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NEST TRIP REPORT
Buchanan Cave 21 Oct 2000
The Northeast Sump Exploration Team, NEST, conducted exploration efforts
In Buchanan Cave Resurgence in Virginia on 21 Oct 2000. 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 my third weekend in a row at the resurgence. The 900 mile round
trip was getting a little bit old but with the weather holding I could not
pass up the opportunity for an other push at the site. I finished
attaching my regulators to my side mounts and looked up to see the regular
parade of cows wandering down the road, they were getting used to seeing my
vehicle and passed by on the way for a drink at the spring without the usual
fuss. Last weekend one of them had chickened out just as it was about to
pass my subaru, this action had spooked the ones behind it resulting in mass
confusion, sort of reminded me of work. After the herd passed I moved my
stage bottle and fins to the entrance pool and emerged to find even more
company, a large old hound dog. We checked each other out and after I
treated him to a piece of lunch meat from my cooler he too wandered off.
With the tourists gone I finished my preparations and set off into the
first sump hand carrying my OMS 45 buoyancy compensated stage. I had made
a few minor modifications to this rig since my last dive to adjust the
center of gravity and these changes made it even more comfortable to use.
To my surprise unlike past dives the visibility actually dropped as I
proceeded further into the first sump. Normally the first 100 feet have
about a foot of visibility and then under low flow conditions it opens up to
over 10 feet. Today it got worse at 100 feet dropping below that at the
entrance. It was almost like a layer of ground fog had drifted into a
valley with the worst vis on the bottom and slightly better above it. As I
finned along I was considering calling the dive, attempting a push with this
level of vis would not have been the brightest of decisions. I reached the
90 degree turn at a depth of 33 feet and slowly began the climb out of the
sump and to my relief the vis opened up to 10 feet. It appeared that the
poor vis might have been the result of our dives last week or the biological
activity of the entrance dwellers with the low flow unable to push this
material out of the bottom of the first sump.
I proceeded smoothly through the shallow section that marked the end
of sump one and continued into the second dropping my stage at the usual
point and proceeding on my side mounts. At a depth of 58 feet I entered the
dome and began following the line straight up. With a fixed line in place I
was able to take my time and get a better look at the room. Facing the wall
to my front I could see to my right that the canyon appeared to narrow, to
my left it got even larger. At a depth of 30 feet it leveled out on the
left side and I lost sight of this wall. After short safety stops at 20
and 10 feet I surfaced to discover that the reel I had left resting on a
limestone projection on my last dive had fallen free and fortunately jammed
after unreeling three feet of line. I suspected that this might have been
the result of activity of Aquadags, cousins of the air breathing Hodags
found in many air filled caves in the region, pesky critters even under the
best of conditions.
Floating on the surface of the large lake I opted to take a look to
the left since this seemed to be the most promising direction and as I
finned along I almost wished I had brought a snorkel. On my last dive I had
not been able to see around what looked like a right hand turn. I could not
decide if the passage went or if this was just a dead end. As I approached
this turn I was elated to discover that the passage continued and I soon
found my self floating in a large room over 30 feet in diameter with the
ceiling 15 to 20 feet above me and the floor 5 feet below me. Wasting no
time I submerged and placed a spike in the soft bottom and found a
continuation of the passage to the left. This proceeded to a depth of 14
feet with some gentle turns back and forth. It was by far the largest
horizontal section of cave thus far with a cross section of at least 10 to
15 feet and a height of over 10 feet. About a 100 feet in I used my drop
weight as a belay on a section of bedrock, placed the reel and turned to
exit in now greatly reduced visibility.
I was able to retrace my route without any difficulty and after
surfacing in the room I floated on my back and examined the dome above me
with my HID light. It appeared that a dry passage entered the top.
Although it looked caver size reaching it would require bolting, an
interesting concept considering the location. My examination of the room
also disclosed that it was possible to stand on the rock bottom on one side
and rest with my upper body out of the water. With the large volume of air
above the lake I now had a possible safe haven if I needed it.
With adequate gas reserves I decided to make a second push in the third
sump and moving through the low vis soon reached my reel and clear water. I
continued on now gradually heading upward from 14 feet to 10 feet. At a
total penetration of 120 feet I reached a solid ridge of limestone rising up
a foot from the floor. As I crossed over this I suddenly found myself
looking down into another pit with no visible bottom. This cave was just
full of surprises. Not prepared for this development and now at my turn
point on gas I opted to call the dive and returned doing a knot count as I
went. Based on this count we were now rapidly approaching a penetration of
1000 feet.
My exit proved quite pleasant although after a bottom time of 67 minutes
I realized that I had reached the point were it was time to start using
argon for my suit inflation gas. I surface to find a note on my car from
Bill Schwabenton who was working on an other project in the area and who I
planned to meet to dive another new site on Sunday. After a pleasant chat
with the land owner who was out for a ride on his horse I packed up and
headed over to the base camp to wait for the rest of the team.
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 HIDs , as well as other critical gear and Tom
and Jon 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, Alex Sproul of Inner Mountain Outfitters,
Adrew Kipe of Maryland Reproductions, and Robert Carmichael of Brownies
Third Lung and HALCYON, 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.
Diver Explorer
Joseph Kaffl
Stand By on call Divers and Support Team
Paul Montgomery Virginia Area Coordinator
Eric Tesnau
Jeff Mott
Dave Nicholas
..
JOSEPH
KAFFL
SUMPDIVER@MS*.CO*
NEST
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