The Altamont Enterprise - Thursday* January 6, 2005
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Backroads geology: The secrets of Skull Cave
— Photo by Art Palmer
A tubular
section
ofB Passage in New Skull
Cave.
• Photo by Art Palmer
The infamous
» •
New Skull Cave entrance
crawl.
.
— Photo by Art Palmer
Straddling
the walls ofF. Passage provides a challenge.
B y Mike N a r d a c c i
Karst regions are often eerie,
mysterious places. T h e n a m e
derives from K r a s , a thicklyforested province of w h a t used
to be Yugoslavia, where k a r s t
features were, first s t u d i e d , b y
geologists.
In karst areas, the rock layers
exposed a t or near the surface
are a type of carbonate bedrock,
most commonly limestone or
marble but sometimes gypsum.
Exposed to mild n a t u r a l acids
such as carbonic acid, such rock
dissolves over t i m e . Surface
streams often go underground
after a short distance or are
a b s e n t a l t o g e t h e r a n d cave
systems — sometimes hundreds
of miles in l e n g t h — m a y
develop.
The topography of these areas
is m a r k e d by s i n k h o l e s and
vertical shafts, their diameters
varying in size from a few. to
perhaps h u n d r e d s of feet with
gradual or precipitous vertical
relief in t h e s a m e r a n g e .
Disappearing streams and
artesian or gravity springs are
common in k a r s t regions, some
permanent, some seasonal, and
they m a y come a n d go with
stunning suddenness following
heavy precipitation.
Everywhere there are signs of
the mysterious dark voids under
earth, and frequently the sources
of w a t e r in s p r i n g s or the
ultimate
destinations
of
disappearing
streams
are
elusive. Caves become symbols
for life's great mysteries and it is
no wonder t h a t the h u m a n
imagination has regarded them
over the centuries with romantic
fascination.
The land for many s q u a r e
miles in the town of Knox is
karst, and although Knox Cave
is the best known cave, there are
many more. For over a centuryand-a-half, people have explored
them and looked for new ones,
becoming gradually aware t h a t
much of the ground beneath
t h e i r feet is hollow
and
wondering if the various caves
might be connected into a single,
vast underground
network
stretching for miles.
Many a farmer has on his
property a sinkhole or a narrow
cleft into which a t times may
pour huge volumes of water or
from which may be heard the
t h u n d e r o u s roar of torrential
s t r e a m s . But sinkholes may
often be too small to a d m i t
anything larger than a raccoon,
and debris left behind by the last
retreating
glaciers
often
obscures
or
completely
o b l i t e r a t e s cave e n t r a n c e s ,
permitting only surface water to
enter the ground through mudand gravel-choked soil.
Not far as the crow flies from
the hamlet of Knox lies the Skull
Cave system, a section of which,
properly known as New Skull
Cave, has been the subject of
sporadic explorations for many
y e a r s . Mention its n a m e to
veterans of the cave, and they
may grimace or show a touch of
fear as they recall expeditions
into its gloomy depth.
Neither the current nor past
owners h a v e permitted sport
caving, but on occasion have
allowed scientists to study the
hydrology of the cave or to
survey its bat population. As a
result, over the years a m a p has
been d r a w n t h o u g h everyone
a g r e e s it is n o w h e r e n e a r
c o m p l e t e , for
the
harsh
environmental conditions of the
cave have, simply e x h a u s t e d
explorers.
M a n y p a s s a g e s hold t h e
potential for extending Skull's
length but it may be many years
before the m a p is complete or
before
the
cave's
many
mysteries are solved — if it can
ever be truly said t h a t all of any
cave's m y s t e r i e s h a v e been
' solved.
Legend
The system t a k e s its n a m e
from legendary Old Skull Cave,
which lies some distance from
the New Skull e n t r a n c e on an
adjoining land parcel, and is the
subject of tales dating back into
the 19th Century. According to a
version of the story t h a t used to
be told by Delevan C. Robi nson
who once owned Knox Cave, in
the late 1800's a farmer decided
to investigate a sinkhole in one of
his fields — a vertical shaft some
70 feet deep.
Whether he was driven by
curiosity or fear t h a t one of his
cows might fall in, he descended
a rope ladder into the shaft. By
the light of a kerosene lantern he
found a passage leading to a
large u n d e r g r o u n d room-and
was struck d u m b by w h a t he
found there.
The floor was littered with
bones and skulls: some h u m a n ,
some apparently the remains of
cattle with exceptionally long
horns, and some of animals t h a t
he could not identify. Terrified,
he climbed back up the ladder.
Subsequently,
with
the
assistance of a pair of oxen, he
hauled a four-ton boulder to the
sinkhole and dropped it down,
and then he filled the shaft with
dirt, d e t e r m i n e d t h a t no one
would ever see t h e awful
spectacle a g a i n . Yet r u m o r s
persisted t h a t somehow a t least
one other person went down into
the hole and identified one of the
skeletons as the r e m a i n s of a
giant ice-age epoch g r o u n d •
sloth.
The cave eventually passed to
a different owner, and through
much oC the 20th Century, the
soil settled, revealing the upper
part of the water-worn shaft.
Supposedly, in the 1950's the
owner drilled down into the dirt
blocking the shaft and placed a
charge of d y n a m i t e in an
attempt to reopen the entrance.
The scheme did little beyond
blasting much of the dirt into the
air, whereupon it fell back down
into the shaft.
In the 1960's, with the owner's
e n c o u r a g e m e n t , a g r o u p of
college students erected a tripod
over the s h a f t a n d began
digging it out by hand. But fears
of liability and a dispute over the
ownership of items that might be
found in the cave put an end to
the digging — and for all of
these years since, the shaft has
remained sealed.
N e w Skull
But for many years beginning
in the 1950's, the attention of
explorers w a s focused on a
large, impressive sinkhole in a
grove of trees not far from Old
Skull Cave, predictably dubbed
New Skull. A rope is required to
descend the 30-foot drop to the
bottom
of t h e
sinkhole,
whereupon a second drop, also
requiring a rope, presents itself
to the caver.
From h e r e , a couple of
h u n d r e d feet of w a l k a b l e
passage leads to the infamous
Skull Crawl, which stretches for
nearly 1,200 feet In places this
p a s s a g e is a c o b b l e s t o n e d
floored stoop-way containing a
few inches of m u d d y , fetid,
water.
In other places, the passage
narrows or d e e p e n s to allow
ponding, r e q u i r i n g cavers to
crawl elbow-deep t h r o u g h the
bitterly cold waters; if there have
been recent rains, the ponds may
be inhabited by leeches and large
night crawlers washed in by the
flood.
Issuing from the ceiling, a tiny
trickle of water known as "The
D r i b b l e r"
marks
the
approximate halfway point of
t h e c r a w l , i t s faint t i n k l e
breaking the chilly silence and
drawing cavers onward.
The crawl ends abruptly and
at that point the cave begins to
branch like an octopus, with
passages t a k i n g off in many
directions. Examining a m a p of
the cave, one notices at once an
absence of the fanciful n a m e s
t h a t cavers sometimes give to
their discoveries.
There are no flowstone-lined
halls known as :(Jrand Canyon,
or "Croat Gallery," no prettilydecorated alcoves known as
"The C a t h e d r a l " or "Angel's
Roost." One senses the respect
t h a t explorers have for this
"cavers' cave." ("Sporting" is
another euphemism.)
One section named "Passage
B" heads west for nearly a mile,
much of it is of walking height,
but it is frequently filled to a
depth of several feet with water,
m a k i n g exploration a bonechilling slog.
A truly spectacular sight is "F
P a s s a g e , " which r u n s in a
perfectly straight line for 2,000
feet to the southwest; it is said
that a candle placed at its remote
end is visible from its entrance. It
leads to a mazy area of the cave
known as the "Stony Brook
Section."
Here, in places, crevices in the
walls offer glimpses of a lower
level in which cobblestones can
be seen on the floor; these are
usually the sign of an extensive
p a s s a g e with periodic fastmoving water, but the lower
level r e m a i n s today largely
unexplored.
Not far from the entrance "F
Passage,": a large hall with the
curious name of "Giant Anteater
Room" features a display of
delicate
stalactites
and
stalagmites, cave features t h a t
are otherwise fairly rare in Skull.
The sight is meager payment for
the discomfort cavers endure to
see it.
Explorers have been known to
spend periods of greater than 24
h o u r s at a t i m e in Skull,
negotiating tight squeezes,
w a d i n g t h r o u g h deep, foulsmelling mud, m a p p i n g and
surveying, s t u d y i n g the rock
layers, a t t e m p t i n g to m a k e
geologic
sense
of
the
labyrinthine structure — all the
time trying to ward off the
Stygian cold.
Somewhere an unsurveyed or
undiscovered lead may connect
with Knox Cave, or open a new
passage leading miles beneath
the plateau to one of the many
frigid springs that burst from the
limestone cliffs t h a t abound in
the Helderbergs. Solving t h e
cave's mysteries is a powerful
lure, but sobering are the tales of
shivering cpcplorers who h a v e
barely Hgfss-fid succumbing to
hypothermia bMore making it
back to the w a r m t h of t h e
outside.
Yet almost all of them have
gone back, braving the cave's
obstacles for the many reasons
that human beings challenge the
unknown. With nearly five miles
already mapped, Skull haunts
the imagination of sport cavers
and scientists alike, though it
poses obstacles far beyond those
of "user-friendly" Knox Cave.
Its c u r r e n t
inaccessibility,
given the l a n d o w n e r s ' unwillingness to open t h e cave to
further exploration m a k e s its
secrets even more alluring a n d
also makes it figure large in the
l e g e n d s a n d l o r e of t h e
Helderbergs.