TRIP REPORT: Webster Cave System (KY, US) 2006/03/05

[worldnaut]

This trip report was previously posted on the WCCSG site.

Greetings fellow cavers. The following report is the text from the trip
report I wrote for our grotto web site. (Western Kentucky Black Hole
Grotto) Keep in mind that I have slightly dramatized this report for my
audience for two reasons. First, I'm trying to generate interest. My
second purpose in doing so is to keep any of our grotto from taking
Webster cave too lightly. I wanted to make it sound a little tougher
than it actually is. Some of our group are green, green, green when it
comes to caving; absolute beginners who haven't read any caving books
so as to be able to understand that Webster is not an 'Average'
or 'Easy' cave. I want them to want to go, but I want them to realize
that Webster is something they may have to actually expend some effort
in preparation to get themselves ready for. I don't want someone too
green from our group to cause a trip abort because they thought they
were going on a fun trip. If I bring anybody to Webster, I will bring
them when they understanding that we are going to further the efforts
of the WCCSG and that we are responsible to take the potential
hostility of the cave seriously and be properly prepared. That
surveying and not causing unecessary trip aborts are what we do to get
to have the priviledge of caving in such a wild, hostile, huge, awesome
cave. With that caveat, here is the slightly dramatized report of our
trip on 03/05/2006.

05 March 2006
Trip Report
Location: Webster Cave, Breckinridge County, Kentucky
Cavers: Chris Anderson, Mark Phillips, Pat Brian, Tommy Rundall
Purpose: Survey Giger Side Lead

Four Cavers led by Chris Anderson entered Webster Cave at 8:30 AM. For
Tommy and myself, this was our first trip into Webster Cave and the
first wetsuit trip for each of us as well. I spent all week get getting
all my gear ready for the trip. I broke down and ordered a Swaygo Pack
for the trip and Scott McCrea got it shipped to me just in time.
Webster cave presently has 3 known entrances all within shouting
distance of one another. Webster cave was `discovered' by the caving
community in 1970 and though initially recognized as a very significant
cave because of its passage dimensions, it has never been fully
explored and mapped because of the difficulty of getting to the deeper
reaches of the cave. Last year at the instigation of two WKU graduate
students, Ben Tobin and Ben Hutchins, Chris Anderson, who had generated
a line survey of the main passages during the 1980's, started the
Webster Cave Complex Survey Group to begin fully exploring and mapping
Webster cave. The WCCSG tries to field an expedition to the cave every
third Sunday of each month.

The full story of Webster cave is fascinating, but much too long to
relive in this trip report. Briefly, on their last expedition, the
WCCSG completed the survey of the main trunk passages South of the
North Bore sump. Because the North Bore sump is flooded shut at this
time, the next priority is to begin mapping side leads off of the main
Webster Avenue trunk passage in search of a new entrance to what are
presently the farthest reaches of Webster Avenue. Here is a line plot
of the trunk passage. Webster Avenue begins at the upper left and
proceeds to the lower right. At Six thousand feet into the cave, Parks
Avenue forks off to the Northeast where the majority of the known cave
exists. The North Bore Sump sits 3000 feet down Parks Avenue. Our goal
for this trip was to survey a side lead known as Giger at the 12500'
footmark into Webster Avenue at survey station B-154.

Twelve thousand five hundred feet is a pretty good ways into any cave.
Twelve thousand five hundred feet in wetsuits, wading and swimming in
54 degree water, across lakes up to 1700' long, using waterproof packs
as life preservers and often slogging through foot deep mud for
hundreds of yards at a time is extreme.

We entered at the Northernmost of Webster's three entrances, flipped on
our lights, and I tried to keep up with Chris, who is just short enough
to be able to stoop walk the first 490 feet of the entrance until
reaching the start of Webster avenue. I had to crawl about half of it
because I'm too tall to stoop walk it. Right away you see that Webster
cave is very dark. This entrance floor was totally covered in mud, wet
but not slimy. Chris pointed out 3 little brown bats tucked into a
crack in the ceiling. I've never seen bats roost like that. They
weren't hanging; they were laying in this crack like they were sleeping
in a bed, all snuggled up to each other.

