TR: Deep Creek Area Pt.4 (technically)

Well 2 weekends ago we decided to head out friday night to go caving again. We set up camp at the overlook of deep creek canyon and when we awoke we drove over to buffalo which is actually not on the rim of DCC un-like alot of the other caves in the area. However it isn't very far really. We drove to a dead end in the road (Trail head access for some trail) and headed off with the compass and printed out sat photo with gps marker point. You always have to wonder how involved finding the hole will be without a GPS but if your good enough you can get it down pretty well. Once we all knew the general direction of the cave we spread out as there was 4 of us with 3 photos (different zoom levels). I ended up walking right to it, no back tracking or confusion at all! Awesome. I should also mention we got my friends subaru down to buffalo just as a consideration for what can be done as far as that road and passability are concerned.

Buffalo was pretty amazing, of the 2 caves we visited I felt it was the crown jewel. Although we got kinda screwed on our second cave.

Anyway you can walk down or take the fun way down, I'm sure you can guess what way we chose...
(excuse my dirty lens, damn caves mess'n my expensive camera up)
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition005.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition006.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition007.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...g/IMG_4039.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...g/IMG_4031.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...g/IMG_4045.jpg

We then dropped into the south pit where we saw this:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition009.jpg
We cruised around for a bit but never found the passages we were looking for on the map, so we came back up and as the first few members of our group ascended the others froze! Really cold air...

Anyway on the way back up the other 2 figured a way to get up with out having to ascend via mechanical resources. On the way up they spied a passage we had missed and so we ate lunch and went for a look at the other passage.

We found the Iceberg Room and made our way back to Buffalo Falls where we saw these amazing features:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition010.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition011.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition011.jpg

We then went back to a split along the way and explored it as it ran paralell to the path to "BF".

We ended up crawling through a bunch of rat $#*^ but it payed off with these images IMO:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition014.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition015.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition017.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition018.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition019.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition020.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition021.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition022.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition023.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition025.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition027.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition028.jpg

We came back to the "IBR" and we ended up finding this awesome little family of Ice tites and mites on far from the berg!
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition031.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition032.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition033.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition035.jpg

We took off very satisfied at that point but not before Nate could pop his head in and check out the the north pit a little. We then decided we had a long drive ahead of us and we should take off asap to get the rough part of the drive out of the way before it got dark. Well we talked about leaving the subaru when it got too nasty and we lead the way with Steve in his truck behind us. Ended up that Nate didn't need to ditch the subie as it made it all the way to Premonition!

It was very exciting at times as we drove on thin spines above large ruts, zig zagged through steep rocky terrain, and crossed a memorable side hill with a rut on the down hill side that had seemed too deep for the subie. We ended up staying above it most of the time except once when the rear passange tire dropped into it. That was really exciting as it was twilight and it seemed like the road dropped steeply off a shelf! We got to camp just after dark, talk about timing!

3 other people were supposed to meet up with us that night but they were having trouble pin pointing our location. Some time around or just after midnight they found camp with some assistance (Steve and Nate found them and lead them into camp).

We woke up and had an omnious premonition about the clouds impeeding the view of our clear sunny Coloradical sky. We persevered and told those premonitions to take a hike, with us to the cave and see just what lies inside. It took a bit more effort then I thought it would but we found it and promptly rigged up a hand line (the easy way, as we were short on time).

I also found a cool antler along the path searching for the right hole on the right point...

The entrance was pretty cool, and if you walked through to the other side you could see an arch!

I also found the taliban!
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition036.jpg

Some more of our crew of 7:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition037.jpg
The arch:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...onition039.jpg

The tunnel that was the main path of the cave was deep 'n' thickly laiden with rat crap at first. Luckily it was tall and wide walking passage so it made no differance. Soon enough we were rock walking and it was all gone. We were trying to find the passages our map depicted that lead to the helectite passage and the pandimonium passage. Well we found alot of dead ends. We also found a passage that looked like it was filled in with dirt just barely 4-6 inches high to squeeze through(for maybe 10'), I'm guessing some Grade A(hole) Eleiteist cavers filled it in but I could be wrong.

