t he cr icket s were chirp ing and

the co lo rs o f greens and blues re flect ed the ir

mossy co lo r t hat t he anc ient fo r mat ions had

on the once act ive so lut iona l limestone.

We cont inued down the passage and

c limbed over so me boulders to get to another

length o f passage where we had to walk up a

st eep breakdown p i le o f loose rock and mud

to t he main room in the cave. This was a

beaut ifu l open a ir room wit h hang ing gardens

o f moss and p lant s draped over t he o ld fo r-

mat ions. Birds ming led wit h the bat s as t hey

f lew in and out into t he ra in fo rest from the

karst window at t he top o f t he cave. I w ish

we could have rappe lled into this room to get

t he fu l l e ffect but ju st be ing here looking up

into the ra in fo rest from the bo t tom was im-

press ive in it se lf! ! ! On the walls o f t he cave

there were pictographs from the Ta ino Ind i-

ans, but a ll I could imag ine were the angr y

birds fro m the mobile app game.

Kass ia and Ju l ie came out o f a decorated

room and ins ist ed that I go through knee -high

mud to view this p lace, so Car los and I went

back there and we found so me ver y int erest -

ing fo r mat ions. A lo t o f t hem looked like

they were cut o ff fro m the top and the ce il ing

was fil led wit h soda st raws and the floo r was

decorat ed with over 100 st a lagmit es. Aft er -

wards we st art ed to head out as it was get t ing

darker out side and we wanted to make sure

we had so me t ime to beat t he crowds from the

San Sebast ian fest iva l go ing on down the

st reet from where we were current ly at .

I got some p ics as we came out o f the

cave passage which was no t t hat long. Actu-

a lly as a mat t er o f fact , a lot o f t he caves in

Puer to Rico seem to be fragment s o f longer

anc ient syst ems so the length o f t hese caves

is no t as long as t he majo r it y o f t he caves in

t he st at es with regard to length but t he rooms

are quit e large and p icturesque! Once we got

back to t he car , Tom inv it ed us to st ay at his

p lace fo r a few days, which was nice o f him.

So we ended up go ing to his p lace to set up

the t ent under his carport , which had a nice

over look to t he mounta ins o f San Sebast ian

Puer to Rico .

Kassia Thormahalen is si lhouet ted in the huge entrance room of Cueva Evaporado. Photo by

Adam Haydock.


January 12: Pencho, Evaporada and Humo Kass ia and I set out on our own to vis it

some caves in t he Camuy area, as ever yone

e lse had to work. I was to ld about a sinkho le

t hat had a small cave passage in so me exce l-

lent waterwork syst em ca l led Cueva Pencho .

Accord ing to Jeff Kruse, t his cave is t hought

to be Ponor 4 and a part o f t he Camuy Sys-

t em, but it t urns out to be a separat e syst em.

We go t some co rds and set out to t he land-

owners house ear ly in t he morning to avo id t he aft ernoon rainfa l l. The landowners were

nice enough to allow us to park in t he front

o f t he ir house so we didn 't have to worry

about t he car be ing broken into, along with

having the opportunit y fo r a rather easy walk

back to t he car fro m the cave.

I had a couple o f coords to t his syst em

so we set out and ended up hik ing up a st eep

sadd le in between two mogotes t hat took us

down into thick tho rny vine brush, which was

no t easy to whack through with a dull edged

machete. We eventua lly found a t rail t hat

was lead ing east and west , so I scouted up

and down it w ithout any luck in f ind ing this

s ink. I t t urns out t hat some o f t he coords

t hat we got were not accurat e, so we ret raced

our path and went to a lead that I saw which

turned out to be Pencho .

The s inkho le had a 70 ft to over a 100ft

drop down to t he bot tom of t he s ink. We

r igged a t ens io nless t o a wild - look ing t ree

and rapped over t he edge and down to t he

bo t tom of t he s ink. It was dry. There was no

water running through the cave like we were

to ld t o be aware o f, but t he sun was shin ing

through the fo rest and the ar ray o f vines t hat

dang led and t raversed across t he s ink gave

this s ink a ver y int erest ing charact er .

This cave appears t o be a whir lpoo l o f

so rt s as run-o ff water recharges t his s ink and

appears t o swir l around bo t tom. I am sure

t his is qu it e a s ight to see in a flood! There is

a bo t tom leve l t hat has st at ic water with gar-

bage flo at ing and a water passage lead ing to

t he sump.

Down in t he lower leve l o f t he s ink the re

was a st at ic poo l o f water t hat I was to ld has

a lready been pushed by cave d iver s without a

successfu l connect ion to any other s ignif icant

passage. We cont inued to walk ups t ream

through the passage and recognized the int er -

est ing wal l and fo r mat ion growth on the wa lls

o f t his cave.

Aft er about 10 minutes we found the exit

to t he cave and we were able t o walk out if

we wanted to , but we came back down and

dec ided to climb back up the rope to exit t he

cave. This was a nice lit t le syst em with the

amount o f growth fro m the t ree roots and

vines t hat are at t empt ing to dominate t he

space wit hin this s ink. I am g lad we got a

chance to come here as it was a beaut ifu l

p lace and int erest ing to vis it whi le we were

down here, but in my op inion, it was no com-

par ison to t he next two caves we were go ing

to vis it , Evaporada and Humo.

We drove past t he Camuy co mmerc ia l

cave ent rance and went down ano ther twist -

ing road to t he small road with a 50 -55 de-

gree s lope st raight up to t he landowners property, where we parked and got ready fo r

t he caves. I t alked to t he landowner s and

they were nice enough to allow us to park and

vis it t he two caves near t he ir proper ty.

Cuevas Evaporada and Humo are some o f my

a ll t ime favor it e caves!!

Cueva Evaporada has a ver y impress ive

ent rance which t akes a lmost 20 minutes to

get down and leave the light zone. It has a

large t runk passage that has a room wit h a

karst window, a micro fo rest in an upper

leve l open a ir s ink ho le, and so me more f low-

stone passage that leads to a breakdown p ile

and the end o f t he cave.

