B and I were both excited to get back into the cave and get to
work. I figured with about 4 hours work we could be in and see what was on the
other side. We had arranged to borrow a DeWalt cordless drill to bring with us.
We also had masonry bits to drill with, sledge hammers (two) to break up the
rock, bullpins to insert into the drill holes, and a few other tools that we
ended up not using. Getting the tools down to the work site proved to be a
challenge. One of us would climb down the rope and stop at a ledge or good
resting place, then the other person would lower the tools. We kept repeating
this routine until we got to the bottom of the cave. Then we had to drag the
tools to the hole. It took about an hour to finally get to work.
B took
the first turn at the hole. After an hour of exhausting work we could tell that
we were not going to get through in one session. We kept trading off after we
worked ourselves into a sweat. One would take a break and get some food and
water while the other one went to work.
The routine went like
this:
To begin work we had to get down on our knees and do our best to
avoid smacking our heads on the ceiling. Working in this awkward position we
would drill into the wall around the hole. That was difficult work. We really
had to push on the drill, and it was still slow progress. Then we inserted the
bullpin into the hole and hammered on it until the rock broke up. Then we would
repeat the process. To give you an idea of how slow it went, the typical size
rock that would break off was about fingernail size. If we broke off a large
piece (about 1/3 the size of my palm) it was cause for celebration.
From
time to time, for variety, we would just wail on a cold chisel with a 5-lb.
sledge. It was slow progress. The problem with the sledge was that we couldn't
take a good swing because of the tight quarters.
Even though we spent many hours and several trips
working on the hole we never did find a better technique for widening the hole.
The drill/bullpin/hammer got the best results for our efforts. We came up with
some crazy ideas for breaking up the rock. Everything from TNT (never seriously
considered) to hauling a generator to the mouth of the cave and running an
extension cord down to a jack hammer. We even thought about using liquid
nitrogen to freeze the rock and make it more brittle!
After a couple hours of hard work we realized what our
limiting factor was going to be. It was about then that our first battery met an
abrupt death. We had a second battery, so we swapped them out. The second
battery lasted a little longer because we hammered and chiseled a little more
often and a little longer each time. Finally, after about three more hours of
drudgery the second battery died and we called it a night. Whew! We could tell
that we had done some work in the cave, but it was not much. For the first time
since we got in the cave we sat back both of us took a break. It was nice to
check out the results of our hard work. Then we noticed the howling again. It
seemed to be a little louder than the last time we were there. We just figured
the wind was blowing a little stronger outside. What we could not figure out was
the rumbling. It, too, seemed to be louder, and more frequent. This time we
could not attribute the noise to trucks. The road that the trucks drove on was
not very busy to begin with. At that time of night it should be dead. Yet the
rumbling continued. It seemed to be coming from deep within the passage. B said
he would ask some veteran cavers what could be causing the noise.
We
didn't spend a long time admiring our work. We still had to haul the gear up and
out of the cave. Actually we left some of it in the cave. It was still difficult
work. What made it worse was that we were both exhausted. Our original plan was
to be done with this cave and hit a couple of other caves in the area the next
day. Instead we decided to crash at a nearby motel, charge up the drill
batteries, and go back to Mystery Cave.