The Near Normal News

Volume 14 #4 July 2004

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS is published by the:

Near Normal Grotto #363,P.O. Box 813Normal, IL 61761.

Subscription price is $10/year or free with thepurchase of a grotto membership (also $10/year). Issues are published in January, March,May, July, September, and November.

Editors:Editor: Jeffery Gosnell

gosnell@greatoakscamp.orgCo-Editor: John Schirle

jds217@juno.comScience Editor: John Marquart

marquart@uiuc.edu

ARTICLE SUBMISSION INFOWe accept most cave-related submissions.Equipment reviews, scientific articles, tripreports, announcements, cartoons, artwork, andpictures are all welcome. Most submissions mustbe received by the last Friday of the monthprior to publication. Scientific submissions needextra time for review.

Send submissions, using the guidelines below,to gosnell@greatoakscamp.org. Submissions ondisk may be mailed to 1384 County Road 900N,Lacon, IL 61540.

Photographic submissions should generally bein JPEG format. Query the editor if yoursubmission uses a different program. Photographsshould list the cave, general location, names ofany persons included in the photo, and name ofthe photographer.

Written submissions may be sent as anattachment using Microsoft Works®, MicrosoftWord®, plain text, or incorporated directly intoan e-mail message. If you are uncomfortablewith your writing ability, put together a basicaccount of the trip—ignoring grammar andpunctuation—and request the editor to help draftthe finished product.

Scientific and Technical articles are expectedto be of a high standard, citing evidence ofstatements and crediting references, whereappropriate.

The Near Normal Grotto

The Near Normal Grotto meets the secondFriday of each month at 7 P.M. in theCommunity Room of

National City Bank202 E. WashingtonBloomington, IL.

Adverse weather, holidays, and our annualSeptember picnic may affect meeting times.

2004 Executive Committee:President: Marc Tiritilli

marc_tiritilli@hotmail.comVice-President: John Schirle

jds217@juno.comSecretary: Troy Simpson

tsimpson@mailcity.comTreasurer: David Carson

thecarsons@trianglenet.netMember at Large: Don Kerouac

k9nr@juno.com

http://oldsci.eiu.edu/physics/len/grotto/nng.htm

The Near Normal Grotto is part of theNational Speleological Society (NSS). Weencourage all persons interested in caving tojoin the NSS. Membership is $35/year.Members receive the NSS News (monthly)and other caving publications.

National Speleological Society2813 Cave AvenueHuntsville, AL 35810-4431Phone: (205) 852-1300www.caves.org

On The Cover: Ralph Sawyer pokes hishead out of the 188' deep entrance to Cold WaterCave, Iowa. Photo by Jeffery Gosnell.This Page: Troy Simpson captured this imagein Buddha Cave, Indiana.

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 3

MINUTES FROM JUNE 2004 MEETING:Meeting called to order at 2:38pm.Present: Don Kerouac, Ralph Sawyer,Troy J. Simpson, Marc & Tracy Tiritilli

Secretary’s Note: as per new unwrittenbylaw, meeting was held withmembership fully geared for vertical.

SECRETARY’S REPORT:No meeting minutes were taken for May(no quorum). April 2004 meeting minutesaccepted (motion Ralph, seconded Don).

TREASURER’S REPORT::No report. Marc suggests the membershipcan assume no radical changes & no needfor a vote (Don chose to motion Marc’ssuggestion. Seconded Ralph).

OLD BUSINESS

• The August meeting will be Sunday,August 15 at the ISU Tower, inconjunction with vertical practice.

NEW BUSINESS

• Annual Picnic. It was unanimous to

try to hold the picnic for the 3rd yearat Clark Falls, Utica, IL. Troy willget in touch with Larry Bird andbegin arrangements. It was agreedto shoot for Sunday, September 12as the date. Ralph suggested tryingsome of the vertical at night. All

thought it would be neat and see if wecan add a “Saturday Play-Day.”• Marc mentioned members of theWisconsin Speleological Surveyexpressed interest in joint grotto trips toMissouri.

