17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

159Grutas de Mogote, located one mile east of town. Here a large depressionhas formed with the small sink entrance to the Grutas locatedin the bottom on the east side. The highway was built soclose to the depression that it is now collapsing into it. Buddecided not to enter the cave so I went ahead to make a biologicalcollection. An hour was spent in the cave collecting qUite a varietyof insects. About noon we left the area, returned to themain highway, and drove south to Acapulco for a day; a refreshingbreak from caving.23-26 December After spending the 23rd in Acapulco we returnedto Mexico city where Bud boarded a bus leaVing for Austin. I continuedon to the beautiful city of Orizaba, Ver. where I spent thenext 3 days in and around the city visiting several old friends.On Christmas day I hiked to the small Indian village of TeqUila,located 10 miles south of Orizaba. This is in an area of a greatnumber of pits, many of which were visited by AMCS members 2 yearsearlier. On the night of the 26th I met Bill Russell and TomTracy in Mexico City. From there we headed to Huautla de Jimenez,Oax. for 4 days of caving.27 December At Tehuacan we turned south, following the broadvalley that is the upper basin of the Rio Santo Domingo. The climatein this area is hot and dry. After 80 km and several smalltowns we reached Teotitlan del Camino, the last valley town on ourroute. From Teotitlan we took a dirt road that winds up into themountains, heading east. For approximately 20 km it is very steepwith many SWitchbacks; vegetation is still s~arse. The road thencontours between several passes (elev 2250 m) before descendingthe remaining 35 km to Huautla de Jimenez (elev 1500 m). BetweenTeotitlan and Huautla (90 km by road but only 25 km by air) theroad literally clings to the mountainsides, several thousand feetabove the valley floors. The exciting ride provides quite an experiencefor those Viewing the region for the first time. As oneapproaches Huautla, vegetation becomes profuse because the cloudsfrom the Gulf of Mexico are blocked by the mountains and forced todrop their mOisture. Go,od cave-forming limestone is not encountereduntil just past Huautla. After several hours of bouncingalong the very bad road we reached Huautla and drove another 6 kmto the pass below San Agustin. Ed Alexander and Tommy McGarriglearrived within a few minutes and we set up camp.That afternoon TOM, Tommy, and I explored and mapped s6tanodel Camino. The cave is located about 114 mile from our camp inthe direction of Tenango and 40 feet to the left of the road. Theinitial drop in the 40 by 50 foot entrance pit is 109 feet. Asteepl~ sloping passage about 40 feet high and wide leads downwardfor 170 feet from the base of the drop. The floor is covered withlarge breakdown. A small hole between the cave walland several breakdown blocks leads from the end of the passageinto a small lower level. Here the cave reaches its greatestdepth of 273 feet. (See map on page 160.)28 December A bright clear day boosted our morale. After havingspent the morning locating some known caves in the area for ourpersonal reference we arrived at the entrance to s6tano de SanAgustin by noon. OVer an hour was spent rigging the rope and choppinga path down through the dense undergrowth which covers thesteep entrance slope. (See photograph on page 162.) Tom, Ed,Tommy, and I continued on into the cave, surveying as we went.