This is a fragment o f a cave syst em that

used to feed into the Camuy Syst em and used

to be connected to Cueva de l Humo. Humo

has a s imilar ent rance and a lso has large

t runk passage that ext ends into a large can-

yo n passage and cont inues down into a lake,

has s ide passages, and a Tyro lean t raverse

sect ion that connect s to Ange les Cave which

connect s to t he Camuy Syst em. This cave is

one o f t he larger syst ems in a ll o f Puerto

Rico but we were running out o f t ime and had

to get into t his syst em befo re t he sun went

down so we could make it back to Toms house. We hiked through thick vine over-

growth and into the mogotes. Aft er ent er ing

the mogotes, we t raverse around and up to a

sadd le t hat took us down into the s ink where

the two caves exist . First , we went to Evapo-

rada and st art ed our hike down the 200ft en-

t rance and around to where one o f my favor-

it e views is locat ed looking out o f t he cave

fro m wit hin.

We cont inued around so me mass ive boul-

ders and entered a mass ive t runk passage that

ext ended to t he karst window room where we

took a couple o f p ictures. I love this cave.

The mass ive rooms, and the echoes from the

bat s and cr icket s make this cave and Puerto

Rico caves so int erest ing to me. The deve l-

opment o f li fe in such a remote place ponders

my mind as to how adapt ive li fe can be in

such ext reme cond it io ns.

We headed out o f Evaporada and headed

over to Humo to hike down this 200 ft en-

t rance with a bit more cha l lenge due to t he

bou lders and the s lipper y cond it io ns. We got

to t he bot tom leve l and shined our light s up

into the ce iling to watch hundreds o f ba t s fly

down the passage and into other rooms where

they hide. There might even have been thou-

sands o f bat s!! The ir wings made a d ist inct


sound as t hey flew in co lonies at t he top o f

t he ce il ing passage.

Kass ia put on a mask in t he at t empt to

min imize the r isk o f cat ching histoplasmosis

o r some o ther nasty ger m that might fes t er in

t he mounds o f bat guano with 80 -plus temps

and 100 percent humid it y. We c limbed up to

t he top o f t he fo rmat ion sect ion and cont in-

ued to hike down up and around mass ive an-

c ient flowstone fo r mat ions and o ther karst

features. We went t hrough a smal l connect ion

room and popped out into t he top o f t he can-

yo n passage where the cave cont inued on and

down into a smal l lake. Divers have pushed

this sump befo re but I canno t confir m what

t hey have report ed from the ir d ive operat ion.

We ended up turning around so we could

have enough t ime to make it to Toms house and I shou ld have t aken a few p ics of t his

par t icu lar t r ip , but I already took pics o f

Humo on the la st t r ip . I f I ever come back to

do the through t r ip t o Ange les cave o r a d ive,

I wil l be sure to t ake some more pics of t his

wonder fu l p lace.

January 13: Cueva del Falso Tributario

Rolf came over t o Toms house ear ly so we could get an ear ly st ar t to a long day we

had p lanned ahead. We drove up to Lourdes

to get some breakfast and chat a bit about

how Rolfs Cueva Larga pro ject was go ing, as we ll as so me o f his future endeavors t hat

he is look ing to accomplish regard ing karst

morpho logy. We cont inued on to t he Lares

area and the landowners property wher e Dos Ojos, Larga, and Dugon are locat ed. We had

to park next to t he landowners house , and t he only spo t to park was next to a pile o f

broken g lass and garbage, which was a bit

sket chy s ince this was a rent a l. The road

lead ing to t he property wasnt t he best eit her , and in t he past , Tom had his car s iphoned

whi le park ing down the st reet from where we

parked the cars now.. .Nice !! We were re -

assured that nothing would happen to t he cars

and that ever ything would be fine.

We headed out on the t rail over the

mogo te sadd les and down the st eep and slip-

per y mogote s lopes to a dry wash, where the

junct ion to Larga and Dugon could be de-

c ided upon. I t is no t t hat easy to hike up and

down the sadd les o f t he mogo te mountains,

even though they are more like large st eep

hi l ls . The dense vegetat ion and the mogotes

in t he area are so plent ifu l t hat it can easy

get lo st and find it hard to cut t hrough the

jung le to get to where you want to go .

We hiked up to another sadd le and I saw

some t rail t ape. We hiked down and a round

an area where I was la st year , with small

fragment s o f a cave syst em which might have

been a connect ion to Dugon and Larga in t he

past . I pursued all o f t he leads, but t hey d id

no t go anywhere. We cont inued up another

sadd le and came to a narrow canyo n with

sheer c li ffs 50-60ft to t he bo t tom. We hiked

up and around this canyo n, and it cont inued

to be sheer a l l around the co llapse. This was

Dugons co llapsed ent rance. We wou ld have needed to br ing rope and r ig t o a t ree in o rder

to get into t his ent rance o f Dugon.

On the other s ide we cou ld see the large

ent rance o f t he cave. It was quit e impress ive

but with some coords at hand, I cont inued to

look fo r t he ho r izonta l ent rance to t he cave.

We hiked down to another co llapse where the

waypo int took me, and this was no t success-

fu l. These coords were o ff aga in. We looked

around a bit more and I could no t find the

way in. We searched on the other side o f t he

sadd le without success. Here we were, st and-

ing on top o f t he ent rance with a large can-

yo n wit h sheer c l if fs ext end ing to another

ent rance, and we cou ld no t even get ins ide

this cave. . . . lo l. . . I t hought it was amusing and

a bit o f a s lap in t he face at t he same t ime.

Time was running out , so Ro lf went to

Larga while we went to meet up with Tom at

Loudres to vis it Cueva de l Fa lso Tr ibu tar io .

Eventua lly we met up with Tom, and we

drove to t he parking spot where we geared up

and headed down to Cueva de l Fa lso Tr ibu-

t ar io . Tom was exp la in ing to me that people

may no t have been to t his cave fo r over 20

years, and s ince his recent la st vis it , ropes

are required to descend ins ide the cave . The

report was that t here is a c limbable drop, and

then there is ano ther drop that leads into a

wa lk ing passage where water can be heard,

lo t s o f water.

