PROJECT REPORT
TSA/Colorado Bend State Park Project
Project Date: January 7-9, 2000
Reported by: Dale Barnard
Report Date: January 12, 2000
Person-hours: 280
Personnel: (20 folks)
Anyone who chose to stay home this weekend
because of the weather really missed out. It was great weather beginning
Saturday morning. Sunday was so sunny and warm that it was hard to think
a negative thought about anything.
20 ambitious cavers came out for the project
this month, most of whom already knew their objectives before arriving.
Terry and I spent time on Sunday morning discussing the history and future
of the project with Cory Evans, the new park superintendent. We plan to
return on January 16, 2000 to show him around.
Team 1: Russ Johnson, Curtis Vaughn, David Riddle,
Patrick Burkart
Time: 15 hours * 4 people = 60 hours
This team was the first ever to make a through-trip
between Horseshoe Crevice (SAB182) and Gorman Creek Crevice (SAB183). They
also pushed the survey in GCC almost 100 meters in 19 shots. Russ' detailed
report follows:
We dropped off some clothes at Gorman Crevice after
walking right to it. As we hiked to Horseshoe Crevice, it dawned on me
that that the connecting team had dug their way through last month. I began
to dread the inevitable squeeze. Rappelled into the crevice (definitely
climbable by someone better than me). Saw some fleshy-colored millipedes,
about an inch-and-a-half long, in the entrance crevice. When everyone was
down, I squeezed though the down hole that was supposed to lead us to Gorman.
This hurt. A protruding rock raked lots of belly and just about took off
my nipple. As I grunted and hissed, the eyeballs of David and Patrick were
getting big; I detected shear terror, and I began to doubt that I could
make it myself. But I did make it, and had to get out of the way quick
to allow room for the others, who did not have to work at it as hard as
me. There were more tight places near the entrance, and for a minute, I
did not think that I was going to be willing to go this route, but the
passage became tolerable after a while, and there was not room for us to
turn around anyway.
Going in through Horseshoe looked to be shorter
based on the map I had seen, but it was pretty difficult. The passage was
far more interesting than Gorman Creek Crevice with many twists and turns,
shallow pools, and a spot where you went through head first, twisting down
about three feet. It was cool. Not that there wasn't some good old-fashioned
belly crawl over too-sharp gravel and under too low a ceiling. The others
saw a mouse when we got to the dome where Charlie wanted to cave radio.
I was thinking we would never see different survey tape. I climbed up into
one crevice directly over the crawlway and saw several centipedes, reddish
brown, about two inches long. I'd never seen centipedes at CBSP.
We finally made it to the intersection, took a break,
and prepared to survey. (Kudos to David for bringing spiced Italian ham,
it was good, especially considering that it made it that far in a single
ziploc bag. Now the garlic sesame sticks on the other hand, were a very
bad choice. Naturally they were pulverized into a fine powder. And they
reeked. I would not be surprised if the next people in the Crevice smell
some of the residual stench. I was sure glad to be in front on the way
out.) The crux of the matter is a chert nodule sticking out of a low place
in the ceiling at the intersection with some Kevin Stafford-era flagging
wrapped around it. We began the survey from there. David and Patrick were
holding up well at that point. David took the dumb end of the tape, and
Curtis was the instrument person. We surveyed towards the pit intersection.
It seemed to take forever, even though some shots were 7 and 8 meters.
All told, we surveyed 93+ meters in 19 stations (including three old stations),
stopping at the pit intersection. The resolve of David and Patrick was
souring at this point, and they both refused to enter the pool of water
that must be crossed to get to the intersection and the pit, despite our
encouragement and grand tales of walking passage and vertical. You could
even stand erect and walk through the water, but then again, they had heard
the walking passage line before. Curtis and I finished the last two shots
and we prepared to head out.
After a short rest at the main intersection, David
and Patrick seemed remarkably fresh. They had already seen what Horseshoe
had to offer, and we had thoroughly briefed them on the rigors of thrashing
out through Gorman, yet they insisted on traveling swiftly. David was pushing
his pack in front of him, as is customary, and was continually pushing
the pack into my feet whenever I stopped for a gasp break. Suffice to say
that they wanted OUT.
We emerged to a clear sky, changed into dry clothes,
and walked back to Horseshoe. Curtis descended to retrieve David's glasses.
We packed up and headed for the truck. I did not think it would be so late--1:15am--when
we returned to the truck. From camp-to-camp, the trip lasted 15 hours.
David and Patrick had good spirits most of the time, and considering that
they had never done a crawling cave before, they were real champs. I think
they may NEVER show up again, but they were champs none the less.
It was great fun doing the through trip. Curtis
and I look forward to finishing the survey work, and won't mind breaking
in more new suckers in the process.
Team 2: Jim Kennedy, Randy Brown, Roberta Snider
Time: 5 hours * 3 people = 15 hours
This team set out to survey Be Excellent (SAB217)
past the sump, hoping to eventually connect it to Gorman Creek Crevice
(SAB183). Jim's detailed report follows:
Due to the rainy weather Friday night, our team
arrived in camp around 10 am to sign in. Since we were ready to go, we
soon left for the parking area to the Lively Pasture, and hiked to the
cave. There was a momentary pause at the entrance to remove a rock we wedged
there on the last trip, and we were soon headed to the back of the cave.
