McFail's Cave (Figure 1), the first cave owned by the NSS, is managed for recreation, exploration, and as a bat hibernaculum. The longest cave in the northeast United States, McFail's continues to yield new passage every year. With more than 6 miles of generally large passage, McFail's provides a type of caving unique to the Northeast. A long-standing policy of closing the cave in the winter has encouraged an hibernating population of bats.

Over the years, very little has been done in the way of surface management. A trail connecting the cave entrances is maintained and the sinkholes and pits are fenced and posted. However, the area provides an excellent example of karst and is often visited by college geology classes. In addition, the log book shows that individuals visit the property just to walk around and see the sights. These surface visits have not resulted in any problems. There is no trash being left on the grounds and there is no evidence of parties. This experience leads us to recommend that the surface be managed in the same manner that some Nature Conservancy properties are managed. We should provide a brochure on the property with information on the NSS, the geology of the Cobleskill plateau, and the plants and animals of the McFail's Cave Preserve.

McFail's Cave is named after Thomas Alfred McFail, a professor at the old Carlisle Seminary, who lost his life in the cave. The most accepted version of McFail's death is related by William E. Roscoe in his History of Schoharie County (1882).

Prof. McFail, of Carlisle Seminary, an accomplished gentleman, met an untimely death at the entrance of the Cavern after exploring its depths, with others in 1853. The professor was on a rope used to draw persons up from the pit and on coming in contact with the outer air, he fainted and fell backward, striking upon his head which badly fractured the skull and from which he survived only a short time.

According to Roscoe and Hamilton Child (the prodigious gazetteer writer) further explorations of the cave ceased. In the early 1900's John H. Cook entered and mapped Cave Disappointment (also on the NSS's property), but he was unable to get into McFail's Hole. In the late 1920's and 30's Arthur Van Voris's group of cavers seems to have been the first to enter the cave since McFail's death. They explored all that was known of the cave as late as January 1961 when Norm Olsen's map was published in the NSS News [19(1):4-5].

However, 1961 was to be a big year for the cave. Hugh Blanchard, Marlin Kreider, and Art Palmer pushed upstream through 1800 feet of joint-controlled passages, with swimming-depth water and high domes, ending in a sump plumbed to a depth of 31 feet. The big discovery came when Fred Stone, Spencer Weart, and Ken Miller bypassed Olsen's Siphon, at what was then the downstream end of the cave, and discovered what is now the main part of the cave. On subsequent trips Fred as accompanied by Ben Stone, Tom Hallinan, Elean Benjamin, Frank Howarth, Nan Coles, and Bill Bousman. They explored down to the terminal siphon, up the Southeast Passage, all the way up the Northwest Passage, and to Nethaways Dome. The cave had suddenly become the longest in the northeast, measuring about five miles in length.

Later in 1961 the original McFail's Hole entrance showed signs of collapse. An alternate entrance had to be found. A route from Cave Disappointment proved disappointing, but a crawl connecting the base of Ack's Shack (named for Ernest Ackerly) and the stream passage was eventually dug by Fred Stone, Frank Howarth, Chuck Porter, Art Palmer, and Stan Moore. The McFail's Hole entrance did collapse (Art Palmer was probably the last person to use it - it was collapsing as he was climbing out). This made Ack's Shack the only way into the cave. Unfortunately, this entrance has always been felt to be less than desirable. The narrow traverse and the waterfall and the tight, long crawl are troublesome obstacles. Nevertheless, the cave was considered one of the best of its kind. Fred Stone and other Cornell Grotto members purchased the cave entrance, an oddly shaped acre of land (Figure 2) containing several pits, and "cave rights" beneath the land over the cave. This was presented to the NSS Board of Governors and "suddenly the NSS found themselves with a cave."

In 1968 tragedy struck when one of a party of four was unable to exit the cave. Gerald Alderman became stuck in the narrow traverse in the Ack's Shack entrance and with cold, snow-melt water falling on him he soon died of hypothermia. The remaining three cavers were charged and convicted with trespassing. In an unusual move, Jim Gage, then lawyer for the NSS, prevailed upon the local town justice to convene court in the Cobleskill Hospital where the three men were recuperating from exposure. They were tried, convicted, and fined before they even got out of the hospital. This probably prevented a major lawsuit against the Society.

Early in 1979, Warren Hall discovered and helped open a new entrance to McFail's Cave. Hall's Hole has since become the main entrance to McFail's Cave as it opens at the top of Coeymans Dome and provides a much more spacious rappell into the cave below. The land surrounding the new entrance and an easement leading to the entrance was purchased (Figure 3).

