Six Hours Underground
By Hubert Crowell

A good friend of mine, Pete, printed out my directions of the Loop in Pettyjohn Cave and made an attempt to complete the loop. The directions were not clear on how to exit the Racoon room and they could not find the back exit.

On May 17, 2008, I joined them for a good trip around the loop and then some.

The Loop and More
This trip took in the Over 'N Under Room as a side trip from the Bridge Room along with some searching for a connection to the passages above the Double Echo Domes. I was told by a fellow caver that a connection was possible between the two areas. We also reach the area above the Waterfall but did not take the last five-foot plunge to the stream below as we would not have been able to return by the same route and complete the loop.

There were six on the trip counting myself and I will refer to the others by their first names only for the article. Pete is the organizer and has been to the cave several times leading groups from his church. Josh, Tony and Pat were on the previous trip that turned around in the Racoon Room. I believe that John was new to caving and I have to give him a lot of credit, he has a large upper body and shoulders and I know that the tight areas were rough. Josh was the most aggressive and wanted to lead, which is fine with me. Each time we made a wrong turn, the rest of us did not have to crawl so far.

First Danger
After the climb down from the Entrance Room and through the tight crawl in the Pancake Squeeze we made the dangerous climb up into the Racoon Room. As you work your way up and around a ledge, there is a point where you have to lean out over the abyss below to get around a rock that prevents you from hugging the wall. If you get down really low, you can just manage to get around the rock without losing your balance. Then there is a five-foot climb with few hand holds to get up into the Racoon Room. There is a hand line here as well as many other places in the cave. Although most of these are nylon, they have been in place for many years and I do not like trusting my life to their safety. Once you place your weight on the hand line it is difficult to get a good grip on the rock again, which places you at the mercy of the old rope.

Second Tight Crawl
In my description of the Loop I had left out the fact that you had to climb down at the back of the Racoon Room, cross over several large rocks before reaching two crawls, one lower and one sightly higher. The lower crawl pinches down after a short distance and was tried by the group on the previous trip. The upper crawl was also tried but not pushed, and at this point the group turned around on the previous trip. After a short crawl through the upper crawl way and along a slit in the floor we reached a junction. To the right it comes to a stop not far from the Flat Room and Pancake Squeeze with no connection. At the junction is a nice formation and Rim Stone Pools. If you remain in the slit to the left, you can climb up into a nice walking passage leading to the Free Way.

Confused
In this walking passage we stopped and waited for Josh to check out a lead down. When he came back up by a different opening, I must have gotten turned around and after about five more minutes of caving Pete stated that we have been here already! Sure enough there was the formation that we had just left. I have no ideal how that occurred, but we only went back a short distance. Back on the right trail again, the room suddenly filled with smoke, someone in the lower passages must have lit up, if it was someone in our group I did not see him. Smoke can fill a cave passage very quickly. I told them that the walking passage was The Free Way, however The Free Way is the tight crawl of about thirty feet at the end of the walking passage. When we reached The Free Way, the smoke had cleared.

The Free Way
I believe that The Free Way was named that because of the two ruts made by your knees as you slide along. It looks like two lanes of a highway, not the easy path that the name implies. The thirty feet of crawl way were made more difficult by the fact that you could not tilt your head to see ahead. There was room for a side pack and of course the knee ruts enable you to bend your knees to push along, but you were blind to whatever lay ahead. When you come out of The Free Way and look back, there is a very inviting crawl just above it showing a lot of heavy traffic. No doubt a lot of people take the wrong way which comes to a dead end after a short distance.

A Taste of Waterfall
An easy stroll from The Free Way brings us to the Bridge Room with some nice formations along the way. The Bridge Room is a large open area with about a seventy-foot drop down to the stream level. At one end there is a rock and mud bridge that you can cross over the chasm. Several hundred feet and we reached the Over 'N Under Room with the register. The register has not been maintained for several years. Local grottos used to leave paper and pencils there in a PVC pipe so that visitors could leave their names as a record of their visit. John and Pete remained here while Josh, Tony, Pat and I searched the Over 'N Under Room for a connecting passage to the Double Echo Domes. After about an hour of searching we found our way through a very muddy passage and the sound of the Waterfall. Tony and Pat, both experienced in caving, climbed down a couple of levels to get a closer look. In the mean time Josh volunteered to go back and get Pete and John just in case we decided to exit via the stream passage below.

