1996 FISHER RIDGE SUMMARIES

Compiled from the DUG SCOOPS

Fisher Ridge Summary January 1996 V14 N1 By Peter Quick

There was one trip somewhat related to the Fisher Ridge Cave System during the month of December. As a follow up to the November mapping trip to Logsdon Cave (the one that nearly overlies Fisher Ridge Cave System on the western flank of Northtown Ridge), a return trip was made to continue pushing and mapping it. The mechanics of this trip were a bit odd for me. Essentially this cave is the project of the Nashville Grotto and they have plenty of folks to explore this cave without our help. Through the goodness of John Hoffelt I had an invitation to return to help continue exploring and mapping the cave. He already had lots of help lined up for his New Years trip, so he suggested that I come with no more than two others. Thus at a last minutes notice I was able to get Steve Miller and Pete Dickman to join me for the trip.

Apparently there had been lots of optimistic talk in the Nashville Grotto about the high degree of probability (certainty) that the cave was about to break wide open with an easy connection to Fisher Ridge or other large trunk passage. Something like twelve people showed up from the Nashville area armed with lots of rope, bolting gear, a massive climbing rack, and a couple of top notch rock climbers. I had previously warned a couple of them against such optimistic thoughts, "If the cave is going to connect to anything worthwhile it is going to make you earn it." and "Just because a couple of caves are close to each other doesn't mean that they will connect anywhere near their closest points.", to no avail.

Friday had been spent rigging the cave with permanent ropes up to the final drop/climb that had stopped us on the Thanksgiving trip. When Steve, Pete and I arrived on Saturday everyone had just entered the cave to watch the climbers conquer the climb and then were to proceed to scoop going passage. Including us, there were around thirteen people assembled at the top of the 60 foot pit poised to push the cave. The climb was about 25 feet high up a very steep loose rubble slope. The belayer ran a good risk of getting crushed by a rockfall if things didn't go well. After a few hours the climb was completed and a rope was rigged. A strange thing happened. The climbers didn't take off down the passage, they just hung out at the top of the climb after poking around a little bit. Word came back that the passage didn't appear to go. To the right the passage ended and to the left were some low slimy crawls in breakdown. We had lost the tremendous air flow that was flowing into the cave at the base of the climb. It must have gone up the dome above the climb. A number of the cavers turned back for the entrance without even making the climb. The rest of the folks made their way up the climb to check out the anticlimactic discovery.

Steve, Pete and I happily mapped our way across the pit and into the new area. We came to map and that's what we were going to do, even if it were mop up. As we were mapping the first dead end lead, everyone else decided to leave the cave. I chortled, because when we were entering the cave I had predicted to Steve and Pete that we were about to see an example of the Chartres Ave. Syndrome. The Chartres Ave. Syndrome, Oh best beloved, happened to the FRCS crew back in 1987. The fine trunk passage Chartres Ave. had just been discovered and it was felt certain that it was the key, or should I say trunk passage that would lead into Northtown Ridge and beyond to the great gray green greasy Limpopo River all set about by fever trees. Perhaps I just mean the Green River. What had happened to the FRCS crew was this, four survey crews were assembled and a mad dash was made back to Chartres Ave. to scoop for glory and fame. The only problem was that the trunk soon ended in a mud fill at the foot of Northtown Ridge. We were so sure of what we were going to find that anything less was nothing. Once the easy passage was mapped the whole area was abandoned, save for a couple of feeble digging trips at the mud filled end of the trunk passage. It was not until five years later that Chartres Ave. was returned to for more lead checking and survey. With different expectations progress was quickly made through all sorts of miserable passages that ultimately led to the massive breakthrough into Northtown Ridge. There in front of our eyes did we see the exact phenomenon. A discovery that was not proportional to expectations leading to loss of interest leading to route.

We surveyed to the left of the aid climb into a series of breakdown filled belly crawls. Not long after the final voices had receded up the distant climbs out of the cave did we find a short climb up to a very tight canyon . Pete squeezed into it and shortly broke into a nice walking canyon passage with OK air flow. This canyon led to another tighter canyon which led ultimately to a deep pit. Luckily we had been left with a rope to carry out of the cave. It didn't have to be hauled out, we used it to rig the drop which turned out to be 54 feet deep. Out of the base of the room we dropped into we ended up mapping a very low and then tight passage. Hours were spent digging and sledging rocks so that we could continue. We did have air flow. Ultimately we were stopped by another drop. This one being 20 plus feet deep, with more visible passage seen heading off below. At this point we had mapped nearly 800 feet of passage in 38 stations. We decided to head out, pleased with our discoveries. Eight climbs later we were out of the cave some 14.5 hours after we had entered. Thus far Logsdon Cave is really a neat cave with 9 vertically rigged obstacles to negotiate while working ones way back into the cave. Where it goes is obviously not yet known, but it certainly still seems worth pushing, If we get lucky it might eventually hook into the Fisher Ridge Cave System, hopefully serving as a better entrance into Northtown Ridge.