Popping out into Webster Avenue, I had to crank up my light to medium
to be able to see the far side of the passage across the first lake. At
places in this first section Webster Avenue is eighty to one hundred
feet wide, just huge with ceilings averaging 20 to 30' above the water.
We started down the left side of the passage, walking at the very edge
of the lake. In just a little ways we were walking on a rock ledge
about 2 feet under the water, hanging onto the rocks and chert
formations in the wall to keep from falling in. Next we came to a rope
that is strung tight along the wall so you can hold onto it for about a
30' section where the wall is smooth and there is nothing to hold onto.
You're trying to keep from falling into Epitome Lake, but for what
reason I don't know, certainly nothing more than delaying the
inevitable. I guess it's quicker to walk on the ledge than it is to
swim.

Before long we had started into the long `death march' of just making
ground though the cave. I was leading at this point and was burning up
in my wetsuit, worrying that I would sweat too much and end up
dehydrated hours later. The person in the lead has an advantage because
the water is just clear enough to be able to see the `shin killers'
hiding just under the surface of the water; Rocks that you will end up
falling over or tripping on or kicking a knife edged leading edge with
your shin. So my job was to point out all these rocks to the people
following behind. These rocks are most likely to get you in the water
that is 3 to 4 feet deep, in the deeper water you're floating more and
not as likely to kick one hard. The person out front also has the best
view of the blind cave fish. They look like a large slightly albino
cross between a minnow and a goldfish. Some sit just dead still while
you go by since they have no eyes to see your light but some, sensing
your vibrations as danger, swim away. In the early parts of Epitome
Lake I saw some regular crayfish but before long, all you see are the
troglobitic cave crayfish. They are virtually completely albino in
appearance as opposed to the blind cavefish, which do have a twinge of
goldfish orange to them.

At the end of Epitome Lake you get your introduction to Webster Avenue
cave mud. Chris was right behind me and said what he does sometimes is
just lay in the water and pull yourself along with your hands rather
than try and walk through it. Since I was burning up and trying to get
my temperature regulation working better, I just lay down in the water
and started pulling myself along. It was easier than walking through it
but making that motion with your arms inside a wetsuit still takes some
effort. Unfortunately, after about one hundred yards, the water got to
shallow for that trick to work anymore and I had to start walking;
think Quick Mud, only we didn't lose anybody in it. At this point we
are still fresh, so it really doesn't seem too hard. For about the next
3000 feet, the mud is our constant companion. When you have deeper
water you can walk where you don't sink in as deep but don't get
traction, or you can slog along the edge where the mud takes exception
to your desire to keep your boots on your feet with each step. In parts
of Witch Lake you do get some short breaks from it but generally, until
you get to the Parks Avenue junction, you're just dreaming of getting
to the Parks Avenue junction where the mud finally relents.

We got there about 9:30 and took a break. After overheating for an hour
I laid down on the mud bank just downstream of the Parks Avenue inflow
to try and cool off a little. I would have gotten my camera out and
taken some pictures but the conditions were so unfriendly to the
contents of packs that I just left mine sealed up. After maybe a 10-
minute rest we started back down Webster Avenue. Above (i.e. upstream)
of the Parks Avenue fork, the mud finally relents. Now Webster Avenue
turned gorgeous. It was 40 to 50 feet wide, 40 feet high, clean (much,
much less mud) and either wall to wall water or wet streambed. In the
water sections the echoes would last for over 30 seconds. We were
yelling, listening to the echoes and talking about how we needed to
recruit some singing cavers because the reverberations would sound so
beautiful with somebody that could really sing. We still had 2 lakes
and another 6500 feet to cover, more shin killers, blind fish, side
leads with water crashing down into the passage, ceiling formations
making natural showers, rimstone dams along the walls, some places were
we actually got to walk, some deep spots were you stepped off into
holes and after another hour we finally got to survey station B154, the
entrance to the Giger side lead.

