Sharps
Wow What a trip! We decided to take the kids on a trip to Sharps. Maddie, my daughter age 6 and Jimmys daughter Sierra age 10. Danny R. was with us and Jimmy S. also Jimmys son JD 21. It was Madddies 2nd cave trip, Sierras 3rd and JD's 1st. We shuttled the kids into the entrance and continued into the first room. We checked out the leopard print ceiling and went on to Halloween Hall. We took a short break here and ran into several other cavers. One fellow Alan was with a cave rescue team in the area doing a recreational trip with his relatives. Kool dude.. very friendly. We left Halloween Hall and continued to Mud City, Hollywood, mud henge, whatever ya wanna call it! Here we took several pics. anfd the kids played we ate and drank and headed to blackfish jct. Well on the way there we got Shall I say a little lost. JD was in the lead....(remember this is his first time in a cave)I and the other guys were tending to the kids, so we weren't paying much attention to where we were at. Near J18 and the formation room on the left is where I had had enough. The terrain was getting sketchy for the kids and I wasnt sure of where we were at....lack of paying attention on my part.(I've been in Sharps 15 times leading half)it was one of those times that shit just didn't feel right. I tried not to be an ass...and said" Whoever has the map needs to be in the lead the kids need to be in the middle." After a moment of silence we returned to mud city. On the way there we realized that at one point we were on the right track. Staying low and right by the formation room. We reached mud city and went to the waterfall from there. What a massive amount of water. Took some pics and headed out. What I've learned from this trip. Organization!!! It's ok to cave by the seat of your pants and and explore hardcore when you're with a group of experienced cavers. (this is how we usually roll!) But when there is kids and new cavers involved. Our time outside the cave explaining conservation and the "rules of Caving" We should pick a leader and decide on a line up goin through the cave and make sure everybody understands and accepts this. It was a lesson learned and a fairly good trip. Looking forward to an Explore Hardcore trip to Windy Run next weekend. Whitetrash Cavers unite!!!!!!!! - vertcaver1
pinkys pit excursion
We planned to go to Bowden this trip, but changed plans in the parking area @ Bowden. We wanted to do something Vertical. Keith got a new GPS so we decided to try it out go find Pinkys pit. After hours of hiking and treacherous stream crossings we found a pit. a small 20' er. This was not pinkys. JP rapped in and frogged out while Keith and I waited outside. Dead bottom pit. There were three more caves within 30' of eachother on this hillside, we checked them all. one worth mention, not sure of the name. A 50' pit with a pool @ the bottom dead bottom. I rapped in first, saw the pool @ the bottom and waited on a ledge accross from a narrow canyon passage. JP came down next, and went on down just above the pool changed over on rope and ascended back up and out. I exited and we headed back out, never to find Pinkys. @ the car we looked @ the topo and realized we were only a few meters from Pinkys. I think next time we will have a little more knowledge on the GPS and bring the topo and a compasss just in case! - vertcaver1
Tumbling Rock
Rusty's Cave
Cemetary Pit
Stevens Gap
Pipeside Pit
Neversink
Gourdneck Cave
South Pittsburg Pit
Rumbling Falls
Fanchlers Pit
We all met at Super WalMart in Clarksburg around noon and headed to Tucker Co. After a few stops we were at the owners house. Scott went in and talked to the owner and got the ok to go on up.(Scott used to work for this guy) We suited up w/ vertical gear and headed for the entrance. At the entrance there were some remains of a skunk, the smell was just overwhelming! After a few minutes in the stink we had the rope rigged. Scott went in first clearing the pit on the way down passing logs up and out. John went down next and cleared the pit of logs entirely and repadded the drop. I was in next, nice drop. Keith was last in the hole. Once everybody was down we started back into the cave and soon were forced to a crawl. In some places you could've went high and stayed dry but there were lots of bats up high. Scott was just lovin' that water. I think he swam most of the way through the cave! Nice formations starting about half way in. We came to a really low water crawl, and of course Scott was right in there. Keith was to the right and moved a few rocks and gained dry passage(for a little bit)This popped us out in a nice room with a register up on a mud bank. Couldn't sign it though