A Dry Run on Cave Volumetrics

Originally drafted 23 July 2008

Dan viewing into Cueva de Salon. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Today, Pete and I had to launch sensors before we could leave for the field. The mapping team left before us, and were going to a large chimney effect cave called “Cueva de Salon.” The mapping team is using this cave to test the new cartographic and volumetric techniques that we developed last night. Knutt wanted a large cave that would be easy to move through and apply these techniques. Obviously, it is better to be able to move around in a larger structure, than to apply new techniques in crawly passage.

John sketching the outside entrance. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Once Pete and I arrived, we met briefly with the mapping team, and then we began to deploy sensors at this cave. We had also planned to use this cave as one of our study sites. Unfortunately, there was miscommunication in the field. I had thought the mapping team had pushed all passages of this cave, and they knew the extent of this feature. As Pete and I were deploying sensors, we found an additional passage that opened up into a series of several entrances within a large alcove overhang and then the cave continued for a few hundred more meters as an open canyon with numerous bridges creating small cave-like structures. Consequently, I quickly determined this would not be a good study site. This feature was merely too complex and we could easily use half of our sensors at this one cave!

Christina exploring Cueva de Salon. Credit: Dan Ruby.

So, I decided to pull the sensors we had deployed. It was the end of the day and the mapping team was in the process of heading back to the house as well. Fortunately, this was not a day lost. The mapping team was able to refine and perfect their volumetric and mapping techniques for this project. Consequently, they will be ready to start mapping caves tomorrow. However, we discussed what we had learned from this, and we all feel future communications between the sensor deployment team and mapping team have improved as a result.

Tomorrow the mapping team will go to Cueva Lechuza de Campanario. Pete and I will deploy sensors in this cave, and we will evaluate three others.

Winding down another day in the Atacama. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Cueva Lechuza de Campanario

Originally drafted 22 July 2008

Crawling out of a tight entrance. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Pete, John and I evaluated Cueva Lechuza de Campanario (Barn Owl Cave). We wanted to see if this feature would be a suitable candidate. We quickly realized that it would be. We entered this cave at the lower entrance which involves a scramble up a dry falls to enter the cave. This cave is characterized largely by one large mazy passage. Once we were about 20 meters into the cave, the cave became quite warm. This was quite a contrast from the cooler entrance we encountered at the box canyon. This temperature contrast suggested to me that the cave was maintaining a near constant temperature at the center point. In other words, this was a buffered environment, and would likely serve as an excellent study site.

Pete viewing the delicate salt formations.

A delicate salt helicite.

As we walked through this mazy cave we saw numerous incredibly impressive salt formations. We arrived at the other entrance, which opened into another box canyon. This canyon was a true “box canyon.” It was enclosed on either side with the piping cave draining to the lower elevations and off the Cordillera de los Andes.

The salt landscape of the Atacama.

At the end of the day, the entire team received quite an incredible treat. The Cordillera de la Sal and the mountains containing Licancabur (the largest shield volcano in the region and the one I’ll be climbing in October) were enshrouded in cirrus clouds.

A rare glimpse of a cloud-covered Licancabur.

Musica de Charango and 60 mph Winds on the Rim of Volcan Poruña

Originally drafted 21 July 2008

La Música Andrea. Credit: John DeDecker.

Today, we had to go into Calama and pick up compasses. We are also using this opportunity to pick up several things for the house. Our hot water heater has not worked since we arrived, and Knutt and Pete are going to fix it. We also need to purchase some additional groceries. So, all and all, a trip to Calama will be worthwhile.

As we were leaving San Pedro, a woman with a guitar strapped over her back was hitchhiking at the edge of town. Her name was Andrea and she was a Charango musician. She needed a ride to Calama, and well…we were going, so we obliged. As I was driving, I asked John to show her how to make a music selection from my iPod…a few minutes later I heard an incredible guitar. Pete mentioned how good the music sounded, and I looked in the rearview mirror, and she was playing for us. Andrea is incredibly talented, and plays at several clubs in San Pedro. Charango is the folk music of the Andean region of Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. This was quite a treat!

