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July
8th thru 10th
Mike W., Courtney W., Mike Jr., and Tom La Frank, took two of their
friends from the So. Cal. grotto "Allen and Jamie" caving to a couple of
small local caves, Sherrows and Cave of the Skulls. They started with hiking to Sherrows
cave which was Jamie's first vertical wild cave. We wanted to start her out with
something open and easy. She did great on the descent and ascent, so after exploring
Sherrows for awhile we headed over to Cave of the Skulls. We all dropped the cave
with no incidents and took a quick look around and then headed out. After exiting
we headed for Fenceline cave, but after rigging and sending Tom down first he discovered
the cave had bad air which is common in a lot of caves in the area this time of the
year, so he came back out and we dropped another cave instead.
By now it was afternoon so we all ate lunch and headed out to go
to Natural Bridges. We spent several hours at both the upper and lower bridges where
we met up with Bruce Brand back at the truck. Allen and Jamie were staying in Allen's
motor home at Moaning Cavern so we headed back and dropped them off there to change
before getting Mexican food in Angels camp for dinner. After a long wait, but a good
dinner we went back and changed into our caving clothes and headed to Heater cave
with Bruce along for the trip this time. After some confusion locating the cave in
the dark we found it and everyone dropped in. Tom rigged a hand line for those who
were not comfortable with the free climbing. Jamie and Allen were pleasantly surprised
at the size and beauty of Heater. We spent awhile exploring and taking pictures and
finally exited the cave at 11:30 pm and were back home just after midnight.
Friday night we agreed to pick up Allen and Jamie at Moaning
Cavern around 8 am before heading over to Volcano to do some caves. We (the Whites)
arrived at 8 am to find Allen and Jamie still out of it, so after waking them up
we got on the road at 8:30 am and headed for the parking area where we were to meet
up with Tom and Rich S. who was going to join us. We arrived at the parking at 9:30
am and after talking with the land owner for a little while we headed for the caves.
It was hot, but not too hot, so the twenty minute hike was not too bad. The first
cave we went to was Pearl cave a good sized cave that is well decorated and pretty.
We spent a little over an hour exploring and taking pics. and then headed for Mushroom
cave a short distance away. Rich rigged the drop and then climbed down, Courtney
followed and the rest followed her except for Tom who decided to wait outside. The
group spent about 45 min. exploring and taking pics. again before exiting. Courtney
noticed a large pure white mushroom down in the cave on the way out and then a small
salamander right after that. After exiting the cave we headed off to look for other
holes in the area with no luck, so we went back to the truck and then changed clothes
before heading to Black Chasm. Rich decided to head for home and his family so Tom
jumped in with us and we drove over to Chasm. Allen was the only one who had never
been there before, but the rest of us had no problem going back to such a beautiful
cave. We made it in time to get on the 3:20 tour. Our guide was new to the cave and
enjoyed our inside info. on some of the history of the cave (Especially Tomís) so
that made the tour a little more fun. After the tour we drove Tom back to his cabin
and said our goodbyes and headed to Angels Camp to Mikes pizza. We were all really
hungry and tired by the time we got to pizza so it was nice to sit down and relax
and stuff ourselves with some good pizza.
After
dinner we dropped Jamie and Allen off at the motor home, but before leaving Mike
offered up more caving if they were interested. So a couple of minutes after getting
home Mike recieved a call from Allen asking for one more cave trip. They agreed that
Mike would be back to get them at 8 pm which was only an hour away. So after a short
rest Mike headed back to the cave which luckily is only four minutes from his house.
After picking the two of them up Mike decided he would take them to Bone cave which
is only about three minutes from Moaning cave. After a short sticker filled walk
they arrived at the cave and headed in. After getting inside they found that the
register had been left open and the mice had eaten 3/4 of it. So they headed for
the rest of the cave and after convincing Jamie that she could negotiate the down
climb we made it to the bottom and noticed that people had still been messing with
some of the bones in the cave.
(I really don`t like gating caves, but this is one example of a cave that I really
think should be considered for a gate to protect the burials. It is unfortunate,
but due to the stupidity of others sometimes these measures need to be taken.)"
Just my opinion" So after some lessons in chimneying we were all back up the
slopes and headed out. We saw one Townsend long eared bat and a deer mouse in the
cave. |
Allen H. hams it up for
the camera |
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