February 10, 2001

Scarcely two weeks had gone by and already we were on our way back out to work in the cave. We admit we have become obsessed with the idea of getting through the passage. That may be a sign of how exciting our lives really are. It's not that we think there is going to be something great beyond the passage. We just like the idea of being the first humans on the face of the planet to set foot in a virgin part of the cave. Although if we found a hidden treasure that would be fine with us!



We got a late start and drove part of the way in the dark. When I tell people that I go caving at night they wonder why. They don't stop to think that it is always night once you're inside the cave. All the way out to Mystery Cave we talked about new ideas to speed up our work. B also told me he talked to some caver friends of his that came up with an explanation about the rumbling noise. They thought it might be the sound of water deep within the cave. Possibly a waterfall. They couldn't really explain why the noise seemed to come and go. To me it is just one more reason to get through. So we can solve the mystery.



This trip we took B's dog, Whip. She is a Jack Russell Terrier. I was not at all concerned about taking the dog into the cave. We have taken her before. She answers the call of nature before we go in, and then waits until we get out again. Also she is well behaved inside the cave. We simply had to lower her via a custom made harness until she reached the bottom of the main drop. Then she negotiated the rest on her own. She loves to explore, but won't go out of our sight. She doesn't have a light attached to her, so she has to wait for us. Another reason I didn't mind bringing Whip along was because we planned on putting her into the small hole and see how far into the passage she would go. That might give us an idea what is on the other side. We knew that if there were a drop-off that we couldn't see, the dog would turn around and come right back out. We thought we might have to do some work on the hole before even the dog could get through.



Click to see a picture of B's dog, "Whip", near the entrance to the cave