John and I on the summit of Volcan Poruña, while struggling with 50-60 mph winds. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

We continued driving across the stark Atacama Desert, and I turned her on to Bill Monroe and Doc Watson. Andrea had never heard of Bluegrass; she asked if I would make her a disk of these musicians, and I told her that I would.

Andrea, Jut and Raul chatting. Here I learned the difference in my poor pronouncation of pegar and pagar. Pegar = to hit or strike, while pagar means to pay. I thought I was supposed to pay Raul for bringing us compasses, but I said pegar. I learned that I told Raul that Guillermo told me that "I needed to hit Raul." We all got a big laugh out of this. Credit: John DeDecker.

Climbing to the summit of Volcan Poruna. Credit: John DeDecker.

We had to meet one of Guillermo’s employees at the edge of town. He had arranged to get us several compasses from Antofagasta. Once done, we were able to go to the hardware store, and pick up some additional supplies. Andrea assisted us in finding the Calama Mall, and once we were there, she left. We had hoped that we could give her a ride back to San Pedro, but our trip to Volcan Poruña took us a lot longer than anticipated.

View of interior of small cave, Volcan Poruña. John and I are scale. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

We finally got all of our errands done in Calama, and it was time to head north. We were off to Volcan Poruña. This volcano contained a small cave, and we anticipated it would be a volcanic vent.

Our drive across the desert was most picturesque. We skirted along the Rio San Pedro for a considerable portion of our journey. We passed through the small town of Chiu Chiu. I believe this is what San Pedro de Atacama looked like before the tourists found it. It was a small adobe village and was a postcard town.

Pete skirting the summit of Poruña. The cinder cone that he is traversing is 11,000 ft dwarfed by a 19,000 ft. volcano.

It took us an hour and half driving on an unimproved single track road to get to Volcan Poruña. When we arrived, the winds were howling. We grabbed our gear and packs and headed up the volcano. This volcano is a large cinder cone, and was quite challenging to summit especially in 50-60 mph winds. I was wearing three layers of tech shirts and the winds cut right through all layers. As we slowly climbed the volcano, we had a bit of difficulty locating the cave. We decided to summit the volcano and then peer down onto the side of the shield where the cave was located. The summit was at 11,700 ft. and with the winds howling, and the sun was beginning to set, we were ready to get off the volcano. As we were walking around the caldera, John spotted a depression, and we realized this must be the cave. We headed to the depression, and we were right. We found it!

John and I at the entrance of the small cave on Volcan Poruna. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Unfortunately, our joy of locating the cave was waylaid by the fact that the cave was incredibly shallow. It was about 10 m in depth, and nothing to write home about. If this shelter cave was located near San Pedro and our other study sites, then we would probably study this feature. However, it was over three hours out of our way; so, I could not justify including this as a site.

A cactus that we encounterd at top Volcan Poruña.

Once we investigated and evaluated this feature, we headed for the truck. Then, we were off to San Pedro. As we were driving, Andrea called and inquired about a ride back to San Pedro. Unfortunately, we were not going to arrive in Calama until 1930hr. So, she decided to take a bus back to San Pedro. And, we were slated to drive across the desert at night…

Looking down from the rim of Volcan Poruña. We are making our descent at this point.

Cave Search and Rescue Training and More Reconnaissance

Originally drafted 20 July 2008

Exploring one of the many canyons of the Cordillera de los Andes. Credit: Dan Ruby.

This morning, we had our cave search and rescue/ safety training. Christina our new safety chief stepped right up to the plate and is doing an outstanding job! She proposed several injury scenarios that we may encounter underground, she demonstrated how to evaluate a person with a suspected neck or back injury and practiced our knots relevant to extricating an injured person. We also discussed and shored up several aspects of the projects safety plan. The entire team agrees that this exercise has definitely upped our overall cave safety.

