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NEST TRIP REPORT
High Flow Trip Report 8 May 99
The Northeast Sump Exploration Team, NEST, returned and continued its
exploratory work at High Flow Cave on 8 May 99. NEST is a formally
recognized Project of the NSS and consists of a team of sump divers and
dedicated support personnel who are pursuing original exploration efforts at
several caves in the PA, Virginia and West Virginia areas. The team
surveys and further documents these sites through the use of still and video
techniques as well as engaging in biological surveys and water sampling at
these locations. NEST is also available to support the NCRC in situations
involving flooded passage and beyond sump rescues. Below is an account of
the Teams most recent explorations.
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, the rain had cleared out and been
replaced by bright sunlight. Above the drone of the air intake on the
compressor I heard the squeal of brakes as the UPS driver pulled up and
hopped from his truck. Perfect timing, for he was delivering one of AULs
large reels. We were headed back to High Flow this weekend and were in
dire need of this item since too many of ours were resting at the end of the
line in several project sites. As I unwrapped the package I was once again
impressed with the quality of Arnold�s work. American Underwater lighting
has been one of our long term sponsors and makes the meteor 4 lights we use
as our primaries. In the course of our exploration dives we have subjected
these lights to an incredible amount of abuse and they have never failed on
a dive, it looked like the reel would also fall into this category, a
sturdy, well designed and executed piece of equipment. A few minutes
later Eric pulled in and we loaded up and headed to Virginia.
After a long but uneventful ride we crashed in Paul�s pop up camper. The
night proved quite windy and stormy but we woke to another perfect sunny
Saturday. Our ride to the site took us across several storm swollen streams
and rivers full of nasty looking brown water. This was the first time we
had worked High Flow under these conditions and we were relieved to find the
spring was still pumping out large quantities of clear water, a sure sign
that the water flowed a great distance underground before bubbling up at the
spring head.
After a quick check for copper heads we move our equipment down the hill
and with Eric standing by as my support diver I geared up for the first
dive. I entered the cave breathing from a hand carried alum 30 stage bottle
that I had modified so it was close to neutrally buoyant. While I negotiated
the two entrance squeezes Eric snapped some quick photos with a waterproof
camera. Once past the restrictions I pulled and glided my way up the main
trunk, using environmentally friendly hand holds, passed the first air
filled room to the junction area before dropping the stage. At this point
the main passage makes a 100 degree turn to the left with the passage
changing from a low and wide cross section to that of a tall narrow canyon.
Across from this lies a passage that leads to a small air filled room,
branching to the right from this passage before you reach this room is a
syphon that takes about half of the flow exiting from the canyon. I finned
a few feet into the syphon and deployed a small 2 oz bottle of florezene
dye which the flow pulled away from me into the passage. Approximately 5
minutes later Eric and Paul observed the dye being flushed out of the far
right resurgence, as you face the cave, verifying our belief that this flow
was indeed coming from the syphon tunnel.
With my first task accomplished I turned and continued my journey further
into the cave, passed the Lips, the Great Divide, the Flat Restriction and
surfaced on the other side of sump number 4. I rested here for a moment,
breathing the air from the room. With a final check of my gear I made the
short crawl and entered sump 5. I found my Dive Rite reel hanging from the
ceiling projection where I had left it and continued on, deploying a small
bright red plastic screw stake into the sediment at a sharp right turn in
the passage that had the potential for a line trap. The flow was kicking
and I groveled my way forward across the dense hard packed bottom with the
ceiling just above my back. After a few minutes I surfaced in a low air
filled crawl/ swim. A shelf of limestone projecting from the right wall
almost stopped my progress, but by turning on my side I was able to force my
way passed this point and into a small round room about three feet high that
had been dissolved from the limestone of the ridge. The light colored walls
gleamed in the light of my primary. With my line used up I went on cave air
splicing in my new Aul Reel with 160 feet of # 72 line. We use this thick
line for three reasons. The first is that it is easier to feel and work
with under the cold water conditions that we face, the second is that it is
much less prone to tangling and the third is that it is more abrasion
resistant than the thinner variety.
With the line tied in I continued forward and found a thin slot that
exited the room with a stream pouring out of the lower part and air filling
the upper section. The cave made a 45 degree turn to the left at this
point. I could see the passage went but it looked like it would be snug
even without gear. Once again it was time to make sure I could easily exit
before pushing any further so I turned and began working my way down stream.
