VOLUME 9 NUMBER 5 NOVEMBER 1989

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CAVERN LAKE CAVE

PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND ALASKA

stream from Cavern Lake

PLAN VIEW Brunton &Taaa Survey

bug., 15,21 by S. Lewis. K. Al l red

CMetzler, CASlred TONGASS CAVES PROJECT

KEY -slope .streamflow

Pa5 *water +organic debris w~ breakdown Q =ce~ling height

8 .distances above and below

I water level I

-' LOWER ENTRANCE

UPPER ENTRANCES 3%

SUMPS

I SIMPLIFIED PROFILE 0 50 100 -E L. - I --

scale in feet NATDNAL SPELE0LM;ICAL SOCIETY @ 1Q89 by Carltne Allred

CAVERN LAKE CAVE Prince of Wales Island, Alaska

Technical preliminary Report #12 By: Kevin Allred

~escription and speleogenesis Located a t t h e outlet of well

known and easily accessible Cavern Lake, Cave rn Lake Cave h a s been formed by the underground flow of Cavern Lake through a low wall of Heceta Limestone. The cave appears to have p h r e a t i c bedding p l a n e controlled origin w i t h minor vadose modification.

There a r e t w o sumped upper en- t r a n c e s , both taking t h e water flow. The level of Cavern Lake can rise several f e e t during high r u n o f f a n d flood t h e u p p e r en-. trances f u r t h e r than shown on the map. Many l o g s , m o s t of which a p p e a r to h a v e been c u t , are crammmed into t h e deep w a t e r of both upper entrances .

The l o w e r outlet of t h e cave is a large wide walk-in e n t r a n c e i s suing forth t h e creek. The major part of t h e accessible cave is here a n d consists of a very large room about 100 by 150 f ee t w i t h an amazingly low flat ceiling. the room con- tains a lake o f varied depth. Much of t h e bedrock is covered with scallops. Another low broad pas- sage heads to t h e Nor th to re-enter t h e b i g room with only a couple of inches of a i r space in dry season. Two side passages feed into the big r o o m from the S o u t h . They are above t h e present high water levels and have been for some time judging from the flowstone deposits there. A t the West end of the big room is the s t ream bearing passage which becomes in excess of 13 feet deep and soon sumps. The sump was free dived and immediatly sumps a g a i n a f t e r 4 feet. No other explora - t i o n s were attempted because of lack of e x p e r i e n c e , equipment and courage. The closest upper e n - t r a n c e s sump a n d lower sump are s e p a r a t e d by 4 0 feet (overland survey by C. Allred, C. Metzles, and S. Lewis) .

BIOLOGY O t h e r than bat a c t i v i t y at t h e

upper entrances at dusk, no o t h e r biological life was noted at Cavern Lake Cave. Salmon apparantly do

p a s s t h r o u g h t h e c a v e t o spawn elsewhere, b u t n o n e were seen i n s i d e d u r i n g the survey. The closest ones were gathered in a p o o l just b e l o w t h e lower e n - trances. In 1987 Bruce Campbell of t h e Thorne B a y R anger D i s t r i c t : mentioned birds nesting in the cave b u t none were seen in August.

SAFTEY CONSIDERATIONS Hypothermia and drowning are the

g r e a t e s t t h r e a t s of Cavern Lake Cave. Although water temperatures can be warmer than cave temperature because of t h e incoming sun warmed waters of Cavern Lake, a wetsuit is recommended. Reasonable p r e c a u t i o n and common sense should protect any v i s i t o r s from ham.

MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS If there would not be negative

impacts on salmon or b i r d s in t h e area of t h e lower e n t r a n c e , this cave may be s u i t a b l e f o r public access v i a a trail f r om t h e a d j a - c e n t road. The entrance is b e a u t i - f u l and unique. There is little opportunity for damage to speleo- thems in the cave and many v i s i t o r s to t h e Island ~ o u l d e n j o y seeing t h e entrance to this spectacular cave.

1989 GRAPHIC ARTS SALON The Alaskan Caver received Hon-

orable M e n t i o n f o r our only entry in t h e 1989 NSS GRAPHIC ARTS SALON. It was for Carlene Allred's beauti- f u l drawing, "A Caver Descends into Starlight Cave," which graced our April 1988 issue 8 ( 6 ) : cover. This contest is limited to photographic and non-photographic entries of NSS G r o t t o newsletter c o v e r s of the previous y e a r . Mention of this award was also made in t h e Septem- ber NSS Mews 47(9):219. Congratu- l a t i o n s Carlene! We had o n l y one issue of t h e Caver that year. Next yeas, of course , we w i l l have more to submit for the 1990 contest. T h e photographic a n d n o n - p h o t o g r a p h i c categories are different and do n o t compete with each other . More than one e n t r y in each category is allowed, so all covers will aga in be sent.