While waiting for us, John had drunk a power drink loaded with caffeine. Have you ever been in a place that you were not sure that you could get out of? I have and it is called an anxiety attack. The caffeine triggered a mild case in John, knowing that he was hours from the entrance. He kept it under control although we were all aware of it by some of the comments he made. We all got to listen to the sound of the Waterfall and after a short discussion it was decided that we should stick to the original plan and exit through the Mason - Dixon passage and the Volcano Room. Josh, Pat, Tony and Pete had been to the Volcano Room before and Josh wondered if the mud man with a hat he built was still there.

Fourth Tight Crawl
From the Bridge Room we eased our way around the drop to the stream level and the entrance of the Mason - Dixon Passage. A small hole near the ceiling, just large enough for an average size person to squeeze through. I removed my side pack to push along in front as I crawled and suggested that the others do the same. Hands in front and no changing position for about twenty feet. Josh charged ahead to lead laughing as he entered the tightest spot. This became a joke as he was enjoying the challenge and the tighter the better, when he laughed we knew it was going to be tight. John was next as he was in a hurry to get out. After a short distance you could roll out of the crawl and head straight into a dead end passage. We had to back up and make a left turn crawling over a mound of dirt and into walking passage again.

Tight Crawl number Five
The Mason - Dixon passage is mostly walking, however about three quarters of the way there is a twenty-foot crawl just slightly larger than The Free Way and a little shorter. After we all exited the crawl way, John was asking how much further and we were all getting tired, I was getting some leg cramps and was ready to leave also.

Hidden Doors
When you walk out of the Mason - Dixon passage you tend to go straight for the Worm Tube. We were not up to another long crawl so we turned back to the right to look for the way to the Volcano Room. It looked like a solid rock wall with no way through until you crawl right up to it and then the floor drops away and you can see the next room down and under the wall. A short distance to the right and up over a few large rocks and there is another hidden door. You keep climbing toward solid rock knowing there must be a place to get through, when at last there is a small opening between the rocks just large enough to lie down and roll through into the Volcano Room.

Tight Crawl number Six
We were all admiring Josh's mud man still standing on the edge of the Volcano as I slowly removed my side pack and began to tie the strap around it into a tight bundle. John commented, another tight crawl. Right behind you I commented back. The climb up out of the Volcano Room is very dangerous and knowing that someone fell here and broke a leg did not help John feel any better. About ten years ago someone dug out a bypass under the wall to avoid the climb. It is tight and makes a sharp upward twist at the end. You can start in on your stomach but if you don't roll over on your back before you reach the up part, you are in trouble. Josh went through with his usual laughing and after he cleared out of the way I followed with much difficulty. John was right behind me and as I got up and out of his way I heard him yell, I stuck! I think I commented that I wish I could help but I don't know what I can do. Several minutes later I heard him groaning saying that he relocated some body parts or something to that effect. I think that John's climbing skills were improving as he was keeping up now with no trouble, even reaching back to give Pete a hand up the next rough climb. We only had about fifteen minutes more of hard caving to reach the Entrance Room and John said that he needed to go on out quick. I advised the others that I was leading John on out and would see them in the parking lot.

Twenty minutes later we were back in day light after passing several new groups entering the cave. John was half dressed by the time I reached the parking lot and about fifteen minutes later we were joined by the others. On a previous trip Tony had to take someone out from the Volcano Room. When he tried to return to join the group, he made a wrong turn and spent several hours in the Northeast stream passage until he came across another group in the same area who lead him back out. The rest of the group had come out to find that Tony was still in the cave! All of this brings up the importance of remaining together as a group when caving and watching out for each other. It was however a very good cave trip and we all learned more about the cave and each other.

Missed Connection
After studying the map and reviewing where we were above the Waterfall I noticed a passage with an open lead heading in the direction of the Double Echo Domes. I will have to return and check it out on a future trip. I still have a lot more to learn about Pettyjohn Cave. Now that Pete and his church group have heard the Waterfall, I am sure that the next trip will be through the stream level to the Waterfall and back. Then again, maybe I will make a large loop trip out of it and return via The Chute, Five Points, Over 'N Under Room, Bridge Room etc.

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