Adventures: Spacegoat 2019, pt 3

Our first day of caving we split into a couple different groups: Brian took a group to push a lead from out last trip, Galen lead a survey trip through the Northwest Passage, Daryl lead an intro trip, and I believe one other group went in search of a cliff side lead.  I went with Daryl’s group (I’m always a little nervous the first time caving in a while).

We decided to do a loop trip: in through the Dead Bat Bypass to the Junction Room, then back through the Mystery Passage.  The Bypass is a climb up that transitions into a pretty tight squeeze down into a passage.  I’m really glad I re-read my notes from 2015 right before we left for the trip – I went first through the bypass and almost got stuck.  It’s a passage that you should really take your vertical gear off before squeezing through, but I forgot that until I started to slide into it and got caught on my croll (chest ascender).  I waited until Kai got up to the top of the rope, then redistributed my weight and vertical gear and was able to slide down to the passage below.

The passage in the photo above is one that gives me pause the first time I’m through it every trip.  I was last in line when we got to this part of the cave, with Amy right in front of me.  About in the same spot I am in that photo, I kind of froze.  I kept telling myself I’ve been through this passage before.  I’ve flown through this passage before.  I knew I needed to stem across with a hand or a leg, but couldn’t get myself to do it.  Amy was super helpful and told me how she navigated the passage and was extremely patient as I figured it out.
It’s not often I get to cave with other Lady Cavers.  It’s really nice.  I hope it happens more often in the future.

When we got out of the cave, our sweet Adventure Pup was waiting for us!  We thought he might go back down to camp with Bob and Mike, but there he was, waiting so patiently under the tree we hung out stuff in.  I was nervous about leaving him while we were in the cave (Daryl has gone caving with other dogs and they’ve entertained themselves while the humans were caving, but I hadn’t done it before) and I was so happy to see his glowing eyes when we got out of the cave!

Up, up, up.  The hardest part of the entire trip is the last push up the hill to the cave.

The next two days I joined Galen on the survey trip.  On the second day of survey (my first day) we got a ton of footage and I was super stoked to push ahead to the Connection Passage with Kathy’s Icebox.  Daryl and his brother Mike found the connection about ten years ago.  In 2015 Daryl, Brian, and I made the first through trip and in 2019 I got to survey it so it’s officially on the map.  Our last day of survey was a loong one, but we finished it!

On our last full day, most of the group took a trip up to the Plateau.  Daryl, Brian, Adam, Caitlin, and I took a rest day at camp, playing cards and starting to pack up.  The following morning the horses arrived and we packed our gear all back up.  We sent faster hikers out first to meet the packers at the trail head.  Daryl, Kai, Riley, and I took up the rear.

I love my little family.

After we got back to the trailhead, we all drank a beer, threw our gear in the back of Brian’s truck, then hit the road to get bacon cheeseburgers at the Buckhorn Bar.

While out in the woods, I recorded for an episode of my favorite podcast, She Explores.  I reached out to Gale kind of on a whim about six months before the trip – I couldn’t believe it when she emailed me back and was interested in a story!
The audio while in the woods wasn’t great (I should’ve found a wind screen to borrow as well), but I still think it’s a pretty great episode.  A friend who also listens to She Explores said about halfway through the episode she realized it was me!

Today’s adventure took place on land stolen from the Niitsítpiis-stahkoii, Salish Kootenai, and Ktunaxa.