This week, the TSA winter meeting was held at the
conference center in conjunction with some photography and mapping workshops.
The weather was quite chilly and much camp talk pondered the various options
for staying warm. Despite the weather, approximately 35 people attended either
the meeting, workshops, or regular project weekend activities. This report
covers those who participated in the regular TSA-CBSP project.
Team 1: Aimee Beveridge, Bonnie Longley
Time: 7.5 hours * 2 people = 15 hours
This crew returned to Great Dane’s
Cave to complete the sketch. They also opened another entrance, but it was
plugged with large boulders.
Team 2: Richard Sultana, Tony Sultana, R.D. Milhollin
Time: 6 hours * 3 people = 18 hours
This crew returned to VFC. They
braved cold, wet, muddy, small passage on an already-chilly day. They tried to
push through to a room farther in than they had gone before, but the passage
was too small. They couldn’t tie into the Brunton survey data to continue the
survey. They will need to remove humus build-up in the passage to continue the
survey. R.D. sees potential in this cave, still.
Team 3: Rafal Kedzierski, Chris Hall, Paul Trowbridge, Brian
Trowbridge, Mark McGee, Marshal McGee
Time: 9 hours * 6 people = 54 hours on Saturday and 7 hours * 2 people
= 14 hours on Sunday for a total of 68 hours
The “Across the River Crew” had
another big day. Here is Rafal’s report:
They crossed the river at about
10:30 am to ridgewalk on state property on the other side of the river. They
ridgewalked west along the southern fence of the property to reach further
areas of that property. About a mile and a half along the fence they identified
the first two caves:
CB
8 - N 31 deg, 03 min, 32.1 s/W 98 deg, 28 min, 9.4 s .
Cave
is a 8 foot long fissure visible from the fence. A short, wide chimney descends
10 feet to a small room, and the cave ends in dirt.
CB
9 - within 10 yards of CB8, also along the fence. A 6-8 foot long fissure is
visible from the fence. A 10 foot deep chimeny descends to a small room, and
the cave appears to end in dirt. N 31 deg, 03 min, 32.2 sec/ W 98 deg 28 min,
10.1 s.
They continued along the fence to
locate another cave within apprx. 600 feet.
CB
10 / Marshall's Menhole - N 31 deg, 03 min, 31.0 s/W 98 deg, 28 min, 7.1 s.
A
crevice 30 feet long, sorrounded by other sinks in the area, is visible from
the fence, which it roughly parrallels. A 30 foot climbdown leads to crevice
cave that may contain more passage.
In sorrounding area there is a karst
fissure system (100 feet wide X 200 + feet long) with possible entrances. They
labeled this area CBKF1, with location N 31 deg 03 min 3.3 s/ w 98 deg 28 min
4.6 s.
They continued along the fence to
locate 2 more caves that are visible directly from the park border.
CB
11 - N 31 deg 3 min 22.7 s/W 98 deg, 27 min 53.2 s.
Three
fissures intersect to form this cave. The main fissure 20-30 feet long, runs
along the fence. Using vertical gear chris and mark rapelled estimated 50-60
feet (width from 1-3 feet wide) to the bottom of the fissure.
There, Chris was able to squeeze
through into a 3 foot high, 10-20 feet long room. Another squeeze followed into
another room. Another squeeze led to a series of other low rooms. There is
possibly more cave there.
CB
12 - A cave located along the fence within 40 feet of CB11. A 10 foot diameter
sink opens into a descending chimney. Rafal and Paul explored this cave. Both
descended about 20 feet down a 1-3 feet, 4-8 feet long chimney to find another
chimney intersected by a perpendicular fissure apprx. 3 feet wide. Paul
continued down this chimney (1-2 feet wide, 30-40 feet deep) to find a level
floor below. Walking on it produced hollow sound, indicating more downward
passage. A lead six feet off the floor was tight but continued at least 15
feet. There is air movement in this cave.
On Sunday, Rafal and Chris came back
to explore the area around CB11 and CB12 and to flag all the located caves.
They walked away from the fence in north by north east direction. Within 300
feet they located another cave CB13.
CB13
- A 15 foot long crevice descends at a slope about 10-12 feet to a silt-filled
floor. A 3X3 foot room is found there, with low areas (less than a foot)
extending from this room for 10-20 feet. A few formations are visible in the
room.
And they walked estimated 300 feet
further NXNE to locate dry streambed that channels water north. Within 30 feet
of locating the dry streambed, both spotted a series of sinks in this dry
creek.
CB
14 - N 31 deg 3 min 27.3 s/ W 98 deg 27 min 48.3 sec.
The
highest upstream sink had a foot wide opening which lead into a 20 feet
downclimb. This was a wide downclimb, leading into at least 4 feet wide by
15-20 feet long room. From here a squeeze under a couple of breakdown boulders
overlooked a drop off of 10-15 feet that lead to a good size room. The climb
requires rope or at least a handline, because of lack of hand- and footholds.
Air flow definately moves through this part of the cave. The sink itself takes
some water after the rain (and this is probably our best damn find on this side
- it feels like this thing could go big time... the rock even looks favorable,
no small passages here!!!)
Downstream area of sinks extends for
another 150 + feet, with visible entrances all over the place. The dry
streambed does not carry much water past this point for sure.
Chris and Rafal walked back and got
out of the park by 4pm. All in all a good trip, with 7 caves located, and area
located in which definately there are more holes than we are aware of.
Team 4: Jim Kennedy, Denise Prendergast, Jeannette Roost, Palle Villesen
Time: 6.5 hours * 4 people = 26 hours
This crew went to the Lost Petzl
System and pretty much did everything that can be done in one area in one day.
They surveyed, retagged caves, took entrance photos, wrote descriptions, and
pushed their way through the cave, enjoying some struggle along the way. Let’s
just say that Denise wishes to express her appreciation to Jim for letting her
plant her foot on his face, shoulder, or helmet to gain leverage in a chimney.
She spent much of the rest of the weekend watching her community of bruises
turn purple.
Here is Jim’s report:
Locations are stored on
Dale's GPS unit. Photos are on Dale;s disposable camera. Survey notes
in Jim's TSA1 survey book.
Where we worked: Puny Pond
Pit (SAB 308), unknown cave (SAB 309), new sinkhole (SABK 042), and Lost Petzl
System (SAB 075), southern section.
Report:
Upon leaving camp we immediately drove across the park
road to Puny Pond Pit, explored by Jim and Julia Germany during the December
project weekend. We surveyed it, tagged it, photodocumented the entrance, GPS'd
it, and wrote up a description (attached).
Then we drove over to the Lively Pasture parking area,
intending to hike to Lost Petzl. Jim's cave radar went off early, and the group
soon found themselves at an obviously known cave (there was a big Danger --
Entry Prohibited) sign at the entrance. This cave is not on the master Park
cave location map, and not on our Project lists. (Talking to Terry later
revealed that someone mentioned it in an old trip report, but he could not
think of it's name. No explanation why it was not on our master list, though.)
Anyhow, since we had the documentation equipment, we tagged it (SAB309),
photographed the entrance, GPS'd it, and stuffed Jeanette down it. The entrance
is maybe 100m upstream from where the Park road crosses Gorman Creek. It is on
the right (looking upstream) bank, near the top of a 4m limestone bluff. The
red and white sign at the entrance makes it easily visible. The cave is a
comfortable crawl with an almost-standing spot. It goes about 10m before becoming
too low. Unless another name is found, I propose we call this Creek Crossing
Cave. Someone should map it, although it would be a pretty simple task. See
attached report.
Reorienting ourselves, we once again set out for Lost
Petzl, but soon got distracted with an obvious sinkhole never before noted.
This looked like your typical rock-choked fissure, so Jeanette and Denise
started digging while Palle wandered around and Jim recorded data. It was
tagged with SABK042, photographed, and GPS'd. We moved a lot of rock in about
45 minutes, but were stopped by a couple of big slabs and lack of proper tools.
We'll be back with bigger hammers, as this looks like it could turn into a
qualifier.
