Beneath Our Feet ~
An Ode to the Subterranean World
When it comes to descending into the deep, dark world that exists beneath our feet, when asked if they would like to explore a cave, I have often heard people say, “No, I have no intention of going into a cave. I am claustrophobic, so caving is not for me.”
One of the most spectacular caves in Pocahontas County is Cass Cave, located, as the name implies, near Cass on Cheat Mountain. Cass Cave features the highest subterranean waterfall in West Virginia – Lacy Suicide Falls, with a drop of 139 feet. The name is a misnomer, as the one known suicide in Cass Cave was near the entrance and involved a much smaller drop.
The falls were featured in a 1964 issue of National Geographic magazine. The photograph, taken by Huntley Ingalls, depicts a caver climbing up a cable ladder. To illuminate the scene, it required covering a slope with aluminum foil and laying 12 #2 flashbulbs on it. The result is a spectacular photograph, the product of the photographer’s on-the-scene ingenuity.
You may fear being in tight places, but caves come in all sizes, some big enough to hangar a jumbo jet, others require crawling through extremely tight passages. Caves, or caverns, are the inverse of enjoying the view of a beautiful mountain range; the subteranean world has a beauty of its own, and it would be a shame to miss out on seeing some of the strangest creatures and geological formations on Earth.
If you haven’t been in a cave or been prematurely buried with six feet of dirt over your coffin, then you really have never experienced total darkness.
Several years ago, a group of schoolchildren was on a tour of a Kentucky cave with their teacher. This particular cave was notorious for flooding after heavy rains, which the area was experiencing at the time.
When the group failed to return from the cave outing, local rescue groups and law enforcement began searching the cave for the children and their teacher. Local cavers knew that when the cave flooded, blocking the exit, they must find their way to higher ground within the cave to survive.
When a TV station interviewed the county Sheriff, standing just outside the cave, he was asked about how the search was going. His response was, “Well, it will be dark soon, so we are going to call off the search until daylight.”
The entire group was eventually found and brought out of the cave safe and sound. Those kids would have a humdinger of a story to tell their children someday.
Let’s go back to the Sheriff’s statement. Even those who have never been in a cave can appreciate the humor in his ill-considered words, and I hope you do too. My point? It doesn’t matter if it is dark outside or sunny; the cave is always dark, so the search could have been continued throughout the night.
On guided cave tours, there is usually a point when the guide asks everyone to turn off their headlamps to experience total darkness. There is no natural light in a cave, so when you turn off your artificial light, you cannot see your hands in front of your face.
There are 4,241 of them in West Virginia; I’m speaking of caves, or caverns if you prefer. By that, I mean there are more than 4,000 known caves in our state; that doesn’t include those caves yet to be discovered, and new caves and passages continue to be found.
In certain parts of this state, called karst regions, the land beneath our feet looks much like Swiss cheese, riddled with sinkholes, underground streams, and caves. Pocahontas County has hundreds of caves, thanks to the extensive Greenbrier Limestone.
One notable cave is the extensive Friars Hole Cave, just a short drive from my home. There are no commercial caves in Pocahontas County, and most of the caves, if not all, are on private land. Anyone wishing to explore a cave should always obtain the owner’s permission and show respect for the cave and its inhabitants – more on that a little later.
I did quite a bit of caving, or spelunking, in the late 1970s and well into the 1980s. Most of the caves that I visited are in Pendleton County. Being an avid rock climber, caving was relegated to days when the wea-ther did not permit climbing. I now regret not spending more time caving, for it is a fascinating world below that you cannot fathom until you try it.
I had the opportunity to assist with two vertical rescues during my caving period. Fortunately, I was caving with friend and colleague Mark Reed, who taught a popular caving skills course at Ohio State University for 10 years.
Caves in West Virginia maintain a year-round temperature of 52 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit, which seems warm during the winter months but is still low enough to cause hypothermia, particularly when the spelunker is wet. Many of our caves have streams that must be followed or crossed in the course of exploration, so there is plenty of opportunity for getting soaked.
Mark and I once had the occasion to extract a hypothermic caver from Hellhole Cave in Pendleton County.
