Project Date:  November 12-14, 1999

Reported by:  Dale Barnard

Report Date:  December 15, 1999

Person-hours:  191.25

Personnel: (59 folks)

Andy G. Grubbs	Bonnie Longley	Brian Gaas
Butch Fralia	Chris Heuss	Chris M. Hall
Chris Sobin	Dale Barnard	Dan Dennison
Daniel Gillham	David E. Gers	Dennis Renner Jr.
Edward A. Sevcik	Erin Vreeland	Felicia Vreeland
Helen Atkinson	J__________	Jack Johnson
James R. Overfelt	Jerry Fant	Jessica Snider
Jim Kennedy	Jonathan Wilson	Kate Moore
Keith Heuss	Kevin Stafford	Leigh Bradford
Liam Town	Linda Palit	Mark Pa__t_y
Matthew Huffman	Michael Anderson	Michael Cunningham
Michael Rutlan__	Nate Sneed	Paul Atkinson
Paul Matthews	R.D. Milhollin	Randy Brown
Robert Atkinson	Roberta Snider	Susan Atkinson
Terry Holsinger	Thomas Martin	Travis Rhea
Trudie Weatherford	Vu Dang	Wayne Peplinski
Will Harris	Eric Bleier	Stephanie Plagens
Emily Sekula	Matthew Boerger	Monika Czerwinska
Joanna Sánchez	Jana Perser	Joe Mitchell
Matt Reuter	Katie Chyle Ramsey

 We had another great turnout for the project this weekend. The new cave database is improving organization and allowing us to handle large turnouts. The weather was perfect, perhaps even a little hot during midday on Saturday, and the food around camp was amazing. Everyone had a great time and an enormous amount of work was accomplished. One of the nice new aspects of the project is the addition of several GPS units, allowing us to better document even minor karst features.

Team 1: Kevin Stafford, Andy Grubbs, Jonathan Wilson, Felicia Wilson
Time: 3 hours * 4 people = 12 hours
 This team continued the survey of Nila's Very First Cave (SAB254) from the previous point, adding 10 stations and 25m of passage through a crawlway. They then encountered very bad air and were forced to exit.

Team 2: Will Harris, Paul Atkinson, Robert Atkinson, Susan Atkinson, Helen Atkinson, Ed Sevcik
Time: 5.5 hours * 6 people = 33 hours
 This team went to Lower Cave (SAB079) and took a GPS reading for it (listed below). Ed, Susan, and Helen then left to go GPS some other locations, such as SAB285 (listed below). Will, Paul, and Robert entered Lower Cave and did a quick run-through, finding good air in all but the lower levels. They surveyed from the SAB079 tag that Will placed on a nearby tree. They set 17 stations and one loop before returning to camp. Will reports that Lower Cave will require several more trips due to the complexity of the cave.
 Susan, Helen, and Edward located SAB285, a tagged cave that is not yet printed on the topographic map. They took a GPS reading. They mentioned that it goes down about 30 feet to standing water. They also took GPS readings on other features in the area, such as Fern Cave.

GPS Locations (UTM, NAD27 datum):
Fern Pit: XX XX.XXX N XX XX.XXX W
Rock Cairn: XX XX.XXX N XX XX.XXX W
SABK013: XX XX.XXX N XX XX.XXX W
SAB285: XX XX.XXX N XX XX.XXX W
SAB079: XX XX.XXX N XX XX.XXX W

Team 3: Jessica Snider, Jack Johnson, Vu Dang, Mike Rutland, Leigh Bradford, Paul Matthews, Matthew Huffman, Thomas Martin, Daniel Gillham
Time: 5 hours * 9 people = 45 hours
 Jessica, Vu, and Mike completed a cave description of SAB189. They then went to SAB218 and Vu, Mike, and Jack completed a description. They then went to Good 'n Tight (SAB283) where they tried to push the water passage in the back, but they said that it was 118% unpassable. Jessica and Vu completed a description. They returned to camp in the dark and ate steak. The San Marcos team has been assigned the on-going project of describing every cave in the Lost Petzl System.

