17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

137had not been checked was followed for several hundred feet, but itbecame a tighter and tighter crawl until it was finally blocked bya formation. In the other direction we continued past the lowestsurveyed point, splashing through soupy mud in what looked like anupstream passage until we reached a flowstone block at the 'end'.Checking closer we found a waterline mark which was level with asmall opening near the top of the flowstone. Debris clinging tothe rocks showed that we were indeed in a downstream passage thathad carried quite a bit of water. Climbing over the block wefound a 5 foot drop on the far side into a pool of water. Oriondropped down into the water and found it to be about 3 feet deep.The walls and bottom were solid, smooth rock and what had at firstappeared to be a round room was actually a low passage. However,after about 25 feet the ceiling dipped to the water level and thepassage siphoned. This was indeed the route by which the largevolumes of water continued on through the cave. Here we turnedback, somewhat frustrated but at least happy to know that S6tanode la Joya de Salas still has a chance to drop through more of itsseveral thousand foot potential. Perhaps after a long, dry period,or if the water level can be artificially lowered, it may be possibleto explore more of the cave.We emerged from the cave and pulled the last rope out behindus shortly after midnight. The next morning we spent some time inthe southern valley, casually looking at a few of the many short,blind pits that dot the grassy floor. Leaving the valley we droveback down to Julilo carrying a hitchhiker with us who told of anearby cave which holds the remains of a number of solders fromthe Mexican revolution. This cave may be large and is somewherejust east of Joya de Salas. At Julilo we turned right and droveabout 4 miles through an extremely dense, karst-floored jungle toRancho del Cielo. We spent the night there and continued on out tthe next day to G6mez Far!as and Highway 85 •• Persons: Jonathan Davis, John Fish, Charles Jennings, CharlieLoving, Susie Loving, Mac McLaughlinDate: 23-27 November 1966Destination: Matehuala, S.L.P.; S6tano de San Francisco, S.L.P.;Xilitla, S.L.P.Reported by: John Fish Austin, TexasOur primary destination for this trip was the S6tano de SanFrancisco, in Valle de los Fantasmos, which was reported in AMCSNewsletter, v. II, no. 4, p. 82. We left Austin Wednesday afte~noon and with few delays arrived in Matehuala, S.L.P. (south ofSaltillo, Coah.) on Thursday morning, 24 November. Here we droveeast of town about one mile on the road to Doctor Arroyo, thenwalked south to the gypsum sinks, which are also mentioned in theprevious report. We explored and mapped Sumidero de MatehualaNUm. 3, which is a shallow sink 240 feet in diameter with an arroyoleading to a cave. A drop of about 8 feet leads to the first room,which has several skylights.drop into a mud room. Two small crawlways ended quickly insiphona.Another short drop leads to a 26 footThursday afternoon we drove on to San Luis Potosi, then turnedeast on the road to Cd. Valles, S.L.P. At Valle de los Fantasmos,