Trip Participants: Trip Leaders - Dennis Welch, Sharon Welch, plus Alisha Osburn, Skinny Reynolds, William Tucker and Matt Wright

On Friday, January 11th, 2008, the Lubbock Area Grotto (LAG) members departed for a recreational caving trip to Chimney Cave located in Carlsbad National Park. Dennis, Sharon and Alisha (Group 1) journeyed together with William, Skinny and Matt (Group 2) following a couple of hours behind. Dennis, Sharon and Alisha arrived in Carlsbad just in time to grab a quick lunch and head up to the park office to pick up the caving permit. After visiting with Stan Allison and making arrangements for the hut (since the Lubbock Area Grotto (LAG) had volunteered to work in Carlsbad Cavern on Saturday) Group 1 dropped off what they didn’t need at the hut and took off for the cave.

Alisha boldly led Group 1 on the hike to find the cave, directing them which way to go. In no time she had navigated to the cave, or at least she thought she had. After further investigation, they realized it was the upper entrance to Chimney which is no longer accessible. Soon they found the correct opening which has a beautiful nautilus fossil just above the entrance. The opening is small, but very do-able!

Group 1 immediately put on all their gear, and rigged the entrance with a safety line (a steep descent of about 10-12 ft was climbable; however, a rope was helpful for safety purposes). Sharon was the first to enter; Alisha and Dennis were quick to follow. Since they were in two groups and Group 1 was the first to arrive, they had just enough time to rig the ropes needed for the rappel both groups would be making once William, Skinny and Matt arrived. Dennis took great care in rigging the rope in preparation of descending deeper into the cave. Sharon led the charge for the descent down the 60 to 65 foot drop. She soon called “on rope” rappelled down and Matt followed. This trip was especially exciting for it was Alisha first real rappel. Skinny, William and Dennis were diligent as they worked with Alisha and gave her additional safety training prior to her descent. In her own special way of showing exuberance, she screamed and hollered all the way to the bottom of the pit; expressing how great a time she had rappelling…she’s hooked! Before they knew it everyone had reached the bottom and was off exploring.

Chimney Cave offers quite a variety of caving experiences. From climbing a large area of breakdown, to crawling through worm holes under the breakdown, one can see big rooms and little rooms. The cavers walked, climbed, crawled, and squeezed. They truly had a great time exploring. Everyone was amazed by all the beautiful formations and enjoyed taking many photos. After spending approximately four hours in the lower portion of the cave they all prepared for the climb out and hike back to the cars. Once again everyone geared up and frogged their way up the rope. Amazingly, as they climbed, the pit seemed like it was at least 100 feet…rappelling is so much more fun than the climb out. The good news is they entered the cave with six intrepid cavers and exited at the same count! As they departed the cave it was very dark, however, no big deal, it was also very dark in the cave too (but no stars)! Everyone was eager to reach the hut and EAT. They were glad to see that the rest of the LAG volunteers had arrived safely. Lee Ann Dean, Tammy Tucker and Dan Dennison had departed later in the day to join in on the restoration work scheduled for Saturday. All were eager to eat and had a wonderful time visiting before retiring for the evening. A special thanks to all who were there and for the great TEAM efforts!!!