McClung's Cave in West Virginia
First
things first: This trip also included a visit to Robbins Rift Cave. When
we arrived to the cave, Alan discovered a large rock had fallen into the
entrance and was large enough to prevent passage into the cave. We tried
using available rocks and other items to break the large rock up into manageable
pieces but gave up after the freezing temperatures and the lack up tools got the
best of us.
We stopped at a site of childhood memories for Alan since we had extra time now that we couldn't get into the cave. The Natural Chimneys park was actually not open this time of year but a nice employee working on remodeling the gift shop gave us permission to take a look. It's quite interesting landscape including a few cave tunnels carved by the water and glaciers which once passed through this area.
In the photo on the right, you can see for scale, Alan standing at the base of one of the chimneys. He is just to the left of the shadow created by another chimney to the right of the photo and stands in front of an opening that leads right through to the other side of the rock formation.
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The left photo was taken inside the other
chimney's base which has a few terminating tunnels.
The right photo was taken along the way on a narrow back road. I thought it interesting that such a sign would exist, as if it indicate that drivers are to be on the lookout for see-saws, just in case they cross the road? |
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 Now to
McClung's Cave the next day, January 25th, 2003... Alan Horn and I
joined up with Barry Duncan and Marvin Bailor to visit this cave.
The area had snow on the ground and icicles partially clogged the entrance
to the cave. We took our gear inside the cave to change in the
warmth of the ground instead of the below freezing temperatures outside.
This is quite an interesting cave with lots of passages to see. We didn't manage to see even half of the best parts as Barry tells it but here are some of the photos of what we got to indulge in this time.
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