Trip Report

by Doug McCarty 

 Photos by Doug Mc and Brian Masney

On Friday, December 26, 2003, Alan Carpenter, Chris Carpenter, Kevin Frick, Bob Griffith, Jason Thomas, Melissa Parker, Brian Masney and I went to McClungs Cave for the annual post-Christmas grotto tourist trip. The trip was planned to coincide with Kevin's visit from New Mexico to West Virginia for Christmas. It had initially been planned as a through trip, but the one guy who knew the way (Ben Mirable) couldn't make it, so we decided to simply go in the main entrance. Three people in the party had been in the cave before, but no one had been in the passage on the other side of the little internal gate or grate, or whatever that thing is. (Alan had been in McClungs once--thirty years ago) 

This was Melissa's second caving trip ever, but she was quite adept at the mountain goat like maneuvers necessary to get back to the gate--that front section of cave contains a lot of canyon passage that requires a fair amount of up and down climbing, chimneying, straddling and walking along slick and narrow clay ledges. The key to caving through that section is in selecting your route. Every possible route has been tried a multitude of times, so footprints are no guide. More than once, both going in and coming out, the person in the lead chose incorrectly and after taking a difficult trail to a dead-end (in terms of being able to continue that way) would have to tell everyone to backtrack. It's not that bad, however, because as someone remarked--"If you fall you won't kill yourself. You'll just break both legs in multiple places".

After a few short crawls the cave beyond the gate is pleasant stream passage with some nice formations and waterfalls. The trip was limited by the fact that we all had 3 hour drives home and by the fact that we wanted to eat before we left. It was also limited by the fact that Kevin had had an ear infection recently and had started feeling a bit dizzy and had stopped back near the gate. I was still trucking down the passage heading toward some nether passages when Bob Griffith, who had a watch, yelled up and reminded me that we all had homes to go to. And we did go home--eventually. First we had to get back out of the cave. About halfway to the entrance I started to get a bit exhausted. I had neglected to bring any quick energy food. Luckily, Alan had an extra piece of Christmas fudge that saved the day and provided me with just enough energy to get to the Rio Grande restaurant where we all ate Mexican food.