Cave Next Door

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A Brief History of the Discovery of the Cave Next Door with Observations

In the summer of 1996 while involved in preliminary hydrology studies in and around the Oregon Caves Monument, Steve Knutsen was searching the area for any springs to sample for some proposed dye tracing. He found a resurgence on the bank of a creek about the same elevation as the Oregon Caves and some miles away. A few rocks were removed from the bank at that time. Later, at Steve’s suggestion, a couple of guides, Brad and Josh, who were working for the Cave’s Company did some more rock moving and started a notch in the creek bank. Why look here for a cave? There was a seam of marble exposed in the bedrock of the creek. The water flowing out of the creek bank seemed to have very slight temperature variations, as cave water would and not creek water just flowing through rock piles and log jams along the creek. The water also seemed to have more even flow than the near by creek had, being a major water contributor in late summer and fall but increasing only a little from 1 cfs to maybe only 2cfs in the winter. All these factors were positive for the existence of a cave, but how big? A 4” crack or cavernous halls?

In the summer of 1998 work was resumed on the resurgence. At this time a small notch had been cut in the talus slope of an alluvial deposit (quaternary?) where the water exited the hillside. A brief investigation showed that the resurgent stream was flowing out of the alluvium over marble bedrock underlain by an argillite with a 7’ to 10’ drop to the creek. We, David Hodges and Don Young, started following the water by the simple procedure of removing any rocks or boulders that were loose where the water was flowing. By this method a tunnel was soon created. The walls were formed by stacking rocks along both sides of the water, until a ceiling of suitable stable, clay layer was reached. Boulders and rock walls to a suitable depth and height to stop erosion reinforced the sides. This hole was digging itself. The rocks were generally loose with no or very little mud and gravel around them. As we went into the mountain large rocks were used for walls and small ones were carried out forming a tunnel with a natural clay roof.

It was observed that the water was flowing through cracks between the boulders where sand and silt had been washed out by the water action. It seemed that over the years the water had taken various passages out of the alluvial boulders. The boulders were up to 3’ in diameter. Bedrock was followed up from the creek, starting with argillite at creek level changing to marble where the resurgence exited the hillside. Bedrock was not seen again that summer. In the first year approximately 20’ of tunnel was carved out from 5’ to 8’ high and wide. The walls, floor, and ceiling were the creek alluvium and no more marble was seen since the entrance.
Digging resumed in the spring of 1999 and the first marble appeared at 25’ in from the entrance. The marble soon formed a ceiling about 5’ high with a marble wall on the east side and alluvium on the west side. Three or four speleogenic boulders were found between 25’ and 35’ into the tunnel. At this point the water was coming from the east side which appeared to have a marble roof. More digging caused the water to move to the west side of the tunnel where the water was flowing out of a 1 foot hole in the marble at the top of what appeared to be a joint dissolution cave passageway about 10’ farther back into the cave. The notch showed a marble ceiling approximately 7’ back from this hole on the west side. Digging was stopped until we could determine how safe it was. Stopping was wise. Within one half hour of vacating the tunnel, a large (2’x3’x5’) speleogenic boulder peeled off the east wall right where we had been sitting. Soon another speleogen joined this one and now leans against the east wall near by. Any boulder small enough to remove was taken out and the large ones, speleogens and placer boulders, were stacked on the west side. It should be noted that these speleogens seem to have been formed and loosened in situ by the dissolving action of ground water and cave water flowing through a plugged up cave. However, at this point, we couldn’t be sure that we weren’t moving along a cliff face or amongst large marble boulders. We also considered it quite possible that all the alluvium could have been washed in by the creek forming the initial plug in a cave. At this time whether this is true had not been ascertained, since not all the ceiling in this part of the cave was exposed. The boulders were typical of the creek outside the cave. All the marble showed dissolution characteristics with protruding chert lenses. The deeper we dug, the smaller the alluvial boulders became.