This is s ignif icant as t he Camuy d isap-

pears under t he va l ley area where we were

near and resurges far ther down towards the

ocean. There are other syst ems that feed and

recharge fro m the Camuy, but nobody has

ever been able to connect t he Camuy o r find

where it goes from where it insurges to where

it resurges, so Cueva Del Fa lso Tr ibutar io is

a good lead which may he lp answer t his ques-

t ion. We were now r ight in t he midd le o f t he

quest ionable area, in a va l ley, poss ibly above

the underground Camuy Syst em.

We hiked through the va l ley and passed

leaves t hat are larger t han Kass ia. Af t er a

whi le, we made it to t he ent rance o f t he cave,

and it was a dr y wash lead ing into the sys-

t em. We geared up our ver t ica l gear and made

our t raverse towards the fir st drop while

crawling around large logs and under fo rma-

t ions. The first drops were short , and one

was indeed c limbable, but we r igged a rope

high into a natural ho le wit h a lo t o f stone to

ensure t he anchor d id no t break. There were

no other good anchors, and o f course t here

were no bo lt s o r pitons in t he area. We pad-

ded the sharp and nast y lip wit h Toms bag and descended down to t he bot tom wher e the


next drop was locat ed. I moved so me rocks

and st ar t ed my descent down to a pla t fo rm

where the next drop was locat ed. Our fir st

rope ended befo re t he lip o f t his drop, but I

f laked out t he second rope and fed that down

the drop and found that t here was not enough

rope! Even i f I t ied the two ropes together ,

t here st il l wou ldnt have been enough rope to make it to t he bo t tom, and I would have shor t

roped myse lf.

I could hear water dr ipp ing fro m d if ferent

locat ions, water land ing in poo ls o f water and

large echoes that t rave led fo r up to 5 sec-

onds, inc lud ing my vo ice when I ye l led into

the unknown. I was amazed to hear how much

room was down there, and I rea lly wanted to

get to t he bot tom, but we just did no t have

enough rope to make it happen. Think ing

back at it , I shou ld have just rapped down

and done a change-over to see what was down

there but I came back up and at t empted to

look fo r more r ig po int s at t he bo t tom of t he

f ir st pit . Tom po int ed out one was marg ina l ly

good if t here were so me o ther anchors in-

vo lved, but t he other two were quit e sket chy,

in my op inio n, so we opted to save this one

fo r ano ther t ime where it could be sur veyed

and documented once at t he bot tom.

January 14: Cueva Murcielago

The next day Tom was go ing to jo in us to

f inish the sur vey o f Map lanche but he ended

up having so me o ther bus iness t o t ake care o f

so we decided to t ake it easy and go to t he

Dr y Forest in Guanica. Guanica is s it uat ed in

t he south west co rner o f Puerto Rico which

has a deser t environment inc lud ing cactus

and o ther rocky features t hat you would find

in t yp ica l deser t s.

There is a lso a cave that I wanted to vis it

here ca l led Murc ie lago , so we headed out and

made it to t he t railhead in pret ty good t ime.

We hiked up the t ra il and fo l lowed the s ide

path that pret ty much took us to t he entrance

o f t he cave. There are a number o f ent rances

here, but we dec ided to do the c limb- down

ent rance, which dropped us r ight into t he

open-a ir cave.

I t was a short but int erest ing cave in i t s

on r ight as it had a few co llapsed ent rances,

skyl ight s, and bat s t hat live in t he co rners o f

t he cave. There was a guano lake tha t was

something we t r ied to avo id as much as pos-

s ible but other t han that , t he cave was a nice

visua l in t he dr y fo rest . We snapped a few

p ictures and exit ed the cave to hang out at

t he beach and re lax a bit be fo re we headed to

t he hote l fo r t he night and chi ll fo r t he next

days act ivit ie s. Kass ia st ar t ed to get sick so I was get t ing concerned that she caught

something, as she a lr eady got over t he flu a

few weeks pr io r to leaving on the t r ip .

January 15: Cueva Mapanche

We woke up and Kass ia was no t do ing

good at a ll, She was los ing weight fas t and

no t eat ing. She dec ided to st ay out of t he

caves today, and I made the dec is io n to ju st

vis it Map lanche inst ead o f vis it ing bo th Ma-

p lanche and E l Convento . We drove to t he

park ing locat ion and I fo llowed the wash up

into some thorny vine fo rest be fo re t he fo rest

granted me access to vis it Map lanche. This

cave has a decent -s ized ent rance, but t he hike

down to t he bo t tom of t he cave was a lmost

twice o f what Evaporada was. The last sec-

t ion o f t he hike down to t he base leve l was

pret ty st eep and s l ipper y. Once I go t to t he

bo t tom there was no t much more to t he cave

other t han a guano poo l at t he bit t er end and

a s ide room that can be ent ered fro m another

ent rance and rapped into . This was the sec-

t ion we were go ing to map. I took a couple

o f p ictures and made my way back up and out

o f t he cave so I could get back to t he car and

make sure ever yt hing was ok with Kass ia.

Once I got back to t he car , I packed up

and we got some food in town. Aft erwards we

drove to t he Toro Negro fo rest where we

were in t he c louds and this is where she got

rea lly s ick. We stopped the car to chil l and

re lax and ended up get t ing ano ther hote l fo r

t he night so she could s leep it o ff.

January 16: Sorbetos and Indio

We woke up the fo llowing day and Kass ia

was st ar t ing to fee l bet t er, well bet t er enough

to leave the hotel and st art head ing back up

nor th. We narrowed the diagnos is down to

dengue fever and a new virus t hat has been

go ing around ca lled the chikungunya virus,

so aft er discuss ing this ep isode with locals,

people who have had these viruses, and a

docto r, it has been conc luded that it ver y

we ll might have been dengue fever which is

passed on only though a female mosqu ito.

We were in t he area where mosqu itoes ex-

ist ed. Kass ia had the commo n flu a few

weeks pr io r , and the symptoms she desc r ibed

f it dengue fever . Thankfu l ly she was fee ling

bet t er so we headed out to Cueva Sorbetos.