the contents were soaked. We were able to make out the first few pages. It was put there by the Mon. grotto. We assumed we were close to the end. Everybody was pretty beat and wet. Scott checked a passage low and back with the stream and it went but it was a tight wet crawl and we had plenty of that ahead of us on the way out. So we opted to exit. It took us around a half an hour to get back to the rope. John went up first, to a nice view of the last moments of the sunset. Keith was next. I frogged out. Then Scott. Big Thanks to Keith for going back to pull the rope. It was pretty cold on the surface. Keith and Scott headed back home and John and I went over the mountain to the Purple Fiddle for some food and music, then camped out near Olsen Fire Tower. Nice fire !!!!! Excellent caving trip! - vertcaver1
Swaygo Pit
Roadside Pit
swaygo / roadside pit
Johnny and I had backpacked up to big beechy falls on saturday w/ some of our backpacking friends(Brian and Steve) and hiked out on sunday feb 3. We had great weather, no rain/snow, no wind, not too cold......rare in winter in the mon nat'l forest. We then drove over to swaygo pit where keith and scott were waiting. They had camped there the night before and had already rigged the drop. The water was up slightly from the rain and snowmelt of the previous days, but we decided to go back into swaygo and explore the route thru the cave towards carpenters. Keith and I had been thru carpenters, all the way to the swaygo system and had to stop at the last waterfall drop in swaygo, having no way to go up without a rope rigged. Anyway, we did the swaygo entrance drop, went down the passage, keith rigged the second drop and began to descend. I told him to yell off-rope only if he wanted me to come down. The water was very loud and we were curious to as how wet the drop would be. As he went down, I started downclimbing down the last little drop so I could get on rope when keith was finished. I slipped a little and started to fall, saved only by a rock jabbing me directly in the left butt cheek....wow that hurt. I would've only fell about three feet to the bottom, but it was still a somewhat sketchy situation. After a short pause i decided i could still do the drop, if keith gave the signal. He then yelled,"off rope!" and signaled me to come down. I did the drop and as i neared the bottom, the waterfall just blasted me with water and if that wasn't enough, waist deep ice cold water awaited me at the bottom. Keith said the look on my face was "priceless" and somehow found much humor in this, and said he couldn't bear to enjoy the wonders of this drop alone. Guess its the thought that counts...lol. We exited the swimming pool and waded down the passage thru some low areas and into a couple standing rooms. Things looked low and really wet beyond this, so we opted for a return trip in late spring or early summer. Returning to the drop, keith went up while i held the rope back away from the falls. After keith was up, i got on rope and frogged up thru the blasting water, bouncing back and forth from wall to wall, passing thru the waterfall with every step in the frog. After we were up, johnny derigged the rope and we exited the cave. Only then could i honestly laugh at our short adventure. I'll be sure and visit again only during times of low water and during warmer weather. We changed clothes and headed for roadside pit. We had never done it, and so down we went. I very tight entrance, keith said it was like "sharps on rope". At the bottom we went down the passage and found the way to the big room..........we were suprised at the amount of formations. All were in nice shape, lots of nice colors too. After a short snack and a safety meeting, we headed out. Overall a great trip. Special thanks to scott, for staying up top and guarding the rope at roadside. Hope to find the way thru swaygo, would like to have two teams(one at swaygo, one at carpenters) rig ropes, pass in the middle of the cave, and pull ropes up as we exit. Might try to do this in May or june 08. - JohnPUncle
Swaygo Pit
Cave Mountain Cave
I am long time NSS member (#37530) who has caved extensively in Pendleton Co, but never made it up to Cave Mountain Cave in the Smokehole. Am planning trip in the fall once the cave re-opens and was wondering if anyone could provide directions to entrance? Thanks. - Norwand
Sharp's Cave
Wondering if anyone can help me here. I've heard a lot about Sharp's Cave in West Virginia and I'm planning a trip down there with some others. Can anyone tell me how to get there? I know its near Slatyfork, I'm assuming off of Rt 219? Appreciate any info, Steve - Skaluva99
Shavers Mtn. Cave
Beaverhole Upper