Cave Research Foundation Expedition Report Most of CRF's recent work in Mineral King has focused on two hanging valleys to the southwest and southeast of the larger, glaciated Mineral King Valley. While the karst in these two areas, White Chief and Franklin, is extensive, other karst areas also lie to the north near Timber Gap. Our weekend objectives were to survey and assess the two most significant known caves in this area, Jordan Cave and Empire Cave. A group of four (Peter Bosted, Bill Frantz, Joe Rodgers and Joel Despain) assembled in Three Rivers on Saturday morning for the long, windy drive up to Mineral King. After setting up camp, we proceeded to the trailhead at around 7000' to begin the three miles of distance and two thousand feet of climbing required to reach Jordon Cave. As we hiked clouds began to build, and unfortunately they obscured some of the magnificent mountain scenery. A half-mile of cross country hiking and a short climb brought us up to the cave's large entrance. Also noticed in the area was the entrance to Glacier Plug Cave and two potential dig sites. A steep 15-foot drop began the cave, but this was easily bypassed by a breakdown crawl. From there a narrow slot led to tall walking passage and two small side passages. We surveyed along the roomy passage noting an active invertebrate community of Pimoa sp. spiders, harvestmen and Colembolans. To the right a lead led to a pit. We surveyed a few more shots in the upper level to the cave's smaller back entrance, before dropping down the pit. The lower level proved to be much more extensive than had been expected and was left unfinished. Total survey was around 400 feet and documented 140 feet of the cave's depth. We emerged from the cave into the last light of the day and a misty rain mixed with snow. The dark, wet hike back to the car was uneventful. Sunday dawned sunny and cold. We quickly packed up and returned to the trailhead for the hike to Empire Cave. Two hours and several thousand feet of climbing brought us to the entrance at around 10,500'. Empire Cave was extensively mined in the 1870s. Along the contact between the marble and adjacent plutonic rocks, silver and lead ores and massive quartz crystal had been deposited. The entrance is an altered pit that had been enlarged by the miners. The 45-foot drop led to a down-climb squeeze and from there to a 20-foot diameter room. The room was full of old mining timbers and also contained an unstable looking platform above a 30-foot drop. We surveyed to the left into two parallel passages. Once again we ran out of time and left many going leads and other passages to survey. Total survey was around 200 feet and 100 feet of depth. We are already looking forward to a return to these two interesting caves next summer.
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