Caving in Ontario – Ontario cave
old pics 165, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Another picture of Dewdneys cave taken some time ago – as in at least 15 years ago when my son was young – he is holding a portable fluorescent light in front of him and I had taken the picture with slow exposure using an old SLR.
In following upstream from the triangular entry shaft there is this section off to the right where these pheratic – bedding plane oriented tunnels lead off into a maze. Nobody seems to really know the full extent of the system but Marcus B. has the best idea as I am told he has a pretty extensive map. I recall a trip that I had taken some years ago with Lori Nichols and Rob Laidlaw, Lori described some long straight, extremely tubular white tunnels that her group found off in this direction.
Anyway my good caving partner seems to be making a slow recovery and we will probably be heading out tomorrow for a little exploration in this area that we feel is quite promising.
Hey,time for a new blog entry!!!
Thank you for the post!
Good point, I think I will do something quite soon – been in a bit of a slump lately but our discussion on Roppel cave and that fantastic work you have been doing with the mapping has really inspired my caving conciousness. Mick
How do you go about finding all these great spots? Is there a club I could join?
A few good questions that I might be several months late in answerting but – here goes as its Canada Day and I am not so busy.
How do I find these spots? … I have a network of like minded people who all contribute information to a common pool. Most weekends I am off somewhere looking at the geography, speculating as to what might lie beneath or digging to see if I am right. I have a friend who examines ariel photoas and other friends who are skilled in various aspects of cave digging and exploration. I have spent a significant amount of time researching old manuscripts and also educating myself on geography and geology.
Is there a club? … Yes, I know of three clubs that are into caving in or on the border of Ontario. I am a member of the TCG (Which reminds me to renew my membership as it is well past due). Club membership simply gets you out on a couple of generic outings – the real world of local caving comes with the contacts that you make. Nobody ever reveals the most secret and incredible places at first meeting – you need to gain their trust and acceptance. “Put your time in on digs and searches”. The cavers biggest fear is someone who will damage the cave that they have found.
You would also be absolutely amazed at what you can find with Google Earth, especially since DigitalGlobe, the providers of Google Earths imagery, updated the Ontario overlays… It’s knowing what to look for, how shadows will fall across a field signifying a possible cave, sinkhole or sinking stream. I have found quite a few things this way during the week, then on the weekends drive out to investigate. Some have yielded to be nothing, others, well, lets say I have passed the info onto members of groups who have the time to go digging these leads open, lol.
All one needs to do is see the disgusting graffiti at the entrance to one of the caves in the Eramosa Karst area, the area which backs onto a subdivision. When you see this along with pictures of broken off stalactites and the destroyed decorations in a cave near Rockwood, you will understand why the caving community is extremely tight lipped.