Trustee Trip to Soldiers Cave
by Peter Bosted

As most of you know, trips to Soldiers Cave are now being led by Trustees or the Cave Specialist at Sequoia National Park, in the southern Sierras. After many years of having trips led by any caver who asked and had proper vertical gear, a noticeable degradation of the cave had begun to set in. The final straw was when a very nice drapery was broken in the helictite room. Over the next several years, clean up trips have restored the 1-mile-long cave to much of it's former beauty. Flagged trails have been established in some of the more sensitive areas, and a few areas are closed completely to avoid cavers knocking dirt down into well-decorated areas.

Every year those trustees that can get away from other obligations come together to do some work in the cave and discuss management issues with Park personnel. This year the meeting was early, on April 25. I rode up with Jim Hildebrand the night before, to find the campground soggy, but well below the current snow line. Three trustees from southern California also showed up: Vance Nelson, Scott Schmitz (sp?), and John Woods. Ann had just got back from China a few days before, and needed to catch up on work. I don't know what excuses the other six trustees had!

On Saturday morning, Cave Specialist Joel Despain decided his cold was too bad to go caving, but he gave us the key, ropes, and survey gear. We rigged the entrance drop with the longest rope (about 90'), tying on to the gate as usual, and it was just the right length. We then tried using the 60' rope to rig the second drop from the Angel's seat, but we could see the end swinging around in mid-air. So we used the last rope (about 50') to rig with and provide a handline across the exposed canyon just before the Angel's seat. By knotting the ropes together just below the bolts, the 60' rope was just long enough to reach the ledge in the Waiting Room. From the ledge it is an easy climb-down into the room.

Vance and Jim spent the next four hours or so doing a bit of cleaning in the Waiting Room area. I was impressed with Vance's energy, for if I'm not mistaking he is in his seventies (sorry Vance if I'm wrong!). Scott, Little John and I surveyed from the Waiting Room to the Starlight Room, going in via the Contact Room and looping back around to the Canopy Passage. We went in a few side passages that I had never seen before. The surveying was slow, but enjoyable since this is one of the best-decorated parts of the cave. Scott had left a spray bottle and some water in the Starlight Room, so we were able to clean the flowstone right away after we had stepped off-trail to complete the survey. The current survey project is being spearheaded by Joel, who wants the new map to show copious detail and have both plan and profile views, and lots of cross sections.

The normally dry stream outside the entrance was running about 6 inches deep, so I took the opportunity to wash off all my caving gear while the last drop was being de-rigged. Due to all the recent rain, the cave had been the wettest I have ever seen, and we had gotten a lot muddier than usual. We also washed off the ropes.

The rain had gone, so we enjoyed a pleasant pot-luck dinner shared with members of the Western Region Training Committee (I think that's what they're called), who were up for a meeting. After the feast, we met at a wimpy camp fire and discussed management issues with Joel and his boss. Among the suggestions were to have a first aid kit in the cave (with emphasis on heating devices to prevent hypothermia), to provide trustees with maps of the cave, to replace some of the bolts (again), and several other ideas which I don't recall at present.

Sunday dawned with lovely blue sky and lots of sun, so we decided to walk a bit before heading home. After trashing around for an hour or so on deer trails, we finally hit the real trail that leads to Palmers cave. It is pretty overgrown in places, but most of it is quite distinct. We got up to a meadow brimming with wild flowers and great views of the snowy peaks that surrounded us, then followed the trail back to the main South Fork trail. Now I know exactly how to get half way to Palmers on the planned grotto trip this Fall. Can't guarantee the other half!

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