Cavechat.org

I have been hearing that the SCCI will announce a new acquisition at the convention this year. Unfortunately, my new job did not allow me the vacation time (or the $) to go this year, in spite of it being in my backyard. Has anyone got any word of what the new purchase is? Inquiring minds want to know! Speculation is rampant that it may be MegaWell, or perhaps Guess Creek Cave. Either one of which would be fabulous!

On that topic, I do wish the SCCI would send out such announcements via email to members, or at the very least, to sustaining members. Seems like they love to announce these things at big caving events, but some of us are not able to attend. Then we are left to wonder and eventually get the info secondhand.

Trogman

They announced it at the Howdy Party Monday night. Varnedoe Cave. I don't know many details. I hear it is a lease.

Scott McCrea wrote:They announced it at the Howdy Party Monday night. Varnedoe Cave. I don't know many details. I hear it is a lease.

Awesome! I've been wanting to go there, but was told it was closed. Need to put that on the to-do list!

Thanks for providing that info, Scott!

Trogman

can anyone describe the cave?

graveleye wrote:can anyone describe the cave?

It is a multi-drop: Entrance 1 has a pit series of 73’, 15’, 41’, 72’ and Entrance 2 has a pit series of 115’, 12’, and 69’
Length: 2716
Depth: 290

Of course I am just getting these facts and figures from the ACS, not having actually been (yet). Something about a well-done map makes a cave seem more desirable to visit. Julie drew up a nice map of this cave; kudos to her!

Trogman

cool, sounds nice!

http://www.scci.org/scci-leases-varnedoe-cave/

Official announcement made it on the website this morning! Lets go caving!

Trogman

Where is entrance #2? I just recall the sink/open pit entrance with the drop just inside. When we were on a visit there in the early 80's we ran head on into a raccoon in the crawlway to the 3rd pit. It was a Mexican standoff until the 'coon turned around and left. Still, it made us consider there had to be a horizontal entrance in the hillside above the cave entrance. Has one ever been found? Otherwise, how else could a raccoon get there unharmed?

trogman wrote:http://www.scci.org/scci-leases-varnedoe-cave/

Official announcement made it on the website this morning! Lets go caving!

Trogman

This is great news!

Found out my schedule for the next weekends caving trips have changed to include Varnedoe! I'll be sure to post a summary of our trip after next weekend.

DawgsgoCaving wrote:Found out my schedule for the next weekends caving trips have changed to include Varnedoe! I'll be sure to post a summary of our trip after next weekend.

Assuming we can get a permit. Still waiting to hear from the preserve manager; she is a rather busy person right now.

Trogman

Yeah, I think Julie has a lot going on :) haha. A friend of mine has been with the SCCI since the beginning and seems to think we will be ok to go. We'll just have to wait and see!

The two pit entrances are connected together somewhere right? Sounds like it would be an awesome trip for two teams to do a cross over.

Phil Winkler wrote:Where is entrance #2? I just recall the sink/open pit entrance with the drop just inside. When we were on a visit there in the early 80's we ran head on into a raccoon in the crawlway to the 3rd pit. It was a Mexican standoff until the 'coon turned around and left. Still, it made us consider there had to be a horizontal entrance in the hillside above the cave entrance. Has one ever been found? Otherwise, how else could a raccoon get there unharmed?

Phil, the map shows E2 as being roughly 75' S by SW from E1. It was dug open, and probably had not been opened up yet when you went. As far as the raccoon, that's a good question. I think the critters are pretty adept climbers, and it's possible that he may have actually climbed the pit walls, depending on how sheer they are. However, I believe it's more likely that he entered by an unknown opening that is too small for us humans.
I assume these guys find their way around by their sense of smell, and maybe somewhat by their sense of touch and hearing. As far as I know, they don't have echolocation capabilities like bats do. Or do they? I wonder if any scientists have ever looked into it, because I sure have seen a lot of coon tracks in caves, which tells me they are very comfortable in that habitat.

Trogman

KeyserSoze wrote:The two pit entrances are connected together somewhere right? Sounds like it would be an awesome trip for two teams to do a cross over.

Yep. They both end up in the Fox Skeleton Room. A through trip sounds like a neat idea. I and some other folks were planning a trip there, and weren't sure which entrance to go in. That would let us see both routes.

Trogman