TRIP REPORTS

• Don K. attended Speleofest in CampCarlson, KY. It was an enjoyable 3 dayscamping, as he was fortunate be at “CampHoliday Inn” on the 4th day to avoid thenasty, raining weather that followed. Onehighlight was a visit to McKamish (?)Cave. It had similar geology as that of itsbig cousin Mammoth Cave. As alwaysthere was a good banquet and a greattime.• Ralph S. and Jeffery G. visited ColdWater Cave in Iowa. As seems to be thefad, they also encountered heavy rain.Ralph briefly explained some of thecontroversy surrounding the cavesystem and their visit. Ralph noted thatthe water definitely matches the cave’snamesake (48F). His wet suit was notsuited for the extreme cold water of the

cave. The cave is highly decorated,though, it was tough to enjoy with thestrong current they encountered.Unfortunately, Ralph and Jeffery have fewpictures due to the nature of the waterycave.• Marc attended the NCRC RescueOrientation at Pop’s Cave, Wisconsin.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Troy and Amy S. going to Marion, ILfor Coal Mining Conference.• Don C. heading to NSS NationalConvention and presenting.• Next NNG meeting will be July 9, 2004.• T-shirts & patches still available.

Meeting adjourned at 3:25 (motion Troy,seconded Don). Program followed withvertical practice at the ISU Tower.

Respectfully Submitted,Troy J. SimpsonSecretary

PROGRAM

Troy and Ralph shared photos andstories from their recent trip to Sullivanand Doghill-Donohue Caves. Marcshowed a video that was also takenduring the trip.

Near NormalNear NormalNear NormalNear NormalNear NormalGrotto BusinessGrotto BusinessGrotto BusinessGrotto BusinessGrotto Business

MMMMMAMMOTHAMMOTHAMMOTHAMMOTHAMMOTH C C C C CAVEAVEAVEAVEAVE C C C C CAMPSAMPSAMPSAMPSAMPS by Larry MatizMammoth Cave Restoration Camps are held the firstweekends in March, May, and November and the firstweek of August.

The week-long camp begins Sunday with an eveningmeal. A National Park Service person talks to us aboutwhat we will be doing. NSS camp director, RoyVanhoozer, talks about safety and etc. We start workMonday morning and finish Friday afternoon. Inrecent years the park gives us a Friday cookout andpresents us with an award.

Lodging at Maple Springs includes a bunkhouse,which sleeps 36 people, and a house, which sleeps 10people. Both are air conditioned. Some people electto camp. We have bathrooms with showers and a largekitchen/eating area. We make our own lunches withfood supplied to us at camp. Dinner is prepared forus. We also have a special, one of a kind of t-shirteach year for summer camp. The park tries to give useducational trips into the cave in the evenings or onSaturday after camp is over.

There is a $60 registration fee for the week-longcamp. This fee, along with mileage up to 750 milesround trip, will be reimbursed at a later date. Theweekend camps also reimburse mileage and food.

Some stay in town during weekend camps and eatin restaurants. Maple Springs is also available, butthere is not a kitchen set up for meals. Weekend campsconsist of working all day on Saturday and until noonon Sunday. Some people only work on Saturday andhead back early Sunday if they have a long drive orwant to do something else that day.

For more information, contact Roy Vanhoozer atRVanhoo@aol.com. The MaCa Restoration Campwebsite is:

http://www.mcnprestoration.comThere is an application and information about campon the site.

A lot of Near Normal members have volunteered atrestoration camp over the years. It would be nice forsome of them to come down again.

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 4

My caving itch has been well scratched. Trip reports follow:

COLD WATER CAVE

I first heard of Cold Water Cave (also spelled "Coldwater")through a heated argument on the NSS discussion board. A fewcavers claimed land owner John Ackerman was harming thecave by drilling an entrance on his property. Ackerman alleged"good ol' boy" politics kept the caveclosed to all, but a select few, and after 12years of dispute, he simply bought 5acres over the cave and drilled his own188' deep x 30" wide shaft.

