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’ ply board, cross braced 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.

While probing with a bar in the mud at the bottom of the shaft, air was found to be coming from one of the holes. This means that the bottom of the shaft can be connected to the boulder Room. Access to the first room in the CND could be possible with only a 3’ long tunnel! This hole too was plugged.

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