A few weekends ago, Julie and I drove up and did the short hike to The Diggings. It was a beautiful Fall day and we were seeking smaller prey, so we headed down the trail and eventually off the hillside. Julie had her cave radar on but this time it failed her. After about an hour on the ridge I dropped all my gear and went scouting about the hillside.
On the way back to my gear I walked high and stumbled onto what I believe to be Boxes Pit, ACS 2494. The entrance is a narrow slot in the earth that drops down a few feet to a slope. I cleared the slope debris and estimated the pit around 40 feet (I later checked the ACS which has it listed at 52 feet). It is undercut, so I donned my frog and slithered into the shaft. I was pleasantly surprised to find the pit clean, but almost too narrow to enjoy. I quickly noticed that the rope was not on bottom, changed over, and climbed up a few feet so that I had bombproof hand and foothold. Julie re-rigged the rope before I clipped on to finish my rappel. With no room at the bottom, I attached my climbing gear and was soon up top.
It was Julie’s turn next. She really enjoyed the close confines of this shaft and was grinning ear to ear as she crossed over the lip.
[i] Interesting Technology Note: My “packâ€