Trip Leader: Ralph Powers, Rodney (?), Ralph Powers
On Trip: Julie Ralph Robert Rodney Dane
This is definitely a first for me in TAG. To do two caves in one day after a practice/training session at the Eagle's Nest, a popular cliff/quarry where one can learn SRT.
I was asked by Julie to see if I could go to Eagles Nest to help her and her son Rob learn some more SRT. Since I had the day off and was dying of boredom ... sure thing!
They picked me (and my 1 ton of gear) up at around 10-ish (that's caver time) and unfortunately for Rob who had to be at work sometime that day the rigging took a bit longer and we didn't have time to familiarize him with a Frog system. So he left his mom and I to play around while he went on to work.
Julie was especially focused on becoming more familiar with the rack device. Having previously put over (roughly) 35,000 feet on mine ... before it "walked off" (you know like tools do?) I was happy to show her the ins and outs of the device. She learned how to lock off and was shown the reasons why it's rigged this way and not that way. Then we went-on over the edge together (with me borrowing Rob's rack). Like most people she was a tad edgy right at the edge but did okay as soon as her head passed the lip and rapped on down along side me. She immediately fell in love with it.
At the bottom I managed to convince her to try the Frog system though she ordered a rope-walker/double-bungee from OnRope1. I explained that it would be a good idea to familiarize one's self to several types of ascending systems so that if one fails then you still got a way to get yourself up and out of the pit, in lieu of being all over the local TV news as a potential rescue victim, she thought that was a good idea.
She got alright and was surprised that it was easier than she thought it was initally. We rapped on back down again, stopping and practicing locking off then I loaned her my double bungee so she would at least have a "taste-of-things-to come" when she got hers. Needless to say she found her niche with that system over the frog.
We took a break to have lunch and she got a call from Rodney who was getting off work early and was itching to do something. He offered a trip to Wheeler's Raid Pit. I didn't have a problem with going, as long as I checked in at home.
Soon enough we were over Signal Mountian and caught up with Rodney next to a large rock quarry. Getting our gear together it was a short hike to the cave/pit. Alas, :doh: I realized that I left what ascending gear for Julie back in the truck and offered to get it since it wasn't that far -round trip. It seems that she had bats in her stomach (cavers [b]DON'T[/b] have butterflies) and opted out on doing this drop. This was okay, better to be nervous and NOT do it than nervous and do it and end up maybe having problems.
Rodney's rope got rigged up and he went on down first since he was more familiar with it than I was. I followed him on down within a minute after he called off-rope. I must say that this is an impressive pit. Not big and wide as I expected a TAG pit to be but still very nice and a very clean drop with lots of pretties to look at on the way down. I took my time so to admire my first real TAG pit. The drop(s) in Byers are more of what I call necessary evils to see the rest of the cave ... but no less fun to do. :-)
Rodney took the time to show me some of the "smaller" passages to be found in the cave. They looked inviting and I'll be keeping them in mind next time I go there.
The ascent up was good, nice to be able to have some pretty stuff to look at while taking a quick breather now and again. All the while during the ascent I was concerned a bit about loose debris falling with an occasional rock or two hidden beneath. The pit was basically covered with dead leaves and while Rodney (and myself) gardened best as we could still couldn't see everything. Likewise I saw (during the ascent) that the drop had several small ledges occasionally dotted with fist to head sized rocks that were loose.
I got to thinking that it may be a good idea for a caver to come to this pit and "clean off the ledges" using a rope bag tied to their harness during the ascent and drop the loose rocks down without worry of hitting the rope.
Anyway, got out alright and de-rigged and we were headed back over the mountian, ... then Dane calls and wants to know if we wanted to do Cedar Ridge Crystal Cave. Oh sure lets do what HE wants to do. Well the answer was yes again. We met up at Julie's house and in a short while were on our way to yet another cave. But this time I had them stop at Wallyworld so I could get myself a (disposable) camera to take my own pictures. It hadn't rain all day but get in the car with Dane and it comes down buckets. Go figure that one out eh?
Got to the cave and had the gate opened and since I was the only one who had been there before I got to lead. Since this cave is pretty straight forward and impossible to get lost in, it wouldn't be too hard of a task.
Going past the small metal frame that separates the entrance room from the rest of the cave I found that I nearly stepped on a salamander. I called the other two on over to have a look. I don't know enough about the animals to identify what species it was but it was a pretty one. Dark bluish with some darker stripes and spots. Took a picture of it and we continued on our way.
This is a cave that one can find newer and newer things to look at everytime you go to it. Numerous times I saw formations that I had missed on the first trip and I had no doubt that I would see more on my next trip in.
Odd thing was that when we reached the "back" of the cave I was trying to find the pathway to where I had saw a room full of draperies and bacon. I was sure that I went the right way but for the life of me I couldn't find any place to continue on. I was wanting to get some shots of those as they're one of my favorite types of speleothem... among many.
We spent about a couple of hours in the cave, in no hurry and even rested with our lights off long enough to tell a joke or three and to talk about caving things in general.
The drive home included a side detour to see the entrance of Bible Springs (?) and that was that.
A good day of training/caving and making new friends.
| Photography | ||||
 Interior shot of the gate for Cedar Ridge Cave (all photos by Ralph Powers) |  Dane coming through another man-made entryway... possibly the original gate before the one blocking the exterior entrance. |  A salamander was found in here. Cute little critter isn't it? | ||
 The formations in here are simply incredible. |  Big formations are all over this cave. |  Thousands of soda straws line the ceiling | ||
 These had secondary growths of what (they) called gypsum |  There was even a shield that stood about the height of a dining room table. |  Nearly everywhere you look there's something pretty to see | ||