January 18th, Ken and Marvin left from Oklahoma City and drove to Eagle Pass, Texas on the border across from Piedras Negras. They had a short stop over in Austin to pick up some material from Mike Walsh for his house in Aquismon. Scott and Jeff arrived in Eagle Pass about 6:00 am from Albuquerque on the morning of the 19th. The crossing was easy. The customs office was south of the border 35 miles at Allende. It was new, clean, and organized. Most of the day we drove south on highway Mex57. Most of the way was desert and the views of the geology were spectacular. There was an area of tall trees that were probably a species of Yucca in one valley. There was a by-pass around Saltillo that made the drive easier. We took Mex70 east before San Luis Potosi and Mex85 south from Ciudad Valles. We got into Ciudad Valles after the sun was down but didn't have any problems getting through town. We arrived at Aquismon tired but at a reasonable hour in the evening.
The following cave descriptions are from "Caves of the Golondrinas Area" by Peter Sprouse and Jerry Fant, Association for Mexican Cave Studies, Bulletin 10, 2002 and "Mexican Caving 2001, A Field Guide for the Exploration of Caves of The Sierra Gorda" by Mike Walsh and Spencer Woods, October 2001, Austin Texas.
Sunday, January 20th, we went to Sotano de la Huasteca, four kilometers from San Rafael. It has a large opening and a 128 meter (420 ft) drop. The pit bells out to 80x100 meters (262x328 feet) at the bottom. The floor is a vegetation covered boulder slope. The ferns are about 2 meters tall.
Monday, January 21st, we went south to Hoya de las Guaguas near the village of San Isidro. It is also known as Sotano de las Huahuas. It is one of the largest caves in the area with 12 million cubic meters. The first drop, into the upper room, from the lower side is 147 meters (482 feet). The drop into the lower room is 153 meters (502 feet). The upper room is about 750 feet long and slopes down into a very large black opening to the lower room.
Tuesday, January 22nd, we took it easy. We went to Cuevas de Mantezulel, a commercial cave also known as Cueva de la Luz. The cave is part of the village water supply. It is a walk in cave with two rooms. The guide asked if we would like to hike over to another cave with better formations. The hike was 30 minutes farther up the mountain and it was a much better cave. The hiking was on well maintained trails and strait up or down the mountain. Our knees were tired by the time we got back to the truck. At the village there were two BMW touring motorcycles parked. Two guys from Belgium were touring Mexico. One of the guys planned to tour the world on his bike. He said he had sold his company to get the cash to go do what he wanted to do.
Wednesday, January 23rd, we went to Sotano de Cepillo. It is a 30 minute hike from the village of Tamapatz. The trail is a lot of up and down hiking on large-smooth-rugged limestone. The opening is 15 meters (50 feet) and the drop is 128 meters (419 feet). The bottom is about 100 meters (328 feet) in diameter. There was a small waterfall and a pool in the bottom. Large formations cover much of the bottom.
Thursday, January 24th, we went to Sotano de las Golondrinas. The opening is 50 meters (164 feet) in diameter and drops 333 meters (1092 feet) from the lower rig point. The floor is semicircular in shape, 130 meters (426 feet) wide and 270 meters (885 feet) long. The floor has 75 meters (246 feet) of relief. The lower rig point lands about in the center of the room. The room is 6 million cubic meters. It is home to about 25,000 swifts and a dozen pairs of green conure (parrots). The climb out takes 1 to 1.25 hours. The primary rope was packed in two army duffle bags. A secondary rope was also used to lift the weight of the primary rope off the rappeller or ascender at the edge of the pit. A fog settled in as the last climber was ascending the rope. The fog turned to a light mist and then to a light rain as we finished pulling and packing the ropes. The limestone at the rig area slopes into the pit. There were about a dozen people there to watch the birds return to the sotono. When the birds show was over, the people started to hike out and found the rocks very slick. We formed a human guard rail across the gap to assist the people with street shoes. Our porter came back and carried the two duffle bags solo out over the slick rocks. Later we carried out our smaller gear packs and knew we had gotten our monies worth for the porter. The drive back to Aquismon was a long slippery ride.
Friday, January 25th, we went to Ciudad Valles and Cascadas de Micos (Monkey Falls), northwest of Ciudad Valles.
Saturday, January 26th, we drove back to the border at Eagle Pass. Scott and Jeff drove on home. Ken and Marvin drove back to Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Picture Albums Page
