[Texascavers] January Colorado Bend Project Weekend
The January trip of the Colorado Bend Karst Project is this weekend! It's going to be cold so don't forget your thickest sleeping bag and extra layers of clothes. On the bright side, expect a warm fire in the evenings and remember it's the best time of year to get into CBSP caves! As always, check out the project info sheet for more information. http://cavetexas.org/PDF/CBSP/TSA_CBSP_project_info_sheet2014.pdf Kris Pena ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
Re: [Texascavers] December Colorado Bend Trip Report
The dates for the previous report are actually December 13-14 (not November)...It was a rather mild DECEMBER in Colorado Bend, so mild I must have thought it was November. :) On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 10:22 PM, Kris Pena wrote: > Project Dates: November 13-14, 2014 > > Volunteers: Kris Peña, Will Quast, Tyler Forbes, Jose Elizondo, Jorge > Carcamo, Luke Denman, Heather Tuček, Elizabeth Herren, Jeff Nichols, Keenan > McDonald, Devyn Stewart, Stacy Vanderworth > > Total Hours: 80 hrs work time + 47 hrs drive time = 127 volunteer hours > > Summary: > > A total of 12 volunteers showed up to enjoy an unusually mild November > weekend. Half the weekend’s volunteers were new to the park (and many new > to caving) so we divided ourselves evenly among three teams. Will and Kris > took Keenan and Devyn out to the McLarren Fissure area. After stopping off > at a few classics, they headed over to resurvey Carrot Cave (SAB671). > While there, they ran into a contingent from the Friends of Colorado Bend > out to scope some possible trail locations. They completed the short survey > and located several short fissure cracks throughout the McLarren system. > Tyler led his team out to the Gorman creek crossing area which has been the > focus of recent karst walking. They split up and began searching for new > features. After identifying several new features including a few promising > digs that are begging for more attention, they wrapped up their day with a > quick visit to Nila’s First Cave (SAB254). Heather, Jeff, and Liz > returned with Stacy to Bees in the Trees (no SAB yet) which they had > discovered on a previous trip and made huge progress opening it up further. > They intend to return soon to continue pushing onwards and downward. > > Full Reports: > > Team 1: > > People: Will Quast, Kris Peña, Keenan McDonald, Devyn Stewart > > Time Out: 5:30 > > Time In: 10:30 > > Total Volunteer Hours (hours * people): 28 > > Objective: Survey Carrot Cave, search for new caves and karst features in > McLarren Fissures area > > Where is the Data: Will’s GPS, Will’s field book > > Report: We looked around in Copperhead Cave (SAB046). Went to the > entrance of El Sotono Lodoso (SAB165) but did not enter because we didn’t > have vertical gear. We then crawled around in Gorman Sink (SAB136). Found > several new karst features in McLarren Fissures area. Two cracks: SAB 776 > “Devyn’s Chimney,” 8.2m human pass depth, and SAB 775 “Candy Creek Saga,” > 7.8m human pass depth. Will taught Keenan and Devyn how to survey and > Keenan, Devyn and Kris surveyed Carrot Cave and drew up a map. Rigged a > practice rappel off of a tree on the cliff nearby. Ran into another party > of Friends of Colorado Bend State Park, before leaving the area. Found > “Queen Fissure,” 6.6m human pass depth and found that a small crack in the > bottom of the fissure blows air. Found (and tentatively named) SAB 784, > “Bloody Finger Fissure,” 5.74m human pass depth, 1m wide. Found “Dagger > Cave,” (SAB134) went into the bottom and crawled up a chimney in the cave > to a short hallway that opens up to the outside but is too small to crawl > out of. Briefly looked in a bad air fern-filled cave just off the road near > the Gorman falls/Tinaja trail junction. > > Future Objectives: Further explore the cave we found and looked in just > off the road at the end of the day. > > > Team 2: > > People: Tyler Forbes , Luke Denman, Jose Elizondo, Jorge Carcamo > > Time Out: 5:45 > > Time In: 10:00 > > Total Volunteer Hours (hours * people): 24 > > Objective: Karst Walk around the gorman creek crossing area > > Where is the Data: TSA #2 ; Crash’s GPS > > Report: When we arrived to the Gorman Creek Crossing, Luke and I