We stopped and everybody dug out something to eat. I had dunked myself
at the start of the last march to get completely wet to try and
regulate my temperature a little better and hadn't sweated nearly as
much during the second march but I still nearly drained a 20 oz bottle
of water before I came up for air. After we ate, we broke out the
survey gear and started surveying up into the Giger side lead. Chris
had been in this passage once or twice about 18 years ago but it had
never been surveyed. We surveyed for about 4 hours, netting a total of
~630 feet down this passage. At about the 560-foot mark the passage
splits. A drier, higher lead went off to the left and a lower upstream
passage where Chris had been before. While surveying, I had been
setting point, Chris was reading instruments, Tommy was marking the
back sights and Mark was doing sketch. Chris told Tommy to check the
left lead because it was virgin cave and I plunked down into the
upstream passage and belly crawled up it to identify the source of the
water sounds coming from it. After a while we heard Tommy yelling and
we were hoping he had found something good. He was yelling because the
passage had opened up good but only for about 20 feet. We decided to
survey up in that direction first since we were all going to have to
lay in the water to survey up the other way so we wanted to save that
for last. We surveyed up to where Tommy was. One small low lead
continued from that room. Chris got on his hand and knees to look at it
and said someone was going to have to push it. Tommy hadn't done so yet
because he didn't want to get wet before he had to. Since I was setting
point it really was my job to do so I dived in and started belly
crawling.

I can't really say how high the ceiling was, maybe 6" above the water.
I had to get my head over to the extreme right hand side of the passage
to have enough room to keep my head above water. I ran into a sort of
thin spot, not tight, just very close. It stopped me for a second and
then my brain said, "this isn't tight, I can slide by this" and I did.
I went a ways farther and a small spot in the ceiling opened up, maybe
about 12" of airspace and about a foot wide. After what I'd come
through, if felt like the Sistine Chapel and I had the urge to yell for
everybody else to come on forward to this big spot. I remember
thinking, `Man, you could have a party right here'; It sort of cut
across the passage at a 45 degree angle from right to left. I had to
move my head over to the left side of the passage where I now had even
less airspace as I went forward. I came to a spot where just ahead of
me; the ceiling came to within 1 to 2" of the water. My job back here,
was to determine if this passage goes or not, i.e., does it totally
completely 100% certainly sump out, or is there enough airspace to be
able to keep going forward. This was virgin cave, no one had ever been
here and if it didn't go, probably no one would ever come back. It's my
job to get the job done because I'm here. But to come out and say what
it does, I have to be sure. I have to be able to see that the water
meets the ceiling everywhere in front of me. My problem is that there
is one spot in front of me where I can't completely see what I need to.
By holding my breath, I am able to get both eyeballs level with the
water and I can see under some ceiling that is probably only 1 to 1-
1/2" above the water. I can see the ceiling coming down all the way to
the water. I slap my hand to make a wave going forward to hear if I
hear the `sumping' sound everywhere in front. I must have tried to come
straight up to breath and there wasn't room. I was breathing just fine
a minute ago. Get your head sideways again. That's better. There is
still one little spot ahead I can't see. To be able to see it I'm going
to have to go under this very lowest spot where the ceiling must only
be about 1 to 1-1/2" high. I can only keep 1 eyeball open through that
spot and I'm going to have to hold my nose or be blowing air out the
whole time or I'll have to close both eyes and just dive under. I'm 99%
certain this sumps out. We are supposed to get some rain today. I'd
love to be able to come back out of here and say I'm 100% certain that
it totally sumps out, but I don't feel comfortable going under this
next spot in front of me. And with that, I turned around, made my way
back out and reported that I was 99% certain that the passage sumps
out. Maybe if I had had my facemask with me I would have felt
comfortable popping forward that last 3 feet. I think that's all I
would have needed to be able to come back out with 100% certain
knowledge. Such are the travails of cave exploration. The lead that
lead to the connection of the Flint ridge cave system to Mammoth cave
sat dormant for years and years because someone had erroneously written
that the lead didn't go. John Wilcox later went back and rechecked each
one personally and found the error and it lead to creating the longest
cave in the world. I think two people should go back there if somebody
wants to pop under that low spot. I would have preferred to not have my
light fail on the other side. I still had another one on my necklace
but it would be nice to have a buddy with his light right there as well.