Fisher Ridge Summary February 1996 V14 N2 By Peter Quick

There is one trip down to the Fisher Ridge area to report on since the last newsletter. Steve Miller, Mike Fitch and Pete Dickman made a return trip to Logsdon Cave to continue pushing it beyond the 20 foot drop that stopped Steve on his New Years trip. They were joined by two cavers from Bowling Green, KY and Jon Smith from Mississippi. Steve's crew had the misfortune of visiting the cave as over eleven inches of snow was just finishing melting on the surface. The cave was very wet. Nearly every drop had a waterfall in it. Everyone got soaked. The final 20 foot drop was rigged and descended. They first mapped down to the right from the drop to a high room with a waterfall entering it. The water drained onto a chert layer and into an impassable crack. The cave couldn't be followed any deeper. The water fall came out of an obvious canyon some fifteen or twenty feet above. The canyon was inaccessible because of the heavy water coming out of it. Perhaps on a drier trip it can be pushed. Straight ahead from the 20 foot drop a canyon passage took off. They mapped into the canyon for a few stations gaining elevation whereupon the passage ended. The only remaining lead was a small tube trending to the north taking fairly good air flow. Steve and Mike both took turns trying to jam themselves into the tube but got stuck just five feet into it. The tube was not more than two feet wide and 10 inches high with an irregular floor that barred further progress. Serious digging in this crawl might lead to further discoveries. It is hoped that this tube will provide access to the Fisher Ridge Cave System just a few hundred feet away. One thing is certain, it would provide yet another mean route into Base Camp, keeping up the tough reputation of the trips into Northtown Ridge.

Steve's crew had only placed 8 stations for about 160 feet of survey before running out of passages to map at the bottom of the cave. At the deepest point the cave reached 250 feet below the entrance. The trip out of the cave was wet and miserable and seemed to take forever.

Upcoming Trips to Fisher Ridge: Two trips are planned for the President's Day weekend (Feb 17th to the 19th) . Peter Quick hopes the sump gods will be with him and that the 1000 foot crawl out to Chartres Ave. will be open. If so he will be leading a 3 day base camp trip into Northtown Ridge. Any takers are welcome to call him for more information. It is also likely that Steve Miller and Larry Bean will be making another foray into Logsdon Cave to dig in the previously mentioned tube at the bottom of the cave. May the digging gods be with them. The disposition of trips in March is not yet known. There is a possibility that Steve will also lead a tourist trip into the Remington Entrance of Fisher Ridge for a stroll down Fisher Ave. over the Easter weekend in April. Joe Saunders may also be able to be talked into some sort of trip into Fisher Ridge over the next few months. Perhaps in next months issue, trip plans will be firmer.

Fisher Ridge Summary March 1996 V14 N3 By Peter Quick

As one can surmise by the rest of this newsletter the Base Camp trip into Fisher Ridge was very eventful. The preceding three articles describe the discoveries and events very well. Briefly, a huge breakthrough was made into another ridge that resulted in the mapping of over 7100 feet in one outing. An additional 2500+ feet of walking passage and trunk was scooped without being mapped. No passages were followed to their ends. Many excellent leads were not even checked out. The main passage of the complex was named Park Ave. Quite a few miles of easy survey will pulled out of this new area before the going gets tough again. This area will certainly prove to be the most remote, by mileage, of any cave in the U.S. from an entrance.

Unfortunately, exiting of the cave on Monday night was complicated by a two inch rain fall on Sunday night and Monday. The team was trapped for another couple of days before exiting to a good bit of media hoopla. Read Brian's article for an excellent and detailed trip report.

As a result of the brief trapping episode a few things will happen. A better call down list for Fisher Ridge cavers and their relatives will be developed in case of a delayed return after a trip is supposed to be over. It will be emphasized that outside agencies should not be called until the nature of the problem can be assessed by experienced Fisher Ridge cavers. The media circus that happened on the ridge need not to have happened.

In addition to a better "rescue" call out procedure, the main obstruction in the 1000 Foot Crawl that creates the most common sump (part of the ceiling that hangs down lower than the surrounding floor, a flowstone blob) will be removed with extreme prejudice. This should reduce the probability of getting trapped by a flood. This trip will probably take place over the Easter weekend , April 6th to 7th. Contact either Peter Quick or Steve Miller about this trip.

