| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franks, Bill | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Boone, Robert | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
On September 22, a Georgia Nature Conservancy group entered Pettijohn's Cave on Pigeon Mountain in Georgia. This trip was to let conservancy members see 'what fun caves are.' There were 28 conservancy people and five experienced cavers. Hardhats were provided but had no chinstraps. Lights were hand held. The physical condition of personnel ranged form poor to good.
The group was split into two of 14 novices each. Both groups would follow the same route, into the Big Room, down to the Flat Room, through the 'Z' bends back through the flats, up into the Big Room and out, about 2,000 feet of traverse. They proceeded with this plan. Before they got to the Z bends, four people had decided caves were no fun and had to be escorted out. As Bill Franks was being so escorted up from the Flat Room to the Big Room, he slipped, fell about six feet, and rolled fifteen feet down an incline. His hard hat flew off and his head struck a rock. Chuck Haus quickly checked him for injuries, stopping the bleeding from a small scalp cut. Franks then exited the cave under his own power.
Meanwhile the second group, led by Allen Padgett, had cleared the Z bends and was headed up into the Big Room. Robert Boone, a large person who had had trouble getting through the crawls, fell, his hard hat falling off. At the bottom of the slope he 'landed hard on some rocks, hitting his head.' Padgett descended immediately, finding the man unconscious, bleeding freely from a scalp cut, and with labored breathing. Padgett rolled the victim onto his back and cleared his airway, easing his breathing. Pressure slowed the bleeding. It was 3:56 p.m.
One caver left to fetch a first aid kit, another to start a rescue effort. Boone was soon conscious and the bleeding was stopped. He was moved to a smoother spot and placed on extra clothes and covered with a space blanket. He knew his name, but not the date. He complained of his hands going to sleep and a pain in his back. When the first aid kit arrived, the head wound was dressed, and a warming tent constructed from a garbage bag and candle. The remaining conservancy group members were conducted from the cave.
Meanwhile rescue personnel had arrived on the surface, and soon entered the cave. Boone was placed in a SKED stretcher and moved out of the cave by a crew of eighteen. A haul system was used at the climb-up. Boone was placed in an ambulance at 7:30 p.m. As well as the scalp laceration and various contusions, he was found to have a cracked vertebrae.
For a trip such as this Padgett suggests helmets with chin straps and helmet-mounted lights, and an experienced person for every three or four novices. This trip suffered from lack of such and this was the result of poor pre-trip planning, as Padgett states. Padgett himself was the victim of someone else's bad planning. Sound familiar?
Two cavers suffered head injuries in Pettijohn's Cave due to falls that dislodged their non-chinstrap hardhats, one with a scalp cut and the other with a more severe injury including a cracked vertebrae. The incident underscores the importance of adequate equipment and preparation.