April 14, 2001
Only a couple days elapsed before B found
someone who wanted to explore the passage with us. B told me he talked to a few
other people who couldn't make it because of scheduling conflicts. He said they
really grilled him for information about the cave and about the passage. He
would not tell them which cave it was to ensure that we explored it to our
satisfaction before we made it known to the public. Even the guy who ended up
going with us did not know which cave until we were very close to it. And he was
sworn to secrecy that he would not reveal the location of the cave to anyone on
the planet. I won't identify him by name,
so I will just refer to him as "Joe". Joe, B and
I set out early in the morning to make sure we could spend all the time we
wanted in the new passage. When we got to the cave we were able to rig up and
descend rather quickly. It helps when you don't have to haul half a hardware
store down into the cave. Joe was impressed by our work. Even B and I took a
minute to pat ourselves on the back for all of the hard work we put in. And for
the fact that we made it through!
Joe is a rather thin caver who has had
a lot of experience in caves. He said this might be the tightest squeeze he had
been in, but it didn't bother him. I knew that physically he would be able to
make it, since I was bigger than him and I made it. He was just as excited as us
to get through and get caving. Maybe more. He quickly got ready and was waiting
to hear what the plan of attack was going to be. I figured I would send him
through first, since he was ready, and I would follow. B would pass our gear
through and wait for us outside the passage. B would give us two hours to
return. That was nice of B to go down into the cave and baby-sit us. It gets
boring sitting there in a cave. With our plan set, we were ready to roll.
It was, perhaps, irresponsible of
us not to tell Joe about all of the unexplained events that occurred in the cave
until after he had gone through. But what exactly to you tell someone? How many
of the weird things did we need to reveal to him? We did not feel that we were
in any danger or we would not go in the cave ourselves. So we did not tell him a
thing prior to him entering Floyd's Tomb. Of course when we did tell him
afterwards, it was too late.
I couldn't
believe how easy Joe slipped through the passage. He said it was tight, but it
sure didn't look like it. Once he got in we passed him his gear, then I started
in. Even though I knew that I could fit through it was still a slow trip through
the Tomb. You can only go so fast when you're scooting with your toes. When I
reached the tight spot of the squeeze I had Joe snap a picture of me. I thought
it would make a good photo. Once I got through B started to relay my stuff to
me. Then disaster struck. I had gone all the way in and turned around to pull my
gear through. I had to kneel down and still crouch down low. I had just got my
helmet (ironically) and light and was turning around to feed the rope back to B
when I smacked my head on the top of the passage. Human skull vs. solid rock.
Rock won. I told B what had happened so he sent my first aid kit through. I was
bleeding, but even worse I didn't feel too good. I patched myself up, then told
Joe I didn't think I'd better continue. He looked like a little kid who was told
that Christmas would be cancelled. Although I didn't like the idea of him
exploring the cave without me (for selfish reasons, of course), I wanted him to
at least see part of the cave for making the trip out there.
I told him
how far to go and how long it would take, then I sent him on his way. As I laid
there I could hear him crawling into the darkness. His light disappeared after
the first turn. I rested a minute or two, then began my journey back through the
squeeze. It was disappointing to get all the way to the cave and then not be
able to explore it to its end. Actually it is killing me! After I got through
Floyd's Tomb (which was painful) I sat down and munched on a Clif bar while B
and I chatted. I told him I would pay for a motel room if he would stay
overnight. Then we could see how I was doing the next day and make another
attempt at the cave. I felt goofy for having smacked my head on the cave wall. B
said he was willing to give it another try tomorrow. He was just as anxious to
put some closure to this cave. As long as Joe would stay overnight, we
determined to wrap things up the next day. Once this was settled we just sat
back and enjoyed the darkness. We could hear no sounds coming from the passage.
The silence reminded me of the scraping noise that I heard last time we were out
there. I brought up the subject with B. Since I had not explored the cave
completely I could not offer any explanation of what could be making the
scraping noise. Or the change the wind strength. Or the rumbling. Or that
terrible scream that we heard. Suddenly we both wished we had not sent Joe into
the cave alone.
B went to the hole and yelled into it. "Joe". No answer.
Not surprising. You just can't hear each other when you are very far apart in a
cave. We nervously awaited any sounds (Good sounds, that is. Joe type sounds.)
The twenty minute time limit we had set passed. Then twenty-five minutes. I
really had no desire to climb back through the squeeze. My head was still
throbbing and the squeeze looked tighter than ever. Still, I knew I was going to
have to make sure Joe was safe. Just as I was getting prepared to go back
through I saw a light deep in the passage. "Joe?", I called out. Nothing.
"Joe!". Still no answer. The light got brighter and I could hear the noise of
someone crawling across the broken rock that lined the cave. "You o.k., Joe?".
"No", was his weak reply. When he got to the other side of the Tomb he said he
was not feeling well. He quickly took his gear off and put them in the bag so we
could pull it through. As I pulled the bag through the passage he began to climb
back through the Tomb. We didn't even get a chance to question him about what he
saw before he was coming back through. He quickly slipped through the squeeze
and the hole and we finally got a look at him. He looked terrible. His face was
pale and he was out of breath. The dust that covers the floor of the squeeze
left its mark on his face and clothes. He had numerous small cuts and scratches
on his face and arms. Probably from his rapid exit from the passage. His eyes
were open wide.
We only had a brief moment to look at the change that
had occurred to Joe before he started to head up and out of the cave, without
saying a word. While Joe and B started for the surface I took a minute to gather
our gear. Then I stopped to listen into the passage. I heard nothing. AND I FELT
NOTHING! The wind had stopped! Part of me wanted to get out of the cave as fast
as possible. But another part of me wanted to immediately climb back through the
passage to find out what made this cave tick. Then was not the time, though. I
still felt a little dizzy from my injury. At that moment I noticed B and Joe had
made good time getting up the cave passage and I was left alone. Chills ran
through my body as I scurried to catch up with them.
Once we got outside
the cave I figured we would be able to find out more from Joe. But when he got
up the final climb he just unclipped from the rope and went straight to the
truck. In the light of day he looked even worse than in the cave. B and I
gathered up the rope and our gear and headed for the truck. Joe said he did not
want to stay overnight because he felt terrible(and we believed him), so we
headed home. We could get no more information from Joe. He just stared straight
ahead. He was shaking like a leaf, and he said he was not cold. When we tried to
question him, his answers were short. I asked him if he saw the hieroglyphics.
"No". Did he hear us yelling? "No". Did he see the round rock? "No". Did he see
the crystals? "No". He said he just went a little ways in and started to feel
sick. Something was fishy about his answers. He would have had to have
seen the crystals if he got far enough into the cave that he couldn't hear us
yelling. But why would he not elaborate?
The rest of the trip passed in eerie silence. Joe didn't say much else.
We gave him a brief outline of the strange events that happened in the cave. He
didn't reply. As we were dropping him off we asked if he wanted to go back in
the cave. He shook his head and ran into his house. I tried to call him later in
the day and the next day but only got his voice mail.
Back to Cave
page