Tongue River Cave, Wyoming: The 300-Pound Boulder

Tongue River Cave, Wyoming, June 2002: nine young cavers are exploring when a 300-pound boulder comes loose and falls, trapping two of them, Barry Blaha and Danna Herbert, in a small passage. Their friends run for help. Sheridan County rescuers work for hours and move the boulder with a winch. Told from the National Speleological Society's accident report, with the cave's earlier record.

The case: Tongue River Cave, Sheridan County, Wyoming, June 2002.

In June 2002, Barry Blaha, Danna Herbert and seven other young cavers were exploring Tongue River Cave, Wyoming, when a 300-pound boulder became dislodged and fell, trapping Blaha and Herbert in a small passage. Several companions went for help. After several hours of work, Sheridan County rescuers moved the boulder with a winch and other tools, and the two were freed at about 10:30 p.m.

Chapters

0:00 Three hundred pounds

0:26 Nine young cavers

0:59 The boulder

1:19 For help

1:32 The winch

1:53 What the record says

Sources

NSS News, American Caving Accidents, August 2005, Part 2 (2002 incidents), p. 18: "Tongue River Cave, Wyoming, rockfall entrapment"

NSS News, American Caving Accidents, June 2003, Part 2 (1999 incidents): Tongue River Cave, 26 September and 6 November 1999

Wikipedia, "Tongue River Cave" (location)

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep11.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.