BRIAR HOLE TRIP REPORT
Webster Cave System Complex,
Breckinridge County, Kentucky
July 03, 2006

"Why do all the caves I like, on a scale of 1-10 in difficulty, go up to eleven?"

I met Pat Mudd at the Field House early on this fine Sunday. He was alone (and wasn't supposed to be). Our third member, Steve Austin of Fort Knox, was unexpectedly called away to work. I first thought this was gong to be an issue. As it turns out, the seating capacity for Briar Hole is just barely two anyway. In what was surely an omen foretelling the series of events that was to transpire this day, it took us about a half-hour to get the front door to the Field House unlocked! Gotta get some new locks for that door...

Interestingly, a caver who wasn't even on this trip, Curtis Beasley, suffered the most! More to follow...

Because we were unexpectedly dropping in on the Vanlahr's, I expected the access gate to the lower corn field to be locked. It was. Pat recalled that Charles said once we could lift the gate off the hinges to get past. We were really hoping to drive as close as possible to the cave, due to the 103 degree heat index forecast. After getting past the gate, it took us a while to get the hinges back in place. Naturally, right after we got it on, someone with the key arrived.

We made it down to within a few hundred feet of the cave, and started to suit up. I thought I had lost another Sten battery, and had to retrace my steps to find it at the truck. Once suited up, and sweating profusely, we crawled into Briar Hole. In short order we made it to the drop into PeeBee's Dismay. Pat and I were each carrying Olympus 720SW digital cameras to capture the days activities with.



For the first time in over six weeks, we did not have a threat of rain hanging over our heads. This was no small consolation as we slithered into Impending Death. Our goal was the survey of Horrific Death, a passage we thought would lead us close to the Webster System passage of Marathon Crawl. We made pretty good progress along the low water crawl, and it was through this section that Pat started experiencing troubles with his Sten light. This was, up to the point, unheard of. It had developed a sort of strobe effect, and kept coming on and going off seemingly at will. It appeared to worsen over time.

We made it out into Horrific Death, and set up for the survey. It was then we discovered that one of the clinometers was damaged. The card was cracked and was leaking dampening fluid. Sorry Curtis. We'll get it fixed or replaced. This wasn't a show stopper, as there were few vertical angles to shoot anyway. We carried on downstream. Almost immediately, the passage sumped. That is, the airspace dropped significantly. (My personal definition of a sump is any passable airspace, but one that is less than comfortable). For several hundred feet we suffered through six to eight inch airspace, trying our best to keep all the equipment and the book dry. We didn't fare too well in this department. Both instruments started to suffer from moisture, and my Suunto was pretty well sealed. Guess I'll have to re-coat it.

Just about the time we were about to hang it up due to the cold, we hit a terminal siphon. With hopes of reaching Marathon Crawl in Webster essentially dashed, we set our last station in lower Horrific Death. I went in and visually surveyed the siphon. It was complete. The passage below lay some three feet underwater, surrounded by what appeared to be old rimstone dams. Empty soft drink bottles and other surface debris hung in the stagnant water. Not a pretty sight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUfj79gl6Y

We turned back, and noted one small side lead, blowing air, just before the terminus. It will require a lot of digging to get into, but it may bypass the sump. In short, it looks like hopes of connecting to Webster via Marathon are dashed.

One the way out the demons plaguing us stuck again. I lost my Suunto compass and clinometer someplace in the water filled trunk. I could have sworn I had it in my teeth, but looking back at the pictures Pat shot of me, I had the book in my teeth. The compass somehow slipped away from me. After a short rest and snack, I tried in vain to find it, swinging my hands over the floor of the passage and picking up every rock I could feel. No luck. Pat and I surveyed back upstream in Horrific Death using the remaining equipment at our disposal. We managed to make it as far as the waterfall coming out of Certain Death in Vanlahr Sink Cave. (Post processing of the data would show this part of Briar Hole a scant 14 feet from known cave in Vanlahr Sink. Unfortunately, it is too tight for a physical connection).

Back at the junction with Impending Death, and having let the sediment settle out some, I crawled back down to see if I could find my beloved Suuntos. Pat sat and fiddled with his Sten Light, which was still causing problems. I made two more passes, and had just given up when I grabbed an angular piece of chert in my hand. Only this was no rock. It was my Suunto! Elated to have found it, she got a big kiss. Sure hated the thought of leaving it down there. I seriously doubted I'd be back for a long while.



We headed out and slowly made our way to the base of PeeBee's Dismay, videoing along the way. Boy, the Olympus 720 is THE ultimate cave camera! Out of the wet stuff, Pat realized he had lost Curtis Beasley's survey tape along the way. Curtis, it's back down Impending Doom, so the next time you're down that way.....(we'll buy you a new one).

With asses dragging, six hours along, we made it out and into the oppressive heat of the day. Only Pat left his knee pads back down in PeeBee's. So off it was back into the cave! I went on out and changed clothes, savoring an edge-of-cornfield solar shower courtesy my Sterns Solar Shower Bag. Where have you been all my life. This little gem is a permanent addition to my caving kit.

After dinner and some picture viewing at the Field House, we parted ways for the day. Next weekend will likely see another trip in the area. Anyone interested in a Marathon trip?

Today, we surveyed 480 feet of cave. That brings the Vanlahr Sink/Briar Hole System to about 1043 feet. Post processing of the survey date showed that I was wrong about the suspected trend of Horrific Death. It did not head towards Marathon as expected. Instead it heads south and west, away from Marathon. Although the conditions in both passages are similar, the amount of water in Briar does not come close to that flowing in Marathon Crawl. I believe it is likely Briar feeds Marathon, but there must be more to Marathon that we now know. We need to go back soon!