My Cave Trip Report 1/17/09

On Saturday January 17, 2009 Alan Leedy and I decided to go to My Cave in Pocahontas Co. WV for a photo trip. We met at the park and ride in Clendenin at 7:00 a.m.. It was very cold that morning and we were sure it was much colder in Pocahontas Co. (-16 F to be exact). We stopped at Go-Mart in Birch River to get a biscuit and some drinks before we went on. We arrived at the parking area around 9:00 a.m. and there we started complaining about how cold it was while stripping down to put our caving clothes on.

               Our objective was to work our way to the Crayfish Pool and photograph our way back, do the drop into the Foam Gallery and get some shots of Pickaway Falls there then head out. After finally getting our clothes on we headed towards the entrance when we saw a car coming down the road. It was John Powell and Cecil who’s last name I never caught. We now have a group of four on our trip. Alan and I headed on to the cave to get some entrance shots and to stash our rope in the Junction Room for the Pickaway Falls rappel. John and Cecil caught us before we made it to the Junction Room as I had a 160’ section of rope that was badly coming uncoiled. We talked awhile and then proceeded on to our objective.

               Once at the crawl we proceeded to complain about how we always seem to have too much crap to carry in. About halfway through I caught the handle of my tripod between two large rocks and snap, I now have a three piece tripod. Oh well, I cuss a little and set it aside for the trip back out. Once at the Junction Room  we stash all of our vertical gear and rope then go downstream to have a look at the Foam Gallery. We get to the edge of the drop and the water is running too high for us to go down and get any  shots so we call it. The foam gallery will have to wait til summer. We go back upstream to the Junction Room and proceed on to the Dune Room.

               Once at the Dune Room we climb to the top of the mud slope and have a look around. I counted close to 50 bats in the ceiling of the room. John and Cecil decide to hang in the Dune Room while Alan and I go on down the slope to the stream passage. Once at the edge of the slope I discover that the mud is super slick so we decide to rig a handline to a hammer handle that we found lying on the floor. After some cave mud sledding down the slope we head downstream to the Crayfish Pool to get a shot of Taggard Falls. The stream on the way was very cold because of the temperature outside I suppose. Once we made it to the falls John and Cecil weren’t far behind. Alan started taking shots first while I stood by the falls then we traded places since we only had one tripod now.

               When I was up to bat John and Cecil decided they were going to head back to the Razor Pit and see the formations there, then they were heading back out. After we decided on our trip to Scott Hollow Cave in February they were on their way. I finished up shooting the falls and Alan and I went back upstream for some grub and to have a look at the Flush Hole. Once we were finished eating we took a couple shots of the stream passage and headed out of the cave. On our way out we stopped by The Lair since we had never been in there before. After a couple of hundred feet we decided to save it for the next trip and turned back. On our way back out we stopped at the Junction Room to pick up our vertical gear and rope. While there we decided to try a couple of shots before we left, none of the pics turned out the way we wanted so we headed out. Sweating from the climb up the entrance the cold air was nice once outside. We sat at the entrance for a while and enjoyed the silence of the woods before we headed for the car. By the time we got back to the parking area our caveralls were frozen solid from the cold air. Our boots were making a cracking noise from the ice in them, but it was still a great trip.  We got changed and headed to Go-Mart in Webster Springs for gas, pizza, and a celebratory AMP energy drink. We arrived back in Clendenin about 9:30 p.m. and parted ways to go home and rest for our trip to Grimes Cave next weekend.