I watched the debate unfold withimpartial interest, trying to discernthrough the flames and rants what wasreally taking place under the corn fieldsof Burr Oak, Iowa. Then came a post thatgot my dander up. One of the alleged"good ol' boys" wrote that caves likeCold Water are not meant for sport caversaccustomed to taking youth groups andscout troops spelunking. After several angry responses on theboard, he back-peddled on his statement, claiming his groupwas willing to welcome anyone into their company. Doubtful ofhis statement, I put it to the test and tried to get into Cold Water.The lack of reply seemed to confirm Ackerman's allegations.

I concluded my chances with Cold Water were about as goodas leading the next trip to Lechuguilla, and I forgot all about thecave for more than a year. Then in May, I decided to see ifAckerman's entrance was truly accessible. His first emailresponse did not give me much hope, but a follow up emailasked if I was free on May 23rd. I quickly shoved every otherappointment aside and called Ralph Sawyer. Then we two sportcavers, accustomed to taking youth groups and scout troops"spelunking," headed out to see this world-class cave.

Words cannot describe the experience. Calling Cold Water a"great" cave is like calling Mt. Everest "tall." For those familiarwith the Water Passage in Illinois Caverns, start with that mentalimage, then take that image, raise the water level to your chest,lower the water temperature to 48 degrees, lengthen it all to 16.5miles, multiply the number of formations by tens of thousands,and you get a glimpse of what we found.

As to the claims that Ackerman is harming the cave, it wasclear he intends to protect Cold Water, even while allowingother cavers to enjoy it. John has invited us to return to ColdWater to see more of the cave and to visit his property inMinnesota, Spring Valley Caverns Karst Preserve.

BUCKNER'S CAVE

My first trip into Buckner's showed me why Bill Morrow oftenvisits the cave. Aside from the massive amounts of graffiti, thisis a challenging, interesting cave.

On May 30, John Schirle and I took two ofmy camp counselors, Mercy Ondiba and JennMcCarty through the twists and turns of Buckner's,with only a map, compass, and John's faultymemory to guide us.

Neither of the college-aged girls had ever beenin a cave (For Mercy, fresh off the plane from Kenya,

Africa, the weekend also included her first trip to a McDonald's!),and they thought John and I were joking as I slid behind thebreakdown pile near the entrance and squeezed into the 450'long crawlway. However, they were up to the challenge as wemade our way to the "T Room" and then started the clockwisecircuit through the cave.

Rain had been pouring daily for overa week in Bloomington, Indiana. Despitethis, Art, the gatekeeper, told us Buckner'sdoes not flood. We didn't feel so assurednearly four hours into the trip, when thestream had apparently risen enough tomake the passage to the Signature Roomimpassable. I tried to push the narrowstream passage, knowing we were withinfeet of finding the way up and out, butstopped when it became clear I'd have tocompletely submerge in order to getthrough one spot.

Soaked up to my neck and shiver-ing, I was concerned that returning the way we had come wouldprobably take a full 3 hours, 1 hour past the "rescue" timearranged with the surface. And then I saw it, like a sign fromabove...actually it was a sign from above, a neon orange arrowwith the word "EXIT" written next to it. I do not normally trustgraffiti directions, but the hole it pointed to looked promising,especially when I popped out high and dry in the SignatureRoom.

Back on the surface, it was clear on the map where we hadmissed our turn. Had we not suspected the stream had risen, wewould have quickly recognize our mistaken. At "check out,"Art informed us that nearly 2 inches of rain had fallen in the 4.5hours we were underground and the tornado sirens hadsounded multiple times.

WOLF CAVE

On Memorial Day, the family and I swung into McCormick'sCreek State Park, IN. My foster son, TJ, and I explored the first100' or so of the narrow, winding Wolf Cave. This racks up 5wild caves for my three-year old caver, plus acouple of show caves for good measure. As forthe cave, I'd like to check it out again sometime,when I'm wearing coveralls and boots.