Next page, clockwise from upper le ft : Tom

Mil ler, Kassia Thormahalen, Carlos Art iguez

and Jul ie Dut i l in the entrance room of

Cueva Cathedral; Adam Haydock and f low-

stone in Cueva Sorbetos; A passage shot in

Cueva Sorbetos; Adam Haydock and Tom

Mil ler in Cueva Juan Nieves; Carlos Art iguez

in the White Room of Cueva Perdida; Kassia

Thormahalen cl imbing by the waterfal l in

Cueva Juan Nieves; Kassia Thormahalen si t -

t ing next to petroglyphs in Cueva del Indio.

Photos by Adam Haydock.


This is a beaut ifu l cave syst em that I had

been to a few years back but wanted to come

back to and get some aweso me p ictures from .

We had to park the car in a rea lly shady

ne ighborhood, but t here were workers at t he

facto ry that allowed us to park on the st reet

and they sa id that our car would be fine s ince

most o f t he people were working and not

ho me that day.

We hiked past t he hydro log ic p lant and

found the t rail t o t he ent rance o f t he cave

which is s it uat ed across t he Tanama River .

We swam across and entered the smal l en-

t rance to Cueva Sorbetos. Car los and Jo rge

want to rebu ild t he ent rance door and leave

this cave to only be access ib le t o people t hat

can get a key to unlock the gat e. These peo-

p le must have exper ience in conservat ive

cave pract ices and t read light ly due to a ll o f

t he delicat e and ver y rare whit e soda st raws

that exist in t his cave.

We walked down a breakdown p i le and

got to t he main t runk passage. It is muddy

brown, pret ty big, and has a st ream of sort s

running through it . I t would just be another

cave with a rotunda room and a large t runk

passage room if it wasnt fo r t he a ll t he soda st raws in t his cave. The st raws decorat ed

the wa lls above our heads and near jo int s in

t he rock. There must have been t ens o f t hou-

sands o f t hese st raw fo r mat ions, and some

had flut ed indentat ions and he lict it e protru-

s ions growing o ff o f t hem.

We cont inued to walk down the passage

unt il we go t to a smal l passage wit h thicker

mud, where ever y inch o f t he passage was

covered in st raws above us and to t he s ide o f

us. It was like a cr yst a l passage o f whit e

t eeth shimmer ing as we passed though this

sect ion. Ever ything appeared to be he ld up

by p il lar s o f whit e ca lc it e fo r mat ions and

thin st raws.

Unfo r tunately, a lo t o f t he st raws were

broken o ff in t his room, so it became more

apparent why Car los want s to lock this cave

up fo r key access only. Wild tours by tour companies are t aken into this cave and they

want to regulat e it a bit more so the spe lun-

kers do not cont inue to break the st raws. I

cant ju st blame them fo r it as I am su re lo -ca ls and other people co me into this cave and

may have damaged it in t he past . We cont in-

ued down the passages, and Kass ia was st art -

ing no t to fee l so we ll. We took more breaks

and s lowed down a bit unt il we go t into t he

main t runk passage and the remain ing par t o f

t he cave.

We cou ld hear water pass ing through this

sect ion and there was a r iver to our le ft

where a sump d ive was conducted in t he past

according to some o f t he loca l caver s, but t he

report s on the ir find ings are unknown. I am

inc l ined to be lieve they d idnt find anything

as t his is a popular cave. We got a shot from

the top down o f t his passage fac ing the ro-

tunda room and the end o f t he cave, as we ll

as a sho t from the bo t tom up lead ing to one

o f t he most amaz ing cr yst a l rooms I have

ever seen.

We cont inued up the breakdown p ile in

t he rotunda room and admired the mass ive

whit e fo r mat ions and the st alact it es hang ing

fro m the ce il ing. They were qu it e int erest ing

to see, as t hey were so me o f t he largest I

have ever witnessed. We went down and

crossed the passage into the cr yst a l room,

which shou ld be ca l led the chande l ier room

due to some o f t he most int r icat e whit e cal-

c it e fo rmat ions I have ever seen. There must

have been thousands o f t hese st raws some

rang ing more than 2 feet long!

Some o f t he o ther fo r mat ions were st a ined

and embedded with a d ir ty p ink go ld t int

which gave this room a lo t o f co lo r and dy-

namic to what we were looking at . Some o f

t he other fo rmat ions had large he l ict it es

growing fro m the fo rmat ions which had

shades o f ye llow, p ink, and a cream co lo r

whit e. Some others were more t rans lucent

t han o thers. It was fasc inat ing to sit here and

st are into t hese cr yst a l fo r mat ions and look

c lose ly into how they fo r med the way they

d id.

Aft er a while, we st art ed our t raverse out

and passed an area where there was a par t icu-

lar concent rat ion o f st raws over 2 feet in

length, and so me were reaching the ground.

I took a self ie here but I just cant t ake the r ight self ie without laughing my ass off o r

mak ing so me k ind o f goofy face ! Aft erwards

we snapped a few more pho tos and made our

exit into t he remaining hours o f t he day and

washed o ff in t he Tanama River . What a great

way to wash o ff! ! H ik ing back was even nice

as we not iced p lant s t hat sell fo r 30 to 50

do llars in Chicago , growing natura lly in t he

fo rest .

We made it back to t he car and booked

ano ther ho tel in Arec ibo , which gave us some

t ime to go to Cueva Del I nd io and get a good

head st art fo r t he fo llowing days caving ac-t ivit y t o Cueva Perd ida.

Aft er Sorbetos we had so me t ime to burn

o ff fo r t he rest o f t he day, so we headed over

to Cueva de l Ind io in Arec ibo to check out

t he ocean and the sea caves. I have been here

be fo re and I have a lways enjo yed vis it ing, as

t here is a place to swim wit h co ral and fish

that hide fro m the waves crashing over t he

basa lt rock. There are some other large sea

caves on the spurs ahead o f Cueva de l I nd io ,

as we l l as pet roglyphs embedded in t he rock

ins ide Cueva de l Ind io fro m the Ta ino Ind i-

ans.

We drove up to t he locat ion where we had

to park, and out o f nowhere a mid -s ize iguana


of caves in Puer to Rico desperat ely need in

o rder prot ect t hese environment s.

