17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

140On 26 November we drove to Xilitla, S.L.P. and on west, pastAhuacatlan, to the area of S6tano del Pozo and S6tano de las Hoyas.We climbed the opposite slope from the two pits and, with the helpof the land owner, found a small pit, S6tano del Meloscho. Thepit was about 170 to 180 feet deep at the most. At the bottom wefound some skull bones which were identified by University ofTexas anthropologists as recent. We left the cave and startedback, spending the night at El Nacimiento del Rio Mante near Cd.Mante, Tamps. and then drove to Austin, Texas •• Persons: Jerry Broadus, Joseph Cepeda, Terry Raines, BobRichardson, Cindy TracyDate: 2-4 December 1966Destination: Ca~6n de la Huasteca and Cueva de La Boca, N.L.Reported by: Terry Raines Austin, TexasFor some obscure reason the Mexican customs officials decided.that today they were not accepting Selective Service Registration.Certificates as proof of U.S. citizenship. All of us had birthcertificates except Jerry. I argued with the officials, maintainingthat we had crossed the border many times using only a registrationcard, but all was to n~ avail. They informed us thatJerry would have to get a notarized affidavit declaring his citizenshipbefore a visa could be issued. Jerry went back to theU.S. side, paid $2.00 for a notary, and returned with the affidavit.We encountered no further difficulties. The night was spentcamped beside the road just north of Sabinas Hidalgo.3 December Our trip had several objectives: learn what kind ofplant was being built on the road to Villa de Garcia as informationfor AMCS Bulletin No. Ij visit caves in Ca~6n de la Huastecajexplore Cueva de La Bocaj and map the caves at El Diente, a promi~nent mountain containing several caves and deep mines.Driving through Monterrey, we turned west toward Saltillo andafter a few miles turned north on the Villa de Garcia road. Theplant, six miles down the road, was Industria del ~lcali, S.A., aproducer of alkali.Next we headed for Can6n de la Huasteca, located just to thesouth of Santa Catarina, N.L. (See sketch map on page 141.) Aswe entered the canyon and began following the arroyo upstream, weobserved almost vertically bedded limestone. (See photograph onpage 142.) Knife-edge ridges rising several hundred feet were allaround us. We had leads to several caves, but before visitingthese we planned to cave-hunt at the upper end of the canyon. Theroad turned out to be very rough and dusty and after nearly 3 hoursof steady driving we arrived at a junction, only 18.3 miles fromthe mouth of the canyon. To the right a road leads up a narrowside canyon to Pajonal, while straight ahead the road continues upthe main canyon. A sign indicated that it went to San Juan, sowe took this road. Passing a deserted truck, we next met anotherthat was stopped due to lack of water. The driver informed us thatthere were no caves in the immediate area and that it was almost50 miles to San Juan. We had come only 3 miles since the junction,which took an hour, so we turned back. The day was late and westill hadn't seen a cave. We decided to visit Grutas de SanBartolo, a well-known cave in the area. The dust choked us for