Where: Great Basin National Park, Nevada
When: Fall & Winter 2003
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to join Steve Deveny and other members of the Southern Nevada Grotto for an ongoing survey project at Great Basin National Park.
In 1986, a portion of the cave ceiling had collapsed over part of the underground trail system through the highly decorated and wonderful Lehman Caves. The park had since closed the back third of the affected cave system to public visitation. In consideration of a new above-ground trail system that was in the works above the collapsed area of the cave, the NPS had since decided that a new survey of the cave was needed to determine the amount of rock between the proposed above-ground trail and the collapsed ceiling of the cave. That's where we came into the picture.
Fortunately, Steve, a talented climber and caver, was a surveyor by trade. Contacted about the project by the park, Steve enthusiastic signed us up for this significantly ambitious undertaking. I was to participate in several of the weekend survey trips to the cave, during which, our work team would enter the cave after visiting hours and spend much of the nighttime hours alone in the depths of the cave.
Learning quite a lot about cave surveying, as well as being given the opportunity to visit seldom-visited parts of this magical cave system, I harbor fond memories of my volunteer work at Lehman Caves.
Mapping Lehman Caves
Pinnacle Cave, Las Vegas
Where: Mojave Desert, Nevada
When: Summer 2002
In the dry, mountainous region of the Mojave Desert they call Las Vegas, there's a particular technical cave that is regarded in caving circles as something of a classic. That cave is Pinnacle Cave. It's located on a shoulder of one of the high peaks in the Spring Mountains.
Fortunate enough to be invited to join a group taking a reporter into the cave for an extreme sports article she was writing, I was excited to be headed up to the mountain early one morning.
Marching up to the drop-in and assisting others in rigging the drop into the 120-foot vertical entry shaft, I eagerly descended into the depths of the canyon. Six hours of exploration followed. Tight squeezes, a few formations and even a strange room deep in the cave that featured dozens of mud babies made the trip quite memorable.
Using the rope walker system to reascend the rope at the end of the day, I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached to the surface, and something that had become foreign to me in the preceding hours...daylight.
Plumbers Cave
Where: Mojave Desert, California
When: February 2008
Partners: DB & Rick Kent
It rained all night and we woke to cloudy skies. Hmmm, what to do?
I hadn't done any technical caving in about 5 years, but I remembered a nearby technical cave (called Plumbers Cave) that was short and not terribly difficult. Perfect for Rick and DB, neither of whom had done any technical spelunking...and it kept us out of the rain!
Reaching the cave, we set an anchor and rappeled 60 feet to the bottom of the vertical entry shaft. From there, we explored the small section I'd been in before then pioneered some new ground I hadn't noticed on my prior visit. We found an interesting network of tight passages and small rooms that required some strenuous climbing to negotiate.
Finally satisfied we'd explored the cave's negotiable passages, Rick and DB jumar'd out while I chimneyed up and out.
Photos courtesy of Rick Kent
