White Sands Dec 14-15

Recent snows brought a gauntlet of road closures to the state of New Mexico, which made planning a short getaway a bit of a gamble. We had hoped to venture to Gila to hike to hot springs and cliff dwellings but were turned back far before our goal by two snowplows barricading the road. We had a nice home-cooked meal in the tidy town of Hillsboro before redirecting our sights to White Sands National Monument.

We arrived just in time to get a backcountry campsite before sunset. We stuffed our packs with everything we could possibly need for the night (including luxuries like pillows) and set off across the glistening white sand dunes as the sky turned pastel pinks and blues. Supposedly these dunes are the purest gypsum sand in the world, a distinction I would be inclined to believe. The dunes are disturbingly white- unvegetated portions could easily pass for Antarctic tundra. The occasional patch of snow reminded us that the sand was in fact not as white as we imagined. The seasonal permafrost and slight cohesion between the sand grains made for a surprisingly firm walking surface. Remarkably, the sand did not get everywhere.

We strolled cross-country through fields of crescent-shaped barchan dunes and elongate transverse dunes. The interdune area is often stable enough to support yuccas and grasses. These low areas also have fantastical patterns of delicate gypsum crusts in swooping curves and cross-cutting patterns. These are the remnants of older sand dunes that have been planed off by the modern dunes. We found our designated camp area and selected a cozy spot between the dunes that nicely illustrated the vastness of the dune field. Once our camp was constructed, we walked to the top of the highest dune nearby. We felt thoroughly engulfed by the white dunes with lights appearing only on the distant horizons. It was a crisp and calm night.

      Two views of camp

The next morning I awoke with the sun to get photos of the delicate morning light on the distant hills and white sands. Sunrise was somewhat marred by horizonal clouds, but the views were still spectacular. We felt a weird sense of isolation. We made breakfast and explored around our camp for a while before packing up and walking back across the ridges and valleys of the dune field. Quite a special landscape! Camping was definitely the best way to experience it.

Leven & Ore Valleys Nov 26-27

My first escape from Dunedin in yet another month- I cannot believe how fast this year has been going the last few months. Five of us packed into the car as I drove through vicious wind to Cameron Flat on the Haast Pass road.

Saturday morning we parked at Boiler Flat and easily found a mellow crossing of the Makarora River. We climbed through steep but relatively open beech forest on the true left of the Leven to gain the top of the 300m high glacial bench through which the Leven and the Ore cut impressively steep high-flow canyons. Much bush wading brought us to the first flats, which were happily sandfly-free. After morning tea we continued on up the Leven through a steep and bouldery section of the stream, which required some bush sidling and wet boulder hoping. The going became easier from the middle flats to the expansive upper flats. Here we soaked in the trail-less postcard perfect valley before the punishing 300m uphill climb to the saddle with the Ore. After a bit of a false start going for the wrong saddle, we found the correct route, which looked considerably more pleasant.

        Middle flats

        Mt Cook lily

         Upper flats

 

        Escaping the Leven

The climb was steep at times, especially at the top where clumps of tussock were the only hand and foot holds available. Once up, we savored the grand views and toyed with grandiose schemes of traversing the ridge for some distance. These were thankfully abandoned and we bombed steeply down the tussock scrub and beech to the flats at the head of the Ore where we easily found a great campsite on stream adjacent mossy flats. A few bits of firewood were collected and we had a nice, but modest, fire as we cooked and ate dinner.

 

        Campsite in the Ore

The other 4 were ridiculous keen to wake up at 3am to attempt the peak at the head of the Ore. I decided sleep was higher on my priority list and had a still and quiet morning until the others came back just before lunchtime. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the sun as a persistent breeze blew down the valley, a precursor of the front to come. We packed up and made good time down the valley of the Ore. This valley was a bit different than the Leven with long flats at the head that gave way to moderately steep alluvial fans and then ultimately bush. Often the stream provided good sport and better travel than the bush. In the warmth of the day the waist deep crossing were quite refreshing and my mind drifted to thoughts of canyoning as we past blue pool after blue pool. Inevitably we abandoned the stream and sidled steeply out the true right to avoid the canyon of the Ore. Eventually we found a track of some description and made good time cutting through the cliff bands and popping out onto the open forest on the top of the glacial step. The trail disappeared at a near-cliff and I opted for a direct descent down the steep and thickly bushed hillside, the others chose to traverse for a while. I found the 2m wide benched track at the base and took it to the Leven swingbridge. I dropped my pack and walked to the base of the misty and thundery Leven canyon while waiting for the others.

It was some nice country with some spectacular weather and good company, but I think I have been having issues with tramping for the point of tramping recently. The annoying bush bash parts felt too much like fieldwork and the time spent along the streams made me wish I was canyoning. The wide trail-less valley flats and the brief time on the tops were pleasant.

