Slick Rock Cave

[itabot]

I went with my 6yr old stepson, Ronan, and our dog Pokey to survey what is probably the second largest claystone (conglomerate) cave in Colorado on Saturday. The cave is very unique, not only because of its size, but for the presence of a layer of sandstone in the lower section of the cave that is commonly referred to as slickrock. We arrived at the cave around mid-morning and it was already scorching hot in the canyon lands around Grand Junction. The shade and air-flow in the cave was a big relief from the heat. Ronan was in charge of lighting up the stations and repeating the numbers as I read them from the Suunto and Disto D3 while Pokey was in charge of keeping the pack rats at bay. We surveyed one of the smaller side passages until we were stopped by a blockage of rocks. The passage kept going, but it was too small to fit through. Even for Ronan. The rocks could be moved, but I figured I should wait until I was with someone who could help me in case something happened. You just don’t want to start moving around rocks in a dirt cave. We returned to the bigger passage to continue the survey. As the passage climbed uphill, we came to a small climb that went to another passage that paralleled the main one. This part of the cave was totally covered in pack rat midden and stretched for about 40ft. It was rather nasty! We kept going in the main passage and Ronan was starting to get a little bored. We could see the light from the upper entrance and I told him we were almost done. As we got closer to the entrance, I noticed another side passage, so I told him we had a few more shots to do. He was willing, but when the passage kept going, he kept saying, “Is this the last station?” We finished up what we could and went back through the cave taking pictures along the way. Ronan was taking lots of pictures. Of the 103 pictures taken that day, 48 of them were of Pokey. All in all, it was a fun day and I enjoyed showing Ronan how to survey. He did pretty good. Not bad at all for a 6yr old boy. We surveyed a total of 527ft and it will probably be longer if we are able to open up the blockage we came to in the lower side passage. I drew up a map of the cave, but I wasn't sure if we are allowed to post cave maps on this forum.

Here is a picture of the lower entrance


Looking out from the lower entrance


The slickrock floor




The upper entrance


And.... The survey team!

[Brian Roebuck]

Nice photos and a good cave story to go with it. As for maps - as long as they don't give location information a map of a cave is fine to show us all. We don't give out cave locations on the forum.

[itabot]

Thanks Dr. Beaner! I wasn't sure about posting the map. I knew we couldn't post locations, not that it would matter for this particular cave. Here is the map I drew up.



This is only the third map I've ever done, so any constructive criticism would be nice.

[L Roebuck]

A very enjoyable cave survey report and a good looking cave map! Maybe adding a couple of cross-sections might also be nice.

[itabot]

Thanks Lynn! You're absolutely right about the cross sections and I have been told that before. I went back and added a few things including one cross section. Thanks for the advice.

[itabot]

Just so everybody knows..... The helmets were taken off for the picture. We were wearing helmets.