LBCC passage changes?

[jasonbx]

I'm trying to figure out passageway changes in entrance section of the cave the last 3-5 years so we have a comparison for future years. Probably too late for further trips this year, but nice to have a baseline to start from in the future.

Has anyone been to either the Glowing Stream or Onyx Canyon in the last 6 months? How about last winter, and the winter before?

Two weeks ago we found the Glowing stream almost totally plugged. It appears folks were having to dig things open in 2008. In 2009 people were describing the H room and Humming Passage, so it must have been open at that point. 2010-2011 season I have only been able to locate a few people who even went to the cave, and no one went very deep. A few weeks ago we found the Glowing Stream passage choked to less than a 6 inch airspace along the ceiling, and after 30 minutes of digging there was no end in sight. So we gave up and will see what is open next fall after the runoff works on things.

As our alternative we went out the Onyx Canyon passage. Just before we dumped into the large canyon we had to scramble up a narrow slot with a 45 degree slope of cobbles on the bottom. We found ourselves coming out of an opening probably 30+ feet off the floor, with a jagged ledge or two between us and the main Onyx Canyon floor. Very sketchy down climb, especially since there was not anywhere reasonable to attach a rope for quite a ways back. We chose to turn around at that point. It appears that this same ledge was encountered in 2009 by someone. Has anyone been to Onyx Canyon in the last few years that they dropped off this ledge? Or anyone know the last time they were there that they were able to get to the floor of Onyx Canyon? Years ago the Onyx Passage would have come in at closer to floor level. With the redirection that is currently involved, I'm sensing it could have been years since anyone has looked around in there to see if any passages have opened up again.

[canyoncaver]

Hey Jason,

Our crew didn't make it out to LBCC this winter but we did trips in early 2009 and 2010. Sounds like I might be glad we didn't make the effort this year if Glowing Stream is plugged. That's the only way I know how to get anywhere in that cave. I can confirm that Glowing Stream was open in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 we made it through H Room, Humming Passage, Cascade, and nearly to the end of White Stream. The biggest change I noticed between 09 and 10 is that in 09 the entrance was really choked with logs. You had to squirm and squeeze through wood and metal to get in. In 2010, the floor had been scoured a lot lower and it was mostly hands and knees. I am not familiar with Onyx passage and don't have the map handy. Where is Onyx passage?

[jasonbx]

Onyx passage is the only right hand passage I can think of between the corner pool and the glowing stream. Basically similar diameter to glowing stream passage, but you crawl a lot further before it opens up again. And you come out into upper part of Onyx Canyon. Which is great, except Onyx Canyon has been cut off from human passage into the rest for the cave for many years. Haven't heard of it reopening to anything in recent years, but not many people go that way if the glowing stream is open. (Lots of crawling to a dead end, or short crawl to continuing cave is an easy decision usually.)