The trapping also pointed out the necessity of developing a really good liability release and acknowledgment of risk form for all Fisher Ridge participants to read and sign before every trip in order to protect the interests of our benefactor's, the Fisher family. This should be done within the next two months.

Finally, the next Base Camp trip into the Northtown Ridge section is scheduled to take place over the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. This trip should prove to be interesting.

Fisher Ridge Cave System - Months that over 1 mile has been surveyed
June 81 7571'
January 82 9076'
May 82 5500'
December 82 6721'
January 83 6000'
May 83 5789'
July 83 5843'
September 83 6406'
January 84 5609'
February 85 15904'
September 87 7134'
January 90 6069'
February 90 6780'
February 93 6844'
March 93 9762'
May 93 17658'
July 93 10037'
September 93 14358'
January 94 8759'
July 94 5292'
August 94 5741'
October 94 6280'
February 96 7125'

Fisher Ridge Summary April 1996 V14 N4 By Peter Quick

There weren't any trips to Fisher Ridge during the month of March. One trip is planned for the Easter weekend, April 6th & 7th. A trip is planned into the Thousand Foot Crawl to try to remove the chief sumping obstacle. Wetsuits will probably be necessary. Perhaps if the weather is nice on the surface some work can be done on the fieldhouse. The roof sorely needs to be re-coated with some roof sealant. It is leaking in a couple of spots and if let go, will lead to the early demise of our humble abode.

Assuming the success of the removal of the chief sump obstacle in April, the next planned trip ought to be a doozy. A very large base camp trip is planned over the Memorial Day weekend. The trip will probably take place from Saturday to Wednesday, affording four days of sweat and survey. Already there is enough interest to field four survey teams, perhaps more. Imagine, a possibility of 3 plus miles of survey to rack up. Remember Lechuguilla is now 87 miles long but has a one year (perhaps longer?) moratorium on exploration and survey. We may be able to pass it again this year. Fisher Ridge is now around 79.3 miles long.

A liability release document has been pulled together for all people participating in activities on or below Fisher Ridge on the Fisher Farm. The document appears over the next few pages. There may be a few more changes to it, but you should get the point. There will be a bunch of these forms available in the near future. One form must be filled out by every person on every trip onto Fisher Farms. It is strongly suggested that if you have nervous spouses, parents or litigious heirs, this document should be given to them to read and understand. If any of the above don't like it or don't think you should sign it, you should not go into the cave, these are the folks who may try to sue if you get seriously hurt or die in the process of exploration. A lawsuit against a landowner who has been so kind as to let people on to their land to have fun is one of the most nasty and selfish things that can be done. It happens all the time by vengeful and greedy people, not to mention the legions of sleezebag lawyers looking for a big buck settlement, who are happy to victimize a landowner.

Fisher Ridge Summary June 1996 V14 N6 by Peter Quick

During the last reporting period there were a number of trips into the Fisher Ridge Cave System. Joe Saunders spent the last three weeks of May in Kentucky and Tennessee playing host to a group of German cavers. A few of his trips took place in Fisher Ridge. A trip was taken on the 13th of May, it included from Germany, Dieter Gebelein, Steffan Hoffmann, Jaqueline Feyerer, Sabina Mueller and Manfred Walter, along with Joe Saunders and Tony Mulbrecht from Michigan. They took a photo trip down Fisher Ave. and then made their way down the Deluxe Crawl to the Fluffy Sand Passage. After that they headed out. They all returned on the 15th and made their way down to South Fisher Ave. and the Nick of Time stream. Tony and Steffen ended up mapping a small side lead near the Boob Tube and managed to place 20 stations for 270 feet of survey. Tony reports that at the end of the survey it may be possible to squeeze up into an upper passage or larger component of the tight canyon they surveyed. On May 24th Deiter and Steffen made a trip back to Hunkey Dorey based on directions given by Joe. They actually made it.

The 25th of May brought a much larger crew of cavers to Fisher Ridge. A number of trips were planned. Steve Miller drove down from Michigan by himself to hook up with Kentucky cavers Les Carney and John Korabic. He led a trip back to Chartres Ave. to do some de-rigging of digging equipment that he had left a few years back and to do one final blast in the 1000 Foot Crawl at the trapping site. In addition to the Kentucky cavers he was joined by Dieter and Steffen.