Anyways came back out for lunch and to see what the weather was doing and decided we had some more time to explore. We all split into 2-3 groups depending on the leads available. Nathan, Darwin and I were assigned to check any possible up passages. This involved some antics for sure. Nate looped a horn 15-20' up and hand over handed ther rope to the horn and continues to free climb another 5-10 feet of moderately steep slabby terrain. Above he fixes the rope on an archway or bridge type feature above his head in the narrow slot like constriction. We have him tie a couple knots for us and we follow up. Darwin and I are assigned to check any possible leads up in this new area since Nate got us up here. We didn't find anything but I had a really fun exposed vertical squeeze tube lead that I got to chimney up and check out for the group.

After chasing nothing but dead end leads and seeing nothing but barren walls; we decide to give up on the helectite and pandimonium passages, from the angle we were trying based on the map. We chased down some other passages that mostly were dead ends as we worked our way back to the start. trying to only check leads on our right side as that depicted a possible passage we might have missed or be able to use to get back to the goods. Well very near the day light we found a hole with a log leading up the 7' to it. We all (4 of the 7) went in and found a down climb over an exposed rolling slab, but if you stayed left, looked for holds and took your time it was not bad.

We found an great wealth of new leads alot of which did or will most likely dead end, however atleast 1 or 2 seemed like it could go for a ways like a main passage.

We ran out of time and drove home just before getting clobbered by a storm which would most likely make the road impassable for at least the subaru if not all of us. It was fun but a let down to not see anything worth mentioning or taking pictures of in Premonition. Next time we'll come back with a fleet of ATV's to speed up the approach. We'll also have small shovles and pales to dig out burried passages, and the option to check out the other promising leads we discovered.

I'm tired, Enjoy!
P.S. keep your eyes peeled for another Lime Creek TR Tomorrow night or Friday, that trip will shock and awe, I'm sure... :nod:

WOW! Awesome report! :2thumbs: :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

Very nice :popcorn:

I'm confused. :? The North pit is the one with all the curtains. That drop is probably 30-40ft. There's another pit just south of that one, along the wall, that drops down 60-70ft. Then you end up in big passage that goes left and right. You should have seen something like this:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...t/MarksPic.jpg

There's 2 drops in the main sinkhole. The lowest point, which is usually clogged with ice, and a small squeeze in the southern most part of the pit. Did you check out the southern part of the sink? Where you crawl under the floor.

To be quite honest I don't think any of that sounds all that familliar to me(maybe when I read it tomorrow it will). It's been a couple weeks and my last trip really didn't help me remember the trip before.

basically the last picture of the person rappeling (me) shows very close to if not exactly the pit we dropped into, it's to the right of my pack in the dark area. If you were to walk in, it would be on your right almost immediately. I'm not exactly sure to be honest where we went or what we saw. I didn't really look at the map much, and really I find they are not that easy to read sometimes. Depends on the map I guess (the map I had for FTD sure hasn't done us any good yet to date I still have no idea where the hell we've really been only an idea). It's not like I'm getting the prime information fresh from the most recent survey with hi tech equipment.

I'm greatful for what I can get my hands on but I'm sure other people have much better resources. So I don't let myself spend too much time trying to figure it out getting all frustrated confused and lost on where we could be on the peice of paper. Often that means not needing to look at the compass very often to keep track of everything (I do untill it seems futile, but I don't remember all the details of that trip now). Why keep track when you already aren't sure of where you are? I mean we keep track of where we came from and how to get out but why worry about anything more then that unless you really know what's going on with the map and if it's 100% accurate.

I'm not too worried about it, we know where we went and where we didn't go. Next time we'll check out the other pit. We'll explore all the passages we can find and call it good. Maybe we'll use the map more next time if it seems to make sense, if not oh well. Sorry to confuse you, I'm not an extremely credible source of info as I'm new at this and like I say it's been a few stressful weeks since the trip. (My car is dead, being only part of the fun I've had)

BTW that picture looks slightly familiar when I think about it, was there a bunch of mites around on the floor? I think my friend was proding me to get a picture of it but I figured it wasn't what I was looking for or I couldn't shoot it in a way that it wouldn't look dull at that point in time.

PS I'll get the other TR up tomorrow, I'm too fried tonight. Especially after just showing a friend all of the pictures. There was so much in that cave that just viewing them all took forever and wiped me out.

