Summary

Description

Drove up Friday night. Planned to get on the road mid-afternoon, but got delayed and didn't leave the house until around dinner time. Got up to WVACS around 11:5pm. Larry and Julie had the stove going in the small building. They were sleeping in the map room, and Lisa and I camped on the floor of the main room. Was quite comfortable.

Got up around 8am and made egg Mc's for breakfast. Fairly low-key getting ready, then headed down 219 to meet the rest of the crew at the Shell station around 10:30am. We all drove over and parked at the church parking lot, changed into our cave gear. Walked down the road, slid under the fence, and across the field to the entrance.

We were all in the cave by around 11:50am. Julie initally led, and Larry brought up the rear. We took our time going through the cave with frequent rest breaks since a few folks were new to caving. We got to the Pendulum Room around 2-something. Lisa and I made PBJ sandwiches while the kids went on to the Treasure Room. When they got back, Lisa and I went to have a look at the pretty treasure.

Julie was feeling a bit under the weather so she opted to stay in the Pendulum Room - and Gretchen stayed with her - while Larry took the rest of us on to the Register Room, and I brought up the rear. We all signed the register, and I took Kali down the Silo. I rigged a hand line at the first climbing section just in case we needed it to get back up. (We would have been fine, but it was nice to have both down and up.) We dropped in a fairly long way until we came to a section that looked like it was turning into canyon passage rather than a breakdown climb. We turned around there and made our way back up. Probably about 20 minutes total. When we got back to the Register Room, I found that Lisa had fallen asleep on the big flat rock by the register. We all headed back to the Pendulum Room so as not to keep Julie and Gretchen waiting any longer.

On the way out, Julie was struggling a bit. She was very tired when moving and moving slowly. Bobby led on the way out, Larry and Julie were at the back, I hung back to be within sight and/or earshot of Larry and Julie, and Lisa brought up the rear of the front part of the group. We took frequent breaks on the way out to let everyone catch up, rest, and re-group. About half-way out, I took Julie's pack to help her. (She really didn't want to give it up at first, but I was quite happy to help.)

We all made it out just fine, and everyone seemed to be in good sprints and had a good time. We gout out of the cave around 5:35pm, just as the sun was setting. We walked back to the cars in twighlight, and many of us used our headlamps walking through the field to keep an eye out for cow pies.

After a quick change at the cars, the Striker crew headed home, and Larry, Julie, Lisa, and I headed to dinner at Appleby's in Lewisburg. Service was a bit slow, but the food was good once it showed up, and the coversation was good the whole time. We spent another pleasant night at WVACS before heading out Sunday morning.