Descending into Cold Water Cave

RRRRRAMBLINGSAMBLINGSAMBLINGSAMBLINGSAMBLINGS OFOFOFOFOF AAAAA T T T T TROGLODYTEROGLODYTEROGLODYTEROGLODYTEROGLODYTEby Jeffery Gosnell

IN THIS ISSUE:• Don Kerouac reports on Speleofest 2004.• John Moritz gives an account of his first cave trip.• Scott Richardson's PANTAGRAPH article on land access.• Ralph Sawyer provides details on our trip to Cold Water.• Where's Marc? (Not available this issue)

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 5

Photos from the June

Vertical Practice.

Photos by Ralph

Sawyer.

SSSSSPELEOFESTPELEOFESTPELEOFESTPELEOFESTPELEOFEST 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004by Don Kerouac

Speleofest, put on by the Louisville Grotto, was held May 28-31at Camp Carlson in Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Attendance was a bitdown this year probably due to the unusually stormy weather.In spite of torrential rainfalls during and leading up to the event,most scheduled trip caves were in good shape. Following are afew descriptive highlights:

Vendors: The usual vendors were there…Bob & Bob, Howie’sHarness’s, On Rope One, Inner Mountain Outfitters,Speleobooks and others. You could pretty much buy whateveryou needed or (more likely) didn’t need but couldn’t live without!Helmets, lights, packs, knee & elbow pads, boots, coveralls,polypro, books, tapes, topomaps, survey gear, t-shirts and morefine junk! All manner of vertical gear: rope, racks, biners,harnesses or complete rigs for frogging, rope walking, etc.

Food: The Louisville Grotto sold burgers and dogs Friday andSaturday evenings. They had a nice full breakfast spreadSaturday and Sunday mornings. The banquet was Sundayevening and very good by most standards. In fact, it was notbad by non-cave event standards! Of course, many attendeescooked their own goodies over the campfire or went into town.

Activities: With the large number of caves in the immediatearea, one might think that caving was the main event. Notnecessarily! Surveys indicated that only a little over half theparticipants went caving. The main activity for most of thecrowd was partying and socializing in general. Saturday eveningthere was the tug of war contest by the lake…a lot of laughs forparticipants and onlookers alike. This was followed by theKaraoke session (it helped if you had been drinking heavily!).

Facilities: Camp Carlson is a part of the vast Ft. Knox militarybase. Aside from its most famous building, Ft. Knox is the mainUS training facility for motorized armor and when you go to the

local gas station/food emporium, you will likely see a few M1A1tanks parked here and there.

The gold depository is only a couple of miles down the roadfrom the camp. By the way, they really believe in the caversmotto of taking nothing but pictures! They take security veryseriously.

As for Camp Carlson itself, it is a nice facility, neat and wellkept. It is situated on a pond in a wooded area. The bathroomsand shower facilities are nice and well tended. Although, thecleanup staff needed to haul the mud out with an end loaderafter returning cavers hit the showers (at least it seemed thatway)!

Caves: There were many caves available for trips, both led andself led. The caves were detailed in the guidebook you receivedwhen you registered. They were listed on a scale of one to fivein difficulty. If vertical or special gear were required, it was sonoted. In general, the most challenging trips were led only.Safety first! For trips to the less difficult caves, your group wasled to the entrance and you were on your own!

The degree of difficulty did not necessarily indicate howrewarding the trip would be. Some of the easier rated caveswere impressive in size and geology.

The rain affected only two of the listed caves enough tocause a cancellation of trips. Fortunately, the dry caves stayeddry and the usually wet caves were safe. Note that daily, evenhourly checks on water levels were made by the LouisvilleGrotto.

Prizes: After the Sunday evening banquet and program (apresentation on the Lone Star Preserve), the prize drawingswere held. There were a large number of prizes, some quite nice.To win, you had to be there. Since many had left early, yourodds were good that you would win something. I didn’t winanything but many at my table did!

All in all, Speleofest is a well-organized event. The members ofthe Louisville Grotto put a lot of effort into making it what it is.Mosquitoes were not out yet in any numbers. While MotherNature dumped a lot of rain on things, it didn’t seem to dampenanyone’s spirits. After all, being wet and muddy is not especiallyforeign to cavers!

