Re: [Texascavers] January CBSP trip report
Denise’s dog Radish had a major conniption fit about the ‘dillo, and tried to eat it. HAHAHAHAHA - I'm sure that was hilarious to witness. I bet the 'dillo was bigger than the dog. I love fearless Radish! -Original Message- From: Jim Kennedy jkenn...@batcon.org To: CaveTex texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Tue, Jan 11, 2011 3:14 pm Subject: [Texascavers] January CBSP trip report Project date: 7–9 January 2011 Reported by:Jim Kennedy Report date:11 January 2011 Person-hours: 262 hours (164 work, 98 travel) Personnel: (23 folks) Alexandra Albach, Gus Albach, Rebecca Albach, Robert Albach, Don Arburn, Dale Barnard, Grace Borengasser, Laura Cox, Ryan Fabich, Galen Falgout, Lydia Hernandez, Jim Kennedy, Vivian Loftin, Karen Masters, Ryan Monjaras, Joe Naderer, David Ochel, Denise Prendergast, Ann Scott, Matt Turner, Nicholas Yasui, Matt Zaldivar, Andy Zenker This has been one of the best turnouts in recent years. Six teams were fielded, most concentrating on the recently-burned Lively Pasture area. Two caves were mapped, many locations ground-truthed, more new karst features found, a known karst feature was turned into a cave, and some new caves were discovered, one of which (Marshmallow) is a pretty exciting find with a lot of potential. Team 1 Jim Kennedy, Matt Turner, Becky Albach, and (part time) Gus Albach Matt and I had several goals this weekend: to remove the awkward entrance rock at Rabbit Run Grotto (SAB222), enlarge the entrance at K-46 (SAB704 — now renamed Rebeccas Rift), and ground-truth more caves near Embryo Cave (SAB226) and Gas Pipe Cave (SAB267). We accomplished all of those, and more. We once again drove back the access road toward the remote group camp (“Windmill Camp”) and parked in a nearby clearing. We carried our tools and a rope and some rigging for Rabbit Run Grotto (SAB222). We demolished the big, awkward boulder straddling the entrance. We were going to set a couple of bolts to facilitate entry, but Jim forgot to bring them. A couple other groups caught up with this team about then, and David (Team 2) began to rig the entrance and prepare for the survey. The duo then took off for K-46 (SAB704) with Robert’s younger daughter Becky. The threesome looked at some other caves and karst features along the way, and quickly arrived at their destination. About an hour’s worth of work had the narrow rift sufficiently enlarged that a skinny team could probably fit. The depth was measured with a Disto at 5.8m, so it is definitely a cave. To commemorate Becky’s hard work in digging open this feature, it was renamed Rebeccas Rift. They returned to Sharis Diet Cave (SAB205) to retrieve Team 3 and send them on to Rebeccas Rift to push and map it, but they were already done and gone. They were found again at Rabbit Run Grotto, briefed, and sent off to Rebeccas Rift. Team 1 then picked up Gus Albach and headed off to find more caves. Trapdoor Cave (SAB690) was finally GPSed. They then found Gas Pipe Cave (SAB267), which had two sets of coordinates, both wrong. Good coordinates were gathered. Then off to Embryo Cave (SAB226), where better coordinates were also collected. Slick Mudder Cave (SAB225) was also mislocated, but eventually found and recorded. However, it is not a cave, just a shallow karst feature filled with sediment. We found the tag on a nearby tree, so we knew that this is the “cave” that is in our database. We wandered around some more trying to find other nearby caves with the GPS. Cave Number 6 (SAB224) eluded us, even though we all walked several circles around where it was supposed to be. A small crevice sort-of nearby was found, but it wasn’t tagged (so far called “Crevice Karst Feature”). The team also re-found SABK045, an unnamed karst feature, and SB231, and unnamed cave in a dense thicket. Coordinates were a bit off for both, and it is unsure whether or not they are actually on the Park property, so no further investigation of these two occurred. One more obvious trash-filled sink (“Trash Sink”) right next to the road was also recorded. Surprisingly, no one ever recorded it before. The highlight of the day, however, came with the discovery of another new cave, Marshmallow Cave (no SAB number yet). As usual, Jim noticed a shallow slump under some trees. A few rocks were removed, revealing a larger collapse, mostly covered by soil and large rocks. After an hour or so of work by Jim, Matt, and the kids, the entrance was large enough for Jim to enter. A fairly easy climbdown of about 3.5 meters opened to a dry stream crawl of easy hands-and-knees dimensions. After about 30m, the passage picked up another infeeder, and dropped 4m to another going dry stream passage. The air was a little bad there, and two impressionable young children were along, so it was decided not to try anything foolhardy at that point. This cave
[Texascavers] January CBSP trip report
Project date: 7-9 January 2011 Reported by:Jim Kennedy Report date:11 January 2011 Person-hours: 262 hours (164 work, 98 travel) Personnel: (23 folks) Alexandra Albach, Gus Albach, Rebecca Albach, Robert Albach, Don Arburn, Dale Barnard, Grace Borengasser, Laura Cox, Ryan Fabich, Galen Falgout, Lydia Hernandez, Jim Kennedy, Vivian Loftin, Karen Masters, Ryan Monjaras, Joe Naderer, David Ochel, Denise Prendergast, Ann Scott, Matt Turner, Nicholas Yasui, Matt Zaldivar, Andy Zenker This has been one of the best turnouts in recent years. Six teams were fielded, most concentrating on the recently-burned Lively Pasture area. Two caves were mapped, many locations ground-truthed, more new karst features found, a known karst feature was turned into a cave, and some new caves were discovered, one of which (Marshmallow) is a pretty exciting find with a lot of potential. Team 1 Jim Kennedy, Matt Turner, Becky Albach, and (part time) Gus Albach Matt and I had several goals this weekend: to remove the awkward entrance rock at Rabbit Run Grotto (SAB222), enlarge the entrance at K-46 (SAB704 - now renamed Rebeccas Rift), and ground-truth more caves near Embryo Cave (SAB226) and Gas Pipe Cave (SAB267). We accomplished all of those, and more. We once again drove back the access road toward the remote group camp (Windmill Camp) and parked in a nearby clearing. We carried our tools and a rope and some rigging for Rabbit Run Grotto (SAB222). We demolished the big, awkward boulder straddling the entrance. We were going to set a couple of bolts to facilitate entry, but Jim forgot to bring them. A couple other groups caught up with this team about then, and David (Team 2) began to rig the entrance and prepare for the survey. The duo then took off for K-46 (SAB704) with Robert's younger daughter Becky. The threesome looked at some other caves and karst features along the way, and quickly arrived at their destination. About an hour's worth of work had the narrow rift sufficiently enlarged that a skinny team could probably fit. The depth was measured with a Disto at 5.8m, so it is definitely a cave. To commemorate Becky's hard work in digging open this feature, it was renamed Rebeccas Rift. They returned to Sharis Diet Cave (SAB205) to retrieve Team 3 and send them on to Rebeccas Rift to push and map it, but they were already done and gone. They were found again at Rabbit Run Grotto, briefed, and sent off to Rebeccas Rift. Team 1 then picked up Gus Albach and headed off to find more caves. Trapdoor Cave (SAB690) was finally GPSed. They then found Gas Pipe Cave (SAB267), which had two sets of coordinates, both wrong. Good coordinates were gathered. Then off to Embryo Cave (SAB226), where better coordinates were also collected. Slick Mudder Cave (SAB225) was also mislocated, but eventually found and recorded. However, it is not a cave, just a shallow karst feature filled with sediment. We found the tag on a nearby tree, so we knew that this is the cave that is in our database. We wandered around some more trying to find other nearby caves with the GPS. Cave Number 6 (SAB224) eluded us, even though we all walked several circles around where it was supposed to be. A small crevice sort-of nearby was found, but it wasn't tagged (so far called Crevice Karst Feature). The team also re-found SABK045, an unnamed karst feature, and SB231, and unnamed cave in a dense thicket. Coordinates were a bit off for both, and it is unsure whether or not they are actually on the Park property, so no further investigation of these two occurred. One more obvious trash-filled sink (Trash Sink) right next to the road was also recorded. Surprisingly, no one ever recorded it before. The highlight of the day, however, came with the discovery of another new cave, Marshmallow Cave (no SAB number yet). As usual, Jim noticed a shallow slump under some trees. A few rocks were removed, revealing a larger collapse, mostly covered by soil and large rocks. After an hour or so of work by Jim, Matt, and the kids, the entrance was large enough for Jim to enter. A fairly easy climbdown of about 3.5 meters opened to a dry stream crawl of easy hands-and-knees dimensions. After about 30m, the passage picked up another infeeder, and dropped 4m to another going dry stream passage. The air was a little bad there, and two impressionable young children were along, so it was decided not to try anything foolhardy at that point. This cave is trending towards Tie Slide Creek, and looks like a good one. Becky came up with the name, based on the white rocks at the entrance. After arriving back at the trucks, Jim decided to make one more journey back to Rabbit Run Grotto to check on the status of the other teams. Heading in a GPS-directed beeline, he soon found two more good looking leads that will need enlarging, but should turn into a cave, Cairn Sink 1 and Cairn Sink 2. People and gear were