As usual following a big discovery, big plans had been made for twenty people to make their way back to Base Camp. The customary route took place just days before the trip. Ten cavers managed to make it for the Base Camp trip back to Northtown Ridge. Jonathan Schwer and Arron Green showed up from Indiana. From Michigan were Peter Quick, Brian Davis, Leigh Ann Vaughn, Pete Dickman, Joe Meppelink and Tony Marfia (on board for his first real cave trip). Jeff Zink flew in from Massachusetts and Jon Smith drove up from Mississippi. The weather had been very dry for the two weeks leading up to the trip although some heavy frontal action was predicted to roll in a day or so after everyone was to enter the cave.

Everyone slipped and slimed their way through the 1000 Foot Crawl to Chartres Ave. Brian, Peter, Leigh Ann and Joe had to stop at Camp Leigh Ann in Chartres Ave. to pick up their gear to haul back to the main base camp in Northtown Ridge. Repacking took about an hour. As the gear was being packed Brian decided to exit the cave, scrub the base camp trip, and drive back to Michigan with Steve. He was feeling very ill. No amount of abuse could get him to stay. The group was down to two sketchers, Jonathan and Peter, so it looked like it was going to be a five person and a four person survey team. Peter was the only one who knew the route through the Other Way back to Base Camp so the group moved a bit slowly as one big lump, rather than as more efficient smaller groups. Ten hours later everyone settled in at Base Camp.

On Sunday all headed back to Park Ave. with high expectations of major survey. Once again it was proven that discoveries are inversely proportional to expectations. The one mile trip down the Not Too Bad Passage was taken to the turnoff to Park Ave. Upon reaching Park Ave. two teams were formed. Jonathan wanted to move slowly because he was just getting used to sketching. He took Arron, Leigh Ann and Jon to form his team. They decided to pick off the numerous right hand leads at the beginning of the trunk and then to work their way further down Park Ave. if necessary. They mapped into three leads, each entering dome complex areas. It is not known whether the domes terminated the passages or if they continued through. More checking will be necessary. They also started mapping a big loop parallel to Park Ave. but stopped about two thirds of the way. In total they managed to place 29 stations for 1370 feet of survey before they pooped out and decided to head back to Base Camp.

Peters team consisted of Joe, Tony, Jeff and Pete Dickman. They picked up at the end of Park Ave. and surveyed 1425 feet to a mud fill. They picked off three side leads while working their way back out. One went 780 feet before terminating in collapse. One terminated at a pit, rope needed to continue. The other wasn't really a lead just a ceiling pocket. They also finished the big loop in Park Ave that the other team had started. In total they placed 3055 feet in 63 stations. A number of leads remain but all require real work, belly whomps, rope drops, stoopwalks in deep mud and water. It appears that for the time being the easy stuff has been scooped. The trip from Park Ave back to Base Camp can easily take four hard hours.

Back at camp food was consumed and sleep taken. Seven or so hours later some folks were awoken by the sickening sound of increased water flow coming from the water source, not normally audible from Base Camp. Peter Quick checked it out and reported that indeed it seemed to have rained on the surface but not too much, certainly less than the two inches that had trapped him in the cave on the last base camp trip. What was not certain was how much more it might rain. Folks got nervous. There was a unanimous decision to leave the cave after some more sleep and a good meal and to end the trip a day earlier than planned. It didn't look like survey was going to happen on the way out.

After breakfast Jonathan led a group of five out of the cave while Peter lingered behind with Joe, Tony and Jeff. Peter had talked his team into a little more lead checking and mop-up survey on the way out. They checked a lead at the end of the Too Low For Comfort passage and declared it a no-go. They picked up a quick 250 feet in a loop off of Northtown Ave. and another lousy 85 feet in the Cheese Grater. They then set about in earnest to exit the cave and were out in a few more hours.

The result of this somewhat abbreviated trip was a little less than one mile of additional passage mapped, bringing Fisher Ridge's total length up to 80.28 miles. As of March, Wind Cave was 78 miles in length. It looks like the Fisher Ridge Cave System is once again the fourth longest cave in the U.S. and the seventh longest cave in the world.

Fisher Ridge Summary July and August 1996 V14 N7 and 8 By Peter Quick

During the last reporting period, in this case spanning June and July, there were a couple of trips to Fisher Ridge. On July 11th, Larry Bean led archaeologist George Crothers and others into the cave to examine footprints, presumed to have been left some 3000 years ago. The purpose of the trip was to photograph the footprints and scope out the possibility for further photographic documentation to be funded by the National Geographic Society. Accompanying Larry, were Dave LeClerc, his son, Amy Cothron, a reporter and a photographer from the Oakland Press, George Crothers and some assistants. The trip went off well.