John Moritz enjoying his first caving trip.Photo by Troy J. Simpson

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 6

Back in the main passage, and after quite a bit of hiking, Ibegan to realize how vast this cave really is. The experiencewas pleasurable and educational, as Marc, Troy, and Roy shareda lot of exciting information about this cave. Seeing how thiswas my and Jeremy’s first caving trip ever (and Rick’s first tripto this cave), the information was very useful.

The caverns offer a wealth of spec-tacular sights including stalactites, sta-lagmites, flowstone, soda straws andtall, narrow chimneys. Along the way,we were introduced to a couple of spe-cies of bats that are common to thiscave, as well as salamanders, amphi-pods, and crickets.

We explored several side passages,including a waterfall passage that wasvery wet, but beautiful to see. I wastoo tired to check a maze passage. SoTroy and I sat waiting for the othersand had fun discussing caves in totaldarkness. We managed to spend

about 4 hours inside the cave, making lasting memories.Illinois Caverns was a fun and educational experience for

me. I would recommend it to any beginning caver, since it re-quires little climbing and no repelling or ascending. I definitelyplan on going back some time in the near future. Hopefully, theGrotto will organize another trip (or Rick and I can find a coupleof friends to go with us).

I would like to thank the Near Normal Grotto, particularlyMarc, Troy, and Roy and the Illinois Department of NaturalResources for allowing me to experience caving for the firsttime. It is something I have always been interested in and wouldlike to further educate myself about. Caving is great!!!

MMMMMYYYYY F F F F FIRSTIRSTIRSTIRSTIRST

CCCCCAVEAVEAVEAVEAVE T T T T TRIPRIPRIPRIPRIPby John Moritz

Saturday, April 17th was agood morning despite the lackof sleep from preparing for theday (My excitement had got-ten the best of me, as I lay toss-ing and turning in my bedwondering how I was to man-age making it through the dayand through Illinois Caverns.).I think I managed to accumu-late just over an hour of sleep.

I woke around 3:15, packedmy stuff in the car, headed out to pick up Rick Delay at hishouse, and, in the process, forgot to pack some clean clothesfor the trip. We discussed this and both decided to just let ourstuff dry out before we would left the caverns later that after-noon. The weather was to be dry and around 85 degrees. So Ifigured the heat would dry us off in a matter of minutes. I wasn’treally aware of the amount of mud that I would pick up in thecave. Later in the morning, I would find out. I decided that fromhere on out, bringing dry clothes would be a must for any trip.

We met with Marc Tiritilli, Troy Simpson, Roy Becker andhis son Jeremy at Tremont High School and left from there forIllinois Caverns. Once there we made our descent via the sink-hole stairs and took a few photos at the entrance. I was disap-pointed to find out the waterproof disposable camera I hadbrought did not have a flash and would be useless for the trip.Fortunately, Troy took pictures and was more than willing toshare extra prints with me and the others.

I quickly realized how dark it is inside a cave. As we made ourway through, my eyes adjusted to the lack of light and every-thing became much more visible. We walked quite a way untilwe came to a resting point. Here we found a side passage on theleft. We had to be boosted up into the hole, as it was about 6feet above the main passage. Troy helped us all get up, as Marctook the lead and began pushing the passage. He told us hehad wanted to explore this passage for some time, and we alldecided to follow. This tight passage was quite an experiencefor me (and a wet, muddy one, at that), but it was exciting none-theless. All of us made it pretty far into the passage, whichbecame so narrow I had to wonder how even Marcwould beable to make his way back out of it. When Marccame near theend of it, we backed out and began our return to the mainpassage. About 15 or 20 feet from the main passage, Troy andI—after a bit of hesitation on my part—explored a lower pas-sage and discovered it came out just underneath the side pas-sage we had initially climbed up into (If I ever try this passageagain, I’ll remember to enter from the bottom, as it would havebeen much easier.)

