texascavers Digest 6 Oct 2010 06:17:59 -0000 Issue 1162
texascavers Digest 6 Oct 2010 06:17:59 - Issue 1162 Topics (messages 16222 through 16231): Re: La Joya de Salas 16222 by: Mark Minton 16223 by: David 16225 by: John Brooks Re: Longhorn Caverns Wild Cave Tour During TCR 16224 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com Joya de Salas 16226 by: Mixon Bill 16229 by: Mark Minton 16230 by: James McLane UT Grotto Meeting - Wednesday October 6 16227 by: Gary Franklin Agenda for TSA Fall Business Meeting at TCR, Sunday, October 17th at 9 AM 16228 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com an interesting trip report 16231 by: David Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-unsubscr...@texascavers.com To post to the list, e-mail: texascavers@texascavers.com -- ---BeginMessage--- David Locklear said The coordinates below are to the entrance to La Joya de Salas: +23° 12' 2.18, -99° 17' 8.67 (23.200606, -99.285743) I think that location for Joya de Salas is incorrect. The Google Earth image shows large fields just to the south, and I do not think that is possible for our Joya de Salas. The satellite image is too low resolution to see much detail on the ground, so I can't say where I think Salas actually is. I do not have the topo map, but my guess is that it is south of the given location, possibly in the area of clouds. If anyone has the topo and could provide lat/lon or UTM coordinates, that would certainly help. The coordinates below appear to be a large sinkhole in a remote area near the cave known as Joya de Salas. 23.189797,-99.2698 We did explore a large open-air pit on the way up to Joya de Salas back in 1979. It was Joya de la Mina Barita, but I don't think this is it. However we were told of a pit larger than Salas located about 9 km to the northwest, so this could be that pit. We did not have time to go there and I don't know that anyone ever went back to look for it. See AMCS Activities Newsletter 11, p 61-63, 1980. Mark Minton Please reply to mmin...@caver.net Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- I think Mr. Mintion is correct that the label Joya de Salas is not correct on the map link I posted. After looking at it closer and trying hard to dig it out of my fuzzy memory, the coordinates below sound more likely for the pit: 23.182125,-99.303929 The houses located just south of the fields is the community of Joya de Salas, and the big entrance drop is within a short walk of there and out in the open as shown in the video link I posted. Here are some possible photos of the area: http://www.ajeepear.com/foros/index.php?showtopic=15572 The map below gives one an idea as to the remoteness of the cave. But the cave's waiting to be discovered are up in the hills and will require machete's and long hikes to reach them. http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=127982 We drove up there from the small roadside town of El Encino, by crossing the Rio Sabinas and then immediately making a left turn up into the El Cielo Preserve.I don't see anything on the aerial photo to show that, but it is on the link below: http://www.maps-of-mexico.com/tamaulipas-state-mexico/tamaulipas-state-mexico-map-b3.gif left click your mouse to zoom in on the Gomez Farias area. Several major storms have hit that area in the past 10 years, so maybe that is enough reason to re-check some leads up there. David Locklear ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- That sounds like an area that the Aggies visited with Bill Elliott in the late 70s. Over a couple of trips, past El Cielo Preserve, we surveyed several caves and found a few pits. There was a report in the AMCS newsletter at the timeon one tripvehicle problems left us stranded in the mountains for several days. We put the time to good use exploring nearby pits along the road several clicks past El Cielo. Sent from my iPhone On Oct 4, 2010, at 1:54 PM, David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: I think Mr. Mintion is correct that the label Joya de Salas is not correct on the map link I posted. After looking at it closer and trying hard to dig it out of my fuzzy memory, the coordinates below sound more likely for the pit: 23.182125,-99.303929 The houses located just south of the fields is the community of Joya de Salas, and the big entrance drop is within a short walk of there and out in the open as shown in the video link I posted. Here are some possible photos of the area: http://www.ajeepear.com/foros/index.php?showtopic=15572 The map below gives one an idea as to the remoteness of the cave. But the cave's waiting to be discovered are up in the hills and will require machete's and long hikes to
[Texascavers] Blue Spring Cave
The exploration of that cave in Tennessee is described in great detail in the new NSS book Blue Spring Cave. The book includes the first couple of dives in the resurgence, but of course not most the recent developments. paperback $38, with discounts for NSS members. Go to nssbookstore.org. My review of the book again: Blue Spring Cave. Larry E. Matthews and Bill Walter. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama; 2010. ISBN softbound 978-1-879961-36-4, hardbound 978-1-879961-37-1. 8.5 by 11 inches, 340 pages. Softbound $38 (NSS members $35), hardbound $55 (NSS members $50). Blue Spring Cave, the longest in Tennessee with over thirty-five miles of passages, is one of the few exciting finds in Tennessee since the exploration of Cumberland Caverns back in the 1950s. Long known as just a 500-foot cave, Blue Spring exploded after a tight, blowing crawl was pushed and enlarged in 1989. Most of the major passages were surveyed during the first half of the nineties, although work continues, including making a new entrance in 2001. During all this time, cavers enjoyed the hospitality and support of interested landowner Lonnie Carr. The cave is mostly horizontal, although there's a blind 150-foot pit located 4.7 miles from the entrance. Divers have penetrated a significant distance into the resurgence spring, but have not connected it to the cave so far. As is the case with all the NSS books on the history of Tennessee caves, the authors should really be considered editors, as most of the text is quoted. In this case, there are some reports previously published, but also a lot of new material written for the book by many participants in the exploration. Sometimes more than one person has written about the same trip, giving different perspectives. Almost every page contains a large black-and-white photograph, generally well printed. Most are very nice photos taken recently by Bob Biddix; some by Elliot Stahl are also praiseworthy. There is a twenty-page section of color photographs. I prefer the black-and-whites, because the color balance in many of the color photos is suspicious. There is a small- scale map of the cave spread over two pages, and a few detail maps. I wish there'd been more of the latter and that more place names mentioned in the text, including landmark station numbers, had been put on them. The book ends with a glossary, a chronology, a gazetteer, and an index. It's nice to be able to recommend an NSS book without too many reservations for a change. —Bill Mixon A chicken is the egg's way of making another egg. You may reply to the address this message came from, but for long-term use, save: Personal: bmi...@alumni.uchicago.edu AMCS: edi...@amcs-pubs.org or sa...@amcs-pubs.org - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] an interesting trip report
Here is an interesting trip report for Blue Spring Resurgence in Tennessee from about 8 days ago. http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/14520-Blue-Spring-Resurgence-TN It appears there will be an even more exciting trip report to be posted very soon, as the divers apparently returned 2 days ago, and made a major connection. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] an interesting trip report
Twenty or twenty-one years ago some Texas cavers were in on exploring and mapping in this incredible Tennessee cave. Robert Hemperly, Don Morley, my son Brian, and I camped in Blue Springs Cave for several days way back in it. I recall one day while camped in there discovering and mapping over 8,000 feet of passage. This cave was known for a couple hundred years as being about 400 feet long. Frat boys had partied in there and the vandalism was pretty awful. But the intriguing thing was a tight crawl at the end of it which blew air. Someone enlarged that, came to a crack in the floor that looked like it dropped down into walking passage, this was enlarged, and then something like 27 miles of cave was explored and mapped over the next couple of years. I was pleased to be part of it, even if only on two or three trips. Looking forward to TCR. Bill Steele Irving, Texas David dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote: Here is an interesting trip report for Blue Spring Resurgence in Tennessee from about 8 days ago. http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/14520-Blue-Spring-Resurgence-TN It appears there will be an even more exciting trip report to be posted very soon, as the divers apparently returned 2 days ago, and made a major connection. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
Re: [Texascavers] an interesting trip report
Here is a brief statement from Anne Elmore about Chrissy and Jason's (both former Florida cavers) discovery: 16 years of Cave Diving history have come to a close- Chrissy and Jason connected the Blue Spring Resurgence to Blue Spring Cave proper yesterday- 8 hours in cave, 3.5 in the water- around 5200 total feet from the spring to what we believe to be the CRD survey. As a bonus, we also found 1600 feet of new dry borehole. The cave is over 36 miles long I hope a report as exhaustive as the one David found is posted for the breakthrough. -Original Message- From: David dlocklea...@gmail.com To: Cavers Texas texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Wed, Oct 6, 2010 1:17 am Subject: [Texascavers] an interesting trip report Here is an interesting trip report for Blue Spring Resurgence in Tennessee from about 8 days ago. http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php/14520-Blue-Spring-Resurgence-TN It appears there will be an even more exciting trip report to be posted very soon, as the divers apparently returned 2 days ago, and made a major connection. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Terminal Siphons to play at 2010 TCR, Marble Falls, TX October 15-17
*FANTASTIC news!* The *Terminal Syphons* will be playing at this years Texas Cavers Reunion in Marble Falls, TX October 15-17! Dont forget to check the registration information on the website at www.oztotl.com/tcr, t...@oztotl.com, or by phone at 210-338-0TCR. There will be more information on how to get onto the park after hours available next week. Unpack your dancing shoes, bring your utensils and get ready for another great TCR.
[Texascavers] new TCR photography policy
In the new generation of social networking sites (like facebook) and a global digital footprint, some of us have been brainstorming new ways to keep TCR a fun and free-spirited retreat from our usual social inhibitions. Our solution is to request that everyone participate in a new photography policy that has worked well at other free-spirited gatherings. Please DO NOT take photographs of anyone without their permission, and certainly do not post photographs of anyone online without permission. The way this works is simple--just ask people before you take their photograph, and ask them again if you want to post photos online. We will post a reminder of this new policy at registration. Let's keep this event fun and wild! Feel free to respond to me OFF LIST if you have comments about this. Thanks and happy caving! ~Saj
