ADK GVC Meeting 2025_12_10 Part 2 of 2: Finding the Rest of Burroughs Cave (Essex) by Ben Brown

Описание: Finding the Rest of Burroughs Cave (Essex County, NY) by Ben Brown
00:00 Intro
12:02 Ben's Presentation

This presentation will include an overview of caves in the Adirondack region, cave conservation considerations, safe caving guidelines, and regional caving organizations. The main focus will detail the search for—and ultimate discovery of—significant missing passage in the Hotwater Pond Cave system, which was first documented in the 1870’s.
Burroughs Cave is formed in the Grenville Marble, the base rock of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. The water resurging from the cave entrance comes from Hotwater Pond Cave with an insurgence about 1500 feet to the west. The path in both caves is blocked by water-filled passage (sump) that can only be passed with scuba gear. The distance between the upstream and downstream sumps in the system is about 700 feet horizontally and 85 feet vertically. Missing cave in between has long been hunted but never found.
The cave is located 2 miles from the nearest road. The project took advantage of newly available access using a recently abandoned rail line to establish convenient camping access near the cave. Better access enabled extensive in-cave and surface survey, along with traditional hiking in the snow to find promising dig locations. The mapping of known cave in combination with LiDAR surface imaging focused the digging effort.
The project is in an area with a significant glacial history which presented a set of special search and digging challenges both on the surface and in the cave. The metamorphic bedrock is inconsistent in its structure which creates similarly inconsistent cave passages, especially when combined with glacial melt events.
Ben Brown has been wild caving since the age of 13. His caving pursuits were largely deferred for a few decades for a career in electrical engineering and raising a family. He has been actively caving in the northeast for the last 15 years and involved in the discovery of many new caves. He is the current chairman of the National Speleological Society Digging Section, and the treasurer of the Northeastern Cave Conservancy. He currently lives in Ontario, NY with his wife of 30 years, Susan.

This video is a recording of the Dec 10 , 2025 meeting of the Genesee Valley Chapter (GVC) of ADK. The meetings are open to the public. For more information about meeting times and previous recorded meetings go to: WWW.ADK-GVC.ORG