FINALLY. we got to the Lost Petzl System. We did the
standard entrance tour, getting everyone familiarized with the system. We GPS'd
the Lemons Pit entrance, and retagged the seven entrances on the southern end
of the system (see attached JPEG). We are moving towards having all entrances
of the same system with the same number, just using letter designations to keep
the separate entrances straight. Since the Chimniers’ Delight entrance had the
lowest number (SAB 075), that's what we used. We started with the southernmost
entrance and worked north, but did not tag any of the entrances at the north
(Chimniers’ Delight Section) end of the system, since the map of that area is
not yet complete. Hence, using the preferred names:
SAB 075a Lemons Pit Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave System
SAB 075b Fissure Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave System
SAB 075c Cave of Many Names Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave System
SAB 075d Jim & Chris Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave System
SAB 075e Blackburn Memorial Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave System
SAB 075f Bears Breath Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave System
SAB 075g Golden State Motor Oil Can Entrance to Lost Petzl Cave
System
All seven southern entrances were also photographed.
Afterwards, the group entered the Lemons Pit Entrance,
and toured the Cave of Many Names section, enduring the Wretched Connection and
exiting via the Chimniers Delight Entrance. A description (forthcoming) of the
Cave of Many Names section was written during the many rest stops necessary.
Jim and Denise also entered the Bears Breath Entrance and toured to the
beginning of the Windiger Röedelbahn, exiting via the Golden State Motor Oil
Can Entrance. A description (also forthcoming) of the Golden State Motor Oil
Can section was also made.
We had a good, solid team and were able to free-climb all
the entrances we attempted. We were also lucky to find one of the
"lost" caves in the park, and to discover an exciting new sinkhole.
It was a very good trip, indeed.
Jim also included some GPS numbers from a previous trip:
Golden State Motor Oil Can
Entrance: 31.0429420 N 98.5047252 W
Chimniers Delight Entrance: 31.0430674 N
98.5037257 W
Here are some descriptions as reported by Jim Kennedy,
Denise Prendergast, Jeannette Joost, and Palle Villesen:
SAB 308 Puny Pond Pit:
Does it have a tag? Yes Where? -0.5m below ground
surface, on bedrock lip of pit.
Gear needed: none, except for very small persons.
Biological description: many cave crickets, one very fat
(surface) toad.
Air quality: Good.
Detailed physical description: The pit is slightly offset
and tight, abut easily free-climbable for it’s 3m depth. At the bottom of the
climb the passage turns horizontal. South (towards the pond) the passage
pinches in less than 1m to impassable proportions with no airflow. North
(towards the park road) the passage becomes very low and gravel floored. It
continues for at least 3m before becoming too low. Gravel could be dug from the
floor by a tiny person, but a lack of airflow makes this a vary low-priority
lead.
How to get there: From the intersection of the Park road
with the road leading to the Cavers’ Camp, proceed on the park road towards the
park entrance for about 30m. Turn left on a faint two-track "road"
towards a large stock pond. There is a sign saying "closed to the
public". The cave is an obvious slump hole about 1m wide in a faint gully
leading towards the pond, about 30m SW of the intersection of the two-track and
the park road. It is visible from the sign.
SAB 309 unknown cave (Creek
Crossing Cave):
Does it have a tag? Yes Where? Right at entrance.
Gear needed: none.
Biological description: porcupine den.
Air quality: Good.
Detailed physical description: The small (0.3m wide by
0.6m high) entrance is near the top of a 4m limestone bluff near the
usually-dry bed of Gorman Creek. A red and white "Danger * Entry
Prohibited" sign is bolted to the bluff near the entrance, but no SAB tag
could be located until we installed one. Holsinger recalls a mention of this
cave in an old trip report, but it is not on or list or on the master Park map.
The cave is essentially an enlarged joint heading back into the hill. It is
mostly a comfortable (but stinky) crawl, with one place you can almost stand.
It eventually becomes too low, and has no airflow.
How to get there: Drive down the Park Road toward the
Park Entrance from the Cavers* Camp, until one crosses the normally dry bed of
Gorman Creek. Head upstream, keeping to the right bank. After about 100m, the
obvious bluff and red-and-white sign is seen.
Extra volunteer hours
In addition to the hours accumulated on this trip, an
estimated 10 hours was spent during November on project-related activities. An
additional 144 hours was spent commuting to and from the project. This brings
the total hours for this month to 10 + 75 + 127 = .212
What Should Be Done Next: