So is this a new record for TexasCavers? A discussion that contains
scatological humor, scientific study of guano fall rates, actual caving
stories, new word creation and a reference to George Veni's testicles!
Geary and Locklear may need to be punished for this :-) Maybe a roadtrip
from Houston to Xilitla together in David's Honda Fit...
On Dec 5, 2008 9:46am, mark.al...@l-3com.com wrote:
Sounds like we have some good
candidates for the "Carbide Corner" in some upcoming TEXAS
CAVERs.
Any takers want to submit a bio and apropos
column?
Thanks,
(An always looking for material editor)
Mark
From: vivb...@att.net
[mailto:vivb...@att.net]
Sent: Fri 12/5/2008 9:32 AM
To:
Texascavers Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] guano
question
David wrote:
>I am just curious which cave
passages have you experienced your
worst encounter with bat guano.
The
Vampire guano in Japones Cave in Mexico was pretty bad. Really deep red
and
sticky-slimy gooey. And the vampires were in a complete frenzy filling the
passage and stirring up the choking smell. But we only had to walk ankle
deep in
it. It didn't even top my boots and wet my socks.
Then I thought I had
experienced the worst the time I plunged one leg into a 2' diameter
pothole full
of semi-liquid quano in Borneo. Those potholes were everywhere so we
really had
to watch it. But even then, only one leg was completely saturated with the
stuff, and I was able to wash off in the river that night.
But the true
pinnacle of guano came the time George Veni took us to Sorcerer's cave
here in
Texas. It was the Boil-Boil-Guano-and-Trouble passage. This is a full on
lake of
pudding-consistency guano with a frosting of insect casings and dead
bats. It's
actually a series of these lakes. Apparently some of the original
explorers wore
hip waders (a rally good idea), but George swore he could cross the lakes
without getting his balls wet, and it wouldn't be that bad. But then, no
one had been there is some time, and the guano dam on the far side had
grown. It
was at least waist deep for everyone, that is if you could maintain your
perch
on invisible ledges deep in the pools. Once on the far side, it was
decided to
take out the guano dam (something like a rimstone dam, but all pure
guano)to
lower the lakes to their previous levels. I thought the amonia and
methane would
kill us all for a minute there, but eventually the air did clear
somewhat, and
we all made it to our objectives.
At the bottom of the cave is a really
nice stream passage, so we could get nice and clean down there. But the
trouble
was you have to exit the cave through the guano lakes. On my way out of
the
cave, I was the lucky one who actually did fall full on into the
over-my-head
shit. I managed to barely keep my lips above guano, but my hair was
saturated.
It was freezing cold outside and we were in a 100% dry camp, so when I
stumbled
out of the cave in the wee hours, I just washed my hands and face as best
I
could with a nalgene of water and crawled in my sleeping bag.
I was
pleased to learn that the climb I did the next day did not require
traversing
the dreaded
cesspool.
Poo-falls?
Shitslide?
guanoflow?
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