August 31, Two Digs Later.

Sunday -- prepared the wall for concrete.  

This amounted to removing the rock pile that was in front of and above the clay-talc East Wall, which needed concrete and steel and rock shoring.  The rock had originally been just backfill to keep the clay from sloughing, when I moved the wall to the west to find an end-hold that would hold the south end of my shoring up without it slipping out.  Hard to do when my nice vertical wall wants to become a sloped ceiling.

Now, by using concrete, I can attach it to the rock -- that's bedrock, no matter what the shape.  And remember there is almost no side pressure because a sinkhole operates vertically and all material wants to go down.  In digging at the bottom, when you drive a tool into the clay, it feels hollow and wants to sink down by just agitation.  Put it in a bucket with a bottom and the clay becomes like cement!

So I am building a concrete wall.  Twenty-five buckets of boulders, broken up with a sledge, while standing on an 18" ledge overlooking the hole that has been dug since last October.  Ten steep tall steps leading down into the unknown chambers below.  Also removed two layers of cedar shoring, exposing enough clay and making enough room to start building wall which happened on Tuesday evening when Charlie and I put in another 5 hour work session and managed to get enough concrete mixed, sent down the hole, and put together with iron and rock to build the top two feet of the wall.  

I built a scaffolding platform to hold and wash rocks on and stand on safely while doing the concrete work.  All went well; the mix was thick and sticky and now it needs a few days to set up so I can dig under it and build more wall down.  I hope this works.  It was dark when I got to the surface.

I talked to Steve K. about the dig.  He has found and will deliver a vertical stretcher that could lift an injured person (i.e., me) out of the hole.  He also said the Forest Service is concerned about Resource Impact (which is, in fact, very negligible) and about my safety.  Not as much as I am I'll bet!  I am overjoyed that someone, anyone, somewhere is interested and I do hope it will be a positive step in the direction I have always dreamt this project can go.  And I know I will soon be to where I can stop digging and proceed to the next phase.