12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

everyone prepared for the hike toCamp II the following day. TheMain Sump was down a meter or morefrom the previous trip into thecave. It took approximately 6 hoursto reach Camp II with the large duffelsand once again camp was set up.Unlike the silence of Camp I, thesounds of Isopod River filled thearea around Camp II.Nile RiverApril 20 saw the "wet team", consistingof Peter, Peter, and Randy,who would be doing the wetsuit caving,and the "dry team" which consistedof Terri, Dale, and Steve headingfor the Communion Hall. Peter, Peter,and Randy began the survey from a permanentstation at the Horeshoe Bendof the Nile. They mapped a shortway downstream to the beginning oflow airspace, then attacked themain objective - upstream. One shottook them across a long pool and upa climb to wide sandy floored passagelacking the stream. Ahead the streamflowed in a narrow channel along theright wall to enter a parallel sidepassage. This passage was surveyed100 meters or so and continues. Thestream sumps in a pool, jogging ina hidden course over to the mainriver passage. Continuing upstream,(north), the river soon made another180 0 bend to the south..Here swimmingbecame necessary for long distancesthrough deep, green canals.This proved interesting for Peter S,who was sketching and had to keep thebook dry while doing so. At onepoint in the swim the ceiling dippeddown to within 40 cm of the waterand a good breeze could be feltblowing out of the passage ahead.Eventually a small island providedrelief to the swimmers, and PeterK took off down a side passage onthe right. He ran 150 meters downa south trending tunnel to a forkbefore returning. They elected tocontinue the main river survey beforemapping side leads.At a large sand chamber (namedAlexandria) the river again reverseddirection, flowing from the north.After 100 meters or so of wading,the team was confronted by anotherdeep swim. Randy and Peter K swamahead to discover a blank wall withno continuation of the river. Highoverhead yawned a wide dome, butthe water apparently flowed througha sump under one of the walls. LeavingLake Victoria (source of theNile), they returned to Peter's sidelead and mapped 500 meters or so tothe south in blowing passage, namedNever Stops Going. They ended thesurvey at a climbdown, which Peter Kexplored down to a tight crawl blowingair that would need to be modifiedto permit exploration.The ASBThe "dry team" began their surveyingat the point where the ConnectionPassage breaks into the ASB.They mapped 400 meters down the ASBto a short 5 meter overhung dropwhich required some type of climbingassistance, and then explored in severalpassages running off the ASBleading into a tube-like area. Onesmall stream, Riverdale, was mappedto also. It is suspected that thismight be an overflow route for theNile. Total surveyed length betweenthe two teams was 1500 meters forthe day.Camp II surveyThe next day the "wet team"stayed dry. Their first projectwas to resurvey the south continua-97