Trip Photos by Troy J. Simpson

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 7

It’s no secret Illinois ranks near the bottom of the 50 states interms of public land set aside for recreation and conservation.

Access to private land is essential for anyone interested inoutdoor activities. Hunters of everything from whitetail deerupland game, turkeys and mushrooms to bird-watchers andanglers in search of smallmouth bass depend on the hospitalityof farmers others who own rural land.

That’s why Illinois residents get so excited over issues likethe push toward land-leasing by private outfitters and thequestion of how many non-resident hunters the IllinoisDepartment of Natural Resources should let in.

That’s also why outdoor enthusiasts should be lobbyingstate lawmakers to undo damages a recent decision by theIllinois Supreme Court will do to private land access. In effect,the high court has struck down protections landowners hadfrom lawsuits when someone enjoying recreation is hurt ontheir property. The protections had been in place nearly 40years. As a result, legal experts say landowners are bound tothink twice before hosting people for outdoor activities.

“It has a dampening effect,” said Don Uchtmann, professorof agricultural law at the University of Illinois.

“As this becomes more known, I think we’ll see people bemore selective as to who they let on,” agreed Bloomingtonlawyer Tom Jennings, who concentrates on agricultural lawwith the Saint Law Group.

At issue is the Recreational Use of Land and Water AreasAct, which the General Assembly passed in 1965. Before thecourt action in December, the act was interpreted to limit liabilitywhen landowners invited people on their property for recreationas long as no fee was charged. An exception was if wantondisregard was shown for a visitor’s safety. But as long aslandowners showed reasonable care, they were safe from legalfallout.

The Supreme Court ruling in Hall vs. Henn changed that. Thecase centered on a person who sued a neighbor after sufferingan injury while tobogganing on the neighbor’s property.

An appeals court said the act did not protect this landownerbecause he had not opened his land “for the public use,” whichis language included in the act. He had granted only a limitedinvitation to a few, and because he did not invite everyone, thecourt said the act did not apply. The Supreme Court agreed.

“…The act’s protections are not available to landowners whorestrict the use of their property to invited guests only,” thecourt’s opinion reads.

But, Jennings said, “No one considered (for the public use)to mean everybody. … I don’t think that was the Legislature’sintent…If everyone from Chicago wanted to come huntmushrooms, I’d have to let them.”

To avoid hassles, Jennings said landowners are likely to reactby letting no one on their property with the exception of hand-picked relatives and friends they’re sure won’t pursue legalaction against them.

“For my clients who are providing some recreational use, Ithink I’m going to advise, “Who bother?” You can’t depend on

the act anymore,” Jennings said.Uchtmann said he’s already seen that opinion take root during

two gatherings of farmers he’s attended since the court ruling.“There was a sense they were less likely to allow hunting,”Uchtmann said.

Nancy Erickson, director of natural and environmentalresources for the Illinois Farm Bureau, said her organization isconcerned. The bureau supported legislation that would havehelped undo the damage, but the General Assembly did not acton it.

Lawmakers can’t leave the matter there. A compelling publicinterest exists to provide land for recreation in a land starvedstate. There’s also a vital public purpose to provide access tohunters, who control the state’s deer herd that causes extensivecrop damage and thousands of deer-vehicle accidents eachyear. Hunting is the only way to keep their numbers in check.

Stay tuned.

TTTTTAKEAKEAKEAKEAKE N N N N NOTICEOTICEOTICEOTICEOTICE OFOFOFOFOF R R R R RULINGULINGULINGULINGULING ONONONONON L L L L LANDANDANDANDAND A A A A ACCESSCCESSCCESSCCESSCCESSReprinted courtesy of THE PANTAGRAPHTHE PANTAGRAPHTHE PANTAGRAPHTHE PANTAGRAPHTHE PANTAGRAPH By Pantagraph Outdoor editor, Scott Richardson MAY 16, 2004

SPECIAL NNG MEETING IN AUGUSTThe AUGUST meeting will be at the ISU Rappel Toweron Sunday, August 15 from 1:00-6:00 p.m. Meetingtime is 2:00. (The July meeting is at its regular time.)

