We had planned on surveying a few small caves that had been discovered previously. We headed north next to the river, and before long, arrived at Soot Cave. Everyone but me took the short tour thru it. Even though it's a small cave, Laura was really excited, because it was her first wild cave trip.
Next we went to "Freakin' Free Climb Cave", which was discovered last May by our group. This cave is up about 30 feet on the cliff face, in a small area where water runs off the top. (Sort of like a small canyon in the cliff face.) Mark free-climbed up a ways, and rigged a webbing strap so that the rest of us could climb up easier. Mark taught Charlie and Laura how to survey, and supervised their survey of this small, short cave. After Mark finished his sketch of the cave, we climbed back down, and went to the next cave.
Spiderback Cave was the next cave on the agenda. This cave was also discovered by us last May. It's a small, tube-shaped cave that goes almost straight back about 40 feet or so. It also has a narrow crevice in the ceiling. Mark taught Roger and I how to survey, and I decided I would crawl in first with the end of the tape. We surveyed the first station about 14 feet in, and then I belly- crawled further in. I had seen a trail of ants long the edge of the floor near the wall going in, but didn't pay them much attention, except to stay out of their way. Somewhere along the way of going to the back of the cave, the ants crossed over to the other side, but I didn't notice that. At one point, I stopped to talk to either Roger or Mark, and I laid my arm right in the ant trail. That's when I found out they were biting ants! I don't believe they were fire ants, since their bites felt more like needle-pricks, rather than burning match heads stuck on my arm. I made a hasty retreat out of there, and then macho-Mark took my place in dragging the tape to the back of the cave. He didn't make it any further than I did before the ants attacked him also! I tried to warn him, but did he listen to me? Noooo. "They're just little tiny ants", he said. Well, I had already got them all stirred up, so they were just itching for more caver-flesh to chew on, and Mark provided himself as a tasty meal. After Mark exited the cave, he drew up a rough map of it.
We then checked a few other holes that didn't really pan out. We decided to go to Old Scott's Drop, and just check it out since we last were there. We hiked a liitle while until we found it, right where Mark's GPS unit said it would be. We all took turns going in as far as we could without rope, and then came back out. I look forward to possibly surveying it in January or February, after the cold weather clears out the bad air in the crevice.
We then did some ridge-walking along a creek bed and the surrounding area, but found nothing more of interest. We hiked back to the river, and waited for others to arrive and cross over. We eventually crossed back over the river, and arrived back at camp about 5 or 6 pm.