Personal: Butch Fralia, Keith Heuss, Sharon Mastbrook, Jennifer Peplinski, Wayne Peplinski, Dale Barnard, Chris Heuss, Mark Alman, Andrew Alman, David Kirk, Dusty Wood, Chris Haas, Richard Haas, Matt Sanders, Chris Gandy, Robert Swanner, and Matt Patrick, Pete Baron, Will Harris, Howard Hadcak, Patrick Connell, James Tandy, Amy Adamek, Terry Holsinger, Elizabeth T. Robb, Eliz's boyfriend, Tony S. Richard S. Karen Perry.
Team one Terry Holsinger, Elizabeth T. Robb, Eliz's boyfriend, Tony
S. Richard S. Karen Perry, headed to the upper lost Petzl system
to start the surface survey from the new cave and karst features found
on the January trip by Terry H.. They stopped to check out a karst feature
and move a couple of rocks. This allowed entry to Arizona cave. This is
a fissure cave over 20 meters long and should be a fruitful dig. After
checking out this cave they started the surface survey in the rain. After
starting at the new cave and connecting to Arizona cave the survey stopped
because of the miserable time all were having in the 45~ degree rain. and
headed back to camp after setting a recoverable station. Elizabeth produced
a sketch map before leaving. Terry H. will continue this survey on the
march trip and may see the new cave survey started at this time.
Total hours for team one =24 hours.
Team Two was Pete Baron, Will Harris, Howard Hadcak, Patrick Connell,
James Tandy, Amy Adamek. They Headed over to Chimney Delight to assist
in the attempt to connect it to Many Names. After 5.5 hours in the cave
they had made access to two new rooms and about 40 meters of passage. They
left a couple of leads, these will be checked after this area is surveyed.
The weather helped this team decide to leave when they returned to camp.
This was a pattern that would be repeated by a number of other team.
Total hours for team two =33 hours.
Team Three was Jim Kennedy, Randy Brown, and Russ Johnson. They returned
to Many Names, in the lost Petzl System, to try and push the connection
with Chiminyeers Delight, and to continue the survey, they started on the
Jan 98 trip. After 5 hours they did some ridge walking above the known
caves. They did not find any new caves and returned to camp cold and wet.
The lead in Many Names will have to wait until team in Chim Del can get
closer to help provide inspiration.
Total Hours for team three = 18
Team Three was Dale Barnard, Chris Heuss, Mark Alman, Andrew Alman,
David Kirk, Dusty Wood, Chris Haas, Richard Haas, Matt Sanders, Chris Gandy,
Robert Swanner, and Matt Patrick. The team arrived at Ice Box Cave at approx.
10 AM to begin Andrew Alman's Eagle Project for the Boy Scouts. Several
other boys from Troop 138 in Mesquite were in attendance to help out. Looked
over the area to decide the best way to rig the cable ladders and bucket
transport system. The boys set up the work zone to keep non-working people
out of the immediate area. Mark rigged up for the drop to be the first
one in to check the air periodically during the descent. Dale was on belay.
Air was great at all levels and after approx. 30' reached the bottom. Noticed
three bats in the large room at the bottom, which we did our best not to
disturb. Dale then came down, followed by Andrew, Matt Sanders, and Richard
Haas. Chris Haas videotaped quite a bit and later helped navigate the bucket
line to clear the first tight squeeze on the way to the top. Chris Heuss
belayed everyone down while Dale was down below. Sent 2-3 buckets up initially
with a lot of "glassy-dirt" inside. Matt Sanders and Andrew then began
on two trash-filled tunnels, which they cleaned out 4-5 buckets of trash.
These tunnels are now open and may be able to be pushed for quite a ways.
One extends 20+ feet. Robert Swanner cleaned out an area to the right as
you enter the large room at the bottom near the large flowstone in the
center of the room. This area could be pushed another 10' and possibly
further, but will require digging. Richard Haas, Matt Patrick, and Chris
Gandy helped Mark excavate three areas and we were able to remove most
of the "glassy dirt" we found. Approx. 4 buckets of this dirt was removed.
We were also able to do some videotaping down below and got off quite
a few pictures that will be seen in the March "OZTOTL Caver" and will also
be sent to Terry for the "Texas Caver's use.
It misted periodically through
the AM, but the rain began to pick up after 1-1:30. Work continued until
about 2 PM. Everyone came up out of the cave for a lunch break and Mark
sent up the last bucket of glassy-dirt. During lunch, the rain picked up
and we all decided to declare Icebox clean and to conclude the project
for the day. Matt Sanders volunteered to go back down to retrieve Mark's
camcorder, camera, shovels, buckets, and whatnot before we left. We ended
up with 7 HEAVY bags of trash and glassy-dirt. We also performed a trash
pickup around the cave and surrounding area.
Dale then showed us a cave
nearby that had/was likewise been trashed as Icebox and definitely could
use a cleanup. Chris Gandy and Robert Swanner indicated that they would
also like to do their Eagle Project down at CBSP and perform a cave cleanup.
