Wilderness Emergency Medical Services Institute

Caving in West Virginia - Easter, 1998

On the Easter weekend, 1998, Peter Pille and Bernie Roche headed down to West Virginia for a nice holiday and a bit of caving.

Bernie on the way to the PSC fieldhouse.

Peter at the same spot.

Eagle Rocks, on the way to the fieldhouse.

The private road up to the fieldhouse.

Parking area at the fieldhouse.

We stayed at the PSC fieldhouse. Quite a crowd, close to 60 cavers, mostly Canadian. Most camped out in tents; not all the beds in the house were taken.

On Saturday morning, we headed south to do some caving.

Germany Valley, looking south.

Overlooking the Germany Valley.

It's a long drive down to the bottom of the state, but the scenery is wonderful, and the caves down there are huge.

We wanted to do Peircy's Mill Cave, but we found the water was too high, and much too cold for an attempt.

Scenic waterfall in southern West Virginia.

Peter at the entrance to Piercy's Mill Cave.

We headed over to Greenbrier Poorfarm Cave. Unfortunately, recent flooding had coated all the formations with mud, and it will be some time before Mother Nature is able to repair the damage.

Peter in Greenbrier Poorfarm Cave.

On Sunday, we toured the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, at GreenBank, West Virginia. We were surprised to find that in the off-tourist season, we were provided with a printed map and allowed to wander freely. We saw more than we would have seen on the regular tourist tours.

Bernie at one of the NRAO's radio telescopes.