Two days, on July 13th later there was a three day base camp trip into Fisher Ridge to the far reaches of Northtown Ridge. There were five base campers. Peter Quick, Leigh Ann Vaughn, Brian Davis, Russ Conner and Joe Fass, Joe, soon to be inducted into the new cavers hall of fame. He had virtually no cave experience and had never cave camped. Since he had no point of reference he would be easy to train. Peter's main purpose of the trip was to execute yet another cave radio location, this time at the end of the Lost Carbide Complex. Frank Reid had agreed to supply the equipment and surface expertise. Frank was accompanied on the surface by Dan Crowl and Steve Miller.

The trip into the cave went smoothly. A stop was made on the way in to map a short loop in Eclipse Canyon. On Sunday two groups were formed. Peter and Leigh Ann made their way to the end of the Lost Carbide Complex with the radio transmitter, While Brian, Joe and Russ made their way to the Other World South to do some mop-up survey.

The cave radio survived the trip and transmitted smoothly. After an hour and a half of transmitting Peter and Leigh Ann did some mop-up in the Lost Carbide Complex. They picked off a couple of small loops and then found an upper lead that they mapped for 1100 feet. They quit when the passage degenerated into a three by three crawl in mud. The passage was formed in the "Crumbly Unit" this rock unit can be seen in various parts of the cave system, most notably in the Crumbly Canyon at the MoFo Domes and the passage leading from the Raisin Domes to the Giant Room. The Crumbly Unit lies a short distance above the "Orange Fossiliferous" that forms the roof of much of Fisher Avenue. For the day Peter and Leigh Ann had placed 55 stations for 1615 feet.

Brian's team mapped a couple of big loops in the Other World South, one of which tied into the Northtown Thruway near station 75. They turned up an interesting downward trending lead that wasn't pushed. The placed 58 stations for 1630 feet of survey before catastrophic carbide lamp failure forced their return to Base Camp.

On Monday, camp was broken and everyone made their way out of the cave. On the way out two leads were picked off in Northtown Ave. in the vicinity of NT 13. Survey trips were also made in Eclipse Canyon where Brian's team added an additional 500 feet of survey to the end of Eclipse before it terminated in gypsum fill. Peter's team mapped to termination the upper gypsum passage above the Gleem Stream and another small loop in the area. After this brief bit of mapping activity the whole group exited the cave.

In summary 185 stations were placed for 4900 feet of survey between the two groups, bringing the length of the Fisher Ridge Cave System up to 81 miles.

In addition to the additional footage, another successful cave radio location had been executed. This time locating a point on the surface only 76 feet above the cave radio. An eroded dome in the same room as the cave radio looks to be the logical place to potentially dig a hole for an entrance, with perhaps only 45 feet of sediment and rock to be breached.

Other News and Notes:

Last year a neat new discovery was made by the James Cave group just outside the Mammoth Cave National Park in the general vicinity of James Cave (meaning between the Park and Park City). They named the cave Jackpot Cave. It was a long term dig and that had turned up some canyon passage and some domes. Last year they were able to break into a major trunk passage. Thus far three miles have been mapped. They cave doesn't yield its secrets easily reports fellow FRCS caver Jonathan Schwer who has had a major hand in the exploration of Jackpot. Tricky climbs and nasty crawls have to be pushed for further discoveries.

Negotiations are under way between the Detroit Urban Grotto and Mammoth Cave National Park to reach some sort of understanding in the event that passages of the Fisher Ridge Cave System extend into the Park. Peter Quick has submitted a proposed Memorandum of Understanding to the Mammoth Cave National Park and awaits their feedback. Mammoth Cave would be the clear beneficiary in this arrangement because they could learn about an underground section of the park that they have no access to. What the Detroit Urban Grotto and the Fisher Ridge Project get out of the arrangement is extra paperwork and not getting harassed by the Park about things like trespassing. For what it's worth, the Detroit Urban Grotto would also have a CRF like status with the Park. In the long run it is probably not a bad idea for there to be open lines of communication between the Fisher Ridge Project and the National Park, after all Fisher Ridge will probably reach 100 miles in length in the upcoming years. Not an insignificant karst feature even when compared to 350 miles of Mammoth Cave.

The next trip into Fisher Ridge will take place over the Labor Day weekend. A base camp trip is planned as well as some surface work prospecting for new entrance possibilities. There ought to be plenty of activities for many folks to participate.

