Towe & Plug Pit
I had some bizarre dreams but mainly remember dreaming that I was tired. I got up around 9:15 because I didn’t have enough air in my thermarest so the ground was digging into my shoulders. I felt like an ass when I found out that Molly’s thermarest was deflated beneath mine. Mark, Brandon, Molly, Ray, and I talked for awhile. Brandon was pretty hung over and decided to bail on Sunday caving. Molly was limited on time and I couldn’t think of anything new to do nearby. I really wanted to add some new caves to my cave log. I called Sean and later we met Mike at Speedway south of Bedford. Mike happened to know the owner of many of the caves I wanted to visit. We briefly talked to the owner and drove back onto her property in Mike’s jeep.
Our first pit was Towe Pit. It was supposed to be a 90 fter. I quickly saw this wasn’t true. The first drop is 15 feet which brings you atop a slope which in 10 feet drops off again. The second drop is 13.75’. At the bottom of the second drop there is a small dome to the right and the passage drops down to the left. This section of cave smells badly of dead animal. The floor here is a 6-10' pile of dirt and cow bones. If you go to the left you climb or rappell down the 3rd drop which is 18’. There is a rather tall dome above that might be climbable but wasn't climbed. About 6 feet down the third drop there is a rather tight passage sloping down to a small room which branches to the right and left. To the right it quickly ends and to the left the canyon passage branches again. Both passages pinched out. I had to worm halfway through a Brian size slot to confirm that the second branch pinched. Each of us free climbed back up all 3 pits so they are climbable though they’d be harder to go down without a rope or hand line. The 2cd would be the toughest to get down without a rope. You might dislodge animal bones and dirt climbing down the third.
After Towe we went looking for Plug Pit which we’d heard was plugged. We found what we believed to be the entrance but it was indeed plugged with dirt. I opened up an adjacent slot which looked like it went into the cave but unfortunately the ceiling and floor were rock. There was a large rock that would soon have slid onto the filled entrance so the three of us toppled it onto the slot I’d opened up. We decided to come back in the future with shovels. It shouldn’t be a tough dig and looks to be a neat pit.
On our way back up the ridge we looked for Spiral Pit. I thought that in the past the ICS should have had people send in dotted topo maps instead of quarter coordinates. At least then, we’d have their best guess as to where the cave was on the map. Quarters suck! Continue to Carcass Crypt
By Brian Killingbeck © 2004
Towe & Plug Pit Gallery
By Brian Killingbeck © 2004
