2016 Cave Rescue Training

 Every year Lehman Caves holds a rescue training so if someone gets hurt or becomes ill on a tour, park staff can safely get the person out of the cave. This year we also invited local agencies and had BLM and the county search and rescue attend. After about 45 minutes of lectures, we practiced moving someone in a litter. We didn't want to have it so easy, so one of the obstacles was to take the litter through the tree. The patient seemed happy at first.

He didn't seem quite so enthusiastic part way through!

Fortunately all was well...until a call came in that an interpreter had fallen and gotten hurt in the cave and needed help. It was time to have someone at the big radio and get folks into the cave.

With paved trails, it's pretty easy to get into the cave with rescue equipment.

But the patient was off trail! That made for some problem solving, which everyone did well.

Walking with a litter over uneven cave floor isn't so easy.

Everyone was glad when we got to the paved part and we could put the SKED into a Stokes with a wheel.

Entrance control made sure everyone got out of the cave.

And then everyone was smiles.

Until it came time for the eternal struggle--stuffing the SKED back into its bag! Ha.

It was a really good training, with a lot covered in just four hours. Some folks had never done any cave rescue training before, so they got a little taste of it. Others have done this training for many years, but we always have a different scenario and a different location in the cave so they have to figure out what to do. Fortunately, the skills don't get put to the test very often.

Rock the Park Followup

If you missed the Great Basin National Park episode of Rock the Park on ABC, it's now available on Hulu for free (there are a few ads): http://bit.ly/GreatBasinRTP

You might also want to watch the Behind the Scenes footage, which shows what a champ the cave photographer was. He was first into the cave and totally cool about it.


If you watch Rock the Park, what parks are you inspired to visit?

Rock the Park Visits Great Basin National Park

So back in November or December I got a message one morning that I needed to give a wild cave permit to a film crew. I knew that they had been attempting an ascent of Wheeler Peak, but didn't know anything else. When they came to my office, they introduced themselves as Jack Seward and Colton Smith from Rock the Park. I gave them a map of the cave, the key, and instructions about how to proceed. I told them that Little Muddy Cave was about 600 feet long and was a mazy cave with a lot of crawling passages. Before they entered the cave, they would need to go through the concrete block behind the visitor center to make sure they wouldn't get stuck in the tight spot. They had to have at least three people go into the cave for safety. They needed to wear a helmet, headlamp, kneepads, and elbowpads. And if they were willing, I'd like them to install three temperature and humidity dataloggers as part of a climate change project.

They listened to all this with their production crew, and then asked if I would be willing to be on camera and repeat it all. I shrugged.
"I guess so."

I didn't have a park uniform on or time to go home and put one on. They put a microphone on me and we planned to meet at the parking area after the guys went through the block.

I figured it would take them a little time to do that, so wisely brought some reading material. They showed up, and it was a really windy day, so we went to the cave entrance to try and film there. I gave them the key and stumbled through the introduction to the cave. I'm not too smooth on camera!

They made a production of gearing up with the kneepads and elbowpads. Then they opened the cave gate and clearly didn't like what they saw. I wasn't sure if they were going to go through with it. But they did. In the clip below, you can see some behind-the-scenes action from the photographer's point of view.

A month or two later I went back to Little Muddy Cave with some friends and my kids. Here they are waiting for me on the gate. You open the gate and climb down a short ladder and then immediately are on your belly for about thirty feet.

Eventually you get to places where you can stand up--if you're a kid!

The cave wasn't at all muddy because it just isn't in winter. But you can see by some of the muddy marks on the walls that the cave has been muddy.

Near the back of the cave there's a challenge chute, where you squeeze down a narrow passage head first. I went and then challenged Desert Boy. He liked it.

You know if it's a squeeze for him, it's small!

I can't wait to see how Jack and Colton's trip into Little Muddy Cave went, along with the rest of their adventures at Great Basin National Park. The Rock the Park episode is playing on ABC Saturday morning, April 16 (times vary). It looks like you can also see it a day or two later on Hulu, and they will probably have a link up on their Facebook page. If you see it, let me know what you think!

p.s. After I met them, I went home and looked up Rock the Park  and started watching it with my family. Season one is available on Netflix. It's fun to see so many different national parks!

Junior Cave Scientists

The National Park Service has recently started the Junior Cave Scientist program for ages 5-12+. Those interested can pick up a booklet from participating parks or download one.

I took the kids to Great Basin National Park one Saturday afternoon to get the booklet. We headed over to the cafe to get a treat while the kids completed it.

The booklet starts out with "What are Caves and Karst?" Then it talks about how to protect caves and different scientific things to do in caves, such as geology, biology, hydrology, archeology, paleontology, climate science, and more.

It had a game about the different zones of a cave that we played by flipping a coin. The kids really got into it.

After they finished, we went back to the visitor center to turn in the booklets. Ranger Kevin determined that they had completed the necessary activities and swore them in as junior cave scientists. He had the great idea of having them put on cave helmets.

Desert Boy, Junior Cave Scientist

Desert Girl's helmet was a little big, hence the hanging onto it.

 The kids got their badges and posed for a photo.

The badges are made of wood and very cool.

My little junior cave scientists wanted to go for a walk while on their sugar high, so we headed out to the nature trail. They were being a bit mischievous, posing behind the sign for the photo.