We continued by following the water, stone by stone, inch by inch. More marble started showing up to the east side and slowly moving across the ceiling from the west. It was still not possible to say that this was a cave, and not a heap of marble boulders. Any dangerous work was done from a distance with long handled hoes and long pipes that would pick away at the base of any dangerous rock. When severely undercut, the boulder would fall out of the bank that held it. Then the long handled hoe would be used to hook the rock and drag it back to where it could be safely handled. Small rocks were thrown out of the tunnel. Moveable boulders were used to support walls in the alluvial entrance and immovable boulders were left in place. A large rock, 3’x3’x2’, was found in the middle of this area. The upper half of it showed no water action. It was undercut by the water, and fell and broke into manageable pieces. It appeared to be a fractured chunk of the intrusive dike noted in the bedrock of creek outside the cave.
Soon after this rock was removed, natural water action undercut and collapsed a large section of the east wall. As the rubble was cleared away and more marble was exposed, it became apparent we were indeed in a cave. On August 16, 1999, I the author, David Hodges, recognized this resurgence to be a cave. This was witnessed by assistant, John Dodge. At this point in the digging we were almost through the first room in the cave we called the Boulder Patch. Sandy clay and rocks
A typical Cross section of the Sediments in the “Boulder Patch” interblended sand and silt. Sand and gravel Sandy silt Cave clay- light brown cherty Stream

The Boulder Patch is entered through a low entryway. The room is 10’-11’ wide and at least as many high. It has a marble floor strewn with boulders of marble, water-rounded intrusives, and non-abraded intrusives. It terminates at its upper end where the marble walls pinch down to a joint fault dissolution crack. At this point there was a face of layers of sand and silt about 5’ deep. The hard cherty clay bottom layer was missing and a soft muddy silt was right on a hard marble stream-bed, overlain with a sand and gravel layer and then a silt and sand layer. The water was still entering through its original hole at the top of the dissolution passageway that was in the end of the room.

Forty-eight hours later the water had stopped flowing from the top of the crack and was flowing right at marble floor level, a drop of about 7’. This seemed like very encouraging news and perhaps some kind of air space, at least represented by what was 7’ of water 48 hours ago, was nearby.
By this time, we were working our way through the area known as Duck Run, a low keyhole shaped area. Water was found to be issuing from fissures in the marble bedrock just before the low passageway opened up into the next room. Many nights of continued digging has removed much material from the second room, and exposed another spring where the water flowed from when the first springs were blocked up.

The second room, Spring Hall, has been similar in layered deposits to the first but more sharply defined. This room turned out to be about 10’ long. The width and height are still undetermined as of 9-24-99. The spring room ended in another low bridge with plugged passageways continuing into the mountain. On the west side was a sort of wall with silt filled dissolution features, small leads going in and up. About 7’ into the passageway a crack was found on the right side of the cave that had sand in it and no clay at the top. Probing upwards eventually revealed about 6” of air space at the top of the crack and for the first time, AIR FLOW.
For the next week work continued sporadically, which was the safest way. Airflow being established was a great encouragement and Steve and I were sure that a limited amount of continued digging would soon bring us into open passage by the stream way. While we were pursuing this way, John Dodge would probe the airflow crack. He was able, over a period of a few nights, to open up the passage by removing sand until a body could actually fit into it. Steve helped in this. While Don and I were working down below, Steve and John were inching their way into the tiny passage above.

The stream passage remained low, 4’ and showed no signs of opening into a large room as it had in the Boulder Parch and Spring room. Instead it remained low and wide with layered sediments on both sides.
Speculative anticipation and high hopes was the mood of the weekend of September 11-12, 1999. The events would be pivotal. On Saturday, the stream passage widened out into a wide, low-ceilinged room. There were major drips from cracks in the ceiling. It was assumed that there was a lake of some kind, above the ceiling and at some point in washing up the steam, the lake would be emptied. How much water it held, no one knew. Saturday afternoon, Don was working down below with Steve helping, when the drip pattern in the ceiling began to change. A couple of small rocks fell out of ceiling on the right side of the room and at the same time the water that was dripping on the left began to run muddy and start moving along the crack. Don quickly backed out as he and Steve watched a large slab of the ceiling slowly settle down, then fall with a mighty whump! A gush of water, 2-3 cfs, surged from the ceiling 10’ back in the room somewhere on the right while water ceased to flow from the cracks in the Spring Room floor. We called the area Grateful Hall.

Now, which way to go? To the right around the block that fell following where the water was coming from? To the left? It looked like we could go around the fallen block on that side too. Meanwhile John and Steve had pushed the airflow passage about 15’ to a narrow, 4 inch squeeze, that appeared to block further travel but it also seemed to get larger on the other side. Also the crack around the large chunk of the ceiling that had fallen was connected to the air tube. We left the cave to see what it would do. On Sunday afternoon, we tried to make further progress by going around the left side of the obstruction. The room was widened on the left. The ceiling was checked frequently. John and Steve continued enlarging the airflow passage and were trying to push past the tight squeeze. Digging ceased on Sunday when another rock fell from the ceiling on the left side of the obstruction. The cave seemed to be talking to us. “Not that way!” it was saying. On a note of discouragement we left that night, determined to return on Monday night to do what? John gave me the answer on the way home Sunday while watching a brown and golden sunset on the landing. He told me that if I wanted to be the first one into the Cave Next Door I had better determine to crawl through the airflow passage at the first chance. He believed that he had seen some distance into the passage and he felt that it was much larger further in. I began preparing right then and there both mentally and physically to find out once and for all where the airflow passage went.
In the evening of Monday, Sept. 13, after a pondering 10 hours of work for NPS ORCA, I met Steve at the Cave Next Door, ready to do some major wiggling and squeezing. While I was checking the ceiling of the hall and passage, Steve went into the airflow passage-here after called the Trachea- as far as John had gone the night before. I was ready to follow. To my surprise, Steve wiggled back out reporting indeed a tight constriction with a rock floor, but it did appear to get easier after that. So I made my first trip into the Trachea. I wiggled, armed with a garden trowel and a rock pick and an attitude that said, “I want to get somewhere to turn around so I don’t have to wiggle out backwards with this raincoat on.”

As tube crawls go, it is not too bad. There is plenty of arm and elbowroom to help the wiggling and lots to push with the feet. There is a hole or two in the floor. After a couple tight turns, I came to the squeeze, comforted by the thought that both JD and Steve had been here, and back out. Wiggling into some kind of position I removed the trowel from my teeth with what I assumed to be my hand since it had a glove on it, and not a boot and made like a mole. There was a hole of some kind up to my left over my shoulder so I started putting anything that was soft up into the hole. It was a slow, tedious process, but I was, I reminded myself, for the first time at the ceiling of the cave digging a floor instead of underneath everything looking for a ceiling. After 30 minutes or so of digging I began to think that indeed I might be able to go forward one inch! If I can go one inch, I told myself, I can go 20 inches and by then I could see the passageway was larger. The rock floor on the right dropped off and it looked like it would be possible to trench around it. A tight corner to be sure, but easier going on the other side. It must have taken an hour of digging; Steve was behind, encouraging. Inch by inch. Spade-toss-push. Spade-toss-push.

Well before you can say- Mighty Moles Mush More Mud Mom- backwards and forwards 100 times without taking a breath, I was moving through the crawl without digging. Ahead, another obstruction. Once I managed to crawl forward to this tight spot I could see definite larger crawl beyond. Determined to not have to go back out the way I’d come in, I started digging again. Easier dirt removal and room to swing my arms made this dig easier. I called back to Steve that it looked like I was going to get in and kept inching forward as digging allowed. Soon I was crawling without digging, then I was on my hands and knees, and then ahead I could see a passage with piles of sand on the floor and room to stand up. I called back to Steve again and sat there on a pile of mud shaking uncontrollably until Steve caught up and we began exploring. We were sitting on some muddy sand with the creek flowing from the left in front of us and down through a hole formed by a crack that must have opened when the ceiling collapsed below. Mud covered boulders of breakdown loomed in the passage beyond and seemed to climb up to a larger room. Choosing carefully each step and hand holds, disturbing as little as possible, knowing we were the first to put footprints here, we climbed over the silt covered rocks, rising above the mud and into a room with a breakdown floor, a 20’ ceiling, and patches of flowstone on the walls. Somewhere below us, the stream was softly murmuring for the first time in maybe thousands of years. A snail shell was found on the floor here, hence the name the Snail Room. Later a bone was also found. Exploring the upper reaches of this room ended in dead ends. Eventually, Steve found a passage through the breakdown and we were able to continue along a sandy floor with a marble wall and ceiling o the left and breakdown on the right. The passage led us to a hole in the floor through which you could see the creek meandering over sand bars with about a 12’ ceiling, and once again, airflow. Weak but perceptible. The cave still went but we’d had enough and turned around and headed back out. Boy, was I happy to be going out headfirst! I wasn’t quite sure how things would work out when I popped through the hole in the ceiling of the Spring Room. Oh well, that’s on down the tube.

I stopped to tell Don the news on the way home that night. We had found a cave with a big room in it!! He would have to be next on the 14th. JD and Don made the second trip into the Cave Next Door on Tuesday, Sept.14th. About 6 in the evening, JD and Don went into the cave while Steve and I did some clean up outside. They spent some time inside enlarging and exploring. They approached the water crawl from the top going in from the back of the Snail Room instead of through the boulders. Don pushed the cave another 30’ – 50’ when he bellied through the water crawl to a crack that was blocked with a small piece of breakdown. Don chose not to attempt further progress, but once again the cave still went on. The crack above the water was good news to me because it meant that I was not going back to troweling yet.

The cave was entered the 3rd time on Sept. 25, 1999. Don and I wanted to put some more shoring in. My son, Aaron, was down for the weekend so we made a video of what had been discovered so far. The video was later shown to the Park Service in Craig Ackerman’s office.

Steve Knutsen and Stu Evans entered the Cave Next Door the fourth and fifth times the first weekend in October. Entering Friday afternoon, just to check the blockage Don had stopped at, they found it easy to proceed. The cave, at this point, became a canyon complex with the creek flowing at the bottom. It had an upper level and a lover level connected by the creek canyon and at places partially blocked by huge chunks of breakdown. They followed the canyon for 400’ or so, which more than doubled the known size. Stopping at some breakdown, which did look moveable, they left the cave that night and returned the next day to map what they had found so far.

Note the Snail Room receives ground water through marble while the canyon complex is capped by a layer of intrusive. That could possibly explain the flowstone in the Snail Room and lack of flowstone in the canyon complex. The canyon complex is also above the sedimentation layer that plugged the cave, allowing the stream to drop to its natural gradient.
Steve and Stu reported a number of interesting phenomena. Large plates of boxwork, 6” x 6”. A really soft form of marble like white mud, perhaps a result of different acids. They followed the canyon for approximately 400’, sometimes in the upper levels, sometimes in the lower levels. There were numerous side passages that weren’t explored. On Saturday, they returned and measured the cave from the entrance to the point they had reached the day before, #34. The map showed the cave running almost due magnetic south following the strike of the layer of marble from the creek.
Needless to say, Steve’s report excited Don and me. I made plans to go beyond the water crawl- Santa Lucia- and see the canyon for myself.

