PROJECT REPORT
Colorado Bend State Park Project
Project Date: April 11-13, 1997 Reported by: Dale Barnard
Person-hours: 174.5
Personnel: (30 folks)
Dale Barnard, Christopher Darilek, Stacy Case, Chris Hutson, Alvis Hill, Pat Copeland, Keith Heuss, Chris Heuss, Ben Heuss, Ken Langley, Mary Ann Bauknecht, Jen Richards, Pete Baron, Tina Baron, Kate Baron, Melissa Wierzbicki, Dave Jennings, Jim Kennedy, Terry Holsinger, Derek Nash, Patty Kennedy, Sara Dierk, Shari Lydy, Sheryl Rieck, Amy Rieck, Derek Nash, Kevin Stafford, John Paul _______, Melonie Alspaugh, Butch Fralia
The weather for this trip turned out to be surprisingly chilly, with gusty winds for most of the weekend. Thankfully, the wind died down enough on Saturday night for a nice campfire circle. The teams this weekend accomplished many miscellaneous projects, taking good initiative in their decision making. I was particularly impressed with the attitude of the Aggie crew. As usual, they required very little instruction, and marched off with confidence that they would find their hard-to-locate cave with only a topo map. No problem!
Dale's team (Christopher, Stacy, and Chris Hutson) spent 5 hours surveying Don't Fit Pit (SAB199). They completed the passable area of the cave. However, a pinch remains for a really skinny person to push. It leads to a 1.5 second pit, probably about 20 feet, with possible further leads. However, because of the location of the pinch, we can't see into the bottom of the pit.
The Earth Day crew (Alvis, Pat, Keith, Chris, Ben, Ken, and Mary Ann) spent a total of 40 hours making preparations for the big project the following weekend. They laid out and flagged an alternate route to Gorman Springs in case of high water. They used saws and a weedeater to clear the river trail to Gorman Cave and removed debris from the area. They also flagged the trail to Gorman Falls, removed brush and debris from the entrance to Icebox Cave and set up locations for signs.
Pete's crew (Jen, Tina, Kate, Melissa, and Dave) spent 5.5 hours surveying in Rabbit Run Grotto. They started where Terry Holsinger left off and completed the survey, including the drop. At survey station 13, they left a pessimistic dig lead that can be visualized at 3+ meters. They also located what might be a new cave: It is near a boulder and black dirt between the elevations of 1340 and 1380 (according to the topo map) in a stream channel cut east of SAB222 and SAB205, probably closest to the stream draw by SAB205.
Jim's crew (Terry, Derek, Patty, and Sara) spent a total of about 17.5 hours doing surface survey, although Patty and Sara left the team after a short time. After showing Shari's team Railroad Crowbar Cave and Cavity Creep Cave, the fivesome began surface survey from the brass screw benchmark near RR Crowbar Cave. They surveyed down the road toward the gravel pile and Emblem Cave. Then, the four (minus Sara) refound Gravel Suckhole #1 and #2 and then surveyed to them and then dug them out. Suckhole #2 is now a cave with dig leads, roughly 20 feet deep. Then, another search was undertaken for stations from Mike Pearson's 11/96 surface survey. They found it as well as the two holes that Mike discovered (not caves yet), and then surface surveyed from his A13 station to the brass screw near RR Crowbar. Altogether, about 4600 feet was surveyed, connecting a bunch of features and tying in Pearson's hanging survey. Impressive!
Shari's crew (Sheryl, Amy, and Derek) spent 7 hours surveying Cavity Creep Cave (SAB190) and exploring Railroad Crowbar Cave (SAB189). They completed the survey of Cavity Creep Cave, including the blind pit at the bottom for about 55 feet of vertical distance. They intended to also survey Railroad Crowbar Cave, but their exploration through a squeeze yielded some good returns of virgin passage and the survey was best left for another trip.
Kevin's crew (John Paul and Melonie) spent 9 hours surveying in Gorman Creek Crevice. They completed about 200 meters from the entrance room to the 3-way junction. Only 9 hours and 200 meters? Careful, Kevin—your reputation is at stake here!
Butch spent a total of 9 hours on miscellaneous tasks. First, he relocated Gorman Sink and Copperhead Cave in the Gorman Falls area. On the March trip, he had mistakenly reported El Sotono Lodoso as Gorman Sink. I have corrected the report. Butch then continued by relocating Climb-up Cavelet and Skull Cave, but due to the precarious cliff-edge location of them, he did not take a GPS reading. He then did some walking around the area and discovered a small cave and a karst feature that might have some potential just east of the other Kastnig fissures. He took GPS readings on them.
He then went to straighten out the SAB211, 212, and 213 area. One small glitch, though: Bear, his dog, suddenly bolted and before Butch could stop him, he had a foot on the back of a skunk and turned it over. Bear had no intention of hurting the skunk, and the skunk seemed to sense this. After a quick hiss, growl, and showing of teeth, it allowed Bear to sniff for a short time. Unfortunately, it ran out of patience and gave Bear something much stronger to sniff. It could have been worse, though. Butch was able to wash the smell off of Bear on Sunday. Do skunks really growl? Like a cat? Once the action was over, Butch continued on his objectives. He couldn't find SAB211, but when he went to SAB212, the tag said SAB211. The overland survey must be wrong. Before he could finish confirming his suspicions, his GPS unit went crazy and couldn't track the satellites.
Once he was back at camp, he and Keith showed Jim Kennedy where A Mother Pit was and took a GPS reading while he was there.
On Sunday, he helped Keith and his boys mark a trail to Gorman Spring for the Earth Day Project.