Team 4: Randy Brown, Roberta Snider, Jim Kennedy
Time: 7 hours * 3 people = 21 hours
 This team entered Be Excellent (SAB217) determined to dive the sump. They experience immediate bad air (lighter wouldn't light). They then went back up to the dig at BE519, also known as 51I and dug and surveyed for three more stations to 51L and had to stop at another really laborious mud dig that did not look promising. They exited looking like they were mummified in mud. Randy pointed out a potential safety issue with a large, loose rock in the entrance. Randy will return to the cave to stabilize the entrance before anyone else enters.

Team 5: Wayne Peplinski, Kate Moore, Nate Sneed, Dan Dennison, Travis Rhea
Time: 6.25 hours * 5 people = 31.25 hours
 This team explored SAB189 for signs of prior activity. They wrote a biological description and bone count and checked air quality (bad!). They plan to continue exploring karst features northwest of SAB189.

Team 6: Dale Barnard, Chris Sobin, Chris Hall, R.D. Milhollin, Dave Gers, Brian Gaas, Jiyoung Cha
Time: 7 hours * 7 people = 49 hours
 This team hiked from camp toward the red gate, locating several features along the way, taking GPS readings.
KNEW1: Karst feature near a cairn in a 40x30' clearing. They tied a long flag in the entrance so that it can be relocated and tagged next month.
KNEW2: R.D. found another feature 30 meters north of KNEW1 above. This is also near a cairn.
KNEW3: They dug this feature a bit, but it had little potential. This feature is located below the above features, just down stream in the side of the bluff.
KNEW4: This is a small crack nestled in trees. Sounds like it is about 15' deep. They hung a flag in the entrance.
 They then relocated SAB292 Grand Cedar Cave and opened the entrance a little. R.D., Chris, and Dale squeezed in the tight entrance and surveyed up to a 9 meter drop that will require rope. They left a station flagged so the survey can be easily resumed next month with rope in hand. Chris and Chris wrote a description of the explored areas of the cave.
 They then relocated Elmo's Hole (SAB252) so that Chris Sobin could confirm that it is the same Elmo's Hole that he remembered. Brian squeezed in and found better air than last month when Debbie Blackburn entered. This cave needs to be surveyed by very skinny people.
 On the hike back between Elmo's Hole and the red gate, they found a nice, unmarked pit five meters deep. It appears to be a new cave, although it shows little potential of going very far. It is located 2/3 of the way to the creek bed from Caves R Us.

SAB252 Elmo's Hole:  XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N
SAB292 Grand Cedar Cave: XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N
Red Gate:   XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N
KNEW1:   XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N
KNEW2:   XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N
KNEW3:   XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N
KNEW4:   XX XX.XXX E XX XX.XXX N

What Should Be Done Next:
· Stabilize entrance to Be Excellent (SAB217).
· Will needs to continue survey of Lower Cave (SAB079).
· The San Marcos team needs to write more descriptions for caves in the Lost Petzl System.
· Kevin Stafford needs to continue the survey in Nila's Very First Cave (SAB254) at CR22 in a crawlway.
· Wayne Peplinski, Kate Moore, Nate Sneed, and Dan Dennison need to document and GPS karst features NW of SAB189.
· Dale Barnard, Chris Sobin, Chris Hall, R.D. Milhollin, Dave Gers, Brian Gaas, and Jiyoung Cha need to tag a bunch of karst features near the red gate and survey the new cave down the hill from Caves R Us. They also need to continue surveying Grand Cedar Cave (SAB292) with rope.

Here are some cave descriptions from the October trip. We designed a new form for descriptions. The descriptions from the November and December trips will be even more detailed.