The salt landscape. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Knutt, Dan, Christina and John left for the field after the safety meeting. Their objective was to chase a cave lead they found yesterday. If this pans out, they will begin mapping. Otherwise, they will continue cave reconnaissance.

Standing in the entrance of Cueva Lechuza de Campanario. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

I have been tasked with dealing with several logistical aspects that have cropped up since we have been here. It appears that I will be spending the next few days between San Pedro and Calama ironing out all these details and getting several issues resolved. I spent most of today looking for topographic maps and compasses. We could not purchase topographic maps in the states because we did not have coordinates, and we did not know where many of the caves were located. We now have coordinates for only a few places – so, obtaining the right maps will likely remain challenging. To date, I remain unsuccessful at locating compasses and topographic maps. Hopefully, this will change. I will go to Calama tomorrow.

Loading up the trucks and headin' home. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Cave Reconnaissance with Local Guides

Originally drafted 19 July 2008

A majestic shot of Licancabur.

Today, we plan to scout out caves. We are not going to scoop passage – rather we will just determine the locations of each cave, obtain GPS coordinates and assemble these locations so that we may begin the mapping and deployment of sensors in earnest.


En route to another cave lead. Credit: Dan Ruby.

Prior to our departure, we had our first field training – cave cartography. While conducting the training, we learned something both interesting and disconcerting. Most of our compasses don’t work down here. Compasses must be balanced for both hemispheres. If not, the needle will canter toward the top of the viewing plate, and will stick on the top of the plate as you are trying to take a bearing. So, I will likely go to Calama tomorrow to purchase new compasses. I just hope they have the right equipment there.

Rolando, one of our Quechuan guides. Credit: Knutt Peterson.

Once we completed our training, both groups went searching for caves. Knutt, Dan and Christina used the article written by Shane Fryer in 2005, as well as some rough descriptions provided by Joel DeSpain on work they had conducted here. This information was partially helpful in relocating the caves. However, when they arrived at the main gate to Valle de la Luna National Park, they met Rolando. Rolando is of Quechuan descent, he works for the park, and he has been trained in speleology in Santiago. So, Knutt and his team were very fortunate to meet him.

Hernan and I exploring Casa de la Arana. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

We also hired a local guide, Hernan to assist us in locating caves. Christian Tambley provided us with this contact. Hernan is a guide in the Atacama and knows the caves perhaps better than most in this area. Pete and I worked with him. We went to several areas outside Valle de la Luna but within the Cordillera de la Sal.

One of our pits we evaluated with Hernan.

Hernan took us to a few sinkholes and some dry falls. Hernan showed us two large sinkholes, and I discovered another one. Generally, these were located on the south side of the road on the way to Calama. Upon inspecting these features, Pete and I discussed rappelling strategies for getting into these features. Rappelling in is not the problem, we both feel we can do this safely. However, the material here is not very consolidated and collapse is certainly a possibility. We both determined that climbing out of these sinks will be a bigger problem. We would likely dislodge a lot of the material upon our ascent.

If this happens, we may bury our sensors under a significant portion of the cave wall. So, we don’t know if we will be able to use these pits as some of our study sites. However, we will likely overfly these features when we return in 2010.

In addition to these three pits, we also found three dry falls with sheltered features that are excellent candidates for our non-cave feature category. One dry fall that we named, Casa de la Araña contained owl pellets, one spider, several spider webs and some parts of this dry falls were partially sheltered and contained a twilight zone. Of the three, this is our best candidate non-cave feature.

Unknown spider observed in a dry falls near a large drainage. It was observed within a large concentration of owl pellets.

When I saw the spider, I decided to pick it up. This evoked quite a response from Hernan. I think I may have freaked him out by handling the spider. It was rather funny to watch his response though. I’ve handled many venomous insects. The key is to pick them up gingerly and let them do their thing. If you try to constrain their movement using your hands you’ll likely get stung or bitten.

After Casa de la Araña, we walked back down trail and noticed one large cave-like entrance high up on an escarpment. This may be our most promising feature for this reconnaissance trip. It actually has a horizontal entrance. Pete and I plan to check this one out in a few days.