Fina l ly, we met up with Bro and fo llowed

him to the landowners property where Per-d ida was locat ed. We got a chance to t a lk

with t he landowner , and it appears t hat t here

are hundreds o f caves in his area inc lud ing

one cave wit h Ta ino art ifact s.

We set out fo r Perdida and fo llowed the

GPS unt il it st ar t ed t aking us in a bit o f a d if-

ferent direct ion than we needed to go . Car los

ye l led fo r us to double back, as t here is a

t rail t hat leads r ight to t he ent rance o f Per-

d ida, and we were go ing in t he wrong d irec-

t ion. . . .n ice !! We go t to t he ent rance o f Per-

d ida and we were about 50ft o ff fro m the way

po int t hat I had fo r it , which is no t too bad.

Perro is near t he ent rance but we didnt have any ropes to rap into the s inkho le en-

t rance, so we entered Perdida and cr awled

through a passage unt il we got to t he main

st ream passage. This cave reminded me o f

Doghil l Cave, but t his cave was a lo t more

f lut ed inst ead o f ju st one sect ion.

We st art ed to go upstream and I snapped a

few p ics o f Car los on a bench area fo r mat ion

room. We cont inued on, pass ing by some

f lowstone fo r mat ions and int erest ing and well

-defined dugon foss i ls , which appeared to me

to be a ver t ebrae and some r ib bones in a

c lust er . We went up and around some fo rma-

t ions in t he r iver passage and walked through

a few rooms unt il we got to a lower sect ion

o f t he cave where we had to crawl in t he wa-

t er a bit . I t fe lt pret ty good to be in t his wa-

t er, since the cave t emp is around 75 degrees

and 100 percent humid it y, so t he water

coo led my body o ff a bit and kept us in a

great cond it ion.

Car los began to t alk about a room that is

just up ahead and about how this room is

complet e ly whit e. They ca l l it t he Whit e

ran into the st reet , so I at t empted to dr ive

around the shocked iguana. . without success.

Thump thump. . . . , is what I heard. . . . as I kept

dr iving, creat ing an inst ant mea l fo r t he st ray

dogs and cat s in t he ne ighborhood.

We made it to t he park ing spo t and

walked over to t he area where I could swim

and view the ree f near shore. I swam out

t here, but t he mask that I brought with me

was broken so it was no t working too wel l fo r

me to swim and ho ld this mask in p lace while

t rying to enjo y the reef. I ended up swim-

ming over to t he sharp flut ed basa lt lava is-

land and walked over to t he other s ide to

view the waves pour ing over t he seaweed

growth on the walls.

Aft erwards we hiked up and around to the

Seven Apost le sea caves t o watch the waves

crash over and up onto the walls. It was nice

to t ake a break from the jung le and enjo y the

sea, t he waves, and play around with the

ocean a bit be fo re go ing into the cave.

Aft er get t ing tossed around a bit from the

wave act ion on the shore, we entered the

cave, down the ladder and into the caver n

rooms where the pet roglyphs were. It was

int erest ing to see these drawings and made

me wonder what insp ired the Ind ians to cre-

at e t hese des igns. Bo ils o f water from crash-

ing current and wave act ion would r ise and

fa l l in a sect ion o f t his cave as t he skyl ight s

i l luminated the remain ing port ion o f t he cave

and o ther pet roglyphs in t he area. It was yet

ano ther great vis it and I am g lad I was able

to stop by, but it was back to t he ho tel fo r t he

fo llo wing days prep fo r Perdida.

January 17: Cueva Perdida

We got up ear ly t o meet up with Car los at

t he Texaco on Route 10 near Cueva Ventana,

and Car los ment ioned that he was running a

bit lat e , so we stopped by Cueva Ventana to

see if we could vis it t he cave fo r a bit .

I went to Ventana a few years back and

pa id 2 do llars to walk on the property to see

this cave, which cons ist ed o f two large rooms

and the famous kar st window that over looks

the va l ley be low. We walk up to find out

t hat now the pr ice is $10.70, t ax inc luded,

which comes with a tour guide. Now when we were wa it ing fo r Bro to show up, t here

were people go ing up in su it s and p iles o f

k ids fa l l ing out o f mini buses ju st to run up

to t ake the tour to vis it t he cave. I underst and the who le mak ing mo ney thing,

and the tour t hing, but it was depress ing to

see that t his p lace has beco me a tour is t t rap

o f so rt s.

On the fl ip s ide, it might prot ect t hat cave

a bit more inst ead o f t he free - fo r -all it was,

but I can only hope that t hese tour companies

invest in conser vat ion e ffo r t s and a lso con-

t r ibute to t he conservat ion e ffo r t s t hat a lot

A big-room, mult iple-f lash shot in Cueva

Evaporada. Photo by Adam Haydock.


Room, and there are a lo t o f fo r mat ions in

t his room. We crawled up and poked through

some smaller passages unt il we saw a window

with so me whit e fo r mat ions. We a l l c limbed

up around 10-15ft and got into t his beaut ifu l

room with these impress ive whit e drapery and

st alact it e fo rmat ions hang ing fro m the wa lls.

I was rea lly impressed with this and be-

fo re I got my camera out , Car los to ld me to

go around into the next room, so I wa lked

l ight ly over and into the fo llowing room and

no t iced that t his room is 4 t imes the size with

pure whit e fo rmat ions cover ing the wa lls and

ce il ing. In my opinio n, t he centerp iece to

t his room was a skinny st a lagmit e t hat stood

7+ feet t all and the width was no more than 2

inches across. It was amaz ing to see there

was one in each room. I set up some p ictures

fo r Car los and others, as I had never seen

p ictures o f t his Whit e Room in Cueva Perd ida

be fo re, so I am g lad to be shar ing them with

the wor ld. The beaut y o f t he Caves in Puerto

Rico never stops to amaze me even as I spo il

myse lf with vis it ing these fasc inat ing and

exo t ic geo log ica l karst environment s.

Aft er a while we st art ed to head out o f

t he cave and backt rack the way we came in.

We stopped to check out a side passage but

e it her we were sumped out o r t he passage or

ano ther sect ion might have co llapsed.

