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kvmapr
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Post subject: Refinding Desolation Pit
 Posted: Jun 29, 2004 - 08:34 PM
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Joined: Jun 16, 2004
Posts: 224
Status: Offline
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During the research work that went into developing the Pendleton County Bulletin a couple years ago, I ran down a long list of caves that were mentioned in Speleo publications of the past but not well known for their location. Among those leads was something in Germany Valley known as Desolation Pit.
The location description for Desolation Pit, in an old issue of the PSC Caver, was "Over the hill from Key", a former post office stop in Germany Valley. After several fruitless weekends of searching over every hill local to Key I could only come to one conclusion, the cave had been quarried away. This seemed reasonable given that the nearest hill to Key that had the geologic potential to contain a pit was the ridge that separated Key from the Greer quarry opertions. Upon clearing the top of that ridge I surveyed a scene of desolation. The quarry had encroached upon that ridge over the years and any chance of finding Desolation Pit had been ground to find gravel, or so I thought.
As is almost always the case, within weeks of publishing the Pendleton County Bulletin I was out in the field scouting an area between Key and Seneca Caverns. It was a little closer to the caverns than I had ventured in previous ridgewalks. As I cleared the lip of a very large sink I was pleased to look across and see a large dark hole on the opposite wall.
Desolation Pit is located on the side of a large sinkhole in Germany Valley
As I approached it became very evident that I had found a substantial karst feature. I looked into the find and realized it was a vertical pit, about 20 feet deep. I could see all the way to the bottom and with a handline could have easily made it down. There appeared to be a lead at the bottom but it was somewhat choked with leaf debris so I'm not sure how far it goes, lacking first hand observation. The lead looks good however and moss at the top of the pit indicates there could be some decent airflow from the pit in winter months.
A close-up of Desolation Pit, note GPS for scale
I GPS'ed the location and later plotted it out on a topo map. Holy smokes, it plotted "just over the hill" from Key. It was a little farther than what I would have assumed given my interpretation of the words "just", "over" and "hill" but it in all other aspects it sure seemed to fit the bill. On a straight line drawn from *position information deleted - ed* the pit is located at about the 75% point when traveling toward deleted. I could be wrong about this but after continued walking in that area I've still not come up with any other possibilities.
Looking down into Desolation Pit, note possible lead at bottom
So unless Dave Newsome, the original discoverer and namer of Desolation Pit, is prepared to come out of caver retirement and tell me whether this is or is not Desolation Pit, I'm convinced that this is the right lead. Maybe someone else out there has an idea. If so, please hit the reply button below and add your two cents.
In an ironic twist it would seem that this relocated Desolation Pit is now under threat of destruction from the same quarry operations previously described. In recent years Greer has expanded their operations to the south and are working in the area between Seneca Cavers and Key. It may not be long before Desolation Pit lives up to its name. |
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