split up > to the north side of the creek while Jose and Jorge split up to the > opposite. Their Walkie-talkie died as we were visiting Nila’s Very First > Cave (SAB254). Before we finally found them, we checked out some Karst > features around the area of Nila’s, we found a decent karst feature in the > bluff that the same cave is located on. We labeled this as KRSTFEAT17 in > the gps. After meeting back up, we did some Karst walking on the south side > of the creek together, And found KRSTFEAT18. Before moving on, we dug on it > for a while. While it didn't seem promising, Tyler observed a white cave > centipede crawling out of the dig. We came to the conclusion that we needed > larger tools to move the main rock we saw, to see if the feature is truly a > cave. Jorge stumbled upon UNNAMED11, A deep cave that -may- need vertical > gear . After about an hour and a half of digging, there were 3 massive > boulders that we just ended up turning over and over trying to get them > out. We marked it and gave up, Needs large tools to continue work. After > some more karst walking, we found KRSTFEAT20, which was a hole shooting > into a crevice in a bluff on the banks of gorman creek. KRSTFEAT21 was a > small little hole, maybe about 2 meters in. Maybe a dig would be nec
[Texascavers] December Colorado Bend Trip Report
Project Dates: November 13-14, 2014 Volunteers: Kris Peña, Will Quast, Tyler Forbes, Jose Elizondo, Jorge Carcamo, Luke Denman, Heather Tuček, Elizabeth Herren, Jeff Nichols, Keenan McDonald, Devyn Stewart, Stacy Vanderworth Total Hours: 80 hrs work time + 47 hrs drive time = 127 volunteer hours Summary: A total of 12 volunteers showed up to enjoy an unusually mild November weekend. Half the weekend’s volunteers were new to the park (and many new to caving) so we divided ourselves evenly among three teams. Will and Kris took Keenan and Devyn out to the McLarren Fissure area. After stopping off at a few classics, they headed over to resurvey Carrot Cave (SAB671). While there, they ran into a contingent from the Friends of Colorado Bend out to scope some possible trail locations. They completed the short survey and located several short fissure cracks throughout the McLarren system. Tyler led his team out to the Gorman creek crossing area which has been the focus of recent karst walking. They split up and began searching for new features. After identifying several new features including a few promising digs that are begging for more attention, they wrapped up their day with a quick visit to Nila’s First Cave (SAB254). Heather, Jeff, and Liz returned with Stacy to Bees in the Trees (no SAB yet) which they had discovered on a previous trip and made huge progress opening it up further. They intend to return soon to continue pushing onwards and downward. Full Reports: Team 1: People: Will Quast, Kris Peña, Keenan McDonald, Devyn Stewart Time Out: 5:30 Time In: 10:30 Total Volunteer Hours (hours * people): 28 Objective: Survey Carrot Cave, search for new caves and karst features in McLarren Fissures area Where is the Data: Will’s GPS, Will’s field book Report: We looked around in Copperhead Cave (SAB046). Went to the entrance of El Sotono Lodoso (SAB165) but did not enter because we didn’t have vertical gear. We then crawled around in Gorman Sink (SAB136). Found several new karst features in McLarren Fissures area. Two cracks: SAB 776 “Devyn’s Chimney,” 8.2m human pass depth, and SAB 775 “Candy Creek Saga,” 7.8m human pass depth. Will taught Keenan and Devyn how to survey and Keenan, Devyn and Kris surveyed Carrot Cave and drew up a map. Rigged a practice rappel off of a tree on the cliff nearby. Ran into another party of Friends of Colorado Bend State Park, before leaving the area. Found “Queen Fissure,” 6.6m human pass depth and found that a small crack in the bottom of the fissure blows air. Found (and tentatively named) SAB 784, “Bloody Finger Fissure,” 5.74m human pass depth, 1m wide. Found “Dagger Cave,” (SAB134) went into the bottom and crawled up a chimney in the cave to a short hallway that opens up to the outside but is too small to crawl out of. Briefly looked in a bad air fern-filled cave just off the road near the Gorman falls/Tinaja trail junction. Future Objectives: Further explore the cave we found and looked in just off the road at the end of the day. Team 2: People: Tyler Forbes , Luke Denman, Jose Elizondo, Jorge Carcamo Time Out: 5:45 Time In: 10:00 Total Volunteer Hours (hours * people): 24 Objective: Karst Walk around the gorman creek crossing area Where is the Data: TSA #2 ; Crash’s GPS Report: When we arrived to the Gorman Creek Crossing, Luke and I split up to the north side of the creek while Jose and Jorge split up to the opposite. Their Walkie-talkie died as we were visiting Nila’s Very First Cave (SAB254). Before we finally found them, we checked out some Karst features around the area of Nila’s, we found a decent karst feature in the bluff that the same cave is located on. We labeled this as KRSTFEAT17 in the gps. After meeting back up, we did some Karst walking on the south side of the creek together, And found KRSTFEAT18. Before moving on, we dug on it for a while. While it didn't seem promising, Tyler observed a white cave centipede crawling out of the dig. We came to the conclusion that we needed larger tools to move the main rock we saw, to see if the feature is truly a cave. Jorge stumbled upon UNNAMED11, A deep cave that -may- need vertical gear . After about an hour and a half of digging, there were 3 massive boulders that we just ended up turning over and over trying to get them out. We marked it and gave up, Needs large tools to continue work. After some more karst walking, we found KRSTFEAT20, which was a hole shooting into a crevice in a bluff on the banks of gorman creek. KRSTFEAT21 was a small little hole, maybe about 2 meters in. Maybe a dig would be necessary, but maybe not. KRSTFEAT22 was two holes in the opposite side of gorman creek from KRSTFEAT21, you could see evidence of water running down the cliff from both holes. On our way out we were rushing as the sun was setting, And we wanted to show Jorge and Jose Nila’s First Cave . But we found one more small hole in the same bluff as KRSTFEAT22, We named it KRSTFEAT23. It looked like a small
Re: [Texascavers] Used gear/garage sale Sunday at REI
Hi folks,I'm looking for something that REI won't deal with, used climbing rope.If anyone has used climbing rope, dynamic not static, and they would like to get rid of it but didn't want to just throw it in the dumpster please contact me off texascavers list. It WILL NOT be used for supporting body weight in any way but it will be given a good home. Jon, cavefa...@yahoo.com On Saturday, January 3, 2015 8:48 PM, Jay Jorden via Texascavers wrote: FYI, used gear bargains and unadvertised deals will be available at "garage sales" tomorrow/Sunday ' Jan. 4, at all Texas REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) stores in Texas. Be sure to come early for the best deals. ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
Re: [Texascavers] new definition of karst
I read that this morning on the plane. Made me giggle. Reporters are under time crunches and unless they are familiar with a topic take a sound bite and run with it. San Antonio lost a great environmental reporter a year or so ago. He is currently hiking/paddling the entire Rio Grande. That said, I am glad to see the Canyon being pulled into the fold and taken care of. One would hope the city has stronger environmental regulations than the county. Ranzau jran...@gmail.com On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 1:26 PM, Logan McNatt via Texascavers < texascavers@texascavers.com> wrote: > Today's Austin American-Statesman newspaper has an article from the San > Antonio Express-News about Government Canyon State Natural Area. The author > Vianna Davila stated "Karsts are limestone caves known to house endangered > species." > Time to rewrite the textbooks. > > Logan McNatt > lmcn...@austin.rr.com > ___ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/ > texascavers@texascavers.com/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers > ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
[Texascavers] new definition of karst
Today's Austin American-Statesman newspaper has an article from the San Antonio Express-News about Government Canyon State Natural Area. The author Vianna Davila stated "Karsts are limestone caves known to house endangered species." Time to rewrite the textbooks. Logan McNatt lmcn...@austin.rr.com ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
