Upper Cave Dig

Saturday, January 26th 2008 - Jason Baxter

Trip Leader: Jason Knight On Trip: Jason Knight, Jason Baxter, Max Barker, Russell Barker, Sue (Sawsak?), Max Cook, Kent Forman This trip was a January cave trip, with all the associated fun. We started out slowly picking our way to the cave after backtracking once or twice due to the snowdrifts on the roads. I only felt like I needed my 4-wheel drive about 10% of the time... Once we reached the cave, Max Barker played tour guide for those of us that hadn't been there before, while the others set up for the dig. Quick trip to the upper rooms, and admiring the deposits, etc... A lot of the decoration is very similar to Candlelight, since both caves were formed the same way. Then we were introduced to a dusty hole at the end of the cave. This is where the 7 people versus the cave dirt event started. The overall goal is of course to continue digging at the end of the known passages, following the blowing air. It appears much work has been done in years past, but there is no longer anywhere to put the dirt near the blocked end of the passages. This trip was used primarily to ease future dig trips. We cleared the main crawlway so it was high enough to be able to pull two 5 gallon buckets at a time on sleds from the front of the dig all the way back to the main room.(except the very first tight spot--the buckets currently have to be passed through one at a time, but a small group could easily remedy that on their next visit.) As of this trip, 7 or more people could easily move the dirt out to the main room as fast as the buckets could be filled. Smaller groups of three to four people can now efficiently dig, they would just need to stage the bucket movement. (Fill them all and stack them in a nearby dome, remove them all to the main room at one time, repeat.) ---Jason Baxter