Caves of the Guajataca Forest

Last weekend we had a flurry of activity showing friends some local caves. We believe that caves are the most amazing things on the planet and that everyone, especially people in Puerto Rico, should go into at least one in their lifetime! Sunday's trip involved David (our best friend) and his wife Ramona and 3 grand kids. Believe it or not David had never been to the Guajataca Forest and he has lived here his entire life! We were more than pleased to introduce his family to the nice trails and very nice cave in this forest that is basically his and our backyard. We met at the trail head which is marked and maintained. The visitor place (with maps) wasn't open yet since it was Sunday but Jeff and I had visited the cave several times before. After maybe 40 minutes of walking we came to the entrance where we laid out the law about not touching things or taking things and the reasons behind that. This cave is visited by a lot of people since it is marked and easy to find and despite the damage visitors have done it is still very nice. We distributed lights and began a nice tour of the place.

 

After exploring the entire cave and seeing how excited the kids (and David) were we went down some other trails to visit other caves we knew about. We knew about 2 but found a couple new ones as the kids scrambled and starting to recognize what to look for. All 5 caves were along a trail! We did not even venture on the long walks to 2 other ones. Two of the caves were kind of walk-through caves and the others were small but bigger than we initially thought! We spent about 5 hours in the forest and enjoyed the day...we suspect David will have to bring the kids back to the forest in the future!

This Weekend's Caves - Cuevas Abono and Collazo

This dry season has been exciting because we are surprised almost every weekend by caves that aren't known, well-known or documented. Not only that but some of them are really pretty nice and go further than anticipated! Cueva Abono in Moca/Isabela was no exception. Tom and Michael came by the house and we headed up 112, hung a left shortly and headed to a house we scoped out on a previous outing. The gate to the house was open and Tom just drove right up the long driveway and chatted with the owner who pointed to the sink and said the owner probably wouldn't mind if we went into it. It was RIGHT THERE. A low spot in her driveway. We walked for all of 3 minutes to climb down into it. There was an opening on the left and one on the right and we went right. It did not look extensive until I used a good light and a little crawling to get around a squeeze and holy shit it was huge!!! I told the others they better come in and I just kept going! I got to a pit and found a way precariously down it (unnerving to be face-to-the-rock with feet dangling over an outcropping over a pit). I lowered myself down and then took off again. The cave just swallowed us whole as it opened up into huge passage sticky with mud and full of an untouched carpet of guano! It was quite decorated and had a lot of wonderful rock "sculptures" of rocks sitting like bridges or on pedestals. To the right of one such rock "table" I entered a small "bacon" tunnel with really nice bacon and a small bat hanging on it. We continued on and on maneuvering around creepy high up muddy slippery ledges (FUN stuff) and sinking in guano mud on the floor. We explored most leads except a high up need-a-rope-but-can't-see-how-to-anchor-it level. The cave ended at a collapse where we could see roots and some debris but not a way out. We need to map it to find an alternate entrance (the collapse from the surface or who knows, maybe a drop into the upper level?). We headed out and then took a quick peak into the other entrance and holy crap, it immediately dropped into a pit and was huge as well! No photos of this second part since the humidity crapped up the camera, but there were HUGE columns and a stream. We followed the stream and then I did some crawling into some dead-end mud rooms. Followed the water to some nice flowstone and even more tunnels. We followed everything as far as we could and turned back. We went a route that we thought would meet up with the main branch we came in on and indeed it did. This cave was much more involved than anticipated and really really nice! We were in the cave around 2 1/2 hours.

 



After that we stood in the entrance for a bit waiting for the tractor beam to pull us up and deposit us at our next stop. We shortly arrived at a cave, Cueva Collazo, that feeds into the waterfall off 111. We parked at a house after asking the neighbors if they knew where it was. We went down some stairs and into the river bed following it upstream. We came to a low muddy entrance and headed in! We were amazingly muddy from the first cave and I was a little chilled to start but into the disgustingly dirty water we went. Immediately the ceiling got low and the water got chest high. After that it got lower and lower and lower and opened up into some stand up spots. We investigated all the watery areas until they ended. This meant slurpping a little water here and there and being totally submerged! Our kind of stuff! (personally I prefer the one-way no-turn-around mud tunnels to the helmet-off-nose above water ones). Michael was a sport since he hadn't been in a cave before. He REALLY lucked out with these - they were amazing (especially the first although the second was the crazy stuff that is most memorable). All in all it was a fabulous day that was unbelievably close to home. OMG





