Friday afternoon I drove out to an area in the Oregon desert called Saddle Butte. It is a massive landmark that can be seen from 50 miles away or more. The area is surrounded by an old volcanic system. A giant lava tube flows through the region. Most of it is collapsed, but there are portions that are intact and give cavers perfect opportunities to explore. :)
I made it to the spot I was parking my car at. Matt Skeels was already there, and 10 minutes later Brent and Kara arrived to pick us up. We got all our gear loaded up and Matt announced that he had brought a giant iron pry bar to use on a digging project. So about halfway to camp Brent stopped and we got out. Matt began digging out rocks. We all sort of took turns until we had englarged the hole. There was a strong breeze blowing through, but it was too tight and too many rock restrictions to get through. After digging in two more spaces we called it quits for the day. As Matt said, it was a BLFFG cave (Better Left For Future Generations).
We finished the drive back to camp, and saw that Mike and Sam Loomis were there and had their camp set up. Let's just say now, that those two brothers brought a lot of laughter and interesting times to our caving group. Our camp was set up between Fire-pit Cave and Fortymile Cave.
The rest of the evening I set up camp, cooked dinner, and visited. Brent went into Fire-pit Cave to check it out, but Matt told him it only went about 20 feet before ending in collapse. It connected with Fortymile Cave at one point, though.
Later that evening Scott Linn Came in and joined our group. He's done a lot of caving in Peru, Guatemala, and in the United States; including Lechuguilla. I soon went to bed, and got ready for our big day tomorrow!
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