Jeff Moore, Alan Cressler, Ashley Chan, Brent Aulenbach

Alan woke us up and after a little delay we were traveling to SSS cave which at first we believed to mean Sulphur Spring Station.  We drove down a narrow, S’ing gravel road through the mist and fog and soon passed the owners house and parked in a field near two old chimneys.  Nobody had ever been to the cave so a little flailing was involved but we soon found the cave within 300’ of where we parked.  I followed Brent down a slope into muddy room.  Brent noticed a moth on the wall and told me that it was a special type of moth that had adapted to living in caves.  His wings were colored and patterned so that he was somewhat camouflaged against the mud.  Brent wanted me to take a couple pictures of it so I did.  Everyone was inside the cave now.  I followed Brent, Jeff, and Ashley down a narrow, muddy canyon wondering why Brent and Alan had always wanted to visit this cave.  I passed below Ashley; she was trying to keep from getting muddy by chimneying along the top of the canyon.  I found Jeff and Brent in another small room and followed them through a little more muddy passage doing my best to keep out of the mud as well.  There wasn’t much more to the cave.  Brent, Jeff, and Alan wallowed through a few side passages and I headed back to the entrance room where I found Ashley waiting.  We exited and sat out in the rain waiting on the rest of the crew to tire of the cave.  Jeff came out totally slimed and tried to give Ashley a big hug upon exiting.  To Upper Valley Cave