 |
| Author |
Message |
dougmc
|
|
Post subject: Shavers Mountain Project--December, 2004
 Posted: Dec 07, 2004 - 02:28 AM
|
|
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 4
Location: West Virginia
Status: Offline
|
|
Shavers Mountain Survey
December 3-5, 2004
Doug McCarty
Rocky Parsons started the weekend a bit early this month by setting dye traps at Three Springs and Mint Springs on Friday afternoon. Richard Hand and I showed up at the CCC cabin “fieldhouse” a bit later, and the three of us built a roaring fire in the fireplace. Just as I was getting settled into a comfortable easy chair, Rocky mentioned that we needed to inject the dye at Ginger Root Cave. Ginger Root Cave! That was a 2.5 mile round trip walk through the woods—and it was cold and dark outside. But duty called. Richard stayed behind to tend the fire and wait for any latecomers while Rocky and I drove to our jumping off point and trudged up the mountain, passing both Shavers Mountain Cave and Frosted Ash Cave on the way. We dumped the Rhodamine into the stream that sinks in Ginger Root and then headed back down the mountainside to the warm fireplace.
The next morning we went to Alpine Lodge and found Barry Horner sitting at a table with Jeff Lydic and Nate Waybright of the Cleveland Grotto. Nate and Jeff just stopped by to say hello on their way to a day of hiking. As we ate breakfast, Nate told of staying with his relatives on the Glady Road when he was a kid, and hearing about a cave across the road. Curious, we all followed him and Jeff to the cave, which turned out to be Glady Cave. Since we were there, we knocked on the door and introduced ourselves to the owner and asked him about the cave. After checking out the entrance, Barry, Rocky, Richard and I headed back up to polish off the survey of Alpena Blowhole.
There was no polish at the Blowhole entrance, however. Someone had tossed four freshly butchered deer carcasses into the sinkhole. Luckily, they were so fresh they hadn’t really started to stink yet—and they didn’t block the entrance. We climbed past them into the rabbit hole of an entrance Barry had dug open some time back. The awkward down climb leads to crawlway, which leads to stoopway, which leads to lots of walking stream passage—all of which had already been surveyed. At the end of the walking passage, we had a squirrelly little side lead to survey and then we surveyed the smaller passages that now (after some persuasion) connect Blowhole to Alpena. The very last section of that connecting passage is a bit of a challenge in that a person who is adept at the squeezebox can get through without getting wet. Thicker people have to wriggle through in the cold running water.
I got soaked.
After the surveying was complete, we started downstream to do the first Shavers Mountain Survey though trip, but changed our minds when we saw how high the water was in Alpena. Heading back toward the Blowhole entrance, we had a series of odd headlamp problems—and then a knee problem. Right before the watery belly crawl, my light died and could not be resurrected. I had to borrow a spare headlamp from Barry. Then, right in the middle of the watery belly crawl, Rocky’s carbide lamp went out and he was unable to get it lit—the felt had gotten wet. He then almost immediately whacked his knee on a sharp rock and did a little pain dance, writhing and moaning to the rhythm of the running water. There were no more unfortunate incidents after that except for having to climb out with those disgusting carcasses giving us hostile stares—as if they knew we were going to clean up and go to a steak house—which we did. In spite of the minor mishaps, it was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.
The next morning, Rocky went to get the dye traps while Barry and I lugged digging tools overland to GROSS Grotto Quarry cave. We couldn’t decide where we wanted to dig, so we just bagged it for now, lugged the tools back to the cars and headed for home. While we didn't get much done that last day, it was another great weekend on the mountain. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