         Bottom of Leven canyon

         Crossing the Makarora with the gorge of the Leven in the background

Martinborough Caving Oct 29

On Friday I found myself up in Wellington to present some of my research at a workshop. It had been a hectic week so I had to prepare and pack at the last minute at the expense of sleep. Friday night we went to the city to see a friend of Justin's off. I woke up at 7:30am on Saturday, ate a quick breakfast, threw gear and myself into the car, and off we drove for an hour and a half to Martinborough, Justin's favorite local caving (and wine) area. I drifted in and out of sleep the whole way, just alert enough to make the occasional comment.

Then several dirt country roads brought us to our car park. We packed packs and started our hour hike along a four-wheel drive track through farmland. Everything was thoroughly muddy from the previous day's rain. Eventually we reached the limestone karst area. Justin pointed out across the karst and told us that every tree we saw has a hole, most of which have yet to be explored. As a bonus, ones with fences around them were guaranteed to be vertical entrances. We headed towards Plunge Pool Cave, the 500m long 80m deep through-trip Justin pushed and rigged. We suited up at the entrance for a cold and wet cave. My brain had been in disarray for over 48 hours and I managed to leave my overalls and helmet in Dunedin. At least I had lights and vertical gear and I knew we were planning on a fast trip. The stream was flowing at 3 times the normal flow and we knew there were several constrictions we would have to pass. We had one more look at the weather and decided to go for it.

     Every tree has a hole

    Suiting up at the Plunge Pool Cave submergence

The first 7m abseil was a mere 5m into the cave, a beautiful overhanging waterfall that plunged into a deep pool with plenty of nice formations nearby. When I hit the bottom of the waterfall I hyperventilated a breath from the jolt of the cold water- it was going to be a cold trip. It became quickly obvious I was not going to be getting good photos of this cave as our wet clothes and bodies emitted a atmospheric fog that would cloud any flash photo. Not to mention stopping would be too cold. We followed the stream which was the only option. I quickly became aware of the low nature of this cave and worried a bit about the cave flooding. We powered on through one or two more obstacles which felt like commitment enough to go through the bottom of the cave.

At intervals we had to wade through half meter high drifts of foam. In several places there was only enough airspace to pass through the water up to our necks. There were several drops and handlines to negotiate. Near the halfway mark the cave widened slightly to house a nice passage with glowworms. This quickly reverted back to a low and steeply descending streamway. The cave steadily went on. Eventually we reached a breakdown area near the entrance. I remember hoping that it was drier outside than it had been in the cave. We exited the resurgence into lush and humid rainforest. A classic through trip! Now to escape the bush.

Next we ambled our way up the hill through thick supplejack vines. Eventually we found the break in the bluff and returned to the top entrance of the cave to have lunch and dry out in the sun. We then decided to walk along the river below to search for resurgences. On the way we checked out the impressive lower entrance to Rose's Cave. We traversed the short, but scenic, limestone gorge spotting three resurgence creeks. The largest creek did not yet correspond to a cave so who knows what there is still to be found at this tiny but dense karst field.

On the walk back to the car Justin spotted a cut log he wished to re-purpose as a firewood chopping block. He was determined to carry the waterlogged 20kg+ section the 2km+ to the car. At intervals the log was rolled down the four-wheel drive track to save his back and arms. The log made it to the car despite much pain and suffering.

 

Thanks to Justin and Rose.

Guillotine Cave Oct 24

With an uncertain weather forecast and a mounting pile of things to do, I decided to cut my vacation short and take a quick trip to Guillotine Cave (also known as Hunters Cave) before my 8hr drive back to Dunedin. The cave is the southernmost known cave in the Arthur Marble. Only 3km away is the Alpine Fault which truncates the marble band, never to be seen again.

We parked on the side of the road and began climbing up the steep paddocked hillside to the bush sheltering the cave. As we gained elevation, the paddock provided panoramic views of the Maruia River valley. We climbed above a marble band and walked through bush decidedly un-karst-like. The GPS said we were close but there were no obvious karst features of any kind. Then we heard a small waterfall a short distance away so started off in that direction. Suddenly out of the bush appeared a wide 20m deep sinkhole in front of us. To the side of it was a huge gaping entrance lit with sun rays. Large boulders over 10m high jam the entrance requiring a rope to enter the cave. Despite being less than 200m long, the entrance evokes a great cave system. A prominent slab of marble pointed upward while another enormous slab was wedged in the roof above- the naming of the cave was obvious. We were here.

After some debate over how to rig the entrance pitch (we could see three good options), we decided on a less traditional but easier to rig option, which coincidentally was the most photogenic option. A 2-stage 18m abseil brought us into the cave. Sunlight bounced off the ceiling to light the entrance chamber. We stripped off our vertical gear and climbed down into the steeply descending cave. The cave is one tall rift passage half full of large breakdown blocks with a small stream passage overprinting the base of it. Periodically it is possible to climb up into nice formation chambers, but the way on is typically staying low in the stream. Who knows what passages branch off from the top of this cave! One of the formation rooms had bizarre lichen-like growths on the calcite. I have never seen anything like them before.