We asked a friend, Dan Robinson to come along with us. He brought a friend, Jerry Spalding. I had been caving with both men previously. We got in our best wiggling mood and went through the Trachea. All popped into the Snail Room in fine muddy form and we proceeded through the breakdown to Dodge Beach and Santa Lucia. Don went through the water first, since he had been before. We made a sandwich of green horns and I went last. Almost hoping that someone would balk and I wouldn’t have to make like a salamander and slither on my belly into this water, I wondered how the pros do it? I tried my elbows and boot toes and used my beard to strain out any lint dropped in the water by my companions. It worked well until the head mule slowed down and I was left looking like a cypress tree that hated water. I finally got my chance to slither through the muddy opening around a boulder, back into the water for a short crawl and into the canyon complex. My intent was to explore further than Steve had, so we followed the ribbons Steve had left heading for station #34. We saw the boxwork. Large plates, one 6” square. Sometimes they occur in sediments. Sometimes partially dissolved, leaving a lace-like web of “crystal.” In another place, a wall covered with hair-like crystals blocked a side passage. At another spot, pieces of break down were covered on some sides with crystals. The walls of the canyon were often very white marble with chert and had other inclusions sticking out of the walls. One spot I found was a room at stream level maybe 500 square feet with the creek flowing around a sand bar. The room was 3-4 feet high. I felt like a crab scurrying down to see what was around a bend—and there was a snail shell marooned on the beach!! The canyon was larger than I expected, sometimes having a broad 30’ ceiling and a drop down to the creek of 20’. Sometimes I was almost totally blocked by huge breakdown with passageways under them somewhere down at creek level. We made our way to station 34 and prepared to go on. Batteries were changed, equipment adjusted and on we went around a plate of boxwork, down into a narrow crack of a canyon, working along the wall. The four of us managed to push the cave another 150’ and turned around. The passage we were following ended in a wall of sediment. The creek was flowing out of a 1-2’ crack in the west wall of the room. I squeezed back in there, removing some small breakdown to look down a passageway that was a 12”-20” crack at a 30 degree angle that went back around a corner 20’ along the crack. The cave still went, but we weren’t going.

By the time we returned to fresh air and starlight (4 hours later) everyone was exhausted and looked like mudballs. Dan and Jerry decided never to go in again. Don seemed to think he probably wouldn’t go in again until spring and I was wondering what was around the next corner. A lake perhaps formed by a damming of the canyon? More canyon? Probably.

Steve and Stu entered the cave again on the 23rd of October 1999. They went pretty much right to Station 34 and began measuring. Coming to the point where we had stopped, they went another 200’ or so, making a total of 850’ of passage. They were stopped when the ceiling came down to a muddy floor with the water issuing from a sump.
They went back to the last large room, station 51-52 to see if there was an upper passage over the constriction. They found 3 possibilities, one needed clearing, one needed to be dug, and needed a rope. None were attempted. Steve did report finding the recently decayed remains of some kind of animal, perhaps a rodent. Tracks were also found.
Possibly due to an even temperature gradient, there was almost no airflow detectable through the cave and it was impossible to follow through large spaces. Plotting the stations on the map showed from end to end a 600’ line going magnetic south.
Now it hasn’t been noted previously in this narrative, but in the summer of 1999, the Oregon Caves resource department did some dye tracing. Dye was put in at a submergence on the Oregon Cave Monument. Somewhere between 4 and 8 days later, the dye was detected at the Cave Next Door. After following the Next Door Canyon straight into the mountain ½ way to the submergence, I can’t help but wonder if the Cave Next Door will eventually lead back to the Oregon Caves Monument. Maybe it will connect to Low Hopes and High Hopes Caves. There is more exploring to do.

