Dave Duguid, Ken Walsh, Justin Noia, Jake ?, Charli Erickson
What:
sport trip
5:30 underground
Description
TBD.
Pre-trip notes:
weather was uncertain/questionable
I was not enthusiastic about going, especially camping
driving home from Raleigh in the rain and cold temps, I decided
to mutiny, not camp, and get a hotel room
Notes:
Ken and Dave met at my house around 6pm
(Ken arrived early enough to go for a hike; Dave was only a little late)
left my house around 6:20pm
rain started just before 7pm and continued -- very hevy at times --
all the way to the hotel
dinner at El Torero Mexicano north of Winston Salem
we stayed at the Sleep Inn & Suites just off the same exit as
Claytor Lake State park
the rain stopped just before we pulled in
I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of the weekend
Duke students stayed at Claytor Lake campground
breakfast at the hotel in the morning was nice
cave is just outside of Radford, VA
Ken was the only one who had been to the cave before
I was elected to lead on the way in since I was doing so well with
directions (getting turned around just trying to leave the campground)
Ken had a map, but it wasn't of much use, but didn't really matter
Dave led on the way out
5:30 underground:
in: 11:30am
out: 5pm
initially went left (west) to the original entrance
lots of crawling
popped out of the cave at the original entrance and found we were
on the other side of the road
went back to the current entrance
avoiding much of the crawling on the way back
headed on right (east) into the longer section of the cave
opened up into larger passing, usually more vertical with
many opportunities for climbing/scrambling and choices of
whether to go up or down to get around different levels or
breakdown
muddy but also very nicely decorated in that direction
Jake made good (and often) use of his helmet
saw salamanders just outside the culvert
afterward, Duke students headed back to Durham, and we met Tanya
for dinner at Tuscany in Marion afterward