Shovel Eater Cave Trip Report
Monday, March 9, 2009
by Nikki Fox
Participants: Nikki Fox and Chris Coates

Monday morning rolled around and the Daylight Saving Time change was effecting both Chris and I. After taking to the Harpers we finally made it in a little after noon: not the early start we were planning on.

We were careful to notice any and all bats along the way. No signs of WNS. No signs of WNS bat behavior. In fact, hardly any signs of bats at all.

We trucked into the cave via the Ohio Bypass and went straight to our destination: the continuation of our OWP survey from February. We designated the new survey from OWP16 the OWU survey. Along the slot canyon survey, at station OWU8 we made a shot to a window in the floor that looks into the room below. We named this station OWU9. We knew we would later tie it into the room survey at some point. We made 13 stations into the Column Room.

We ate dinner once in the room and surveyed it using the designation of POP. At this point we wish we had a Disto to measure the ceiling of the room. A huge column sits in the middle of it and made for some interesting shots to go around it.

Once the room was done we decided to tie in the window shot (OWU9) from earlier in the day. I went back to the window with the tape to get the vertical measurement. It measured 14.1 feet and was marked PAP1 at the bottom, which we tied into POP5. From this vertical shot we were able to determine that the ceiling, which the window was about half way from the floor to the ceiling, was approximately 28 feet high.

We left the lead at POP1 for later. It is a very small crack in the floor where the water goes. Chris went in it last January. It goes down to the flow of water and is passable with a belly crawl through the water. After three trips into SEC, each one was in this tight, winding canyon, we want to take a several month break from this section.

On the way out we noticed that the Ohio Bypass rope is suffering some damage from wear. I don’t know when this rope was put in, probably soon after the Ohio team broke it open in February of 2008? But there is an abraded section a couple of inches down the tight spot before you get to the redirect. I noticed this when climbing out. I did not notice it when rappelling, probably due to the fact that the water and mud was matting the fraying down. It does not appear to have worn to the sheath, just something to keep an eye on in the future.

The Numbers:
Survey: OWU, POP and PAP
Leads Killed: OWP and OWU
Leads Left: POP1
Surveyed Passage: 212.7 feet
Trip Length: 14 hours