Foltz Cave

By Jeff Jahn

Page County survey took place on Sunday August 7th. This even allowed Nathan

to make it back in time from convention to be part of the group that included

Bill, Callie and Lauren, the newbie surveyor for the day. The only one missing in

action was Janet who called promptly at 9 to inform us that she had to bail at last

minute. That gave me a slight pause as I was banking on her leading the way

to Foltz Cave, the next project on the agenda. Oh well, where’s the adventure in

knowing where you are going anyways.

So, off we went, down the road, thinking I was going in the right direction and

after about 10 miles or so, gaining confidence of where I was just as I blew by the

left hand turn we needed to make. No problem, just went down to a public pull

out, pointed out to the group a cliff side where the caves were located across the

river a ways and then headed back up to the property. Our friendly neighbor was

home, greeted us in stocking feet, and told us no problem to park in the detached

garage driveway.

As we were getting our gear ready for the trek to the cave the group did a double

take as I pulled out a machete. Hey, I did this hike before and it’s a jungle out

there! Because of the heat, we elected to suit up at the cave entrance. Trek to

the cave includes crossing rolling fields with sinks galore and down a ridge to the

river bank. I’m bushwhacking along with my machete thinking how stupid it would

look to fall and stab myself so by the time I reached the river bank, the machete

was put back in its sheath! Soon after going up stream a short ways, the ridge

comes in close to the river with steep almost vertical crags towering above us.

Finally, we come to a wash out draw that steeply leads up to the cave entrance.

The cool air can be felt as you ascend the ridge.

We got into the lower cave entrance about 10:30. I took on sketching duties

while Callie set stations and Lauren starts learning the ropes on doing foresights.

Nathan and Bill scoped out the cave. Cave passage starts as hand and knee

crawl before entering the entrance room where the ceiling just goes and goes.

Nathan found a nice black obsidian arrowhead along the crawlway; probably

washed in from who knows where based on the rock debris littering the floor

from stream flow during rain events. Chatter up ahead got excited from a source

of blowing air at the back end of the main passage. The soft clay floor just

screamed “dig site” and no doubt future trips will push this lead. At one point,

we were all in the entrance room kibitzing away until I asked what’s next at

which point everyone burst out laughing as everyone was thinking I’m waiting on

someone else.

A couple of upper passages take off from main room, one of which winds around

to a second cave entrance. We decided to survey the other lead first. A rope is

permanently rigged to help the climb up to this passage. Probably been there

forever and it is quite a sight to see sort of suspended in mid air with a foot loop

and rope going in different directions. Hmmmm, what is this anchored to? A

useful assist none the less, except for Nathan who scampered up the wall like he

had Velcro on.

After surveying an upper passage straight a way the cave takes a distinctive

change where a deep fissure crack develops and must be climbed down to

access the lower passages. The discussion/need for webbing was kicked around

and a hand line was set above the drop. Turns out it was unnecessary as around

the corner from the drop a winding passage over and through and under the

fissure crack was established and dubbed the “spiral staircase” passage. I had

been to the pit before but not down the drop and when I got to that point, the pit

looked twice as deep as I remembered it!

Down, down we went to another level with some formations. The surveying crew

was trading off duties and worked great together. At one point, I got right in the

line of fire thinking this was great until I kept having to turn off my headlamp while

shots were being made…not a good position for the sketcher to be! Down we

went again through a tight 12 foot drop to a lower passage that serpentines along

until it enters a room Bill named the Stegosaurus room based on a hanging fin of

limestone that looked ever bit like the back plate of the Stegosaurus. Lauren was

getting the hang of surveying by now and seemed real comfortable with it. So

maybe two survey crews will be a reality soon!

I was starting to get hungry and realized it was already 2PM so I suggested a

break to eat and turns out most had already done so given that the crew of five

had ample time to fit this in…that is for everyone except the sketcher! I needed

to change batteries anyway so it was a good time to take a breather. Speaking

of breather, as the afternoon was winding down; Callie was just hanging out and

decided to head to the surface for some nice R and R!

Well, it was obvious, Foltz cave was not getting done this day and as there were

passages still requiring closure and then Nathan spied a top lead from the bottom

passage that looked interesting. After a dicey chimney climb, Nathan came back

initially saying the cave just goes and goes and probably doubles the passage in

the cave? Wow, but after reflection he dropped the footage to maybe 100 feet or

so?! Guess we will find out next month when we return but regardless the twisty

fissure passages keep providing us with surprises so who knows what we will

find.

We exited the cave around 5PM found Callie greatly refreshed from a snooze

and started the trek back to the cars. If someone had suggested taking a dip

in the river on the way back I’m sure I would joined in. Come to think of it,

accessing this cave from the river makes sense as it would be an easy put in just

upstream from the cave.