Project Dates: October 9-11, 2015
Volunteers: Will Quast, Dale Barnard, Casey Tucker, Elizabeth Copelin, Guin
McDaid, Rowan McDaid, Colin Strickland, Matt Zaldivar, Bryce Smith, Jim
Kennedy, Kyle Banowsky
Total Hours: 79 hrs work time + 63 hrs drive time = 142 volunteer hours
Summary:
We started the season with a weekend of beautiful weather at Colorado Bend
State Park. Three teams headed out in the field. Will, Dale, Casey, and
Elizabeth spent the day ridge walking and cleaning up old data. They even
managed to survey one karst feature. Colin and Guin wanted to get young
Rowan some caving experience so they went to a known karsty area, entered a
few caves, and opened up a new entrance to Two Fissure Cave. The third
team, made up of Matt, Bryce, Jim, and Kyle, headed out to Lost Petzl and
got footage of caving, surveying, and digging for the video Kyle is working
on for TPWD. Some cavers had a quick dip in the springs then reconvened at
caver camp and enjoyed a relaxing evening of camaraderie and stargazing.
Full Report:
Names: Will Quast, Dale Barnard, Casey Tucker, Elizabeth Copelin
Times: 9:30am - 4:00pm
Purpose: To relocate and survey known caves and karst walk
Data: Two sheets of field paper and Will’s GPS
Report: During karst walk, found a small karst feature that was being
occupied by a opossum. The group confirmed GPS coordinates, entered Barrets
Cave (SAB388), and saw flagging tape; the cave needs a tag. Confirmed the
GPS coordinates of Dead Elm Sink (SAB387), which does not look promising.
Confirmed GPS coordinates for Becky’s Dig (KF 12), which is also not
promising. Found, surveyed, and sketched a previously unmarked karst
feature, now named Evangelist Snake Karst Feature. This karst feature was
2.7 meters in length, with an azimuth of 253 degrees and an inclination of
-36 degrees. Confirmed the GPS location of Critter Crevice (SAB389) which
was too tight for anyone in the group to enter. Confirmed the GPS
coordinates and entered Frog Fissure (SAB238), which requires vertical
entry. Found Cory’s Cave (SAB385) and updated its coordinates with a
higher degree of accuracy.
Future Actions: Tag Barrets Cave (SAB388).
Names: Guin McDaid, Rowan McDaid, Colin Strickland
Time: 9:30am - 6:30pm
Purpose: Get Rowan some caving experience and have fun digging.
Report: Headed towards karst feature SAB344 located it and crawled into it.
Then headed towards Nostril Cave. GPS unit said we were within one meter of
it but we never located it after much searching. Gave up on Nostril and
headed to Two Fissure Cave. We did a through trip in Two Fissure Cave.
Rowan did his first chimneying ever, and had a good time doing it. There
were lots of cave crickets and a large toad at the bottom. We also found a
2 inch long frog on the wall. On the surface in line with the other to
entrances were a couple of good looking dig leads. We dug open one of them
and now Two Fissure Cave has three entrances. We dug on the other for a
while then gave up and headed back towards the vehicle. On the way back we
ran into a cave marked with rock cairns and went in. The cave had survey
markers inside but there was no GPS point. We got Rowan to do a long belly
crawl into a dead end, which was fairly amusing. We found Poop Pendulum
cave about 50 feet away as we continued back to the vehicle.
Name: Matt Zaldivar, Bryce Smith, Jim Kennedy, Kyle Banowsky
Time: 9:30am - 4:00pm
Purpose: To relocate and survey known caves and get video of cave surveying
for TPWD video
Data: Kyle’s video equipment
Report: Headed towards Lost Petzel cave, shooting video of various nearby
cave entrances and karst features while Jim gave brief descriptions of each
location for the video. We entered Lost Petzel through the Last Gasp
entrance. Kyle took video of Jim, Bryce, and Matt climbing through Last
Gasp entrance into the first room. Observed a bat in the first room.
Continued down into the cave and started looking for a connection between
two known points. Matt crawled through and found a loop, which after
looking at the data found that it does need survey. There was a narrow
passage, a few inches high vertical, dirt floor beneath. Jim and Bryce
started to do some digging. Found a rhadine beetle. Matt was able to climb
around to the other side and realized that it was going to take a long time
to dig out all the dirt. We saw another bat in this area. Also, saw a
large frog. Continued on deeper into the cave. Staged surveying and mapping
for the video. There was lots of juniper brush and mud down in this area,
washed down from rains and covering the walls, left behind after the water
slowly drained out of the cave. Got shots of stalactites near southeast
terminus of cave. Shot video of lighter trick in bad-air pit. The lighter
was not working very well though--low on butane. After this, we continued
on to a rimstone dam area. Got more shots for the video. Continued out of
the cave, the same way we came in. Saw a very small toad near th