Fisher Ridge Summary September 1996 V14 N9 By Peter Quick

Since the last issue of the DUG SCOOPS there was one Base Camp trip into Fisher Ridge. It took place over the Labor Day weekend from August 31st to September 3rd. The cavers were Ron Adams, Jonathan Schwer, Jeff Zink and Tony Marfia.

The ragweed was in full pollen and delayed the teams entering the cave by a few hours because of some severe reactions to the pollen . Once in the cave the team worked their way through all of the usual obstacles and reached Base Camp in about 10 hours. It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that the team departed Base Camp for their mapping destination, The Nebulous Trunk, via Eveready Canyon, Double Ready, and Mini Ready. Some five hours later they started lead checking. They picked off a canyon that after 286 feet led to an overlook down to a bigger canyon passage. A rope would be necessary to continue. They worked their way along the trunk until they reached a complex breakdown area that Ron had noted as a good place to check for leads during the last trip to the area in October 1995. They struck pay dirt when they climbed down into a nice trunk passage that took off to the east, north-east. After placing 40 stations for about 1820 feet of passage they decided they had run out of time and decided to scoop ahead before leaving back to camp. They ran down another 1000 feet of nice trunk passage, averaging 40 feet wide by 15 feet high, in places even bigger. They were stopped at a seemingly terminal collapse of sandstone and dirt. Along this passage they noted a few nice leads that should provide much more survey.

The Base Camp in Northtown Ave. was returned to where the team had a very short (3 hours) sleep before Jeff had to wake them to exit the cave so he could catch his flight on Tuesday afternoon. They dragged themselves out of the cave at 4:00 P.M. on Tuesday afternoon. They had placed 57 stations for 2100 feet of survey and had tales of nice trunk passage and walking leads to return to in this remote section of the cave.

In other Fisher Ridge related news, Peter Quick recently purchased a 50 acre parcel of land on the western end of Northtown Ridge. Not coincidentally a number of passages of the Fisher Ridge Cave System pass under this parcel. Further, two radio locations have been executed over the last two years that have pinpointed specific cave passages and their depths on this parcel.

During the Labor Day weekend while the others were hard at work in the depths of Fisher Ridge, Peter Quick, Steve Miller, Chip Hopper, Larry Bean and Les Carney assembled on Peter's property to start digging at one of the radio locations. On Saturday digging commenced with some feeble help of periodic two pound explosive charges. On Sunday a different approach was deemed necessary. 200 pounds of ammonium nitrate was procured and dropped into a six foot deep hole with a couple of primer charges, and covered with many feet of dirt. The ensuing explosion surpassed the digging teams expectations. The explosion was heard all across Northtown Ridge, even by people inside their houses. Folks in two mobile homes a half mile away were shocked by the noise and claimed it rocked their homes. The crater created was about 15 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep. A big plume of dirt was shot way above the tree tops, perhaps 300 feet. Every time the wind blew for the next two days it rained dirt from the leaves above near the blast site.

It was decided that 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate would be a more appropriate amount to be used for future blasts. The next day 100 pounds was tried and indeed was a much more subtle explosion, while still doing significant work. After that the surface crew headed for home thinking about plans to start digging and shoring a mine shaft down to the cave. Further huge blasts aren't deemed to be very useful.

In other regional news, it was recently learned that an unnamed group of cavers had been secretly exploring a newly discovered cave just outside the Mammoth Cave National Park close to Jackpot Cave, 3 miles long (briefly discussed in last months DUG SCOOPS.) This group had managed to map nearly 4 miles of walking passage before running into what they thought was Jackpot Cave. They were at the bottom of an unclimable pit, with blackness above. It was indeed Jackpot Cave. About the same time they also pushed west and into the MCNP and connected their cave with Whigpistle Cave (22.5 miles long.) The resulting cave, the Whigpistle-Jackpot Cave System?, is now about 30 miles long, someone said 34 miles but the math for that figure is confusing. It will be interesting to see how the MCNP administrators react with this new development. Meanwhile the secret cavers should probably try to figure out how to soothe the Jackpot cavers, who may just feel that their cave was stolen out from under them by sneaky actions.

Fisher Ridge Summary October and November 1996 V14 N10 and 11 By Peter Quick

Since the last newsletter in September there was one trip down to Fisher Ridge over the weekend of October 11th and 12th. Peter Quick and Larry Bean drove down in Peter's gear laden van to work on the new dig on Northtown Ridge. The van was full of all sorts of wood and materials for shoring up a large scale dig through tens of feet of dirt. On Saturday morning Larry and Peter drove to the dig in the van with high hopes for productive digging. When they arrived at the blast crater they found it to be half filled with water, a pond five feet deep and twelve feet across. Digging was out. A little later in the day Les Carney joined Larry and Peter at the pond. Peter decided that he should rent a backhoe for Sunday to try to drain the dig. Les said he knew someone who would be glad to work on Sunday with his backhoe if money was involved. His name was Ray Shaw. He could be described as a local character with lots of color.