In the meantime, the Forest Service issued a temporary special use permit to us for protection, exploration, and mapping of the cave. Don and I did some work at the cave on November 22 and 23. Materials that were voluntarily contributed were used to put a cement and re-bar gate at the opening to the cave to discourage casual entrance by passerbies. A lock paid for by John Dodge, was installed and a key given to the Forest Service. Rockwork was begun at the entrance to prevent erosion. While we were doing this, there was snow on the ground. Checking the airflow at the Trachea, we discovered the strongest airflow yet, moving into the cave. This indicted a chimney effect. This would mean that there is another opening somewhere. Possibly where the critter, whose bones Stu found, had entered. A few tapestry moths were still in the cave and lots of crickets and harvestman spiders. On December 6, when I stopped in at the Cave Next Door to do some minor gate work and cobbling around the entrance, I noticed a very large population of crickets and spiders, but no moths. They were all the way into the Spring Room but not into the Grateful Halls.

The next visit was on Dec. 27,1999. My grandson, Isaac, 5 years old and I visited the Cave Next Door. It was the first cave he had ever been into. We went as far as the opening to the Trachea. I lifted Isaac up so he could look into the tube. We noted the large population of harvestman and crickets. A few moths were present. The ceiling was still dry with a few drips. Water flow was up slightly. A small pile of clay from the ceiling of the Spring Room was an obvious source. Remember this room is not totally cleared. I also noted more weeping of water from the sand, gravel and silt deposits left in the cave, in the Spring Room and Grateful Halls. Our visit was short. I unplugged the gate drains and we left. From there we went to the Oregon Caves and Isaac and I had a personal tour. We sure enjoyed that and I was able to compare to a certain extent, how wet the Oregon Caves were compared to the CND. I am quite familiar with the conditions in the Oregon Caves. It was pretty dry in the CND.

On the 28th of December, I led another party into the cave. The Thompson’s, Rob, Brian and Angela went with me. Angela Thompson was the first woman into the cave. I have been caving with the Thompson’s before and they are all quite capable. Rob is a chimney sweep by profession and Brian and Angela are both quite athletic. The trip went well. We all went to the last room, station 51. I went to the sump. I noted the animal tracks on the mud bank at the Sump. There were both large and small sized tracks, mice and rats perhaps. There were a series of small pools leading up to the final one at the Sump. I couldn’t tell if the passage was blocked by a bedrock dam or by a detritus dam that could be broken. That would lower the stream level and might allow further access up the stream passage. The pools appeared to be holes in bedrock, but there also seemed to be a greater than normal stream gradient. I was actually unable myself to see the water level meet the ceiling. It seemed to me as if the marble itself had changed to a more fractured type and appeared more rotten. The outflow of the last sump pool was mounded up with alluvium as if at times, a much greater water flow was present. This could perhaps be due to some kind of emptying of pools further in the cave. The stream passage at this point was quite small. It was 4’ wide, 7’ high at times with an undetermined amount of sediments and breakdown on the floor. The stream was near floor level. As Steve did, I went back to the last room, Station 51 to join my companions.

Now the last room had an upper level that seemed to be separate from the stream passage leading to Station 59, the Sump. There was an upper passage that headed in the southerly direction. To get to it one had to climb up a silt mud bank that essentially led up to a 2’-3’ passage clogged with silt to within less than a foot of the ceiling. It seemed obvious to me that water had flowed through this passage, washing the sand and silt out that we had climbed up. This passage must have water in it when the lower passage is blocked. I checked for airflow and thought there was a very weak flow (out toward the entrance) both in the stream passage and in this upper silt tube from Room 51. There was, however, a very small temperature gradient on this day. It would be interesting to check airflow on a colder day. I felt though, that the way the silt seemed to be washing out of this upper passage, that it must be connected to the stream passage below deeper in the cave. Although we had spades, I decided to not dig now, since Rob was wet and we needed to keep moving, so we headed back out.

