Dear Outside Adventure Grant,

Having lived in Jackson Hole for all of our lives, we have learned to love the outdoors from our equally enthusiastic parents. They have been supportive of all our adventures locally, and continue to support us on possibly the single biggest adventure we will ever attempt.

After speaking with Warren Anderson, a member of the National Speleological Society and long time caver, about caves in this area he suggested speaking to another NSS member, Dave Jagnow. Jagnow has explored nearly all the caves in the Guadeloupe Mountains of New Mexico's Lincoln National Forest and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Jagnow describes beautiful, heavily formed caves involving up to 300 foot rappels and as a result 300 foot jumars. With his help, we have set a basic plan for our expedition.

At the suggestion of Jagnow, sometime in early June, we would establish a main camp south of the Guadeloupe Ridge Road (an old beat up dirt road through southern Lincoln National Forest and Guadeloupe National Park) near the Dark Canyon Lookout Tower. Setting up base camp would be a full day in itself, due to the lack of water. We would be forced to carry in several five gallon jugs of water as well as camping and caving equipment. From this base camp the majority of caves would be well within seven miles. The base camp's location would be south of the road in Park Canyon within a mile of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park boundary.

To the southwest of our camp lies both black and Gunsight Canyon home to the Black and Gunsight Caves. To the northeast of our base camp will be West Slaughter Canyon, which leads seven miles down to Ogle Cave, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Unfortunately, to reach the caves to the southwest we would be forced to come out of nature and cross an old dirt road, the Ussery Trail.

In this area there is currently a large restoration project taking place. One of the major coordinators of these clean up efforts is Ransom Turner. One of the objectives of our expedition is to repair or restore damaged caves. With Turner's help in selecting an abused cave we would spend five or six days or as many days as necessary to restore a damaged cave. Documenting the cleaning of a cave would raise awareness of the damage humans can cause. According to Jagnow, many of the caves in the Guadeloupe Mountains are closed to recreational caving and are open for surveying and restoration only. We would help restore these caves; as well as survey any new passages.

None of us have ever surveyed a cave before, but all of us have taken Trigonometry, the basis of surveying caves, and read the NSS's book, On Station, about how to survey a cave. It was written by George Dasher and is an in depth, step by step guide on how to survey and eventually map caves. The book describes the exact equipment needed, as well as several basic pointers on what to include in a survey and on a map. We will practice cave surveying in the weeks preceding our expedition, until we have a methodical system. Surveying caves is new to us, but we are up to the challenge. Turner also said there were many caves that need to be surveyed, and he would be happy to help us pick one. Or we could survey any cave we discover on our own. Turner spoke of caves with promising leads as well as the possibility of discovering an entirely new cave. We plan to spend about a week surveying.

Permits are required to enter any cave in Lincoln National Forest or Carlsbad Caverns National Park. They can be obtained a maximum of three months in advance or a minimum of one day before entering the cave. Jagnow estimated 50% of caves in Lincoln National Forest are gated. While this sounds intimidating, he also said many of the keys or combinations can be obtained from Ransom Turner, the cave specialist working for Lincoln National Forest.

After speaking with Turner we learned minors cannot do volunteer work in vertical caves. However, there are several caves open for recreational caving, also if we prove ourselves, that rule may be waved. This vertical nature was confirmed by Jagnow, who described several caves with 150-300 foot drops in them. Big drops present a challenge for us, but not an insurmountable on owning to our experience with free rappels in caves and climbing.

From our base camp we will attempt as many caves as possible. The single greatest objective will be to survey and complete a map of a cave assigned to us by Turner or a cave/passage we discover. A second major objective is to help restore Black Cave or the first 1000 feet of Cottonwood Cave.

Other caves, which will take about ten hours each to explore, would be visited if time permits. They could be considered tertiary objectives and would include:

• Hidden Cave is a cave that drops approximately 500 feet with about 4000 feet of passages.
• Black Cave has just been reopened to recreational caving. It contains 1000 feet of passages filled with black formations.
• Ogle Cave, located in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, is a heavily decorated cave with large rooms. It requires a trip leader that has been selected by the Park Service.
• Pink Panther Cave has just been reopened to recreational cave so we would like to visit there. It also requires a certified trip leader.
• Spider Cave is a maze cave, which contains over 7000 feet of passages.
• Christmas Tree Cave is a short cave containing a unique decoration that resembles a Christmas Tree.

To find the entrances to the caves we have mentioned we would need the six or seven 7.5-minute maps/quads that cover the area, and a caver such as Jagnow's or Turner's help. They could mark the entrances on the quads and we could walk right to them. Our assertion that there is a possibility of finding new, unexplored caves came from John Kokinas, a caver with experience in Lincoln National Forest, and a professor at the University of Utah. Kokinas' assertion of unexplored, unmapped passages and caves was supported by Ransom Turner, who has said he will allow us to survey and map a cave, be it one we find or one of the many leads he suggests. We have committed to spending a week surveying and we will finish with a complete, accurate map of the area we surveyed.