Mile six of Pettyjohn Cave is a push to the extreme limits of the cave, The Outer Limits was pushed, then the Discovery Room discovery and survey and then the Schreiber’s Extension survey.
Discovery Room is currently the northernmost room in the cave. High above the Emerald Pool and directly below Pigeon Mountain, it is the second largest room in the cave. Two hundred and fifty feet long and over forty feet wide in places with ceiling heights approaching twenty feet. The room ends with a major breakdown.
The Schreiber Extension may have been explored prior to this study, and is the longest stretch of stream passage yet found. Reaching the edge of the mountain to the west and south, it is the least explored and understood section of the cave.
February 22, 1974 – Richard Schreiber and Allen Padgett polled at The Labyrinth and on the first 32-foot poll shot they passed the 5-mile mark. They continued unaware of the event and measured 585.89ft THC Total survey now 26,969.69ft.
May 26, 1974 – Richard Schreiber, Rod Price, and Ted Wilson spotted the downstream passage in the Outer Limits and began surveying at station X38. They explored and measured almost to the lower end of the outer limits, but at the lower level of the creek. To get out, they had to go back across the creek to the junction, climb to the upper level, and return to the cave to the south. It’s about a six lap trip from the entrance!
The survey resulted in 440.54 feet THC Total survey now 27,410.23 feet.
June 8, 1974 – Richard Schreiber and Gerald Moni collapsed at the beginning of Tobacco Road and pushed a passage upstream. Note: There are two stations labeled W151, one is at the northwest end of the Outer Limits and the other is at the beginning of Tobacco Road. The June 8 poll was recorded in two different poll books. The correct location used on a map by Jeff Harris from November 1990 and Richard Schreiber’s own topographical parcel is at the end of the outer limits.
From the W65 station junction, Tobacco Road, and the Outer Limits, they surveyed down to creek level and connected to the lower level of the Outer Limits. And then he collapsed the creek to the northwest end of the Outer Limits and pushed this passage another two hundred feet.
The survey resulted in 732.90 feet THC Total survey now 28,143.13 feet.
November 2, 1974 – Richard Schreiber and Ted Wilson did some topographical work on the outer limits. They extended the stream from the outer limits to a nearby siphon less than a hundred feet from where it emerges again.
The survey resulted in 430.01 feet THC Total survey now 28,573.14 feet.
August 10, 1975 – Richard Schreiber, Marion Smith and a group from Massachusetts and Connecticut took sections of a climbing pole to the Emerald Pool and Warren Heller climbed but nothing was gained.
August 23, 1981 – Richard Schreiber, Dwight Drennan, Wesley Sprunger, Pete Uberto and Keith Lynn returned to Emerald Pool and either bolted to the wall or used rope left over from climbing the pole. They discovered Discovery Room after climbing higher and some tight squeezes.
The survey resulted in 409.23 feet THC Total survey now 28,982.37 feet.
June 11, 1983 – Richard Schreiber, Wesley Sprunger, and Pete Uberto began the study of the Schreiber Extension from station Z19 in the Squirrel Room. Discovered by the same group on April 30, 1983.
The survey resulted in 1,400.59 feet THC Total survey now 30,382.96 feet.
July 9, 1983 – Richard Schreiber, Keith Lynn, Wesley Sprunger, and Pete Uberto returned to Schreiber’s Extension and continued the survey. In this study, the cave was pushed beyond its westernmost limits to date as the Schreiber Extension continues around the mountainside.
The survey resulted in 497.36 feet THC Total survey now 30,880.32 feet.
August 13, 1983 – Richard Schreiber, Ed Strausser, Wesley Sprunger and Pete Uberto rounded up the survey, breaking the six-mile mark at station ZA111.
Schreiber’s Extension is full of potential clients, mostly going up. The sounding followed the level of the creek and there are upper levels that are almost the length of the passage and few have been explored or sounded. Schreiber’s notes are full of comments on tracks and promotions to higher levels. The next mile will bring us to the end of Schreiber’s Extension and one of those upper levels.
The raw data from the 6th mile survey is available in pdf format on my caving website.
