Deep Secrets: The Discovery and Exploration of Lechuguilla Cave

by Stephen Reames, Lawrence Fish, Paul Burger

In 1986, a group of explorers dug through the floor of a small cave in the New Mexico desert to dis-cover one of the most spectacular caves in the world. Lechuguilla Cave quickly gained national attention for its stunningly beautiful passages, deep pits, and scientific wonders. Cavers from all over the world swarmed to explore the cave, and over the next ten years, more than fifty miles of passage were discovered in Lechuguilla. This is the story of discovery, danger, and adventure, and of the cavers who explored the cave. It is also a story of politics, conflicts, and intrigues as various individuals vied to control the exploration. And in the midst of it all is the rescue of an explorer whose leg was broken by a falling boulder over a mile underground. More than a hundred cavers cooperated to complete four days of transport through narrow crawlways and up immense pits to remove her from the cave. Lechuguilla Cave has been featured in The National Geographic Magazine, in The Smithsonian Magazine, and in a National Geographic video. Here, for the first time, is the complete story of the trials and triumphs of the Lechuguilla Cave explorers.

381 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jacob Gallegos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had always been curious about lechuguilla since I heard about the rescue there, while I lived in New Mexico as a kid. I saw this at the Carlsbad caverns gift store and picked it up. I thought it was great. Of course politics come into play, but it sounds like things were resolved amicably since then. I would be curious to read an updated version with more discoveries in the cave. I think the book runs through 1993-nearly 3 decades ago. I know that since then it has been mapped out to nearly 150 miles (at the time of publishing it was about 50 miles).

Anyhow, loved this and thought it was one of the more comprehensive sources of info about lechuguilla.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the world of caving books, the style of this book tends towards that of a collection of trip reports. This is not to say that this book is lacking readability, or overly technical. It just means that the overall story arc of Lechuguilla Cave exploration is told over a series of stories, rather than one cohesive plot. Real life is like that.

This gives the book a couple of key strengths and weaknesses. Having very few people that are consistently mentioned in each chapter makes it difficult to really connect with what's going on. In order to do that, you have to look at this as not about a set group of individuals, but about the collective effort to explore a large, complex cave system.

Caves this big bring in big names, and egos can clash on the surface as well as deep underground. Stephen does a great job at bringing out the personalities of the caves mentioned, rather than just presenting hard facts and letting it be at that. The cave itself is described in great detail, leaving me with a good idea of its layout and features and wanting to get involved in an expedition there.

I borrowed this book from the DFW Grotto Library.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read that left me searching for other books on cave exploration. Some might find the parts about the politics of the exploration efforts a distraction but I thought they were important to the history laid out in this book.

[Tommy /|\ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting read concerning the exploration - although sometimes the passages leaned to a lot of technical caver jargon. But that accounts for a little more than half of the book. The other half is a complex saga of power-plays, ego-tripping, and small group politics between the various individuals that were exploring the Lechuguilla Cave. In other words, boring he-said, they-said bullshit, which really drags down the reading of the overall story. The pictures are amazing, particularly the color platers within the book, which kept this from being a one and a half star book.