On Sunday Ray and his helper Jimmy met with the Larry, Peter and Les on Peter's farm and all drove down to the dig. Ray came well equipped with plenty of beer for the day. A big trench was dug and the dig site mostly drained. Peter ran around the sinkhole bottom with his chain saw removing trees that seemed to be in the way of the backhoe. The backhoe succeeded in making a general mess of the sinkhole bottom. The mud that was dredged out of the bottom of the dig hole was incredibly wet and sticky. Great for getting the backhoe stuck in. Eventually the dig crater was significantly enlarged and extended to a depth of 14 feet deep. Just as the backhoe was about at its maximum depth, a significant bedrock ledge on the south side of the dig was hit. Good news for the diggers. After five hours Peter got tired of letting the money meter tick (at $65.00 per hour) and told Ray it was time to knock off. Ray responded, "I'm not drunk." Peter said it wasn't that, just he didn't want to spend any more money. This set better with Ray, who then happily quit. After crashing his hoe into a few trees, knocking over Jimmy with a tree and nearly breaking both his legs, and then being towed out of the sink by a wrecker, Ray was gone and the woods were once again quiet.

Peter and Larry built heavy duty box, 5.5 feet long 3.5 feet wide and 4 feet deep at the bottom of the dig as the beginning of the shoring project. Another 4 foot deep box is to be built on top of the lower box. Both boxes are to be filled around by spoils from further down in the dig. Ultimately a 30 inch culvert is going to placed inside the wooden shoring and then backfilled. Presently though, there is still a water problem. The clays on the bottom of the dig hold water very well. Until the clays are breached and water entering the dig can drain into the cave, the dig will be periodically flooded. Pumps will be necessary to drain water that accumulates at the bottom of the shaft. This dig will take true determination to complete.

THANKSGIVING TRIP PLANNED

A trip is being planned for the Thanksgiving weekend. It would be excellent if someone other than Peter Quick could lead a Base Camp trip. Help is also needed on the surface for the continuing digging effort.

OTHER KENTUCKY NEWS

In the last newsletter it was reported that Jackpot Cave was connected via another cave to Whigpistle Cave just outside and to the south of Mammoth Cave National Park. Some of the facts are interesting. The intermediate cave that connected the other caves is known as Martin Ridge Cave. It was discovered just this last April (1996) by Alan Glennon from Bowling Green. He and Jon Jasper from Cincinnati started mapping cave like mad. They managed to map 4 miles of cave between April and September of this year. Much of the cave was pretty nice walking passage and some good trunk passage. In June they connected into Jackpot Cave via a good sized passage atop a large scree slope that had been looked at by the Jackpot cavers but not climbed up to. They also were able to connect to the back of Whigpistle Cave through easy walking passage that had been left un-pushed from the Whigpistle side because of the long travel time that it took to get to it from the Whigpistle entrance. Travel time to the other leads in the "back" of Whigpistle Cave now only takes a couple of hours. The resulting cave (still called Whigpistle Cave, or perhaps the Whigpistle Cave System) is now 27 miles long with many good leads remaining.

Both the Martin Ridge entrance and the Jackpot entrance are presently closed for the extended fall hunting season. It will be interesting to see how the cave evolves in 1997 and especially how the cave politics work out.

Fisher Ridge Summary December 1996 V14 N12 By Peter Quick

During the month of November there were a two trips into Fisher Ridge and also a surface digging trip. The first trip into the cave took place over the weekend of November 23rd. Joe Saunders and Joel Sparks worked their way down to base level in the Historic section of the cave and picked off a passage in the Pickle Passage / Grim Route area. The managed to place 40 stations for about 625 feet of survey when they determined that the last 11 stations (177 feet) were re-survey. They named their passage the Beachy Passage because of large sand banks that covered the floor in much of the survey. At one end of the passage they had a hole that they figured may connect to the Chert Block Room but they needed a hammer to get through. Excluding the re-survey they managed to add 448 feet to the cave. Joe believes that there is easily a mile of mop-up survey to be done in the Base Level area of Thunder River. There is probably more than that if the Detroit River area is added in.

The next trip took place over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. On Thursday morning Mike Fitch, Pete Dickman and John Jasper entered the cave for a four day Base Camp trip back to Northtown Ridge. On Friday Brian Davis, Jonathan Schwer and Joe Meppelink entered the Fisher Ridge with Base Camp gear to join up with the other three. On Saturday all six planned to have a major trip out to the Nebulous Borehole.

Meanwhile on the surface Dennis Kendrick and Steve Miller spent Friday digging at the "entrance" dig on Peter Quick's farm. In a bit of premature planning, the name of the new access to Fisher Ridge will be named the Quick Exit as an exit to this area is needed more than an entrance. Hopefully giving the dig a name won't doom it to never being completed. The "Quick Exit" name was the brainchild of Joe Saunders and others at Chip Hopper's recent wedding. Peter didn't join Steve and Dennis for the weekend because of the recent birth of his son, Leo. On Friday night the skies opened and lots of rain fell, perhaps over an inch. On Saturday Steve and Dennis were joined on the surface by Les Carney, John Korabik, Chip and Eileen Hopper. The dig had some water in it which was promptly pumped out by Steve. They worked on the shoring of the dig and managed to lower the dig a few feet below where they had started. At the present bottom of the dig there is now bedrock ledge exposed on the south side.

On Saturday night the skies opened again and it poured really hard once more. Between Friday and Saturday nights over two inches of rain had probably fallen.

Back in the cave: On Friday Mike, Pete and John headed to survey a passage off the Not Too Bad Passage at station 37. This was thought to head in the general direction of Logsdon Cave. They placed 62 stations for 1150 feet of survey to a point where the passage got very small, probably not ever worth returning to. The passage headed to the south east under part of Northtown Ridge, not really close to Logsdon Cave. They returned to camp and met up with the other crew, Jon, Brian and Joe who had arrived a couple of hours earlier from their trip into the cave. Everyone ate and went to bed. A few hours later, early Saturday morning they were all woken to the sickening thundering sound coming from the water source near Base Camp. They knew it meant major rain on the surface. A trip north in Northtown Ave. to the rimstone dam area confirmed their fears. The entire passage was covered by brown turgid water coming in from the Too Low For Comfort Passage.

All agreed that a bit more sleep and a good meal would be helpful before a route should take place. The trip out to the Nebulous was scrubbed and a very early exit was planned. Later on Saturday they all headed out of the cave. Five or six hours later they reached the 1000 foot crawl, noticing the general lack of air flow out of it. They made their way back to the old sump area that had been blasted into oblivion last spring after February's trapping incident and to their horror found water within an inch of the ceiling. So much for never getting trapped by water in the 1000 Foot Crawl again. They frantically dug for about three hours making a trench to drain the water held back by a 30 foot stretch of clay floored passage to a convenient drain on one side of the passage. Water started flowing but the level wasn't dropping. They decided to back up to Camp Leigh Ann in Chartres

Ave. to wait for a few hours and try to get warm. There were only two sleeping bags in the group, and no stove or pans to heat food or water. The rest of the gear was naturally back at the main base camp in Northtown Ave.

They killed three hours waiting and decided to return to the 1000 Foot Crawl to see the progress of the drain trench. The water had not dropped. It was still to high to get out of the cave. They renewed the dig with vigor. Five or six hours more were spent deepening the trench by 8 more inches. The water really flowed through the trench but the level didn't change. They wondered if they were draining the entire 500 feet of passage that lay ahead of them before the end of the 1000 Foot Crawl. It turns out that they were.

A decision was made, once again, to move much of the equipment, stoves, pans, food, fuel, sleeping bags, pads, a bunch of stuff, from the main base camp in Northtown Ave. up to Camp Leigh Ann. The process took about 20 hours. Brian and Joe were feeling like real pro's in the moving gear business, this being the second time they had been trapped in Fisher Ridge this year. On Monday morning the 1000 Foot Crawl was returned to and the water was deemed to have been lowered enough to make an exit attempt. Gear was once again abandoned at Camp Leigh Ann to be picked up on some later trip that is now unlikely to happen again for some time. The last 500 feet of the 1000 Foot Crawl from the sump to its end was filled in many places to about a foot of the ceiling with water. In places where the floor drops down the cavers had to swim. Everyone made it out of the cave safely though somewhat cold.

The probability of getting trapped in Fisher Ridge increases with the number of trips past the 1000 foot crawl. The passage can flood at any time of the year. This trip further reinforces the need for a "Quick Exit" in the Northtown Ridge section of Fisher Ridge Cave System.

For the record the Fisher Ridge Cave System now stands at 81.85 miles in length.