In August 1984 Paul Rubin along with Phil Bodanza, Marc Cassler, and Carl Snyder started the explorations at the end of the Northwest Passage. The last 600 feet of the Northwest Passage beyond the Northwest Dome is quite different from the rest of the passage. Instead of large walking passage, the caver encounters crawls, unstable breakdown, and nearly-water-filled passages. Entry into the passages beyond The End of the Northwest was made in September 1984. Explorations continued during the rest of the 1984 caving season and in 1985. In all approximately a half mile of new cave ending at the Asia Dome was discovered.

It has been known since 1968 that there were at least two sumps at the Main Sump. The first is 70 feet long followed by 800 feet of stoop walking passage. Since the late 60's there have been several attempts to pass the second sump, but the most successful dive penetrated only 300 feet. On 18 July 1987 John Schweyen dove McFail's Main Sump. After passing the first sump and the first chamber, John entered the second sump. After 700 feet he emerged from the water into a continuation of the main canyon passage leading down to the Main Sump. After a short distance he was halted by an 8-10 foot, overhung drop. He felt he could get down this, but wasn't sure he could get up so he left.

On 12 September 1987 John returned with Jim Brown and Bob Jefferys and a host of sherpas to support the three divers. (It should be pointed out that preceding and succeeding the dive there were a number of trips to carry equipment to the dive site. In all approximately 42 caver trips over 3 weekends were made to accomplish this second dive). Bob, Jim, and John passed the two sumps without incident surveying as they went. They placed a bolt that the top of the drop and surveyed about a half mile of canyon passage with 30 to 40-foot ceilings. The passage finally ended at a third sump.

Other explorations since the early 1960's have included scaling Nethaway's Dome in 1977 by Bob Jefferys and John Mylroie, scuba pushes of the Southeast Sump, and the exploration of feeder passages into the Northwest Passage which has yielded several hundred feet of new cave. Many of these explorations continue.

UNDERGROUND RESOURCES:

SURFACE RESOURCES:

On any property there are bound to be conflicts in how it gets used. The McFail's Cave Preserve is no exception. The primary conflict will arise between caving and the hibernating bat populations. McFail's Cave represents a significant bat hibernaculum in New York. Being the longest cave in New York it also represents a unique recreational resource for the caver. There is much scientific evidence to demonstrate that these two uses are mutually exclusive. Bats cannot successful hibernate in an area even lightly travelled and cavers cannot use the cave without encountering the bats. In the past there has been a policy to close the cave to caving from October to May to protect the hibernating bats. This is not only good conservation, but it is morally imperative. As highly successful animals humans have selfishly taken from the "lower" animals. We have taken their food. We have taken their habitats. We have taken their lives. To sacrifice a few months a year to help preserve the bat population of McFail's Cave is a small price to pay.

Access is controlled by the McFail's Cave Committee Chair who is charged with the responsibility of enforcing rules of the NSS and the McFail's Cave Committee. In addition to standard NSS caving practices the Committee has set specific minimum requirements for entering the McFail's Cave (see Appendix A). They are:

1. Minimum party size is 4. At the chairman's discretion permission may be granted to party sizes of 2 or 3. No solo caving is permitted.

2. Each party member must be proficient in vertical caving techniques and must have his or her own vertical gear with which he or she is familiar.

3. Each party member must have a article of clothing that protects from long immersion in the water in the cave. These include, but are not limited to wet suits, dry suits, and Petzl suits with the rubber undergarment.

4. The trip leader must be familiar with the connection between the two entrances of the cave.

5. Both entrances must be rigged.

If a party meets all requirements and if the chairman has no other problems, then permission for entry is granted. Since both entrances are gated and locked, this involves giving the party a key, a letter of permission, and a release form that each party member must sign. The chair may deny access to a group or leader for their failure in the past to have followed safe caving practices or the rules of the committee. This punitive action is the only recourse the chair may have to enforce the rules. However, a denial based on this must clearly state the rules that were broken.

McFail's Cave is closed to caving from early October to mid May.

McFail's Cave is still being actively explored. Every year some new passage is discovered. There are some very simple rules that govern exploration. These are:

1. The exploration party must be explicit in indicating what part of the cave will be explored.

2. Once a in-cave register is placed at the Northwest Dome, parties going beyond the Dome must sign in and out.

3. No blasting of any kind is permitted.

4. Digging and the use of hammer and chisel to enlarge passages is permitted.

The cave is not publicized in magazines or newspapers of general circulation. Caver's publications like The Northeastern Caver and the NSS News may contain information on the latest discoveries. Some grotto publications may also have information, but again these have limited circulation and usually do not give locations.

