Bowden Cave "Spring" Fling

Bowden Cave photos by Aaron Teske

It was an astonishingly cold and windy midnight when Farooq Sadiq and I arrived in the vicinity of Tom Kornack's house in Canaan Valley, WV. I say 'vicinity', because street-level was about as far as we'd successfully navigated. From there we were looking for a sign for the Ski Chalet and a wooden goose on the door. There were lots of houses on the dark, icy street, but none named "Ski Chalet" and no geese. Finally we searched on foot with flashlights. After much frostbite potential, we discovered that the sign had blown off and the goose was only dimly visible from the road. We settled in for a long spring's nap in my rapidly chilling Honda buffeted by overly amorous winds. By 1am, Tom arrived with Ben Kennedy, Jill Foley and Joel Erickson in attendance. There was much meeting and greeting and we gladly moved into the house and the waiting wood stove.
I sacked out in front of the fire and slept soundly. By nine the population was stirring and a handsome breakfast of buckwheat pancakes (repleat with several types of fruit and real syrup) was prepared by Tom and Jill. Caving gear was laid out and distributed to those lacking. By the crack of noon we hit the road and arrived at the Bowden entrance by 1pm or so. At the lower elevations here, the weather was pleasant and warm. Ice crashed from the quarry walls as we donned the rest of our gear and headed in.
This was my second experience with Bowden, the first having been a through-trip from the main entrance to the Third Entrance last September. Tom is a fellow hard-core caver and Gangsta Mapper but had never visited Bowden before. Farooq is a skilled ex-climber and has caved with me once. Jill visited Trout cave last year with Tom and was eager for more. Ben did a lot of caving as a lad with Tom, but it's been a while. Joel was a cave virgin. It was to be quite a trip, regardless of experience level!
I'll skip a lot of the details here except to say that everyone attacked the cave with vim and vigor. Ben delighted in crawling through the hardest part of each passage and exploring side canyons. Farooq managed to nearly get stuck in the tightest chimneys he could find, but eventually freed himself by various creative processes. The water level in the cave was significantly higher than last fall and much of our early walking through large passage was accompanied by basso rumblings and treble babble of small waterfalls and enclosed water flow. At length we came to the Shower room (which was showering a slight trickle) where some cretin had felt the need to redecorate with white spray paint; barbarian! Lunch was eaten to gird our loins for the next challenge...
...the Water Course! Last time through, this narrow passage held a small stream never more than ankle deep which could often be avoided by stemming across the shelves on the walls. This time, water gushed like a broken water main flooding the entrance area. I took Point and headed in, resolute to get through before anyone got too cold. Quickly the water rose to knee deep and I found myself fighting a strong, chilly current. The rest of the crew followed in good order and performed admirably with Tom bringing up the rear. Five minutes of heavy exertion through the cold water and we gained the higher, dryer passage beyond. From here on, the easiest way out of the cave lead onward rather than back. Wild!
By the time we'd attained the Pendant Room, much of the water had dried and everyone was warmer. We ditched our packs and spent some time scurrying around through low, dusty crawls and examining the pendants. I lead a several intrepid souls into a tight tube perhaps two feet square at maximum which lead, after a few bends, to a very tight squeeze into a slightly larger room. The map labeled this as the 2-foot room though this was probably pessimistic. A whole maze of similar passages could be seen proceeding from there. Ben started through the tight squeeze but was foiled by his 'pigeon-chested build'. Farooq wormed in in short order followed by the able Joel who was adapting well to the subterranean environment.
More caving ensued after we rejoined the rest of the party. At one breakdown-filled room after the Throne room, hundreds of bats were seen clinging to the ceiling in groups and singly. Some were pipistrels, but others were a different breed; larger with darker fur and arm bones, hanging clustered together rather than individually as pips usually do.
Finally, we attained the entrance to Pauline's Crawl, a 100-meter belly crawl and the last major obstacle between us and the exit. It's really not that bad, just long and exhausting. Several side passages and forks lead to confusion... so of course I took the rear as everyone dove in and started slithering. This time the going was not so easy. The fall dryness was replaced with a couple memorable and very personal puddles of churned water in 12" tall passage. No way to avoid them and we all got memorably soaked.
Two-thirds of the way in, confusion in the vanguard summoned me to the front where I confidently lead the crew through a sharp right turn and down another fifty meters of hands and knees and belly crawling. I was now quite confused and mutters from behind indicated growing mutiny. Farooq (who seemed to get faster and more energetic as the rest of us wore down) went ahead and crossed another, deeper pond which I didn't recall from last time and ended up in a larger chamber full of breakdown. "Great!" I thought, following in his wake. "We've reached the Piss-A-Rea and the end of the crawling." But this room was small and had only one, tiny exit. Could there have been a cave-in? Would we have to retrace our steps all the way to the main entrance?
I was bewildered, cold, miserable, lost and deeply, deeply unhappy at this point. It was evident that we'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. Much map consultation and an exploratory slither through the tight, wet exit in the breakdown room confirmed that we'd gotten sidetracked into the dreaded Subway. That way lay madness, roped ascents, much gooey mud and something called the 'Chocolate Crawl'. Probably monsters and demons as well. The mutiny came to a head and the crew reversed course. Tom (who had been hindmost) explored another tight lead back where I had taken the sharp right turn and Jill followed relaying news to the rest of us. After much confusion and shivering, the news that Tom was standing up was relayed down the line. At 6'5", that could mean only one thing; Tom was out of the crawl and had found the right path. We gratefully followed and were soon stretching.
Jill, having recovered much vim and vigor after conquering some very ferocious personal demons, lead the way up into the final canyon, and then up to the Hairy Traverse. Everyone managed the traverse without issue and we were soon outside. Completely drained and in the rear now, it was all I could do to pull myself from the tight exit and into the crisp twilight of Bickle Run. Our soaked bodies and clothing rapidly left us shivering violently as we hurried back to the cars, clean clothing, warmth and the Chalet.
Spirits were much restored with a gut-busting meal of chili, cornbread, burritos, double (or triple?) chocolate brownies and various apple-based beverages. We lounged around feeling sore, content and entirely pleased that we'd survived the through-trip.

Good folks, good food, good cave and a memorable time was had by all. Best of all, it provided a much-needed "spring" break away from the petty problems of city life.

Postscript

Not long after this trip, Bowden Cave suffered a collapse in the area known as the Up-And-Over near the upstream end of the Watercourse. No one was hurt, but the passage is now thoroughly blocked by tons of rubble. The condition is reported as being extremely unstable and "the scariest place I have ever been" by members of the Monongahela Grotto. Cavers are asked to stay away from Bowden until the stability and extent of the collapse is assessed. Consult your local grotto.

The Wilderness Journal

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