We set a permanent survey station, G-14 here in this room just before
this lead then headed out. At the fork with the upstream continuation
of the Giger side lead, I crawled down it to have a look at the
features Chris had described. A rimstone dam cut across the whole
passage, leaving one hole that looked about 10" high. I normally need
about 9-1/2" inches to get through, but with my wetsuit and
cotton/polyester coveralls on, I couldn't get through because my
coveralls were snagging on the rimstone dam so badly. Chris, with his
nylon based coveralls that don't snag, came in past the spot that
stopped me and I laid there, downstream of the dam watching him go
about another 20 feet in a belly crawl about a foot high. He found the
spot where the water that is falling out of the ceiling leads up to the
dome and passages they had found 18 years ago. While I was lying there,
all of a sudden, the air really started to blow from Chris's direction
back toward me and Webster Avenue. I would think that that is a pretty
good indication that a surface connection is not to far away from that
spot.

We decided we were not going to survey this section because even if we
started we couldn't finish it, so we started back out. Tommy and I went
back out to Webster Avenue and ate. I made a pot of Bean Soup with
Chicken and finished off my cheese and crackers with it. Chris and Mark
stayed in Giger and surveyed another loop around from around station G-
4 that comes back out into Webster Avenue at station B-155. When they
finished they popped back out and had something to eat as well. Before
we packed up for the trek out, we got out the camera and took a few
pictures. Even though Webster Avenue is far less muddy upstream from
Parks Avenue, it is still a very hostile place for cameras. This was
the only place I took it out in the cave to take pictures. Also,
Webster cave is foggy enough that only an external flash will allow you
to get any pictures worth a crud. Fortunately, I did bring my external
flash so we did get some acceptable pictures as you can see. Also, the
mud makes it challenging to eat, even with my tablecloth, which you can
see my camera pack laying on in this picture; I had trouble not eating
mud.

After we packed up we started back for the entrance at about 3:30 PM.
Chris led much of the trip out. It was nice walking behind him because
I got to see the cave lit more from his light than mine. That always
allows you to see the texture of the cave better when the light casts
shadows that you can see to reveal the surfaces better than your own
light can. Chris tried my walking stick several times on the way out.
He said he had considered a trekking pole for the cave before but
decided against it because it would sink if he ever dropped it in the
water. I think I convinced him that a stick like I use is the way to
go. It took us about an hour to get to Parks Avenue where we stopped
and rested for a while. From then on I think we walked up on the mud
banks more than we did on the way in. Some places you can do it without
slipping off into the water. The thing I really noticed on the way out
was how much wider the passage is below Parks Avenue. Because I led on
the way in I was always looking down into the water for the rocks and
didn't notice how wide the passage was in this lower section. Eighty
feet wide is common. Tommy and Mark fell quite a ways behind us on this
last march. I stopped Chris once to give them a chance to catch up
some. It's kind of hard to fully appreciate Webster Avenue when you are
marching through. Because you are trying to get somewhere without it
taking all day, you really don't get to take it all in like you would
if it was just a sightseeing trip. I'm not complaining, just observing.
I'm sure on multiple trips I will fully register all the sights and
learn to stop and enjoy some on each trip in and out. Close to the end
of Epitome Lake, either just before or just after the rope you hang
onto, Chris had gotten a bit ahead of me and I don't know if I was
trying to catch up to him or what happened but I finally got caught
with my guard down and absolutely nailed a shin killer. OUCH. I broke
the skin through my coveralls and wetsuit. I was also starting to
notice the cold getting closer to my door. I wasn't cold, but I wasn't
generating as much heat as I had been earlier, I wasn't sweating and
the times when you got mostly in the water, it felt colder. I think
that after your body has put out so much energy; it starts to slow down
just a bit on how fast it can put it out. I wasn't tired or dragging,
but I could tell that I didn't still have the same zip and pop in my
legs. When I reached the end of Epitome Lake, Chris had disappeared out
the entrance. Tommy and Mark were still back quite a ways so I followed
the drip marks from Chris's coveralls in the mud to stay on track. I
wasn't sure if it was still light out and wasn't counting on seeing the
light from the entrance to get me to it. I was sort of laughing at
myself as I was crawling up the mud bank to the entrance as if I was
just only barely able to crawl out after having spent all in the cave.
Not true, but watching myself crawl out at the end because I'm too tall
to stoop walk it struck me like that. We got out of the cave at 5:30
PM. Pat Mudd, another one of the WCCSG regulars was waiting for us by
our cars to get the update on what we'd done and I guess Tommy and Mark
showed up about 5 minutes later. We got cleaned up, changed, went to
Irvington to eat at the buffet and then drove home. I had left my house
at 5:00 AM and got back at 10:00 PM. So, what was it like?

