17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

TRIP REPORTS73Persons: Lew Bicking, Mark Blumenstein, Bob "Rooney" Burnett,Kenny Laidlaw, Squire C. L. Lewis, Joe Pendleton, TerryRaines, Rick Rigg, Stanley Spencer, Bob Thren, Sam andDiane YoungDate: 1-9 July 1966Distination: Satano de Tlamaya and the Xilitla areaReported by: Terry Raines Austin, TexasDuring the 1966 National Speleological Society Convention atSequoia National Park, California several groups of cavers finalizedplans for a trip to Mexico. They arranged to meet at Terry Raines'house in Austin, Texas and from there drive to the Xilitla area andSatano de Tlamaya. Everyone arrived on Friday, July 1st as plannedand out of this large number of people four groups were condensed:Kenny, Rick, and Lew in Kenny's 4-wheel drive pickup; Mark and Stanin Mark's car; Bob, Squire, and Joe in Bob's car; and Terry, Rooney,Sam, and Diane in Terry's pickup. Late that night the party leftAustin.2 July About 3:30 AM Saturday morning we crossed the Rio Grandeand encountered the greatest mass of confusion at Mexican Customsthat any of us had seen in a long while. It seemed as if everygringo tourist in the United States was trying to cross the borderat once and get to Monterrey. (This was the 4th of July weekend.)Five hours later all of our groups had their papers and we lefttown heading south. Nightfall found us just outside Ciudad Mantedriving along a dirt road toward El Nacimiento del Rio Mante, anexcellent camping spot. But we quickly discovered that the dirtroad was impassable due to the heavy rains a week previous. Infact, all the way from Monterrey we had been noticing that everyarroyo and river, which was usually dry, contained raging torrentsof water. In lieu of camping at the Nacimiento, we slept by theroad below the large cliff-entrance of Cueva de El Abra, locatedonly a few miles south of Mante. (For a description and map ofCueva de El Abra see AMCS NEWSLETTER, Volume I, Number 2, page 17.)3 July The journey was continued on south through Ciudad Vallesto the turnoff of the new road to Xilitla. This road followsArroyo Seco and passes through some extremely promising mountainswhich remain completely unexplored as far as caves are concerned.We were passing a point approximately halfway between the turnoffand Xilitla when a most unfortunate incident occurred. Rooney,whQ had been sleeping in the back of the truck, decided to ride onthe rear bumper in order to get a better view of the spectacularcanyon and surrounding mountains. As he was climbing over thetailgate and onto the bumper, as he had done a hundred times before,his foot slipped and he fell. For a moment he was able to hang onand was dragged by the truck, but soon had to let go and went tumblingto a stop in the middle of the gravel road. Injuries SUBtainedwere a severely torn knee, and several other much lessserious cuts and scrapes. He was rushed to Xilitla where a doctordid the best job he could with the facilities he had available.With Rooney now patched up, the group continued on to Rancho deHuitzmolotitla near Tlamaya, where we camped with the permissionof Sr. Ismael Larios, the ranch foreman.