Directions to ISU Rappel Tower: Take Business US 51(Main Street) in Normal to Willow. (1st stoplight north

of the ISU football stadium--look for large water tower).Turn west and stay right to enter the parking lot behindUniversity High School. The large wooden rappelling

tower is visible from the parking lot.

Thanks to Jim Jacobs for obtainingThanks to Jim Jacobs for obtainingThanks to Jim Jacobs for obtainingThanks to Jim Jacobs for obtainingThanks to Jim Jacobs for obtainingpermission and sending in the abovepermission and sending in the abovepermission and sending in the abovepermission and sending in the abovepermission and sending in the abovearticlearticlearticlearticlearticle to to to to to THETHETHETHETHE N N N N NEAREAREAREAREAR N N N N NORMALORMALORMALORMALORMAL N N N N NEWSEWSEWSEWSEWS.....

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 8

DDDDDEEPEEPEEPEEPEEP, D, D, D, D, DARKARKARKARKARK, , , , , ANDANDANDANDAND C C C C COLDOLDOLDOLDOLD INININININ N N N N NORTHERNORTHERNORTHERNORTHERNORTHERN I I I I IOWAOWAOWAOWAOWA By Ralph Sawyer

Continued Next Page

Helmets off to Jeffery Gosnell—somehowhe arranged a visit to the highly restrictedCold Water Cave in northern Iowa. Ourhost was John Ackerman, who owns oneof two man-made entrances to the cave.

ENTRY

Jeffery and I met John and fellow caverJim Edberg on a country road near thetown of Burr Oak in northern Iowa. Ashort slogthrough amuddy farmfield led us tothe gatedentry, a 188'deep drilledwell shaft, 30"in diameterand with asteel ladderbolted to thesides.

We had ashort discussion about the use of a belayline. The decision to forgo a belay wasreached by each of us waiting to see whatthe other guy wanted. The required slogback through the field to get gear and ouranxiousness to get caving may haveplayed a factor. In hindsight I think weshould have discussed and decidedbefore even approaching the entrance. Aself belay with an ascender would havebeen easy to rig.

Entry was one caver at a time—itwouldn’t do to have the upper caver fallor dislodge slime onto the lower caver. Itook my gloves off for the descent in orderto keep a good grip on the rungs (whichgrew increasingly colder, slimier, andgrittier as I descended).

At the bottom, the entrance shaft justnicks the side wall of a small side passagein the cave.

DOWNSTREAM

John and Jim led us a short distancethrough the side passage into the mainbore hole of Cold Water Cave. Enteringthe main stream passage, they bothexpressed surprise at the volume of water,which was as high as they had seen it.

I found out that 49 degree water is

significantly colder than the 52 to 55degree water I have experienced insouthern Indiana caves. The pain in myankles was immediate. My feet felt as if Ihad been walking in wet sneakersthrough snow. Right away, we were in toour waists, and I made my usual howlingnoises. My single-layer, one-piece wetsuit under coveralls proved to beinadequate. I think Jeffery fared better ina “Farmer John” bib-overall with “shorty”jacket, a two piece wet suit, no coveralls(I wonder now if my cotton coverallsworked against me during rest periods.)

No knee pads are needed in the mainpassage of Cold Water Cave. The high,black ceiling is crisscrossed by jointsfrom which hang white stalactites. Oftenthree joints intersect, forming an archingstar or asterisk of stalactites.

We saw nice curtains and bacon stripsand at least three narrow white stalactitesan inch or less from meeting a thick brownstalagmite. All of these “pretties”, as Johncalled them, were noted only briefly, asall the while we were being propelled andcoerced farther downstream by thecurrent.

As we traveled through some sectionsthat would make for exciting canoeing,we began to joke about white watercaving. The cave gave us infrequentopportunities to get out of the water torest and drain. In most places water filledthe passage side to side, and each caverexperienced that awkward, comical, anddangerous surprise plunge into a potholebetween submerged chunks ofbreakdown.