Absolutely, Totally Friggin' Awesome. Wow, even Wow backwards. And we
only saw one little piece. The really good stuff in Webster is up Parks
Avenue past the North Bore Sump. Chris says there are no lakes above
(upstream) from the Sump. He said that the first time they got through
it, they ran like crazy men for 3 hours and never came to the end of
the passage. I had told Chris on our drive up that I wasn't sure if I
could ever do the sump. After I came out from pushing the lead at the
end of Giger I told Chris that the sump now seemed like child's play.
Webster cave is an awesome cave. The very fact that it is soooo wild is
what makes it soooo interesting and cool and fun and awe inspiring.
Ever been someplace as wild as the day of creation? Want to go? Webster
Cave is one of those places. If side leads off the Mulu passage up past
the North Bore Sump can ever be pushed up under the North Webster
Ridge, the potential exists to get up into trunk passage with over 400
feet of vertical development in a ridge that goes for 15 miles! I have
to commend Tommy on his performance in the cave. Tommy, on your third
real `wild' cave trip, you did a trip harder than most cavers will ever
do in their career. Tommy gets the distinction of being the Western
Kentucky Black Hole Grotto's first new Hard Core Caver! You will be
appropriately recognized and decorated at the next grotto meeting.

PB
_____________
Pat Brian 29135

Webster Cave Complex Survey Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WCCSG/

[Squirrel Girl]

So, Pat, what kind of wet suit were you wearing? Full? Farmer John? Shorty? How thick was it? Maybe a different on is in order if you're overheating.

<edit: OK, clicking on the link shows a picture of a full suit. Hard to know how thick, though. >

Oh, yeah, and how tall are you that you have to stoop?

[Scott McCrea]

Pat, some of you pictures are loading as underexposed black and white photos. Is everyone seeing that?

Great trip report tho!

[worldnaut]

SG. The wetsuit is 3mm in the body and 2mm in the arms(the pink parts). I'm 6'2".

Scott, it just hit me what's happening. I had overlaid some captions on the pictures. It's only the captioned pictures that I'm hearing some folks have a problem with. What version of Internet Explorer are you using? I wouldn't be surprised if various flavors of version 5 get confused. Version 6.0.2800.1106 is not having any problems. I could redo the pictures with the caption as part of the picture and that would fix it as well. Thanks for alerting me to the problem.

[Don Hunter]

Boy, you all have some trips into the Webster system. I look forward to Chris' and your trip reports....just got to make sure I'm good and rested before I read them...I get tuckered just imagining the effort. You are correct...that was some third trip for newbie Tommy. Sounds like you got a keeper. You all don' t forget about chasing down that elusive upper entrance into the back of the system. Hell, if you find it, I might make time to come up and see the "good" part of the cave.

Looking forward to the next trip report.

Don Hunter

[worldnaut]

Tommy actually pulled a groin muscle pretty good on the trip. He wasn't exactly sure how but he thinks perhaps trying to pull a foot out of the mud. I think that's why he and Mark were lagging behind on the way out. He didn't say anything about it until I talked to him the next day. There is a reason I brought him, ie. of the new cavers in our grotto, I thought he was up to the trip and he proved me right. Finding another entrance in the back of Webster Avenue would be great, but what we really need is another entrance on the far side of the North Bore Sump. Either way, in my world, Webster Avenue is something you'd want to see all of at least once anyway. Hope you can make it sometime.