Cueva Perdida

Some friends who have moved to the states were here for the holidays and wanted to go caving. We of course did too so we had to come up with something that would be new to them, exciting, and safe. This "dry season" has been anything but dry this year which really limits our cave choices. The wanted to do some vertical work but a lot of the caves requiring vertical work are wet. Really wet. We came up with Perdida since we wanted to see it again, Diana wanted to see it again, and Tim and Sherly hadn't been there. There were some other caves nearby Tom wanted to explore but with the late start we just didn't get to them this time. As a surprise Bro decided to show up! The walk is under a mile and since it is cooler now wasn't bad at all! We got to the small entrance and could tell they had no idea what was inside! From outside it doesn't look like much at all. Even the initial entryway gives no clues as to what is inside. Once inside though it is a Disneyland-like terrain of flowstone, chest-high moving water and beautiful formations. This cave is free of trash and graffiti which is another huge plus! We crawled through the entryway and popped out on a ledge above the river. We climbed down into the water and followed it up through formations and between rocks etc. There is some climbing, some crawling, and there are a few surprises in this cave. We came here for the first in 2010 and remembered it a little differently. At that point we had only gone into a dozen caves. Now that we have some experience the cave seemed easy and a lot shorter. It is still one of the most decorated caves we have been too. We went upstream and got to the area where the "white room" was. I had remembered an exciting squeeze under a ledge with low clearance, water up to the nostrils and a small hole leading to a collapse and then the room. This was not where we were. We went up a short climb and entered the room that was white, covered in stalagmites and 'tites and helictites and columns and everything! We marveled at the beauty and took care where we stepped giving Bro a heart attack whenever we were near a white column. This area had been surveyed and we stepped on already mudded areas and tried to avoid clean stuff.

Once we were in the room we remembered all the connecting rooms at the upper level and the tunnels. Instead of going through some nice white connections we went back down to the river level and THEN found what I remembered as the fun part! Under the ledge I went slithering into a little hole so I could find the bigger hole for the others. I shined my light and everyone came up. We climbed the collapse and got up into the pretty spot and had a look around. Then it was back down, into the water and downstream. Bro had gone out a hole downstream from where we came in before so he led the way. It got tighter and tighter and was very wet and Jeff got nervous. He didn't think it went out or at least he didn't want to do it. I went a slightly different way, could see him, could squeeze in a small spot to get to him and traveled down further pretty sure it connected. Bro thought it was the right place too. Since weather was iffy and Jeff wanted to turn we decided to look from the outside, I'd crawl up in there and see if I recognized the spot.

From the outside we went to rinse things off and I climbed up into a little waterfall crack and started following it. I went for about 5 minutes, went back to collect other interested parties (Tim and Sherly) and follow it all the way. We ended up at the spot Jeff had been at! It was a little tight for Jeff but he could probably do it. I really like that kind of maneuvering so it was the highlight of the day for me. I think Sherly and Tim enjoyed that part and the others enjoyed NOT going in there. Turns out there are 3 cracks that lead to that way out - we'll call it the "waterfall way." This is a really nice cave with a little of everything - water, formations, climbing, squeezing. It has everything we go caving to see and the walk isn't taxing. Another visitor is coming in a week and might not want to miss this one...Adam? There are so many caves to see it is hard to choose but I can recommend this one and would return again. Since our time on island is limited I am being kind of choosey with what I do now. I don't want graffiti and trash and starving animals to be what I remember. If Perdida is the final cave I do here I am happy with that (we already have done another one though that would be a good one to end on also!). It does look like we will be here possibly for a majority of the dry season - good to get in as many caves as possible!

Caves in Our Neighborhood (almost) - 4 New Ones

On Sunday we stayed close to home and went off with Tom armed with some guy's 50 year old not-very-descriptive report of the locations of a bunch of caves near our house. Weather looked iffy so water caves were out and being close to home sounded great. The information was sketchy but Tom's knowledge of topography/geology etc makes finding things possible and probable! First we drove on 112 to the spot where we see the drug dealer stand guard 24/7. We had gone down into this cluster of houses before and asked around. People pointed to the hillside and we were coming back to scope it out! We parked, changed, and walked behind a house up onto the hillside following the river and came to our first "find." It was a large opening that went through to the other side. The bottom looked scoured by lots of water which was strange. The other side was a field and it is hard to imagine it draining that much water. We looked around. Tom was more interested in it than we were since he understands the geology and we don't. There wasn't much to it so we poked around a bit and then climbed the hill to what looked like an upper level.