More future volunteers it would appear.
We then checked out Gorman
Falls while in the neighborhood and noticed that David's front left tire
appeared low. Decided to definitely watch and air up in Lampasas. Saw the
wreck of the car that Chris Heuss told us about having descended over the
top of Gorman Falls.
Upon arriving back at camp,
discovered that Chris Gandy had severely pinched his finger in Mark's truck
when the topper window shut while trying to navigate the mudholes in a
furious fashion in order to avoid getting stuck. Ice water and aspirin
appeared to do the trick. Thumb OK.
Also discovered back at
camp that the cave was dryer than our tents, especially the four man one
we were using. Water standing inside and gear all wet. Decided to skip
Gorman Cave and head back to Mesquite. Made it back about midnight and
the boys crashed at the Alman's house. Even after a full day's work, they
managed to stay up until about 4 AM and ate up a lot of the food we didn't
eat at CBSP.
The boys still enjoyed the
trip and the type of work and REALLY want to come back. Possibly on Earth
Day.
Total hours for team four = 60.0
Team Four was regulars Butch Fralia, Keith Heuss, Sharon Mastbrook,
Jennifer Peplinski, Wayne Peplinski. This weekend started out with the
idea that a military caver from Fort Hood would arrive with a precision
military GPS unit. We were going to get as many precision locations
as possible, especially in the McLarrin Fissure area where cave locations
may be very close together. Unfortunately that turned to plan B when
Rosanne was unable to attend the weekend.
Plan B consisted of taking GPS locations for all the caves behind
the windmill in Lively Pasture. These locations had not been checked
by GPS against the overland survey data. This in case Rosanne is
able to come back another time, the caves can be quickly located. Keith
went off with Dale Bernard to talk with Robert Basse about the Earth Day
festivity in April. He planned to meet with Butch and crew later.
Butch, Jennifer, Sharon and Wayne drove to Lively Pasture and began the
task about 10:00 am. They took GPS measurements, averaging the data
for 10 minutes at each location. Recognizing some of the entrances
was interesting for Butch, realizing he had not been back to that area
since circa 1990. They worked in the pasture until about 3:00 p.m.
when the drizzling rain became heavy enough to make the work cold and miserable.
They returned to the windmill to find Keith and Ben Heuss waiting for them.
They weren't able to find Butch and crew in the pasture. When the
rain began, they had an attack of good sense and returned to the vehicle.
Sunday morning, Butch and Keith took location data on Turtle
Shell, Biscuit Can and Lemons Ranch caves before leaving the park.
Total hours for team five = 30.0 hours
Total hours for the weekend were = 165.0.
This total was lower then it would have been had the weather been better. We will be continuing to work in the lost Petzl System as this area is proving to be more complex then first thought. This area will be a good one for recreational caving as the air will be good year around. This is because "all" the caves are interconnected. This allows for good airflow throughout the system.
SAB006 - Biscuit Can Cave
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
SAB073 - Lemons Ranch Cave
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
SAB108 - Turtle Shell Cave (tour entrance)
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
SAB180 - Skunk Hole Cave
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
Skunk hole is a large fissure in an area of many Karst features.
The fissure trends at 60 degrees azimuth, is 60-70 feet long, 20 feet wide
and 22 feet deep. There is a short horizontal passage at the bottom,
approximately 10 feet long formed by talus.
SAB181 - Parsley Pit
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
Parsley Pit has a 6'2" virtually round entrance. The 17' 2" deep
entrance is climbable. The passage trends at 63 degrees azimuth for
33'. The ceiling height is about seven feet and the average width
is about seven feet. The most notable feature of the cave is a drapery
flowstone formation on the ceiling running the length of the passage.
At times past, CO2 levels in the cave have been measured as high as 7 percent.
SAB204 - Orienteering Cave
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
Orienteering Cave is difficult to find which is probably why it got
it's name. It's a small fissure/sink entrance 4' long by 1.5' wide
and 15' deep(?) located in the middle of a small grove of Cedar.
The entrance is not easily climbable and vertical gear was not carried
out from the vehicle.
Near SAB204:
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
A sinkhole with possible passage (digging required) in the area of
SAB204 and other Karst features. The sink is 6' long by 4' wide and
3' deep.
SAB205 - Shari's Diet Cave
Overland Survey:
GPS Average:
Shari's Diet Cave is not a cave. It is a karst feature. It is a very
narrow fissure, 5' long, 7" wide and approximately 10' deep trending 40
degrees azimuth. There appears to be passage below trending 140 degrees
azimuth. The cave was named after Shari Finfrock, the wife for Fort
Worth television weatherman and caver David Finfrock. Shari is a
lady of very small stature and the joke at the time (told by Shari) is
that even she would have to go on a diet to enter that hole.
SAB222 - Rabbit Run Grotto
Overland Survey:
GPS Average: