Saturday morning, after everyone arrived, we all piled into several trucks and went about a mile south of the campsite. Butch was going to spend the day tagging caves and holes that were located on previous trips last summer and fall. Milo led several of us to an area with quite a few hole to explore and check out.
Kris, Melissa and myself checked out several holes, pits, and cracks that went nowhere, until we came upon what would later turn out to be ELL-011. At the surface, this one was a crack about 6 - 8 feet long, 1 - 3 feet wide, and about 8 feet deep. I crawled down a narrow passage at one end and discovered a rock in the way. Beyond it was a narrow passageway into a room. We ate lunch outside this cave, and then went back to the trucks.
At some point in time we came upon Terry, and we chatted with him for awhile and I ended up getting a small hammer and chisel from him to persuade the rock in "my" cave to move out of the way. We headed off to the cave, but we couldn't re-locate it. (I didn't have a GPS unit.)
Around 1:30, we ended up at ELL-006, a large pit, that Bill and Jose had gone into. By 2pm, almost everyone was at this pit, and Milo, Kris, and Melissa all dropped into it. It was during this time that a rattlesnake found Butch. We all had to go around to the side of the pit where the snake was, and take a look at him. At 2:40, Terry, Stephanie and Don started surveying this pit, along with the short passage.
At 3pm, Kris, Melissa and I went looking for ELL-011 with a plan to dislodge the rock and explore further. When we finally found it, I crawled down into the passageway and worked on the rock for awhile, breaking off a few small pieces. In the meantime, Kris and Melissa went to check out a nearby hole. When they got back, I climbed out, and Kris climbed into the passageway, and he was finally able to just dislodge the rock from the dirt, and remove it completely out of the way. I climbed back down to check out what was beyond that point. At the end of a four foot slope, there was a dropoff into a room. I wasn't sure how far it dropped, so Melissa put on her climbing gear, we rigged a rope, and she went in. She reported that there was a room that was about 15 ft. by 30 ft., with a four ft. ceiling, and that there were two or three possible leads. She also reported that there was a small colony of bats. We pulled her back out with a lot of effort, and it was decided to explore this cave further on Sunday. I later found out that some time on Saturday, Butch had been by this cave, and had tagged it.
We then decided to return to the trucks, and since we didn't have a GPS unit, I used my compass to keep a bearing on which way we walked, so we could find this cave again on Sunday morning. When we arrived at the trucks, everyone else was either out in the field or back at camp, so I walked back to camp, and Kris and Melissa went to go check out another pit. Later that evening, after everyone returned to the campsite, Butch cooked up a bunch of Teriyaki Chicken for everyone to enjoy. We spent the rest of the evening eating, drinking, and bs-ing around the campfire.
Sunday morning - Milo, Kris, Melissa and myself went back to ELL-011. This time we rigged a rope to a tree, and used it as assistance for going into and back out of the large room. Melissa had said the drop into the room was only about four feet, so I decided I could climb out of there OK, since I don't have any vertical experience or gear. Us three guys went in this time, with Melissa staying up top. I explored a very narrow vertical-crack passage that I could belly-crawl through. It went about ten feet or so before it became too narrow to go any further. Milo, in the meantime, explored another lead. He reported that part way into it, it was constricted with dirt that could be dug out. I crawled into it, and when I got to the restricted spot, I looked through it, and saw that the lead continued on a downward slope for about 30 feet or so to another crevice that goes off in another direction. I'm really anxious to dig through and explore further on our next trip! I hope to get this cave surveyed and mapped next time, also.
Next, the four of us went to Fern Cave (ELL-013). Kris and Melissa dropped into it, and reported that it went nowhere. They then went to a pit that they had been to Saturday evening, while Milo and I hiked back to the trucks. We found no one there, so we contacted Butch and the others by radio. They were at another pit, so we started to hike to join them, but we couldn't locate them. While we were looking for them, R.D. radioed that he and the others were returning to camp by foot, and Butch was headed back to the trucks. Milo and I turned around, and met Butch back at the trucks. We talked with Butch for awhile. He was going to head home, and then Milo and I went looking for Kris and Melissa. They weren't at a couple of pits where we thought they might be, and we finally found them walking south on the road. They had dropped ELL-009, while looking for an un-tagged and unnamed pit that was discovered Saturday. Milo went back to camp, and I went with Kris and Melissa to the unnamed pit. They rigged a rope and dropped into it and looked around, reporting that a short passageway went nowhere.
The three of us then drove back to camp. Everyone but Milo had left, so Kris and Melissa headed on home. Milo returned to camp about 15 minutes later, and both he and I broke camp and headed home, looking forward to the next trip.