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On Saturday, 8/1/2026, Ken Walsh, Melissa Brown, Jake Brassard and I went to Perkins cave for a very impromptu trip to the U-Survey area to help Ken verify connections within breakdown maze and scope out some leads. Although this kinda only came up cause Jake, Melissa and I wanted to do a trip there but I was mistaken on how access worked due to some unclarity on the NSS preserve website. Luckily, I touched base with Ken prior to submitting the permit. He got in contact with the property manager who allowed us to enter the cave on terms that this was a survey trip.

The cave entrance was wildly overgrown and difficult to spot so I spent a little time clearing the brush to allow us an easier time finding the footholds to climb down into the cave. After clearing some of the brush, Ken took the lead and opened the gate without much issue.

Overgrown entrance

Soon after the gate we descended a ladder and made our way to the echo room which produced a unique hum when you talked or produced a sound in a specific tone. After a 50ft nuisance crawl, most of our journey to the U-Survey was pleasant walking passage and fun climbing with the occasional short crawl. Passing the Pole Room, we did a short climb up and approached our first difficult obstacle (It isn’t named so I’m gonna call this The Slopey Place for future reference). This area was a high slope climb up loose rocks reminiscent of scree at the base of a cliff. Ken and I had no issue with the climb but decided to rig a handline for Melissa and Jake. Due to the angle and nature of the climb, it was really easy to get pulled off balance in this area.

The Pole Room
“The Slopey Place”

After appreciating some pristine formations at the top of The Slopey Place. Ken put Melissa and I to work. He wanted to find a connection between Survey station 26 and Survey SDC 17 and this was the first location he wanted to investigate. Although we didn’t find the connection he wanted, Melissa and I were able to make a voice & light connection from opposite ends of the room.

Continuing on we had our next difficult obstacle which was made vastly easier thanks to some webbing rigged 10 years ago. It was only a 6-7ft drop down but without virtually any footholds. Just past this led us to one of the most beautiful formation rooms I have ever seen. The tall, pristine and glittering flowstone surrounded by tall “broomstick” like formations was truly a sight to behold.

At the bottom of this room I crawled into a small slot and made a new connection with the passage leading to the U-Survey. The connection was a tight, helmet-sized window at the top of the passage.

Leaving the formation room we finally made our way into the U-Survey where we wanted to locate Survey 26 to see if we can verify a connection with SDC 17. While Jake and Melissa had a quick snack break, I joined Ken on locating Survey 26 who was having difficulty locating the station. I helped him read over some sketches and, after a few minutes, I was able to locate survey 26 and 27. Ken then asked if I could locate SDC 17. Climbing through the breakdown and into a large room, I located SDC 17! 

While I was working my way back to the group. Melissa and Jake were investigating a lead. Although it was currently too tight for Jake and Ken. Melissa performed an impressive squeeze into the lead which she exclaimed that she found further crawling but was uncomfortable continuing further so I, with a little more difficulty, performed the squeeze as well. I joined up with Melissa and found a climb up into a wet breakdown room that had constant drips coming from the ceiling. My shoulders became soaked simply from walking through this room. I called this the Rain Room. The bottom of this room was almost free of mud and had a strong, cold air blowing through it. The room is about 15-20ft tall and goes back roughly 60ft with a strong air lead at the back. At this moment Ken decided we were in virgin passage and wanted to begin a survey but we had to figure out how to get Him and Jake in.

The “Rain Room”

The main problem was a large boulder at the top of a small, muddy slope blocking most of the passage entrance. Luckily Jake brought a shovel along and began digging at the bottom which began to help loosen it. However, this wasn’t nearly enough to dislodge the roughly 300-400lbs boulder so Melissa and I both awkwardly squeezed into the crawl and began to push it with our legs. After a few repetitions of pushing and digging, the boulder finally dislodged and allowed it to roll down the slope opening the passage enough to allow Jake and Ken through. Due to Melissa and I’s feat of strength we aptly named the new passage the TT(Thunder Thigh) Survey.

Boulder removal

Before we can survey our virgin passage, Ken had to train Jake and Melissa on the basics of surveying and how to make readings on a suunto and compass. This wasn’t without difficulty as we were having trouble with Melissa reading the compass. We eventually figured out her headlamp was flipping the compass a whole 180°! After allowing Jake and Melissa to do some practice shots we began the actual survey.

Ken sketched while I focused on placing the stations and rearsight readings while Melissa held the “dumb end” of the measuring tape and helped me with lighting my suunto and compass. Jake read the measuring tape and front sight readings. The first shot of our survey had some difficulties as we couldn’t get our compass readings to agree. After some time, Jake and I decided to switch spots and finally got readings within 2° of each other. The next few shots were smooth going until we had to take readings on a steep incline. At this point I needed to figure out how to set the next station as it was directly vertical so I let Melissa take the rear sight readings for this shot. I had never set a vertical station before and was a bit confused on Ken’s instructions so I waited until he was available. It took a while for us to get agreeing readings on the steep incline and unfortunately we didn’t have time to continue the survey. Ken showed Jake and I how to set the vertical station and we started to make our way out.

