Willett Cave • Buena Vista Cave • Sand Cave • Skylight Cave

SECOND DAY: Mark Hadn’t Dropped It?
Friday morning December 31, after an outstanding
breakfast at the Flocoe in Pineville, the same band
of intrepid speleo-warriors set out to do some ridge
walking and poking around in caves that had been
found previously by PMGers. The initial objective was
to go to Buckeye Cave and its brethren Buckeye I and
Buckeye II. After
arriving and getting
dressed for the trip,
Ken Storey asked
if any vertical gear
would be needed.
Jimbo’s reply was
that if vertical gear
was brought, we
would not find
any pits. So, we all
dutifully left our
vertical gear. After
a grueling hike on
Pine Mountain that
took the better
part of an hour and
what Jimbo claimed
would only take
fifteen minutes, we
arrived at Buckeye
Cave. Jimbo told us that
Karen and Mark had stuck
their heads in the cave
previously, So, several of
us entered it while Lisa
started Ridge Walking.
After crawling about fifteen
feet, we arrived at the lip of
a drop. We had come across
a pit! Jimbo’s proclamation
was accurate. None of us
had brought vertical gear,
and we had found a pit.
The only problem was...no
one had vertical gear. Catch
twenty-two. So, while the
rest of us did some ridge
walking. Tim and Dianne
volunteered to go back to the vehicles to get rope and
vertical gear.
Meantime, Ken Thomas had joined Lisa at an
entrance she had found a little over a hundred feet
below Buckeye. Ken had crawled in and after a short
time emerged, proclaiming it tight. Now, if Ken Thomas
7
says something is tight, it is tight. After reporting this
find to the rest of us, Jimbo and I speculated that the
pit might lead to that entrance below. The only problem
was the pit we had found looked to be only about
twenty-five feet deep. However, when Tim and Dianne
arrived, we would find out more.
Soon, the rope and vertical gear were brought back
and Tim had rigged a
tree above the pit.
Top: Ken Thomas climbing out of This, we decided, was
Buckeye.
the safest thing to
do, as there were no
Middle: Dianne in the entrance to rigging points in the
Buckeye while Jimbo points. cave. There were only
three sets of vertical
Bottom: Lisa at the entrance that
gear and five of us
might connect to Buckeye?
were entering the
cave. Lisa and Jimbo
opted to stay on the
surface.
I entered first,
followed by Dianne.
Together, we hauled
in the ropes and
began setting pads.
Using a borrowed
diaper sling harness,
I went in down first
while Ken and Tim
entered the cave with
more padding and a
webbing haul line.
Soon, I realized the
pit was deeper than
twenty-five feet. What had at the angle above
looked like the floor was actually a ledge that
the pit passes. I was very glad I had pulled out
about sixty feet of rope and had lowered it until
I was sure it had come in contact with the floor.
To be fair, I should have been wearing vertical
gear, just in case.
At the bottom, the small room led
off into a couple of small chambers and after
getting out of the fall zone into the deepest
one, I yelled, “off rope!” Dianne and Tim and
the two Kens joined me at the bottom and we
started looking around.
In a few places, we could climb up to the ledge that
had looked like the bottom from the edge of the pit
above. Tim and Ken Thomas spent a good deal of time
looking for a way beyond, but found none. Meantime,
I spotted a hole going down that I knew I was too big
to enter without rock removal. So, when Ken Thomas
contiuned on page ten