The caver, in this case, was ascending the 154-foot vertical entry shaft on her way out of the cave when she stopped midway and was clearly in shock. With the aid of a mechanical advantage device called a Z-rig,* Mark and I brought her to the surface, where she received medical attention.
Mark and I were with a group of cavers exploring Schoolhouse Cave in Pendleton County back in the 1980s, when a caver descending a deep pit rappelled off the end of the rope and fell some 20 feet onto rock, fracturing his tailbone (coccyx). Once again, the Z-rig technique provided the mechanical advantage used to bring the injured caver out of the pit to safety.
Pocahontas County resident Laurie Cameron, who died a couple of years ago, fell while exploring a remote Mexican cave many decades ago. He was transported back to civilization strapped to the saddle of a horse. In a previous article about Laurie, he recalled that the pain was intolerable and caused an out-of-body experience lasting several hours.
My Point? Caving is not without its hazards, so please do not grab a flashlight and try this activity on your own. Hazards of caving include getting lost, flooding, falling, and entrapment when squeezing through tight passages.
Safe caving requires many skills, including those of rock climbing. Hence, some cavers call themselves “underground alpinists”. Neophyte cavers can take classes like Mark’s or join a grotto where they would be among experienced cavers.
The National Speleological Society, founded in 1941, is dedicated to the scientific study of caves, as well as proper exploration and conservation of caverns throughout the U.S. The NSS offers training and education to newcomers through its 250 local chapters, called “grottos.” These groups provide new cavers with the opportunity to learn subterranean skills with organized caving excursions.
Caving Ethics 101
Caves offer a fascinating experience to see entire ecosystems that thrive in the absence of light, but the geological features, such as stalactites, stalagmites, fossils and crystal formations, are fragile. As such, they, along with the array of underground creatures such as cave crickets, blind fish, bats and many other unusual critters, must be protected. If you begin caving with experts, you will learn the ethics of climbing right from the get-go.
Caving ethics have changed through the years. As in rock climbing, where no one uses pitons anymore out of consideration for rock damage, cavers rarely use carbide as a light source. The main reason for the switch from carbide to electric lights is the significant improvement in LED battery life. There is a small subgroup of cavers who prefer carbide lights for their warm light, but likely also for nostalgia.
Spent carbide is hazardous to cave ecosystems. Because it is highly alkaline, it is toxic to microorganisms, both aquatic and terrestrial, and can destroy delicate formations such as soda straws, flowstones and other speleothems. Therefore, those who continue to use carbide lights should remove the spent carbide from the caves with waterproof bags or plastic bottles.
And then, there are the bats to consider.
Coming into close contact with bats is an integral part of caving, and, as such, cavers should understand as much as possible about how bats benefit caves and the ecosystems above ground. Bats represent a dynamic ecosystem both in and outside of the cave.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, bats are vital to agriculture by eliminating many pests and pollinating U.S. crops, boosting U.S. Crops by an estimated $3 billion annually. Inside the caves, bats produce guano, a nutrient-rich fertilizer.
I personally appreciate bats because after I put up a bat box just outside my raised bed garden, I no longer had a problem with mosquitoes, and the bats were dining on several other species of flying insects and plant-devouring beetles. Bats also disperse seeds that regenerate our forests. Bats are beneficial anyway you look at them.
Like margaritas? Well, that tequila in your salt-rimmed stemmed glass is entirely dependent upon the pollination of blue agave, and guess who pollinates these attractive succulents? Yep, you’re correct…
NOTE: Hellhole Cave is now permanently closed to caving to protect endangered Virginia Big-eared and Indiana bats. As well, many caves are closing due to the devastating and potentially fatal disease called white-nose syndrome, a potent fungal disease.
Schoolhouse Cave is open to cavers but requires permission to enter from the West Virginia Cave Conservancy. Keep in mind this is a vertical cave requiring several rappels. Schoolhouse is a cave for advanced spelunkers only.
Ken Springer
ken1949bongo@gmail.com
*A Z-rig is a method of gaining mechanical advantage through a specific configuration of rope, pulleys, and carabiners. If set up correctly, it would reduce the weight of a 150-pound human to approximately 50 pounds.