Hernan indicated the cave has “bad air.” However, the team has collectively come to conclusion that the locals equate “bad air” to dusty. It is also possible that this is simply used as a deterrent to keep people out of caves. We’ve been in several of these caves now, and we have not encountered “bad air.”

Hiking out of one of our possible study sites. Credit: Dan Ruby.

Nuestra casa nueva en San Pedro de Atacama, Down Time and Sensor Assembly

Originally drafted 18 July 2008

View of the house. Credit: Knutt Peterson.

Today will be a down day in San Pedro. We are settling into our new house, organizing everything, and our safety chief and cartography chief will be developing their training materials.

Eating our first breakfast at Tierra Todo Natural in San Pedro. Credit: Knutt Peterson.

We slept in, and then went for our first breakfast in San Pedro. We ate at Tierra Todo Natural. This is an excellent restaurant that serves freshly blended juices and vegetarian meals. If you ever travel here and you don’t want your juice extra sweet ask for tu jugo sin azucar.

Thereafter, we spent several hours assembling sensors. We have 45 HoboPro data loggers which collect barometric pressure and temperature data. We have to place batteries, and connect these sensors to each data logger. This took quite a while. Fortunately, it became a team effort and we completed this task rather quickly.

Despite how tough Negro is, he is very tolerant of Negra. He pretty much allows her to climb all over him.

Well, our new house is great! We have three bedrooms, a full kitchen and refrigerator. The house is situated on a large parcel of land that contains a garden, as well as an orchard. Our yard is nothing less than a bird sanctuary. We have hundreds of birds using our yard. It is very pleasant to wake up each morning to the bevy of birds chirping. There is even a small herd of sheep kept in a corral near the house.

We have seven sheep living on our property.

Despite the extent of our gear and our belongings, we feel that our equipment and computers will be very safe here. Gabrielle and Ana live in a small house behind us, and we also have two dogs that live here – Negra and Negro.

It was great to return to San Pedro de Atacama. It has been two years since I have walked the dirt roads of this town. Despite the immense dust, San Pedro is a beautiful little oasis town. However, the secret about this place is out, and it is a tourist Mecca. Having grown up on St. Simons Island which is a big tourist town, and living in Flagstaff, another tourist town – tourism is a mixed blessing. It brings revenue that would be otherwise largely unavailable to the town, but at the same time it tends to limit the vast majority of the population to service-based jobs.

Negra. Our cute little sick puppy. We are deteriming what is wrong with her and we plan to start her on meds within the next few days.

We are also here at the height of the tourist season. So, the town is flooded with Americans and Europeans.

Our good boy Negro. He is both the protector of the property and the one that can't get enough attention.



Our kitchen. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

This also places an additional strain on my team. We are here as researchers and not tourists. But we still have to pay the same higher prices for everything, and the exchange rate is not very good here. We have managed to find several stores that cater to the locals, and we are buying our groceries, fresh bread and baked chicken directly from them. We’ve also noticed that if you get away from the main square, then prices are somewhat cheaper. So, we’re slowly learning how to live like locals and less like tourists.

View of the street where we live. Credit: Knutt Peterson.

A view of our orchard.

The Atacama Desert Expedition Begins

Originally drafted 17 July 2008

Preparing to load vechicles prior to departure to San Pedro. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

The morning of 17 July – we went to the grocery store. This was a massive undertaking. Each of us had our own cart. We purchased food jointly and individually. The individual purchases were comfort foods. We should now have enough food to get us through the next two weeks.

Our team arrived in San Pedro in two stages. Knutt, Dan and John left earlier and arrived in SP early in the evening. Christina, Pete and myself departed around 1730 hr. I had to meet with Guillermo to discuss some logistics and process research permits, which was why we did not leave together. Our drive from Antofagasta to San Pedro was uneventful. Driving across a desolate desert at night in South America – one can hope for nothing less. My group arrived around 2230hr. We weren’t overly beat, but we were definitely glad to be in San Pedro.