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 14^th. JD and Don made the second trip into the Cave Next Door on Tuesday, Sept.14^th. 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 3^rd 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 28^th 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.

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