With less than two acres of land to manage, very little has been done in the way of surface management. The sinkholes are fenced and a trail is maintained that allows easy access to the caves. One future plan involves developing a brochure on the property and for using the trail as a nature trail to show the geology and flora of the area. Its hoped that this will be accomplished in 1987 or 1988.

The chair of the McFail's Cave Committee is appointted by the Board of Governors of the NSS. The chair's chief responsibilities is to enforce the rules of the NSS and of the McFail's Cave Committee and to control access to the cave. However, the chair has other duties as well. The chair is responsible for assuring that the property, trails, and facilities (registration box and cave gates) are maintained. This does not mean that the chair must do these things by himself, but only that he assures that they get done. In addition, the chair is charged by the BOG to gather data on the use of the property and to report to the Board three times a year at least one month prior to the scheduled BOG meeting. The chair is also responsible for maintaining and amending this management plan as needed. The chair must also ensure that amendments to the plan are approved by the BOG (see section entitled, Amending the Plan).

Since the NSS has owned McFail's Cave, there have been few accidents that required aid from outside the caving party to effect a rescue. Most notable of these, already discussed above, involved the death of Gerald Alderman. Another took place in 1984 when a caver fell most of the way down Coeymans Dome near the Hall's Hole entrance. The caver was not belayed and was ascending the dome on a cable ladder. Miraculously, the caver was not seriously injured and was able to leave the cave under his own power. Both incidents occurred close to the cave's entrances. In fact, all accidents that have required help from outside occurred near an entrance. What would happen if a serious accident occurred deep inside McFail's Cave?

In 1985 a potentially serious incident took place beyond the Northwest Dome, about 2.9 miles from the entrance. A group of cavers were returning from the newly-discovered Northwest Passage extension and were between the Northwest Dome and the "End" (the place that had formerly been the end of the Northwest Passage). One of the cavers dislodged a large slab of rock that dropped on top of him and prevented his breathing. Fortunately, there were cavers in front of him and behind him and they were able to lift the rock off while he crawled out. However, what would have happened if rescue hadn't been so easy?

In the preceding case, lack of a rapid rescue would have resulted in the caver's death and the "rescue" would have been a body recovery. In much of the cave a stretcher rescue or a body recovery would probably not be that difficult. McFail's passages are generally large enough for walking. However, there are areas of the cave from which a rescue would be most difficult (if not impossible). These are:

1. The tiny side passages off the Northwest Passage

2. The Northwest Passage beyond the Northwest Dome (this includes the Northwest Passage Extension)

3. The extreme upstream portion of the Main Passage.

Further, neither entrance would permit a stretcher to be easilybrought out of the cave. Ack's Shack has the 100-foot long Ack's Shack Crawl and the narrow traverse between the two pits. Coeyman's Dome would be easy to get a stretcher to and up, but the windy, narrow passage from the top of the dome to the Hall's Hole entrance might prove quite daunting to stretcher removal.

How would a rescue work? The need for a rescue could be determined in two ways. A member of the party might exit the cave and alert the local cave rescue people. The McFail's Cave Committee Chair must also be notified. The chair might also call a rescue into effect. The chair will, because of the access policy, always know when a group is in the cave, when they went in, and where they went. If a certain amount of time passes without the group exiting, the chair should call a search and rescue. (A note on this - trips of 30 hours or more have been made into the Asia Dome area, so the chair should take care not to needlessly call out search and rescue operations).

The actual running of the rescue will, therefore, be dependent on two major factors.

1. Was the rescue initiated by a member of the caving party or by the McFail's Cave Committee Chair?

2. Where in the cave is the individual(s) to be rescued? (This may not actually be known, but one should assume that the missing party has gone where they said they would go).

Case I - Rescue called by a member of the caving party

Short of needing no rescue at all, this is the best situation. The party member or members who have exited the cave and called for help can indicate where the injured individual is in the cave and what his or her injuries are. This will allow the rescue team to concentrate efforts to reach and remove the caver in need of assistance. Beyond the typical rescue questions about nature of injuries et cetera, the question then becomes, "Is the caver in one of the three areas identified as being difficult to rescue a caver from." If the answer is no, the rescue will likely proceed smoothly. As stated already, some problem will likely occur at or near the entrances, but these will likely not be insurmountable.

If the caver is in an area from which rescue will be difficult, the rescue should proceed, but the rescuers should realize that they might not be able to get a stretcher to the injured caver. This is particularly true of the area beyond the Northwest Dome. In such a case other considerations must be given as to how a caver would be removed. Of course, precisely what is done will depend on the nature of the injuries. A simple broken ankle can be handled much differently than a broken back or even a compound fracture of the leg. Appendix B to this plan is a list of injuries and locations in the cave and what course of action we recommend for removal of the caver.