I'm going to need to be fully rested for that one. Hopefully that will help me remember everything more clearly as I wrote this up late last night after many long days at work. I would have done both of them sooner but I haven't had my computer for about 2 weeks now, and I got it all hooked up on the net at about 10PM last night.

Sorry for the crappy tude and lack of info, I forgot I even knew who I was talking to untill now. Sorry bro, and as you can tell I'm just too tired and out of it to try to figure out specifics right now. I'll try again tomorrow as I have the day off to pack before I leave for Ohio.

Edit

I have no way of knowing the awnser to that question, I've never been there. It's not exactly that I don't have a sense of direction, I can find something I've seen already the majority of the time unless it's really complicated. I know how to use a map and compass I should have just said that I didn't remember any or rather all of the specific details like what direction we were traveling at all times as I don't take notes.

As far as rescue is concerned I don't think I would be the person to call anyway, it's not like I can drop everything and come save someone at the drop of a hat. Besides I'm not trained in that sort of activity and I could probably be a bigger risk then a help to the effort.
Hell maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. :ne_nau: It's all speculative anyway.
For the sake of speculation however, if I was with you in a cave and you were injured I would for 1 have marked the path on the way in at any crucial junctions needed to be known to find my way out, in conjunction to that if I was to leave you in the cave with someone and go for help I would completely mark the path back to you as quickly as possible (we carry string always and know how to make cairns).

Does it bother you that organized cavers and organized survey efforts leave a shit load of survey tape through out the cave like litter that is useless to anyone but them (in the sense they don't make the information publicly attainable Ie. non grotto access to maps with survey points labeled and descriptions etc. but yet their litter is)?

OHH..Mannnnn

Well I have a map for Buffalo, but I forgot my password for photo bucket and after to many failed attempts it kicked me out. I will post it as soon as it lets me back on.

Vader,
I had the map you sent me on that trip.
I'm not sure where we went wrong, I'm pretty sure we went in the hole in the wall that MC mentions, I'm also pretty sure we saw the formations pictured in his photo.

The other guys were studying the map more then I was so they might be able to fill in the blanks a little more, I just haven't had the oppertunity to colaborate with them and I don't think I will considering I'm going to be gone all next week as I leave at 10 in the morning for Ohio tomorrow.

Like mentioned above I'm not too worried about it I know I will be back. Maybe I'll figure it out next time. Atleast we got to see some cool stuff even if it wasn't as cool as something we might have missed. It sure beat promonition in the aesthetic aspect for this trip anyway.

Oh and MC; I'm trying to chill out, I'm sure I will be alot more chill in about a week and a half or two. The sleep did help, but it could only do so much, not to mention I got spent again after putting up the other TR. I really need to talk to the other members in the group to try to get the story strait apparently.

Edit

I have never been caving, but these pictures make me want to do it!

My boyfriend and I seldom use maps. Especially in new caves where there has been no survey. It helps some to understand the geologics, how the limestone bedding is trending, is it old or current stream passage, is it fault or joint controlled--- current stream passage is pretty easy, just follow the main drain.
Some cavers bring small plastic or wood pieces wrapped in reflective tape to leave at critical juntions. Small, lightweight, and easily seen from some distance in LED light. Just pick em up as you retrace your steps.
Big mazey caves can be a pain if there is no trend. There you might follow the air more and use landmarks, of course you can also usually see where you have been before, from scuff marks or foot/hand prints.If you are being careful in a delicate area your "trail" should be nearly impossible to see.

We have a pact if something happens to one of us it is up to the other one to help the self rescue. We plan to get ourselves out if remotely possible.
SAR can take a really long time on a cave rescue, and it is in everyone's interest if the group has a plan for self/assisted rescue.

I know a guy who fell deep in a cave in TAG country and had a compound forearm fracture. They used a rack to splint his arm with and then got out themselves. Another guy broke his ankle, he also got out; with the help of the other cavers on the trip. Another guy got stuck on the other side of a sump, and his team had to dig another way out for him.
So stuff happens and if you cave often enough something probably will happen, hopefully minor and everyone can laugh at it later.

Quote:

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Some cavers bring small plastic or wood pieces wrapped in reflective tape to leave at critical juntions. Small, lightweight, and easily seen from some distance in LED light. Just pick em up as you retrace your steps.

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I use tongue depressors with reflective tape in Bighorn Cavern. Very nice