Eventually the water just got too deep.Jeffery fooled around upstream. Jimanxiously watched John attempt to find aplace to continue downstream that wouldnot require swimming for our exit. I waited

above on a rock, nervous and shivering,kind of hoping that John would not find away for us to continue...I wondered if Ihad reached my halfway point ofendurance.

UPSTREAM

John could not find a way to safely gofurther downstream, or maybe he justwisely decided against it. After a shortrest we began to work our way upstream.Once again there was not an opportunityto really appreciate the formations, asmost of our concentration was requiredfor forwardp r o g r e s sthrough thestiff current.The sameembarrassingp o t h o l em o m e n t so c c u r r e d ,this time theresult beingknocked onone’s caninstead ofone’s face. At one point, I could find nofooting in a relatively still pool and swamhard for just a few feet until I could clingto a bit of rock. Jim was last in line, and Ilooked back to see him struggling in thedeep water. He looked unhappy. So Igrabbed his wrist and pulled him to myrock. He had hit a hole and gone underfor a moment.

Eventually we were knee deep andcontinued upstream past the sidepassage through which we had entered.John led us to another side passage tosee a formation called “The Pillar of LightArising From The Lake of the DivineReasoning,” a 8-9’ high column rising outof a 3’ high by 5’ round mound offlowstone.

We continued farther upstreamthrough the main passage to see TheWaterfall. “The Waterfall” is a name oftenused in caves, and usually, despite all thenoise it makes through the tunnel, thewaterfall turns out to be a heavy spatter.This time the approach sounded like a jet

Ralph Takes a Swim

188' Shaft Entrance

Cold Water Flow Stone

THE NEAR NORMAL NEWS, July 2004 p. 9

engine revving up. The Waterfall turnedout to be just that, a beautiful, deafening,waterfall with a very respectable volumeof water crashing into the domed room.

EXIT

We returned to the well casing for theexit climb. This time I left my gloves on. Itried to climb at a slow, steady pace, butpretty soon I was taking short breaks, mybutt wedged against the back side of thenarrow casing. The casing is not perfectlystraight, but deflects this way and that,so that the caver sees above him onlymisty, stray light for most of the upwardjourney. Despite the physical work of theascent, I was still shivering when I sawactual sky.

Jeffery and I failed to take few decent

Deep, Dark, and Cold continued

photos in the cave, and my disposablecamera was wet after only a few times outof the ziplock bag. Decent photoopportunities were minimized by thestrong current. Although I never saw Iwas having problems with breath fog or

steam coming off of my body, I think theremay be a perpetual mist in Cold WaterCave that conspires against clear photos.I had been spoiled by my digital cameraand made the amateur’s mistake ofexpecting the disposable camera to pickup subjects that are just too far away forthe flash. If I return I would like to spendsome time at The Waterfall with a tripod.

Jeffery and I spent only about 3 1/2hours caving and 11 hours on the road,but it was worth the trip. Cold Water Caveis exciting because of the rushing water,the constant abundance of formations,and the entrance shaft. We hope otherNear Normal Grotto members will beinterested in a return visit to cold WaterCave. I am glad I got to go during theexcitement of the high water stage.

John Ackerman at the top ofthe long climb out

BBBBBUCKNERUCKNERUCKNERUCKNERUCKNER'''''SSSSS C C C C CAVEAVEAVEAVEAVE T T T T TRIPRIPRIPRIPRIP P P P P PHOTOSHOTOSHOTOSHOTOSHOTOSPhotos by John Schirle & Jeffery Gosnell

Jeffery Gosnell checks the map (as Johnreassures the girls "We are not lost. Wejust aren't where we thought we were.").

"All Signs Point to John"

Mercy, Jenn, & John peer out the"Window" along the main passage.

Mercy & California Girl, JennMcCarty climb their first pile of

breakdown.

Only a five days after arriving fromNairobi, Kenya, Mercy Ondibaprepares to enter her first cave.

Jeffery checks a lead.

THE NEAR NORMAL GROTTO

P.O. BOX 813NORMAL, IL 61761