I need to mention a few other observations here. A Pacific Salamander (mud dog) was seen in the Grateful Hall passage. At the point where the Trachea enters the Snail Room, a 1’ pit had washed out in the sand floor with a small pool of water at the bottom. There were three dead, drowned mice in this hole. A good mousetrap! Were the mice hunting crickets? Just exploring? Following air flow? Harvestman spiders were also seen in the Snail Room, having come through the Trachea.
Jan.2, 2000 – First trip of the new millennium---Don, Jenny, and I entered the cave around noon, after driving in through 6” of new snow. Don helped Jenny and I went ahead to the last room, Station 51, and started digging. I dug about 15’ out of the passage leading from the top of the south end- heading south. I dug for a couple hours until I could look around a corner and see more of the same. I stopped digging because it was obvious that there was no airflow. I suspect this passage to be totally blocked further on. Testing with matches though seemed to indicate the airflow was moving up out of various cracks along the top of the west side. We dug some in this direction. We were unable (didn’t even try, actually) to check the upper-most hole on the west side, middle of the room- still no rope. It was obvious though from observing our steam and match smoke that there was airflow out of this room. Note: Stations #48-51 seem to be a loose, unstable section. Note the cracks on the ceiling!!! There seems to be some kind of a change in the geology of the cave here. A more brittle fractured marble and a turn for to the west.
About a week after this trip, Don made a trip into the cave with his relatives, Howard and Carl. They were taking a rope into the last room to see if the high middle passage was passable but did not go past about Station 24. They left the rope and returned after taking some pictures.

October 2000- The winter snows were not deep. Near the end of April, soon before I was to return to work as a seasonal at the Oregon Caves, I visited the entrance to the CND. There had been continued subsidence in the alluvium at the entrance to the cave, totally blocking the first 30’. This was not totally unexpected but still a disappointment. What with the material now being unconsolidated all of it would now have to be removed leaving steep walls in a trench. There were many boulders that wouldn’t even fit through the gate. A few futile attempts proved the impracticality of digging at the entrance. I felt that a door that had been slammed in my face, knowing that it was not going to open. The cave was talking to us again and I didn’t like what it was saying.
Maybe this is for the best. Who knows what some serious research would produce. In a cave like this, which has been sealed up for possibly thousands of years, a mass of knowledge could be gleamed from the rocks, muds, and formations inside. Climate studies, organism studies, cave evolution studies. At this point we hardly know what questions to ask, much less what answers we may get. Is there a pollen record in the muds of Grateful Halls? Is there a way to determine how long the cave has been plugged? Do the sediment gravels represent one major depositional event (as I believe) or a long period when the cave was open? Is the fine silt under the gravels a deposit from when the cave was being formed under a water table or a result of the dissolution of the marble bedrock, or just a much more gradual period of erosion? Does the cave fill up with water at times, as ripple marks in some upper passages seem to suggest? If so, how often? Where did the rodent tracks on the silt bar at the sump come from? Were the animals washed in there in high water, perhaps in the floods of 97-98? Was this when the cave really started flushing at the entrance? How much more cave is there? Airflow seems to indicate there is more. Where is the other end of the cave where the air is going? Small cracks? Low Hopes? Back towards the Monument? Bigelow Caves? Where does the water come from? Much time was spent during the summer closely examining the surface for any clue that might answer some of these questions.

