Wayne's Cave

Wayne's Cave 3/13/10
a.k.a ”The Dutch Rudder”

After much planning and discussion, John, Tim, Laura, Mikey, Elza, Allison, Matt, Trent, Aaron, Brian, Mel, Amber, and myself met at Cracker Barrel per the usual meeting place. ( I was gonna put on last names, but you know who you are.) At 10 a.m. the troops mounted up and headed to the entrance.

Having never been to the cave and after reading several grim reports, I have to admit I brought about twice as much water and food as I ended up needing. I was expecting a very dry crawl, but approximately the first third and the last part were surprisingly damp and there were even pools of water present. In fact the entrance to the crawl is in a very drippy almost waterfall area. Everyone was lined up to head in the crawl and as the countdown 3, 2, 1, GO! was jokingly said, I heard from the back, “This isn't a race is it?”. Turns out we made it through in great time, taking only 45 minutes or so to get all lucky 13 in the cave. Thinking it would take longer the objective was chosen to be the R.P.I. Passage.

The first stop was The Wells. There are several domes here and my first of two stops was the Moon Milk Dome. I was impressed by this area and think it was one of the cooler dome complexes I have seen. Several of us tested the rope leading up, but decided it was best to forgo the climb as none of us had any safety equipment and that rope is quite stretchy. Probably a death trap is more like it and no one wanted to be drug out the crawl we just endured. I headed back and what did I find but an abandoned pack. Laying conveniently close by was a large rock which quickly found a new home. I think it was a little large as it was soon discovered, but fortunately the next one wasn't. But that's foreshadowing; so we'll stick to the domes for now. Next I headed into Muddy Dome. Boy they sure weren't kidding when they named that one. I made it only a couple steps in and decided it was time to turn around. After nearly losing both of my boots two or three times, I finally struggled my way back onto solid ground and the group headed on up to the formation rooms.

Several times along this passage Trent kept asking if we were headed back out yet. I have to give it to him for a first wild cave trip, this was quite a challenge. We paused for a group photo in one of the formation rooms. In another or possibly the same room a discussion was begun that several members of the group didn't get a chance to be privy to the beginning of. This got quite a laugh out of the rest of us and thusly the subtitle of this report. If you don't get it message me and I'll fill you in. All too soon we had made it to the candles and it was time to turn around.

Eventually we were back at Camp I and headed out. Brian managed to drop his pack down into the canyon, but luckily it was very near the beginning and easily retrievable. Everything was going very smoothly we we came to a large blockage in the passage. No the blockage is moving. Nope it's just Mel. A few minutes later a decision had to be made, go up and to the right or low and to the left. Laura was in front of me so I asked, “Which way looks tighter?”. She replied, “Right”, so I said OK tell Mel to head that way. Allison and Matt being smart headed to the left and on up the passage. We quickly knew it was getting tight by the flowery language coming from up ahead. There were two or three ways to negotiate the passage and Mel first attempted the low right choice. This wouldn't be so bad but there is a smooth projection that makes the going tight and awkward. It really doesn't help that you are going slightly up hill. After several minutes of listening to his colorful grumbling, Laura was the first to leave poor Melvin in the dust. A slight push on her boot and I had her moving quickly past Mel's Folly #1. I think her motivation to get out had something to do with the lawyer and the bowling alley, but we have yet to hear the details on that one. I am sworn to secrecy on the parting gift she left for us, but if you guess maybe I'll reveal the winner of yet another of Eric's On Line Quiz Time Game Show.

Since he so likes being defeated, another way above the first was soon found. Mel was quickly climbing up and trying for the goal. The more that he tried the tighter the going got. In fact he dropped his pack and I had to get it for him. I passed it ahead to Tim. We'll call this move Mel's Folly #2. As he retreated from attempt two, I was nearly kicked in the face. I couldn't back up fast enough as Tim was just behind me. Mikey and Tim soon squeezed under the two of us and began the “encouragement” from the other side. Just squeeze up through here and drop down and you got it. He tried again but it didn't last long. This is the point where someone who couldn't see us and only hear would think there were three school girls giggling uncontrollably. The uncontrollable laughter did not sit well with Mel. He was done and asking where everyone else went. We told him on just to the left on the level you started on. That sealed the deal. Mel was coming out quickly, or so he thought. This shall be known as Mel's Folly #3. He couldn't get back down where he started up and was mildly stuck going down feet first. Tim and Mikey could only see his feet and I'm sure the view of the flailing was quite enjoyable. Mikey was told to “Shut the Hell up, I don't need to hear your mouth right now. Just leave me alone and I'll get out of it.” We were sure he was going to tell us to leave him for dead, but it didn't quite make it to that point. I went on around and watched from the other side. Mikey soon talked Mel down, and he and Tim quickly exited the cave leaving the two of us alone. Well not alone as Mel had picked up a few tag a longs unbeknown to him. While waiting for Mel to exit, I took the opportunity to “shower” in the drippy area at the start of the crawl. We eventually made it to the climb up to find someone had left a hand line, just the thing we needed after what will now be known as The End of the Crawl Unnecessary Squeeze Off. This event will be held yearly at an EIG Olympic Event near you.

Back on top of the hill it was getting chilly and a bit rainy, so we quickly changed and headed into Pizza Hut. Or so we thought. This will be known as Mel's Folly #4. Turns out Mikey's Pacificia doesn't do so well on wet grass. As much as they tried to get it out with Mikey pushing and Mel driving they were only getting deeper and deeper in trouble. Luckily Elza had an old piece of rope and we quickly remedied the situation. Mikey tried to rip the latch off the rear door of his car but we thought better of the situation and tied to the underside of the vehicle. Mel only told us three or four times that, “Mikey got me stuck, so I got him stuck.” Finally 11 or so hours after leaving home I was back to civilization and relaxing with pizza and beer.

While it was a fairly demanding trip I look forward to going back and seeing the other three or so miles of cave left. Who will want to go? My Buddy Melvin I hope!!!