The shelf proved to be a major challenge and I had to work at it before I
got my gear positioned just right and was able to squeeze by. My struggles
actually silted out the water, something new for this site. After returning
to the room before sump 4 I rested and allowed my silt cloud to be blown
downstream. As I entered the fourth sump a pure white Cray fish, sheltered
in a bowel in the limestone bottom, reared on its hind legs and waved its
claws at me as I passed overhead. The ride out of the cave was a shear joy
and I surfaced to share my mixed news with Eric and Paul.
I pulled out my second set of tanks, changed my battery and stood by as a
safety diver while Eric entered the cave with slate in hand to continue with
his survey. He was able to reach the beginning of the great divide before
turning and exiting. We compared notes and concluded that although the flow
was about the same as last week the visibility had dropped marginally since
our last trip to 15 to 20 feet, still excellent for a Virginia sump.
A few minutes after Eric returned I reentered the cave and continued up
stream to the final room. After looking over the restriction I opted to
drop my gear and do a reckon pasted this point. The room although low was
large enough for me to doff my side mounts comfortably if I lay on my back.
I had breathed the air in this space for several minutes without any ill
effects on my last push so I felt comfortable in leaving my tanks behind for
a short push. Although the restriction was snug once free of my equipment I
passed around the turn without any great degree of difficulty running my
line as I went. The cave continued as a tight low canyon with water rushing
down its bottom. In essence I was now in a stream passage. I was able to
worm forward through a combination of floating and crawling. At several
points air space was marginal but it opened up again. After 30 feet I
locked off the reel and placed it on a small rock bank. I finally reached a
point with a small tight lead on my left, that appeared unpassable, pumping
out large amounts of water while a piece of breakdown blocked my easy
passage forward in the canyon. The 300 pound slab was loose so I was able
to rotate it to the right a bit where it rested against the wall. I could
see another 20 feet further before the passage cut off my line of sight by
jinking to the right. In the distance I could hear what sounded like a
small waterfall. Once again it was time to turn and exit. I managed this
in a slightly wider space with a great degree of effort before worming my
way back to the reel. Unable to find a suitable line tie off I considered
reeling back to the room when I noticed a small hole in a slab projecting
from the wall. Feeding the line through the hole I was able to secure it to
a bomb proof tie off. Cutting the reel free I floated and wormed my way
back to my gear, donned it and rode the flow to the exit careful to avoid
the limestone pinnacles that jutted from the floor and reached out trying to
grab the power cord to my primary.
In my absence Eric had topped his tanks from some LP 120s we had brought
for that purpose. With plenty of gas left I joined Eric for a final dive.
Eric took the lead and we both returned to the room passed the fifth sump
for a look at the restriction before we turned and exited. Despite the
Argon we were using for suit inflation the 51 degree water temps were
getting to me. It felt good to exit into the bright sunlit afternoon.
It had proved to be another excellent day, we had cracked the fifth sump,
extended the survey to a distance of 280 feet into the cave, verified the
flow of the syphon with a successful dye trace, and pushed the cave to what
we hoped would be the beginning of dry passage at a distance we estimated at
around 450 feet. Whether the canyon would be big enough for us to push
further would have to wait for another day. High Flow was definitely not
giving up her secrets easily.
We would like to recognize our sponsors and all of the supporting cavers
who helped make our efforts possible. A special thanks to Arnold Jackson Of
American Underwater Lighting who supplied our exceptional primary lights,
meteor 4�s, and other critical gear and Jon Breazile of the Fifth Dimension
Dive Center who has provided us with other vital support. We would also
like to thank Terry Brady, of the Brass Anchor who has provided us with
generous audio visual support. Additional sponsors include Lamar Hires of
Dive Rite, Gene Weisheit of East Coast Divers, Alex Sproul of Inner
Mountain Outfitters, Brad Bason, of Bason Rescue Equipment, Adrew Kipe of
Maryland Reproductions, and Robert Carmichael of Brownies, The Doing It
Right Equipment Company, and our most recent sponsor, DUI for our
outstanding CF 200 series Dry Suits, Tim Walker, Hank and Jane Anderson,
and the Sovik and Mothes families without whose support none of our efforts
would have been possible. A special thanks to Paul Montgomery and his
family for hosting us this weekend and the landowners who permitted us to
explore this unique site. I would also like to thank Robert Laird who put
Paul in contact with me when he called looking for sump divers to look at
these incredible springs.
Diver Explorers
Joseph Kaffl
Eric Tesnau
Support Team
Paul Mongomery, Va. Project Coordinator
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