    Biological or mineralogical?

The stream cut through beautiful dark blue-banded marble with great boudinage textures and cross-cutting veins in places. The cave was surprisingly well-decorated. We continued on through several low duck-walk, hands-and-knees and belly crawls to a convincing sump and then returned the way we came. The cave made for an enjoyable trip. Undoubtedly there must be more cave in the area!

Thanks to Lara.

Profanity Cave Oct 23

After the long drive to the NZSS annual general meeting in Murchison and sitting in a council meeting all day Saturday, I was all to keen to get in a cave. Profanity has an interesting history and a reputation to flood spectacularly. In 1980 three cavers became trapped in the cave for three days waiting for flood waters to drop as police were unsure how to respond and cavers begged to be able to act. Eventually the cavers located an entrance which had collapsed in the 1968 Inangahua earthquake and managed to dig their way in to rescue the cavers. The result of this informal rescue was the birth of Cave Search and Rescue in New Zealand.

With good directions we managed to find this entrance through which the rescue took place, now known as the Salvation entrance. Most of us donned wetsuits and found our way down the precarious breakdown and into the cave. We followed the distant roar to arrive at the cave's stream. Heading upstream we shortly found ourselves at an overhanging 4m waterfall, which looked rather difficult to climb, not to mention wet!

Consulting the map we realized the best way to bypass the waterfall was to go through The Maze, a network of joint-controlled passages. We followed our noses and eventually found our way back to the main streamway. Before long we reached The Lake, a 70m long wade/swim. Stashed nearby were some old tire tubes some of us could use. A handline was rigged across the pool so that the tubers only needed to pull themselves along as they floated beneath the glowworms. The Lake was the start of a large 600m long passage that was often 10m wide, clearly not formed by the modern stream, but by some ancient river. We clambered up a large rockpile and found a great rock at the edge of a chamber to have a lunch break and a brew.




    The end of The Lake


    The lunch rock

After we continued along this most pleasant (though a bit slippery) passage to its offending rockfall at the end. The cave continues for quite some distance down a small side passage, but this enormous passage is never encountered again. There is probably about a kilometer more of this large passage beyond the rockfall, but we may never know or see it. We thought this a good place to turn around and head back downstream. Gavin and I opted to climb down the 4m waterfall which was a sporty good time. Once reunited with the others, we all followed the stream down.


    In the large passage

The passage dimensions became smaller with several crawls on our hands and knees. We passed a couple squeezes through rifts and downclimbed a couple waterfalls. Once down the final waterfall, I could immediately see down the straight tunnel-like passage with silver daylight reflecting in the stream. I could certainly see why this was called the Drain Entrance and I could see how this cave would flood spectacularly. The modest resurgence opens out into a pleasant grotto with ferns and moss. A mere 50m walk brought us back to the state highway!


    Satisfied cavers exiting The Drain

Profanity is nice. I found a couple good leads including one that will probably connect to Damnation Cave so hopefully I will find myself in the area during a prolonged drought!

Naseby Sept 8-9

I managed to escape Dunedin for the first time in over a month to spend a weekend in the quiet northern Central Otago town of Naseby with some fellow geology postgrads. We stayed at a holiday home of someone in the department, which was the perfect base to explore the area. During the Otago gold rush Naseby sported a population of about 4000- today it sits around 100. Many relicts of extensive alluvial gold mining operations still exist such as water races and lakes. These days Naseby is known for two things: curling and mountain biking, and we were sure to sample both.

Saturday morning we went curling at the indoor rink. Curling is a silly sport played in wretchedly cold places. It consists of skillfully sliding a 20kg stone of granite across the ice with the goal of being the closest stone to a target. There are of course complications in that the stone is out of play if it touches the side of the lanes, goes too far or not far enough. It is surprisingly hard to land a stone within the narrow playing field. To ease this difficulty slightly, team members can sweep brooms in front of the stone to reduce the friction and encourage the stone to slide further. Unfortunately there is no option to slow the stone down. Sometimes the two teams' stones would collide, knocking the other team's stone out of play and ideally landing yours into the scoring zone. A weird game to be sure, but surprisingly difficult and fun.

After lunch Marco, Nathalie and I drove to Danseys Pass to attempt a potential mountain bike loop I spied on the topo map. We parked the car at the pass and climbed 350m in elevation in 3km along a four-wheel drive road past a sketchy-looking runway strip. The climb was steep so we mostly pushed our bikes up. At the top we enjoyed the landscape of frozen tussock. There was a biting wind, but otherwise the weather was grand- classic Central Otago sun-bathed tussock, blue skies and puffy clouds.