During our journey out after Me, Melissa and Jake had already performed the climb down The Slopey Place, Ken asked if we could see SDC 17. Jake exclaimed that he was right next to it. Confused and bewildered, I scrambled up to Jake to comfirm that it was SDC 17. I took a peek around the corner and there it was, Survey 26 and 27. I had completely failed to recognize earlier that I had found the bypass past these difficult obstacles making them completely unnecessary.

The rest of the way out was uneventful. Ken allowed Jake and I to struggle with locking the gate. After exiting the cave we were fortunate enough to meet Steve and Jeanne who are the property managers of the preserve. They gave us a brief history and tour of the property before we headed off.

We didn’t get to all the leads Ken wanted to check out but confirming the connection between Survey 26 and SDC 17 as well as surveying virgin cave passage was more than enough to call this a successful trip.

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A welcoming return to New River cave, a personal favorite of mine, began on the 25th of April with a fairly pleasant road trip to Newport Virginia. Our goal, reach and pass through the infamous Tuxedo Junction, an area of the cave notorious for its tight squeezes and cheese grater-like rock.

Joined by Matthew Weiss and Taylor Tibbs, the 3 hour long drive was abetted by Matthew’s enthusiastic talk about dragons for almost the entirety of the journey. While Taylor joined Matthew on the talk of dragons I had opted to drown out the conversation with music to help maintain my focus on the road as I was fueled only by a 1 hour power nap and a half liter of redbull. Why I was trusted to drive the world may never know.

Our drive came to a close as we approached The Bat Ranch, a favorite campsite for many cavers including myself. After getting settled at the ranch we eagerly ended the night by having a brief soak in the hot tub accompanied by a couple of cold plunges in the nearby creek to relax our stiff muscles and joints.

The next day we woke up well rested and excited for the day’s trip. After a short drive and hike up to the cave entrance we began our expedition with a 50 minute dash towards the waterfall, a final milestone for most cavers who enter New River. Reaching the waterfall in a personal record time we took a brief pause to catch our breath, cool down and let Taylor take some quick photos.

Finishing our quick break, we began our journey once more starting off with an intimidating climb up the chert wall followed by a short belly crawl into the boulder room. As we scrambled up the top boulder room I felt the intense feeling of excitement as I knew we were approaching the beginnings of Tuxedo Junction.

Completing Tuxedo Junction has been a long time goal of mine since learning about it after my first trip into New River Cave so I was more than excited to enter this notorious area. However, that elation was quickly washed away with feelings of anxiety, regret, and most of all, infuriation. Soon after we began to crawl and scramble through the passage the walls began to tighten and the rocks started to constantly snag on our clothes which quickly set the mood for the rest of our experience in Tuxedo Junction.

I was filled with feelings of anxiety and uneasiness as I was first to approach the primary obstacle of Tuxedo Junction. The unfathomably tight squeeze between the cheese grater-like rocks had me agitated more than anything. The constant snagging of my clothes had me so irritated that I felt ready to fight the very cave itself.

Things didn’t get easier after finishing the primary obstacle, the walls stayed tight and the crawls stayed nasty. As we continued our way through Matthew became too uncomfortable and decided he couldn’t continue, Taylor opted to stay with him as I scouted ahead staying within earshot. Fortunately I had soon found a small room officially marking the end of Tuxedo Junction.

After returning to Taylor and Matthew we decided to make a hasty retreat to the boulder room and create a plan of action for our remaining time in the cave. Upon exiting Tuxedo Junction with scratched skin, torn pants and broken egos, we got settled down for a lunch break to regain our energy and will power to continue our adventure.

At the conclusion of our extended lunch break we had made our way down to the mud room which was, unsurprisingly, filled with mud. However this area contained some peculiar features including a mud slide and a beach!

The beach was considered one our most unexpected discoveries of the trip and is a personal favorite of Taylor and Matthew. The water within the bottom of the mud room was so clear and had such a pristine blue hue to it, it makes the Bahamas look dull in comparison.

Afterwards we worked our way back to the beginning areas of New River cave to begin searching for our secondary goal of finding the planetarium. With only a climb up and a scramble over and under some break down we eventually reached a scene neither of us were expecting. To our surprise we had entered a massive chamber that felt like it dwarfed any other room in the cave.

This enormous room was heavily decorated with helictites, draperies and soda straws including some of the densest cluster of speleothems I’ve seen to date. Continuing further into the room we came across a deep pit that we eventually learned was named Chicken pit. Appropriately named due to the fact I chickened out being close to the edge as I didn’t trust my fatigued body to keep myself secure.

Eventually we ultimately decided it was time to make our way out as we were approaching our call-out time so we rapidly proceeded back to the cave entrance where we were greeted with the last remnants of sunlight and impending rain.

The almost 9 hour trip left us with an ample sense of achievement and more curiosity than what we entered with. Matthew vowed never to return to Tuxedo Junction, Taylor was left eager for redemption in completing that miserable passage and I felt ready for the next adventure.