Eventually, two holes that appeared to be sinkholes were found about 800’ westerly. This area is broad and marshy. This whole area is a clear cut, 13-15 years old. There is a small stream on the northernmost edge of this broad, marshy area. The stream is on what appears to be an ultra-mafic bedrock. We were able to show by putting a weir at the resurgence coming out of the CND and measuring changes in the water-flow that most of the water from the broad marshy area was going directly into the CND. Only water that got trapped on top of the ultra-mafic bedrock on the north side of this area eventually flowed on down the drainage. We showed that any water that went into the suspected sinkholes went straight into the ground and came out the CND within approximately 12 hours. A small amount of digging was done in the sinkholes. The upper one was quite deep, once the organic debris was removed, about 15’. The side of the hole had roots growing along it from a long dead old growth tree, indicating that the hole was active while that tree was growing, probably within the last 500 years. We did a bit of burrowing down in hopes that we would find a marble ceiling with a hole in it but at 20’ we were still digging in a mixture of soft clays and top soil. These dirts seem to have been deposited here as erosion strips them from the bedrock that underlies the marshy area above. What a fantastic deposit of topsoil! Over 20’ deep!! It didn’t appear like we would be able to get into the cave through the upper sinkhole so we went down to the lower sinkhole. Altimeter readings indicated that the lower sinkhole was about 40’ below the upper sinkhole and 70’ above the resurgence. There might be 20’ of elevation in the mapped part of the cave and possibly another 20’ to the sinkhole. If the sinkhole were above a part of the cave with a 10’ ceiling, it would be only 20’ down to the cave. A test hole very quickly showed a 6” hole in the bottom that followed loose rocks along the hard clay wall of the sinkhole. We began preparations to roof the hole and drain any water away from it to prevent further collapse of the clay walls. About this time our use permit with the Forest Service expired. So far we have been unable to renew it. An environmental study might be necessary, National Environmental Protection Act study to continue further investigations. The Forest Service is being consulted and alternatives are being examined.

Jan. 20,2001-- On Jan.18, I gave a small presentation to the Illinois Valley Community Response Team. A committee was formed. Carl Pope, a board member is on the committee. I talked to Steve again on the issue of secrecy versus going public. He seems more willing to try my approach. I am encouraging a real time Internet link-up for exploring the cave. Steve is going to get busy on a study plan and notebook for the cave. I am going to keep encouraging the Forest Service to consider a number of alternatives action plans. I could keep the gate where it is. Build rock walls along the caved in trench. On the rock walls lay timbers crossways for a roof and backfill above the timbers with wood and doff. I know it would be easier to sink a hole down at the head of the trench, the caved in entrance where the cave begins and gain entrance to the Boulder Room, but what would prevent the stream exit from plugging up and perhaps flooding the cave again?

 Spring 2001—Have decided to go ahead and hide and close CND, using material from a shaft dug straight down at end of collapse. The shaft was lined with ¾” x 4’ x 4’ plyboard, crossbraced with 4”- 6” cedar. A number of boulders, maybe 10, had to be hand winched out with a tight line. The shaft was started 4’ below the ground in the collapse hole and hit water at about 17’ below the ground level. This is 10’ higher than the water level at the gate. A rock pile was hit at the bottom of the hole that appeared to be from the original dig in an area outside the boulder room. It appears that the entrance is totally under water. All the dirt from the shaft was used to reclaim the caved in pit to its original condition. Up to this point about one week’s work had been done.
Since it seemed impossible to enter the cave through the ancient entrance as it is blocked with mud and rock and flooded with water; I realized some kind of drifting would be necessary. I spent some time collecting building and shoring materials for these purposes. One, to build an entrance and super structure over the shaft to enable possible water monitoring or future entry in preparation for final restoration of the collapse hole. Two, to roof the lower creek bank cut in preparation for final restoration while still allowing access to the original gate for water monitoring and future entrance. Three, for use as shoring in any future digs. This material came from the immediate area, log jams at the road from the winter of 97-98.
The bank cut has been floored? and walled with rocks upon which a roof peak will be placed and covered with forest material for restoration.
I intend to hide this cave as best as I can from anyone until the right thing is done for it.

Summer-2001 The upper collapsed trench has been totally restored and the shaft covered with a hidden entrance. This has given me much peace of mind. I have not yet restored the cut in the creek bank but it is walled with rocks. Don Young has helped on three occasions. I have not heard a peep from Kent R.
Airflow-Before the shaft was dug, airflow was detected coming from around some boulders on the side of the collapsed trench. This area was outside of the shaft. To include it in the shaft a hidden panel was cut into the wall of the shaft that connects directly to a blind lead with airflow. Some dirt was removed from here while restoring the collapsed trench. At present, (7-22-01), the sir passages are too small for entry. This area has been sealed up, effectually restoring the CND to a zero airflow condition, as it was before the original dig.