17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

165it looked a good 300 feet deep. Now it was time for that specialevent most pit cavers enjoy - rock dropping. The hectic searchfor rocks was on and none could be found near the edge of the pit.Finally some were found 50 feet away or so and a watch was madeready. Leaning over the edge, I dropped the first rock which was6 to 8 in. in diameter. Down it went. In 5 or 6 seconds thegreat crashing sound would be heard •••not a sound. Eight seconds,9 seconds - nothing. Finally after 9 1/2 to 10 seconds the roarof the rock falling through the air could be heard and after10 1/2 to 11 seconds the sound of the rock hitting bottom washeard. Some pits "look" deep and others don't. This one justdidn't look 10 1/2 seconds deep, and naturally we dropped anotherrock. Same story. The rocks were all about the same size andthey could be seen for about 8 1/2 seconds after which there wasnot sufficient light, although as I said, the vague form of a bottomcould be seen. And, it took between 10 1/2 and 11 seconds forthe sound of the rocks hitting bottom to be heard after the rockswere dropped. Convinced the pit was pretty deep, we headed backdown the trail to our packs./Even though there appears to be nosurface drainage into the pft, it should prove interesting uponfurther investigation.At the guide's house, we stopped for water and were alsogiven some coffee to drink. We thanked the people for their kindnessand set out for the junction and our packs. By now it was3 p.m. The chap at the junction told us that Tamapatz was onlyan hour or so away. 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m••• still strugg1i~along. We arrived at a cave within a few feet of the trail (onthe left when going towards Tamapatz) and briefly checked it.From the walk-in entrance a passage 15 feet wide and about as hightakes off. I followed it a couple of hundred feet before returningto the entrance. It was starting to get dark b;y this time andwe were anxious to reach Tamapatz. Finally around 8 p.m. we arrived•••a Huastecan hour's journey but a gringo's 4 or 5.One of the small stores was still open and we went in for arefresco and a little beer. The owner offered to let us sleep inan adjoining room which contained his bed and among other thingstwo fu11-sized pool tables in a very dilapidated state and nolonger in use - save by the odd spelunker or two that wanderthrough•••and upon occasion by the owner. He insisted that one ofus sleep in his bed and that he would take one of the pool tableswhile the other two of us could sleep on the remaining pool table.Being very tired, we sacked out at 9 p.m. and all was quiet untilaround 5 a.m. People here evidently like pork and consequentlypigs are butchered •••at 5 a.m•••immediate1y outside the store. Itis amazing what the squeals of a dying pig can do to a person at5 a.m.We spent the 28th hiking in the hills west (roughly) of Tamapatz.Several trails lead to the hills. I might add that thetopo map we had (1:100,000) was not sufficiently detailed to do usmuch good in our hiking. We spent a couple of hours going up atrail, checking do1inas and finding nothing. The surface at thehigher elevations (not much in excess of 1200 m and still belowthe pine trees) was capped with a sandstone or quartzite. Immediatelybelow this was a dolomitic type of rock, the result being aseries of springs but no caves. The extent of this cap was notdetermined and may well be quite limited.