We then traversed a ridge over Mt Alexander (1357) before starting our delicious 4km downhill descent. Unfortunately most of the ridge was recently covered in snow such that the ground was soft and muddy. At the worst of it we had to pedal vigorously downhill just to maintain our speed. Thankfully conditions improved as we dropped altitude. We enjoyed panoramic views of Central Otago and the Kakanuis before jumping on our bikes for the core-shaking 600m downhill.

The downhill was amazing and was well worth the effort! 600m of squeezing brakes and vibrating my triceps to mushy oblivion. The track was in great shape and we made it back down to the road in no time at all. Here Marco and I pedaled back up the steady incline of the Danseys Pass Road to the pass to retrieve the car. I was quite hungry and exhausted and the road seemed to drag on forever. When we reached the top, Marco kindly offered to drive which allowed me to race down the road back to Nathalie and her bike. The grade was perfect for a bike and I sailed comfortably at top speed, keeping well ahead of Marco for much of the 6km. We stopped in at the historic Danseys Pass Hotel for a soothing cup of hot chocolate before returning to Naseby for our pub meal.

On Sunday Marco and I went for a 2 hour mountain bike ride through the Naseby Forest, a pine plantation atop an old alluvial gold working area. We rode a nice mixture of forestry roads and single tracks and passed many reminders of the gold mining era. We stopped at the edge of a lake for a break in the sun and I marveled about the oddity of the landscape looking like a scene from the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. I also notably lounged shirtless in a hammock for some time back at the crib. Bring on summer!

Thanks to Nathalie, Marco and John.

Lower Antelope Canyon & Shiprock August 15

We decided to cap off our road trip with a visit to the infamous sculpted narrows of Antelope Canyon, a pride and joy of the Navajo Reservation and probably the most photographed slot canyon in the world. While equally beautiful slot canyons exist, they are relative secrets and do not have the same ease of access. I had been to Upper Antelope Canyon a few years back (one of my first few blog posts), so was keen to have a look at Lower Antelope Canyon. Thankfully they allow legitimate photographers to break away from the tour groups and take their time photographing the slot's shapes and colors, which makes for a much more enjoyable experience.

The Navajo Sandstone here is a particularly even coral pink hue with very little manganese or iron-oxide crust. It is also relatively soft here compared to elsewhere, which has no doubt contributed to some of the spectacular sculpting in this narrow slot. When sunlight is high overhead, it bounces off the faceted walls to filter out the different colors of light. The first bounce is usually a golden orange, which gives way to deep pinks, purples and blues the deeper it penetrates the slot. Cropping the bright sky out of the view allows abstracts of colors, curves and flowing lines to be photographed. No alteration to the photo is necessary as this filtered light is already saturated in vibrance. Like daydreaming at clouds, we saw mountain landscapes, waves, waterfalls, and human profiles.

Left wall looks like a profile of a woman

The bottomless waterfall

While I think Upper Antelope is slightly more photogenic, Lower Antelope is much more interesting with several ladders down dryfalls and a couple natural arches. Having the freedom to wander through at your own pace is a huge advantage.

We drove the scenic way home past Shiprock, which holds a commanding magnificence over the surrounding plain. We walked a short distance in the shade of the great dike wall. Amazing geology and a captivating place! A fitting end to an amazing trip. Thanks to my companion Sara.

Echo Canyon & Toadstools August 14

For our last day in Zion, Sara and I decided to check out Echo Canyon, a short and mellow (but very scenic) canyon that came highly recommended to me. A reasonably early start ensured our zigzagged ascent of the East Rim Trail was comfortably in the shade (although this did not stop me from hiking up in boxers for extra comfort). We made good time as the valley floor sank below us. This canyon is unique in that the trail skirts the rim of the slot allowing intimate views downward.

We flanked the other group with an Echo permit who clearly missed the turnoff trail and entered the slot. Almost immediately waist deep was encountered, so we suited up. I had fun bridging to keep my feet dry until we came to the first short drop into a swimming pool. Several more short drops followed into enormous potholes. One part of the canyon was so dark a flashlight was almost needed to see.









The canyon then opened up for a while. After turning a corner, we could see the canyon narrowed dramatically into a dark tunnel known as the Echo Chamber. This place boosts some of the best acoustics I have ever experienced. Echoes lasted several seconds and I made monster sounds for the small children I hoped were on the trail above. A few minor obstacles and we popped out onto the trail. We fielded questions from confused and curious tourists as we stripped out of our wetsuits and hiked back down. It was a nice canyon- definitely worth a look.






Sara and her buddy

We drove on to Paria to figure out plans for the next few days. Sara and I checked out some of the hoodoos nearby as thunder/lightning storms threatened. Thankfully they always seemed to miss us.