Since we were fresh, and all veterans of this route, we were at the sump
in about an hour.
At the sump the buffoonery began. Randy and I could
not agree on the location of one of our previous stations. We surveyed
forward and surveyed backward, trying to recover a definite station. All
the time, we are naked in the sump pool, losing body heat. Then, I was
juggling my pack, the guideline, the survey tape, and a hand-held dive
light when I dropped the light. I thought it went out, and tried feeling
around for it on the bottom. No luck, so I pulled down my dive mask, took
a deep breath, and went under, groping for the light. Still no luck. After
several more attempts, I finally felt it. It was still on, but not visible
in the rapidly-spreading murk. And the sump pool is less than four feet
deep.
By this time I was getting pretty damn cold and
starting to shiver. I noticed these strange bumps under my skin. "What
a time for my wimp glands to show up!" I thought. I dove under again and
tried to take a look in the sump, but saw nothing in the silt-out. The
bumps were now the size of peas. I was starting to get just a little nervous,
but Randy tried to convince me to take another look. He described the sump
again: in about six feet to a wall, then turn left and you come up into
a wide room. He said he remembered the clarity improving on the other side.
Fighting the buoyancy from the rapidly-increasing swellings, I went in
to the wall and backed out. By now I was shivering uncontrollably from
the cold, and my wimp glands were the size of grapefruits. No way was I
going through there that trip.
We debriefed a little on shore while I was trying
to dry off and get dressed again. Our mistakes came from not having Randy
(the only person on the earth ever to have passed that sump) not going
through right away while we were fresh and warm and the water was clear.
He could have rigged a line which we would have easily followed. We would
survey as planned, tying in our hanging survey as we left the sump on the
way out of the cave.
I still wasn't warm by the time I got out of the
cave, even with all the climbs and crawls between the sump and the entrance.
We lounged in the warm afternoon sun for a few minutes before hitting the
trail back to the car. On the way we stopped to look at the entrance to
Cicurina Cave. It was still there.
Team 3: Dale Barnard, Denise Prendergast, Terry
Holsinger, Trudie Weatherford, Jeanette Joost, James Barnard
Time: 5 hours * 6 people = 30 hours
This team went to the Red Gate area with the
newly-found cave tags (Dale had them--oops). We intended to trail Denise,
Trudie, Jeanette, and James on surveying and then to tag a bunch of karst
features. Terry stumbled on a new karst feature, which we GPS'd and tagged
with SABK30.
Dale did the survey training in a cave that
has a nice entrance, but does not go far. We tagged it SAB293 and called
it Overlooked Cave. This was Trudie's first time to sketch. Dale scanned
her sketch notes and emailed them to her so that she can draft the map.
Denise and Jeanette read instruments and set stations. In the meantime,
Terry Holsinger ridge-walked in the area and discovered some notable geologic
features down near the river.
SABK030 XXXXX XXXXX (in the Red Gate area)
SAB293 XXXXX XXXXX (in the Red Gate area)
Team 4: Chris Sobin, Wayne Peplinski, Ed Goff
Time: 7 hours * 3 people = 21 hours
This team located SABK021 to determine the
extent of the cave. It was last checked in November of 1999 and had bad
air. This trip, they found a single drop of 15 meters and surveyed it.
There were no further leads at the bottom of the drop. This is enough cave
passage to upgrade its status from a karst feature to a cave. Today, the
cave had good air. They then returned to camp for lunch.
After lunch, they proceeded to Scorpion Pit
(SAB289) and rigged the entrance drop. They opened up the entrance a little
to make access easier. This cave had good air, too.
On the way back to camp, they found an interesting
entrance approximately 200 feet west of SAB289.
Team 5: Paul Atkinson, Will Harris, Marcus Canonico,
Angie Proffitt
Time: 6 hours * 4 people = 24 hours
This team returned to Lower Cave (SAB079)
to re-shoot previously surveyed loop to error check it. The cave ends in
a low crawl over mud floor that is easily diggable. They could see 5 -
6 meters further. They took a total of 34 survey shots. Oh, and they saw
a mouse about 30 feet in.
Extra volunteer hours
In addition to the hours accumulated on this
trip, an estimated 50 hours was spent during December on project-related
activities. An additional 80 hours was spent commuting to and from the
project. This brings the total hours for this month to 150 + 50 + 80 =
280.
What Should Be Done Next:
· Use a cave radio locator in Gorman Creek
Crevice (SAB183) to connect a dome to the surface.
· GCC needs some side passage surveyed and
some of Kevin's survey redone.
· Connect GCC to Be Excellent (yeah, right--keep
dreaming)
· Change the tag from SABK021 to a cave number.
· Inspect and tag the entrance to a cave
that Sobin's team found 200 feet west of Scorpion Pit (SAB289).
· Push Scorpion Pit (SAB289)
· Will should go back to Lower Cave (SAB079)
to clean up his sketch notes.
· Dig in Lower Cave (SAB079)