I t is a lso possible we were no t in t he r ight

p lace to find ano ther ext ens io n to t his cave as

it was qu it e mazy, hence the name Perd ida or

Lost Cave, but we had a blast vis it ing this cave and get t ing a chance to cave with Car los

Bro, and a chance to share t he exper ience in one o f his favor it e caves was a great t ime.

The connect ion to Perro is ano ther must do t raverse and go ing out t he downst ream exit was ano ther opt ion but we were running

out o f t ime so we le ft and went back to t he

ho tel fo r another night s s leep and prep fo r

t he grand fina le, Juan Nieves!!

January 18: Cueva Juan Nieves

The fina l day o f caving here in Puer to

Rico had co me, and what a great way to fin-

ish this t r ip with a vis it t o Juan Nieves! This

cave is a par t o f t he Rio Encantada syst em

near Flo r ida, Puer to Rico , and has a beaut ifu l

p it ent rance that leads to a t all canyo n pas-

sage that eventua lly leads caver s to some im-

press ive water fa l ls whi le wad ing in cr yst a l

c lear war m water . The last few waterfa l ls are

around 15ft in he ight and all o f t he water

rages t hrough some natura l arches and cas-

cades down into the lower leve ls. This made

fo r some great cave c limbing!

One o f t he most impress ive karst features

in t his cave was the karst shower faucet s.

One in par t icu lar had t r iangu lar cr yst a ls

growing towards the midd le, and the bu lk o f

t his feature was smal l ca lc it e t ubes t hat

looked like twist ed soda st raws that acted as

a pip ing syst em fo r t he water to flow out like

a rain shower faucet ! Abso lut e ly amaz ing!

There were also some upper passages with

some walk ing t runk passage wit h int erest ing

fo r mat ions that led r ight back to t he bot tom

of t he p it ent rance. The downst ream sect ion

ends in a sump that has a lready been pushed

by mult ip le cave d ive operat ions. These d ives

resu lt ed in passage beyo nd the sump, and the

hydro logica l connect ion to t he remaining En-

cantada syst em is t hrough this sump. The

Rio Encantado syst em has mult ip le caves

connected to t his underground r iver , inc lud-

ing Esca lara, Encantada, Zumbo , Yuyu , and

other loca lly known caves. The upst ream re-

surgence sump is connected to Cueva Aguas

Fr ias, and mult ip le d ives have been per-

fo r med in here fro m mult ip le exped it io ns and

loca l cave d ivers t hat connected Juan Nieves

to Aguas Fr ias. There is a lso a s ide passage

that might connect to Vientos which has been

hydro logica l ly connected but cave d ivers

have no t been able to make a connect ion to

dat e.

The Rio Encantado syst em is around 17km

of r iver cave passage that has so me of t he

most amaz ing sect ions o f cave that I have

ever seen!! Last year I went to vis it Cueva

Zumbo , which was like wa lk ing through an

a lien canyo n passage o f 3D t a lons that we

had to climb and walk over in o rder to con-

t inue down the passage. The c ircu lar sca llop-

ing and the way the rock was cut by the water

is so mething that I have never seen anywhere

in t he wor ld.

There have been previous exped it io n con-

nect ions where cavers have connected some

o f t he caves descr ibed in o ther publicat ions

and videos, but t his t r ip was to enjoy the

beaut y o f t his fasc inat ing p lace and snap a

few pho tos along the way. Some o f t hese

previous exped it ions are more publ ic ized

than others but , no doubt , t he Rio Encantado

syst em has been an area o f int erest fo r t he

worlds cave exp lo rers, inc lud ing Wes Sk iles. Wes pushed Aguas Fr ias and came up into

Juan Nieves and descr ibed the cave to some

loca ls as a beaut ifu l syst em wit h impress ive

water fa l ls and beaut ifu l fo r mat ions. He con-

t inued to descr ibe the r iver passage o f Juan

Nieves as having a opening in t he ce il ing

about two hours down the passage from

where he came up into air passage. This is

t he pit ent rance to Juan Nieves where we en-

t ered the cave on this day.

We got to t he parking spot and hiked into

the fo rest not to far fro m where we parked

and the ent rance p it to t he cave was r ight

t here. It is a small crack in t he hi l ls ide that

drops 20-30ft to a ledge. The drop cont inues

to a st eep slop ing ledge that leads to t he main

drop which is around 100 -120ft to t he bo t-

tom.


We r igged a t ens io nless to a t ree and set

up a re-direct into t he ent rance p it . I set up

ano ther re-direct and a re -be lay to make it

eas ier fo r ever yone e lse t o get on and o ff

rope. I padded the main drop and we were

good to go . One at a t ime, we rapped down

to t he ledge and cont inued to rappel t o t he

bo t tom of t his fissure crack in t he mogote. It

was qu it e impress ive from the bo t tom looking

up, as we could see the skyl ight ent rance, and

where Wes ment ioned he saw an ent rance

fro m the ce il ing was where we were ent er ing.

One o f t he first t hings I no t iced was how

war m the cr yst a l c lear t he water was!! So

aweso me to be in cr yst a l c lear warm water

ins ide o f a ho t cave syst em to coo l off in.

We st art ed down the st ream a bit t o see what

was down there and qu ick ly turned back to

wa it fo r ever yone e lse to get down so we

could st ar t our journey upst ream.

We st ar t ed o ff by wad ing through the

heavi ly flut ed canyo n passage upst ream while

no t ic ing how deep the water got in par t s

where the watercourse r ipped into the l ime-

stone. As we took our t ime walk ing up-

st ream, we passed so me s ide passages and

no t iced how the ce iling was st ar t ing to drop

down a bit . There wou ld be t imes when we

were swimming, and at other t imes, we were

in p laces where we could st and and walk.

Eventua lly we came up onto some int er est ing

fo r mat ion rooms, and that is when we st ar t ed

to hear t urbulent water echo ing down the pas-

sage just ahead o f us. We were hoping this

was no t a flash flood as we swam c loser to

t he source, but as we cont inued upst ream, we

could hear a more dist inct sound o f a water -

fa l l. This was the first o f many waterfa ll

passages. . .he lls yea!

The water was moving like a waterpark

and ropes were r igged into the wa ll fo r a

t raverse line in case there was water pressure

too st rong to t rave l in . We gr ipped the wa lls

and crossed the passage wit h lit t le u se o f t he

ropes in case they broke under our we ight .

We took a break here as Tom t est ed the CO 2

leve l which he found to be a cons ist ent 0 .7

percent . That s a bit high fo r a cave passage, and he pondered if t he water was br ing ing in

t his CO 2 fro m ano ther cave.

I snapped up a couple p ictures while we

hung out here admir ing the fo rmat ions on the

wa lls and the water flowing o ff o f t he f low-

stones above us. There was a lso an upper

passage where rope was r igged to but we d id

no t pursue that lead. We cont inued to t rave l

upst ream, and the water passage got a bit

deeper , while t he ce il ing st at ed to lower

down. This gave us about 8 -10ft o f c lea rance

inst ead o f t he 30-50ft o f c learance we had

befo re t he fir st water fa l l. The scener y a lso

changed, and the wa l ls were covered with

f lowstone and st a lact it e fo rmat ions, whi le t he

ce il ing had a ser ies o f karst shower faucet s

t hat we had to pass under (oh darn!!) , a long

with act ive ly f lowing flowstone fa l ls t r ick-

l ing down on us! ! What a beaut ifu l p lace this

has beco me. At one po int we were sur-

rounded by mult ip le karst showers and one in

par t icu lar was unl ike anything I have ever

seen befo re.

We cont inued past t hese beaut ifu l fo r ma-

t ions and came up to t he next water fa l l. This

one was a bit bigger , which a lso had ropes

r igged into the wa lls to ass ist direct iona l rap-

pe ls and t raverse l ines away from the fa l ls .

We just c limbed the wa l ls and sca led this

rag ing waterfa l l and came up upon another

water fa l l t hat was about 15-20 ft in he ight

and pushing a ll o f t he cave water under a

natura l arch and down to where we were

ho ld ing on to t he wa lls. AWESOME!!!!

It was an awesome s ight to see, and we

a ll sca led this water fa l l w it h ver y l it t le cha l-

lenge. Once at t he top, we regrouped shor t ly

a ft er . We were surrounded by faucet s and

f lowstones flowing water and this rag ing

deep watercourse. We kept go ing upst ream,

and the ce il ing got closer to t he water line.

We passed a few more water fa lls and the

group stopped to check the t ime and take a

break. I swam over ano ther water fa ll and

cont inued upst ream to see what was ahead o f

us only to t urn around aga in and co me back

to t he group to decide if we shou ld cont inue

o r t urn around due to t ime. We made the de-

c is ion to t urn around so we could get t ime to

get out o f t he cave and get dinner be fo re it

was too lat e

We st art ed our way out and down-c limbed

the fa l ls , and I set up a secondar y hand line as

a backup to he lp a few others c limb down.

The ropes looked pret ty good, so some ut il-

ized those, but overa ll we worked together to

pass t hese cha llenges as qu ick ly as poss ible.

We go t down the fa l ls and cont inued past t he

faucet s and down into the main t runk passage

o f t he cave. There were a side passage that

we hiked up to and fo llowed, which turned

out to be pret ty int erest ing and beau t ifu l!

We f ina l ly made it out o f t he upper passage

and back to t he ent rance p it , where I snapped

a few sho t s and ascended out o f t he cave in

pret ty good t ime.

I want to t hank Diana and Tom Mil le r ,

Je ff Kruse, P ipo , Car los Art iguez, Ju l ie Du-

t il, Ro lf Viet en, Jo rge Acevedo , t he landown-

ers and ever yo ne who was invo lved to make

this t r ip a success and sa fe exper ience. Aft er

5 years o f vis it ing Puer to Rico I can fee l t he

t ug to come back yet aga in in t he future, as

t he caves and the topography are s imply

amaz ing!!!


BINKLEY CAVE TRIP, JANUARY 10, 2015 BY CLAUDIA DAVIS, PAT BURNS, SHANE MYLES, TIM PRIDE,

AND DAVE EVERTON

Introduct ion by Dave Everton

This dat e had been set as ide fo r working

in Ind iana Caver ns in t he s ide passage at t he

locat ion in t he main passage they ca l l Cray-

f ish Curve. T im Pr ide was coordinat ing that

effo r t , and I to ld him I d be on st andby to poss ibly he lp wit h t hat if needed. I f no t

needed, I was planning to t ake Claud ia Davis

on what was fo r her a long await ed t r ip into Mil ler Cave. (We had vis it ed on 21 December

2013 aft er a different object ive had been

scrubbed due to high water , but because wa-

t er was flowing in t he cave ent rance that day,

I decided aga inst go ing ins ide to do passage

improvement . )

Shane Myles and Pat Burns p lanned to

work in Manho le on this day. Brad Barcom

met me at my house and drove us to Corydon;

we arr ived at Freder ick s Caf around 10 to f ind Gar y Roberson, Claud ia, and Pat already

seat ed. Tim and Shane soon ar r ived, a lt hough

I learned theyd drove separat e ly due to t he poss ible t ime d if ference in t he ir t r ip lengths.

Aft er breakfast , I t ransfer red my gear to

Claud ia s vehic le, and gave some it ems to t he Tim & Brad t eam. I d one week ear lier le ft an orange s led out s ide the basement ent rance to

t he Caver ns, which I d pu l led out o f P less Cave ear lier in t he year ( it had been br ought

in t here t o work a pro ject some t ime ago),

be l ieving it would be o f use in t he d ig effo r t .

C laud ia and I bade farewel l t o t he others and

headed to our dest inat ion.

Miller Cave Improvement by Claudia Davis

Dave E ver ton and I headed out to Mil ler

Cave to work on fur ther ing passage improve-

ment fo r all who wil l be us ing the t rail in t he

future. He gracious ly gave me an opportunit y

to wr it e t his report , so you may be think ing

what s t here to wr it e about? Well, I am go ing to t ell you about t his l it t le work t r ip

fro m the perspect ive o f a caver who has had

to become a couch potato , due to a lo ng st and ing injur y and family respons ibi l it y! As

you read this report , please remember the

phrase couch potato and it s implicat ions o f no t us ing musc les on a regu lar bas is !

Dave had t aken me to Mil ler t he year be-

fo re, albe it I had only go t t en to see the lit t le

ent r y room, and we had to leave due to t he

fact t hat it was raining and the chance o f

f looding was poss ible. For a who le year , I

wondered what lay beyo nd. I imag ined t ight

quar t ers, muddy passages, and ext remely low

be l ly crawls. The poss ibi l it ie s were about as

end less as my imag inat ion, and then toward

t he end o f December 2014 I got Daves emai l inv it at ion to go he lp him there ! Jo y o f jo ys

and broken hear t s! I couldnt make it due to pr io r obligat ions! Would I ever get to see be-

yo nd the ent rance??? So , I suggest ed Januar y

10th as a go dat e, and happ ily, we were bo th free !

Aft er a few emails about what to br ing

and the poss ibi l it y o f an a lt ernat e object ive

o f working near Crayfish Cur ve at Ind iana

Caverns (which we didnt get to do ) , I geared up! I dragged out my Hydrosk ins, grabbed my

shor ty d ive su it , donned my po lypro top, and

was ready fo r bear! From last years exper i-ence, I imag ined an ext remely co ld, wet cave!

I even kept t rack o f t he fo recast unt il t he day

ar r ived! And due to t he int ense back pa in my

in jur y has le ft me in, I lit era l ly covered my

backs ide in pa in pat ches, and downed pain

p il ls and musc le re laxers. Nothing was go ing

to keep me away fro m Mil ler and work ing

with my respect ed caving fr iend.

Zoom to the cave: t here I st and, dressed

as if I m go ing to go diving, in 27 degree weather , marching across a fie ld to meet my

imag inat ion head on! And it was grand! The

minute I ent ered the main passage, I got t he

surpr ise o f my l i fe it was dry and ext remely roomy! Not at all wet o r cramped, and I im-

med iat e ly began wishing I had my jeans on

inst ead o f looking like I was go ing to work

with Jacques Coust eau. And then my su rpr ise

t urned to amazement as we began crawling

through a very nice channe l cut into t he

f loo r . Dave began exp la in ing to me how many

hours o f passage improvement work made

this channe l poss ible, and the fur the r we

crawled a lo ng, I marve led at t he dist ance the

passage improvement covered! I was so im-

pressed by the work o f ISS cavers and vo lun-

t eers, and thr il led that my meager scrat chings

in t he d ir t would be amo ng a ll t his hard work

fro m o thers.

We crawled past t he p lace Dave ca l ls t he

S it Up Domes, past a lit t le bat on the wa ll,

and went ano ther few hundred feet o r so , un-

t il we fina l ly ar r ived at a po int where Dave

dec ided to cont inue improving the passage,

and I set t led in wit h a wonder bar and hand

shove l. I banged my pa lms aga inst t he bar

t rying to t ear up passage, to ssed rocks and

mud as ide, and dug like a mole rat , and

through live ly conversat ion, got to know my

fr iends t hought s and opinio ns about caving a lo t bet t er. But as t he t ime wore on, I began to

fee l t he e ffect s o f be ing stuck in a we t suit


t hat sucks out sweat like a vampire bat sucks

out blood. I was beg inning to get dehydrat ed,

t hough I didnt realize it at t he t ime . We agreed to quit at 2:30, and when I looked at

what Dave had acco mplished compared to my

few feet (t hough it fe lt like I had only gone

three inches) , I was think ing how t ruly fo r tu-

nat e t he next caver would fee l co ming to t hat

sect ion and having such a clean path, perhaps

only a ft er probably fuss ing about crawling

over t he rocks I never got to complet e ly

c lear ! At t hat mo ment , I hoped that t he next

caver would be me, and expressed my wishes

to come back.

So we packed up and headed out , with my

knee pads that were so flu f fy go ing in now

f lat t ened to a pancake and g iving me fit s .

Funny how the t r ip back seems to double

when youre in pa in, but it was worth ever y bru ise ! So here I am the fo llowing morning,

t yp ing this report , and in regard to t he phrase

couch potato , well, d id anybody cat ch the number o f t hat t ruck that hit me? Ouch. (end

o f Claud ia report )

Manhole Dig by Pat Burns Shane Myles and I ar r ived at Manho le

around noon, but as we looked down, we saw

the rungs were covered in ice ! We r igged

rope and I went down us ing my Mitche l l sys-

t em to down c limb and t r y t o hammer off t he

ice. That proved to be s low, plus, we could

no t see t he opening to t he s ide at t he bot tom

to be sure it was open. So , I went to t he bo t-

tom and broke the ice block ing the s ide tube.

Then Shane lowered the gear and came down.

He then preceded into the cave, whi le I re-

mo ved the ice fro m the rungs, st art ing from

the bot tom up us ing my rope syst em as more

o f a sa fet y device.

When I jo ined him at t he front ier , he was

ready to remove the same r imstone obst ruc-

t ion that had stopped us t he last t ime we were

in t he cave. Aft er cons iderable work, both he

and I were able to get into t he smal l sect ion

o f passage beyo nd the blockage. I only bare ly

f it , but once on the other s ide, I complet e ly

removed the blockage with my hammer and

crowbar .

We cou ld then st and up, and fo llowed the

larger passage about 12 feet up and to t he

le ft , t here were some nice bacon fo r mat ions

with pure whit e t ips in t his dead end a lcove,

which was about four feet high and s ix feet

wide. There is a drain which ho lds water

about four feet be low the access po int . I dug

about t hree feet into t he mud and smal l rock

mixture, hoping to release the water and fo l-

low the dra in, which o f course was under

dr ipp ing water . I did no t get t he water to

dra in, but maybe on the next t r ip it wi l l be

lower .

The a ir was no t go ing through the limit ed

passage to t he le ft , but moving into a ho le

t hat opened into a low (about six inches high)

and maybe t en foot wide passage with lot s o f small st a lact it es. Shane worked at dri l l ing

a

speleonews feb15

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