Before long we reached the natural entrance of Lehman Cave, which is now topped with a bat-friendly gate after being sealed shut for decades. The bats seem to be finding it, as each year the numbers are creeping up. Just last week we saw over 20 Townsend's big-eared bats in the cave.

The kids really like the rock wall at the exit tunnel.

We weren't done yet, they still had to squeeze through the concrete block, a prerequisite to going on the spelunking tour when that was offered at Little Muddy Cave.

And one more stop. The kids love getting "kissed" by the cave. They found they could get "kissed" by the roof when they stood under the dripline. Nothing like desert kids finding a little water!

And just think what that water is doing as it seeps down into the ground, through the acidic pine needles, into the porous limestone, into tiny cracks that slowly, slowly become larger and larger. There should be more caves for these junior cave scientists to learn about, if they just wait patiently.

Cave Rescue Training - April 2015

 It had been a few years since we had a National Cave Rescue Commission training in our area. With a little nudging from my friend Andy, I picked a date, found some instructors willing to volunteer their time, and got ready for a fun weekend.

On Friday we had fifteen students come to improve their single rope technique (SRT) skills in the morning. We had seven single ropes up in the fire station, plus a rebelay course that included some J-hangs and a guided rappel. It was a challenging rebelay course, but fun! Here's Deanna doing the guided rappel, which would keep you out of a waterfall or get you over a pothole or some other obstacle.

In the afternoon we went out to some nearby cliffs and did raises and lowers. It was a windy afternoon, but everyone did well and learned something.


While we were prepping the site, I got this fun shot.


In the evening you could tell we were getting a little tired…but we were still laughing! (Can you see what's happened in the photo below?)

The next morning we changed gears and started the Orientation to Cave Rescue class, a two-day class. We spent the morning and early afternoon in the classroom. Here's Bonny doing the best psych considerations talk I've ever seen. It was also perfect for keeping the students awake after lunch as they had to get up.

Later in the afternoon it was time for the obstacle course, which teaches how to move a litter and tests leadership/followership skills. One particularly fun challenge was going through a narrow fork in the tree.

They did it well! Then everyone had to climb through the tree, which took some teamwork.

Sunday it was time for the mock rescue to test their skills. Thanks to Bonny and Tori for getting some of these photos, as I ended up being one of the patients. They had to come find me and carry me out of the cave.

When the students arrived, they got organized. The incident commander sent everyone to the cave.


Then they were divided into teams with different missions.

One of the search teams found me and then had to keep me warm and treat my injuries while they waited for a litter to arrive.


It took me about ten minutes to go to my place in the cave uninjured, but over three hours to get me out, largely due to patient packaging and then various vertical obstacles. It just goes to show that you want to cave carefully or you could end up spending a lot longer in a cave than you had planned!

On the hike back I discussed the mock rescue with Andy. We were both very happy with how everyone had done. Thanks so much to all the instructors, students, Great Basin National Park, Ely District BLM, and Snake Valley Volunteer Fire Department for their support!

The National Cave Rescue Commission has upcoming training--a Small Party Assisted Rescue seminar in June in Lund, Nevada (with only four spots left), and a weeklong seminar with various levels in Park City, Kentucky (next to Mammoth Cave) at the end of July. You can find more info at the NCRC website.

A Better-Than-Expected Adventure

With our very warm March, we spent more time outdoors than usual, and one Sunday we decided to take a hike to check out a cave I had the coordinates to. I didn't have much more information than the coordinates, so we didn't know what to expect. We packed up and enjoyed the hike, seeing a few splashes of color as wildflowers like Indian paintbrush (above) and milkvetch (below) bloomed.

This juniper on the top of a cliff looked like a bonsai tree.

It took us about 45 minutes to find the cave. I rigged a rope to check out the entrance and found this western fence lizard hanging out on a midden part way down.

I had managed to forget a descent device (never mind that I have seven), so I rappelled on a munter. (It's great to know different techniques--if you'd like to learn more, check out this upcoming cave rescue training.) Then I climbed out and lowered my husband and Desert Boy. Desert Girl didn't want to be lowered, and I wanted to move the rope to an easier spot to get out of the cave, so we went in from this side, where we could see the dark mouth of the cave beckoning.

We only found one historic signature in the cave, Cliff Bellander on June 25, 1955.

The entrance descended steeply over boulders and cobbles.

Before long we saw old, weathered formations. The floor was primarily a packrat midden.

The cave kept descending fast, and I was glad I had my 20 feet of webbing to help belay the kids down the steep sections.

Most of the cave was very dry, but we did find this wet formation with very pretty decorations.

The cave wasn't large, but it was certainly larger than we were expecting. And more beautiful too. It's such a treat when things turn out that way! Then it was time to head out. Desert Boy scrambled out with the help of the rope before I even finished taking photos. Desert Girl tried, but needs a little more strength.

She was happy to be hauled out.

I wanted to get a family photo, but those seem to be hard to get when we all look happy.

We knew the truck wasn't far, and the kids wanted to get to the snacks. So they took off. I was impressed with how Desert Girl ran through the bushes, jumping over small obstacles.

I was a lot slower, pausing to take photos, like this bitterbrush seed.

It was a fun adventure and a good day.