Case II - Rescue called by the McFail's Cave Committee Chair

The chair will call a search and rescue because a party is overdue. That a party is overdue can only be determined by the chair going to the cave and checking for the presence of the party's cars, the trip card, and if the pits are still rigged. The chair calling the rescue is different from Case I because while the chair may have an idea where the overdue party is, he or she can't know for certain. In addition, the chair will not know if an injury has occurred and if so what the nature of the injury is. So, the first step will be a search of the cave. This would best be done with four groups. Two would enter the Ack's Shack entrance. At the main passage one group would go upstream and the other would go downstream. The second group would check Disappointment Crawl and exit via Hall's Hole.

The other two groups would enter via Hall's Hole and proceed down the Main Passage. One group would go up the Northwest Passage; the other would go to the the Main Sump and into the Southeast Passage. These two groups should arrange a rendezvous at the First Junction Room. The group going up the Northwest Passage should be larger and stronger and should be prepared to continue beyond the Northwest Dome if there are indications that the missing party went that way. If there are none the party should return to Hall's Hole.

If the party is found uninjured, they will be escorted from the cave. If there is an injury, the leader of the group that found the party will assess what is needed to get the caver out and will take the necessary steps to start the rescue operation in motion. From this point on the process will continue in Case I above.

Underground, exploration will continue in the McFail's system. Plans are currently underway for renewed exploration of the Main Sump. A program to check all leads off the Northwest Passage will continue and will likely result in new passage. Exploration of the Northwest Passage Extension up to and beyond Asia Dome is not as assured. The long trips required to get to Asia Dome (perhaps as much as 30 hours for a round trip from Hall's Hole) has put, for the time being, a hold on further exploration in this direction. Hopes still remain high for entering and exploring that part of the phreatic tube between the end of Southeast Passage and the West Passage in Howe Caverns, but the failure of the dive pushes in the end of the Southeast has temporarily stymied explorations in this direction.

A underground registration station should be established at the Northwest Dome. The primary purpose of this would be to have a place for groups going beyond the dome to sign in and out. This would facilitate search and rescues.

On the surface, we will continue to pursue enlargement of our easement by Lykers Road. Down the road further the NSS should seriously consider acquiring more property to enlarge the McFail's Cave Preserve. Most notable would be that parcel which contains Wick's Hole. However, any purchase of property should wait until the tax issue is resolved.

Regarding taxes, we are proceeding with completing the forms for requesting tax-exempt status. Papers must be filed by March 1, 1988 for tax-exempt status to start in 1989. If the local tax assessor denies the NSS's request, we appeal to the local county board of assessors. If they deny the request, we can appeal to the NYS Office of Equalization and Assessment. It may be a long haul, but it will, in my opinion, be worth it. (1998 note – Tax exempt status long since granted.)

The plan has been approved by the Board of Governors of the NSS. Consequently, any amendments or changes to the plan must be approved by the Board. If amended the chair must send a new copy of the plan and a description of the changes to the Secretary-Treasurer of the NSS at least 4 weeks prior to the next BOG meeting. The changes should them be considered by the full board. If approved, the changes go into effect, otherwise that are dropped.

RULES FOR USE OF McFAIL'S CAVE

1. Only qualified trip leaders may request permission to enter McFails Cave. To be qualified an individual must know the underground route between the Ack's Shack entrance and the Hall's Hole entrance and be capable of leading a group from entrance to entrance.

2. Only one trip may be taken on a given permission slip and the leader requesting the permission must be on that trip.

3. Once entering the cave, groups must stay together. There is to be no splintering of the group. All individuals are the responsibility of the trip leader and they must stay with the trip leader.

4. No camping is allowed in the parking area for McFails Cave.

5. Any group found dumping spent carbide in McFails Cave, on the McFails Cave property, or the associated trips and parking area will be barred from future access to the cave.

6. No camping is permitted on the McFails Property without special permission.

7. All groups must use the CAVE IN/CAVE OUT cards. They must make note of the trip in the log book upon exiting the cave.

8. Nobody may drive down to the cave entrances without special permission.

9. The minimum group size is four people. Special permission is required for smaller groups.

10. Both entrances to the cave, Ack's Shack and Hall's Hole, must be rigged.

11. Hall's Hole may not be used if more than one inch (2.5 cm) of water is going over the lower sill of the Hall's Hole gate.

12. All members of the group entering the cave must have their own vertical equipment and must be proficient in vertical techniques.

13. All members of the group entering the cave must be wearing apparel whose function is to protect one from cold water. This would include wet suits, dry suits, and Petzl suits with the inner rubber liners.