SAB198 (no name)

This is barely a cave. No gear is needed to navigate it. It begins with a very narrow entrance near many fissures that do not connect. The fissure entrance is less than a foot wide and about 15 feet deep. Once past the fissure, there is a circular room 10 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. The fissurous entrance area might have been hazardous for livestock. Ref: Howard Haddock xxx-xxx-xxxx  10/9/99.

SAB182 Horseshoe Chimney
Two bats were seen in this Lively Pasture cave. This cave has a wide fissure entrance that is easy to spot while walking along the creek bed. An experienced chimnier will not need rope in the 30-foot entrance. There is trash in the bottom, probably washed in during storms, but most of it has already been cleaned out. In addition to the two bats, harvestmand and crickets were observed. At the bottom of the entrance drop, passages head off in two directions, one of which leads roughly toward Gorman Creek Crevice. The passages in both directions narrow after 40 or 50 feet. Ref: Howard Haddock xxx-xxx-xxxx 10/9/99

SAB195 (no name)
This is a karst feature, but according to Howard Haddock, is not a cave by any stretch of the imagination. It is in a fissurous area, but no fissure is more than 2.5 feet deep. It is surrounded by trees and is slightly sunken. Ref: Howard Haddock xxx-xxx-xxxx 10/9/99

SAB186 Nopalitas ???????????????????
This cave, located in Lively Pasture, is aesthetically pleasing. The entrance is a 12-foot downclimb, and then another 5 feet. There are some other holes that sunlight peeks through, but only one can be entered. In all, the cave is about 30 feet long and about 20 feet deep. At the end, there is a 4-foot drop that is filled with dirt. Ref: Howard Haddock xxx-xxx-xxxx 10/9/99

SAB196 Nopalitas ??????????????
A goat scull is found in this cave. A fissure sink drops about 25 feet into a low room 40 feet in diameter. In the center of the room there is a pit with walls covered with sparkly flowstone and ribbons. A short passage from the bottom of the pit leads to another pit that is filled with water. From the big room, there is a small squeeze that leads to a 1-meter tall room 30 feet in diameter. There is a pit in the room. From this room, there are two squeezes that are diggable. One slowly pinches off in dirt and the other leads to the "speak easy room" with a small hole leading to the surface. 10 bats were noted along with a snake, crickets, and spiders. Ref: Travis Scott (xxx-xxx-xxxx 10/9/99

SAB197 Dog and Butterfly Cave
A fissure-like entrance in Lively Pasture leads about 20 feet down. The fissure is about 20 feet long and is filled with rock and breakdown. Ref: Travis Scott xxx-xxx-xxxx

SAB194 Sore Back Cave
This cave in Lively Pasture has a small fissure entrance that requires some angled squeezing. Within about 20 horizontal feet, a pit is encountered with a couple of small rooms at the top of it. After a nice 20-foot climbdown, a down-sloping squeeze leads to a high, narrow fissure that leads about 20 feet further in a downward slope. It then opens up and continues down a crawl to a passage filled with cobbles. An extensive upward climb leads to some breakdown rooms and nice, formations, both black ones and white ones. At one point, you can see daylight out the entrance that used to be called SAB218. SAB218 is now assigned to a cave in the Lost Petzl System). It becomes too tight to squeeze out of, which is frustrating because it would save 45 minutes of aggressive caving on the return back down the bottom and then up to the other entrance. Ref: Travis Scott xxx-xxx-xxxx 10/9/99 with some additions by Dale Barnard.

SAB199 Don't Fit Pit
A short chimney takes you down about 15 feet. At the bottom it slopes downwardly at about 20 degrees. In a few feet, a flowstone narrows the passage down such that you cannot pass. It opens up on the other side into a pit about 6 - 8 feet in diameter. Judging from the sound of a rock falling in it, it is at least 20 feet deep. It is doubtful that anyone other than a tiny kid could squeeze past the flowstone. Normally, this cave has such bad air that you cannot get to the flowstone pinch. The entrance is found next to some bushes. Chrickets are plentiful. Ref: Brian Gaas xxx-xxx-xxxx 10/9/99. Additions by Dale Barnard