This upper level wasn't much either but did have a tiny hole that we thought might lead somewhere. I went in feet first having to really flex around a stalagmite with my helmet off. I did end up in a nice little room but it did not go anywhere. One of these times I am going to get in somewhere I can't get out of! A little swelling or water drinking and I could be stuck! I contorted my way out head first. Oh, such relief to be out!

Next we roamed around the ridge and came across a hole that turned out to be the amazing find of the day! This little cave is full of decorations! Unfortunately a majority of the stalactites have been broken off but the amount of decoration was still amazing given how close this cave is to houses and people. After a couple small drops you enter a large room with a side room and a deep cut in the bottom. We explored it all looking for passages to continue on but didn't have any luck.

 

We wandered around for another hour or so in pouring rain and found another cave, Cueva Armistad (?) which is where rebels reportedly stashed guns and maps of attack plans. No rebel booty here though - just lots and lots of bats. Not much of a cave passage-wise but interesting for a few minutes. We continued wandering around looking for a few other caves without finding them. It was an early day which was fine with me - rainy and cold. We hacked through the jungle with a machete (or at least Tom did) to get down to this field. We walked across it so we could climb up the other side to the car. On our little trek we were hoping to see another cave...running water was there, vegetation was there and all the conditions were right....but no. No cave. We hiked up to where the car was and headed to our house for a beer and snacks and mainly a nice HOT shower! Kind of a different day with a big payoff. We discovered one very nicely decorated cave close to home.

Cueva Larga Again

On Saturday we took a California caver (Ryan Baker) and his daughter to Cueva Larga. Julie and Richard also joined us for this trip. It started with a meet-up at Panaderia Lourdes at 9am and proceeded on the twisty roads to the parking place which was well marked by bags of garbage. You just can't escape it. The walk through the jungle was about a mile and 1/4 and the heat and humidity made it seem much longer for everyone. Once we arrived, the mouth of the cave was cooler and we sat and had a snack and water before heading into the cave. This cave is very very muddy and is pretty much a straight shot that is flat without many side shoots. There is a little bit of climbing to get into the cave and there are a few places to crawl if you want or climb if you want but really it is flat and muddy with a lot of nice formations. This first photo shows some odd dimpling in the rock I thought was interesting. Jeff is standing near some mushroom-top formations (my made-up name) and unfortunately it is really impossible to show the scale of anything in this cave! These columns, the flow stone and draperies are absolutely humongous!



            

There are a good number of really nice, clean flow stone areas and lots of glittery areas. This cave is a bit of a walk so not many cavers have had a chance to do much damage. Jeff and I have only caved in Puerto Rico, and I am sure need some additional training before we enter caves anywhere else - we try to be careful and try hard not to walk or touch clean, still-growing formations but I am sure cavers from other areas are much more careful than we are (do you have any advice for us Ryan?? We welcome it). I always enjoy the clean, white flow stone that to me looks like a river.

There is an entire floor of this "popcorn" looking formation and we unfortunately had to walk on this area to continue. We tried to stay to the side. Up close you can see they are still growing drip by drip. There are a lot of very large column pieces that are on the ground that I think look like missiles.

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You continue across this popcorn area and down the long muddy tunnel amazed at all the very large formations covering the walls and ceiling. There are a couple collapse areas and one in particular has an amazing room that is unexpectedly jammed with helictite chandeliers, white draperies and an amazing, 5 plus foot perfectly white stalagmite growing in an area surrounded by clean, mostly undamaged flow stone.



There are a couple spots in this area that look like they could continue but we don't want to damage the area trying to find that out. It is much more important to stay OUT of some areas. It is so easy to be overzealous and want to bulldoze into new territory!

I think this collapse area is the definite "highlight" of this cave or at least a nice "end." It is interesting how muddy it is and yet how many really pristine formations are in this cave. This is my third time in this cave and I still see new things! I think everyone had a good time...and then My Friend Taco as the grand finale! (that's a joke)  Another great day in a cave! Thanks to every one who came!