volume 9 Number 5 sr-----.--- t n P a mama *1

CARL" GOOD CAVERNS and

QUICK REDUCER CAVE by Mike Van Note

W h e r e I stayed i n 1979 in a Forest Service camp, called Halfway House ( a b o u t 1 mile North of Con- t r o l Lake towards Staney creek, P r ince of Wales Island, AK) there were two caves l o c a t e d rather conveniently nearby. T h e first had been named "carlFs Cavernsfi1 by a local E.S. engineer, Kim Turly, who had v i s i t ed it. While this cave is small, it is nevertheless interest- i ng . The main entrance is a fairly large opening in a b l u f f a l o n g a good size s u r f a c e s t ream (which incidentally sinks i n t o the' b e d just u p s t r e a m of the cave during t l d r y i f weather). T h e entrance p a s s a g e is developed along t h e strike of a re lat ive ly thin bed of limestone dipping some 20 degrees ta the NE. Within this passage are some fascinating l~micro-structurelf to be seen along t h e w a l l s . A waterfall i s s u e i n g from a s h o r t crawl in t h e r e a r of the cave comes as an interesting s u r p r i s e a l s o . Nearby, e n the same h i l l , is anoth- er cave which I named "Quick Reduc- er" a s a result of it "shriveling upTi i n s i z e (as were my hopes f o r some th ing a l i t t l e larger). T h e entrance is a large pit with a stream issueing from a fissure a l o n g one wall. I was able to d e s c e n d this pi t by means of a rather rotten and s l i p p e r y l o g which was leaning against one wall. W i t h o u t t h i s log, I would have needed a rope to get i n t o the cave. The entrance passage is reasonably impressive with a high lead that migh t produce more passage. Anoth- er s h o r t passage c o n n e c t s : to a second p i t entrance j u s t before a climbdown which leads t o a rather trsportylw crawl ending i n a sump. A l o o k at the plan and profile of t h e s e t w o c a v e s w i l l show t h a t there a r e f o u r (five, if you i n - clude t h e large sometimes 19sub1q surf ace stream) subterranean streams in a small area. There exact r e l a t i o n s h i p to each o t h e r is not as obvious a s it m i g h t seem. It appears that t h e waterfall stream in Carl's Good Cave is the

same which later rises from a sunF to leave the main entrance. On t h ~ o t h e r hand, t h e stream i n Q u i c k Reducer is larger than t h a t w h i c k i s s u e s f r o m t h e s p r i n g near C a r l s Good Cave. It is p o s s i b l e that t h e ma in Carl's Good Cave and Quick Reducer streams are one and t h ~ same, the apparent elevation1 dif - Eerence due to a s u r v e y error (1 was surveying solo up a very s t e e ~ h i l l , and t h i s would n o t be out of the question! ) . Both of t h e s f caves are developed in w h a t appear= to be a small area a £ limestone surrounded by a l t e r e d r o c k s of a non-Karst nature. A s this area i s q u i t e accessible ( y o u could, i r 1979, d r i v e right to these caves) it might bear a little more inves- tigation.

MEMBERS IN TEE NEWS - Richa rd A Hall s 198 1 article, I1Newby Cave, ' in the The Alaskan Caver 6(6) : 5 - 6 was mentioned in the B i r m i n q h a ~ Grotto Newsletter of February 1982 page 3 .

MEMBERS IN T H E NEWS - C a r l e n l Allred's article, "Starlight Cavs and El C a p i t a n Cave trip report" i Alaskan aver 8(6) :3-6 bas cited i Current T i t l e s i n SweLeolosy Number 2 1 - the literatures o 1988, a publication of t h e Britis Cave Research Association., pag 26.

MEMBERS IN THE HEWS - Kevi Allred s article, '@Rust Creek Cav -- Finallyff in Alaskan C a v e 8 1 5 ) : 3 - 7 w a s c i t e d i n Curren Titles in Sweleelosv, Number 21 t h e l i t e r a t u r e of 1988, publication of t h e British Cav Research Association., page 26.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS - Marion 0 Smith' s 1987 article, '"h identification of Horner's an Heaton's niter works, Bath County V i r g i n i a , " in NSS B u l l e t i 49(1):15-25 was c i t e d in Curren Titles in SpeLeology, Number 2 1 the literature of 1988, publication of the British Cav Research Association, page 3 3 .

Volume 9 Number 5

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VOLUME 9 THE ALASKAN CAVER NUMBER 5

The Alaskan Cnwr i s the intermit tent p rb l l cs t i an of Glacier Grotto of the Mational Spcleological Society. C O W -

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