CND Update 2013

Update of the Cave Next Door project---
(discovering the biggest cave in Oregon?)

It's been over a year since this has been updated.  I think it got lost in the caverns of bureaucracy.  So to satisfy the bureaucrats I would like to say at this point--and make it perfectly clear and plain--that this whole project is really just a figment of my imagination.  Sometimes I wander around the forest and find myself in this quaint little village with a hole in the ground.  I look down this hole and make everything up.  What else can you expect from somebody who hangs out with giants?  (But I do avoid dragons.)  

So after a year and a half of wandering the giants' kingdom  and trying to communicate, Charlie and David have found themselves back at the bottom of that imaginary hole.  A thorough inspection of all the concrete work done up to this point has revealed no cracks, failures, or any sign of movement in the boulder jam that was cemented together.  The sinkhole has remained stable through an earthquake and two rainy seasons.  Material is still being moved from the bottom of the 80' shaft to fill around the culvert at the top of the shaft.  All of this, of course, is inside the original sinkhole. 

Last year due to bureaucratic delays and problems with communication, the hole was only dug 2' deeper.  But--a management plan was worked out that seems to be acceptable to everybody.  At least nobody has said, "No."  I want to be positive and upbeat about this whole thing. 

The process of putting an air-lock gate at the top of the culvert is continuing.  Dirt from the bottom is being packed around the culvert filling in the sinkhole.  Ten buckets were moved last week.  In our prime, we could move 50 in a day!  :c)  Because of the amount of water, concrete work won't be possible, and any shoring will have to be done with timbers until the dry season.  There is air space on 3 sides.  The dig appears to be at the hour glass pinch point of the sinkhole.  The rubble seems loose and hollow with good drainage, air on the ceiling/walls, and more rock than clay.  Boy is it ever wet down there! 

I am more convinced than ever that the water that flows into the shaft all goes into the cave.  That the shaft goes right down the throat of the sinkhole.  And into the CAVE!