Re: [Texascavers] Just reminiscing

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

David,

 

It was good to see you at TCR and I enjoyed reading your perspective on the 
event. I agree with your endorsement of the young guitarist/keyboard player. 
Good work, Dillon, and the rest of the band.

 

Marvin Miller

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
David via Texascavers
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2017 4:20 PM
To: CaveTex 
Cc: David 
Subject: [Texascavers] Just reminiscing

 

>From David Locklear

 

 

( Part One is a venting rant.  Part Two is about my experience at TCR, so 
please skip Part One, or just hit Delete al ltogether to save you from 5 
minutes of your life that you will never get back. )

 

PART ONE

___

 

I am on I-10 passing the town Schulenburg heading due east for The Concrete 
Valley ( or as some call it,  "The Concrete Plateau." )

 

Like many attendees of TCR, I just spent 36 hours immersed in a bizarre 
non-concrete environment ( although there was a tiny concrete path ).  There at 
Paradise Canyon, I was subjected to warm-fuzzy feelings some call 
"cheerfulness."I am still in a state of shock much like an astronaut coming 
back to Earth.   Some people believe this cheerfulness-thing is nurturing. But 
the side-effects from this shock will be far more intense tomorrow when I have 
to face the really unusual problems at work head-on like a 2-by-6 across the 
face, added on to the fiery-fuel of the increasing toxic environment at my 
estranged-wife's house.   [ Sidenote ( please skip ):  As I am typing this 
report, she just started texting me that I am crazy-evil for stealing her tiny 
Christmas nativity-scene, and for me to never speak to her again.   Of course I 
have never touched it in 22 years, and have not seen it since she packed it 
away in February and threw it in her bizarre mountain of clutter ( that some 
might call feminine knick-knacks ).  And she hasn't even lifted a pinky to look 
for it, before getting all psychotic wacko. ]   

 

But I digress.

 

Plan A was to sleep there tonight, and try to briefly visit with my daughter.   
 But it looks like now, I will have to conjure up a Plan B out of a magic hat.

 

 

PART TWO

___

 

So I just made a pit-stop and was reminiscing about all that cheerfulness at 
TCR.

 

That was the most fun I have had in about 5 years.  I have a new favorite 
rock-and roll band - The Gary Franklin Band.  Their new young 
guitarist/keyboardist, herein known worldwide as, "The Maestro of Rock and 
Roll," simply blew the roof off the Paradise Lodge porch.  Then he teased us 
with a chord from " Sweet Madam Blue."

 

It appeared many attendees enjoyed the mud-wrestling.   

 

I thought the food was great. (  I do not think you can expect gourmet food at 
a volunteer low-budget mass feed )

 

The weather Friday and Saturday was about 2 degrees too hot in the day and 4 
degrees too hot at night.  But that made swimming more enticing especially at 
night, and the air-conditioned restrooms felt even more luxurious.  The weather 
Sunday was awesone for camping.

 

Numerous cavers went above the call of duty to make the event better than it 
normally is.  Among them were Don Arburn.  I can only guess that for his crew, 
TCR is a 5 day event.

 

Here are some highlights:

 

For one, The President of the National Speleological Society was available 24/7 
to discuss a wide variety of topics.   And he was busy, thru the NSS also had a 
booth of volunteers.

 

GFB performed two awesome sets of bluesy old rock-and-roll and there were ample 
opportunities to twerk, shake and jump and do cartwheels or hula-hoop or the 
lambada to the groovy music had you wanted to do so.  I really dug Gary's 
baratone twist on the sound.  I felt it was similar to "Puddles Pity Party," 
but was grittier and more bluesy.  Saj Zappitello killed it on the trumpet for 
"The Vehicle."

 

Mr. Passmore, "The Godfather of Speleo-VR," let anyone go virtual caving 
off-trail in NBC.  There is no doubt he is on to something none of us 
Earthlings can comprehend.

 

The Hot-Tub/Sauna tradition continued on with a new generation of 
naked-partying cavers.  I missed all that this year.

 

The Viking Parade was a surprising hoot and the kids enjoyed it, especially 
those in the parade.

 

Bob Bell from Fredericksburg brought a keg of awesome beer from the failing 
Pedernales MicroBrewery.  That was the best keg beer I have ever ever had.

 

Several old-timers graced us with their presence.  Including most of the 
healthy members of the Society of Underground Cavers, Karstologist and 
Speleologist.

 

Watching S.U.C.K.S. take a group photo was both an inspiration to me, and a 
moment in life to reflect on the passing of the baton.

 

It was impossible to see and do everything and talk with everybody.  I missed 
the activities around the vertical ropework.   You have to get here on Thursday 
night and stay later on Sunday to try to do it all.

 

There were several cavers from Houston area, mo

[Texascavers] Government Canyon Karst Project

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Cavers,

 

The Government Canyon Karst Project will be starting up again on October 7 &
8. Complete schedule and details are on the TSA website:
https://www.cavetexas.org/projects/gcsna.html .  Reply to me with any
questions or if you are coming from out of town and need to camp.

 

Marvin Miller

(210) 415-5190

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[Texascavers] A question about the rights of cavers

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

We have probably all been in this situation: A landowner invites you explore
a cave on his land. You do a few trips with your caving buds. You survey the
cave. After surveying it becomes obvious that the cave crosses under the
property line of the neighboring landowner. Are you trespassing if you
continue to visit the cave and pass under the neighboring property? Were you
trespassing before you were aware that the cave crossed the property line?
Is it only trespassing when the neighbor becomes aware of the cave and asks
you not to traverse his part of the cave anymore? 

 

A related question: Does the survey data you collected of the neighbor's
portion of the cave and do the pictures you took of that area belong to you,
or would the neighboring landowner have standing to sue in court for the
rights to that data?

 

Marvin Miller

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Re: [Texascavers] Abilene related

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Southwest Airlines yesterday announced $99 fares one way from Houston to ALB.

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
David via Texascavers
Sent: Thursday, June 8, 2017 5:37 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Cc: David 
Subject: [Texascavers] Abilene related

 

Any cavers here live in Abilene ?

 

If I drive to Rio Rancho from Houston, it looks like I should make a short 
pit-stop in Abilene.

 

I plan to pass thru Abilene at 3 am on the 17th or 18th.

 

I have a comfy bed in the back of my Sequoia and an ice-chest full of beverages 
and plenty of snacks, and can shower at a truck stop.

 

So I really do not need to stop for long.   It is a bad idea to drive from 3 
a.m. to 5 a.m.   And it is a good way to get mugged sleeping in your car at 
those hours, but also often attracts law enforcement sleeping somewhere in your 
car at those hours.   The main thing is it may be way too hot to get sound 
sleep in my car.

 

I have bigger concerns on this tentative road-trip.   I am in worse mental and 
physical shape than I was on my quickie trip last year to Nevada.   Meaning I 
really just need a quiet tranquil vacation near a waterfall.   Plus my Sequoia 
has 190,000 miles, and all I have done to the Sequoia since purchasing it, is a 
new radiator cap and air-filter and oil changes.   Meaning that it needs lots 
and lots of TLC before a big road-trip.

 

I do have plenty of good news though.   I have plenty of work in my 
self-employed enterprise, enough to justify staying home.   And most of all, I 
have my new computer that I built running very good on a new Linux distro, 
called "Mageia 6" which won't be available to the general public for at least 3 
more weeks.And my kid finished the 6th grade.   And it looks like I will 
make it to my 53rd birthday.

 

I have about 8 days to decide if I go on a big road-trip.  I won't commit to 
The Howdy Party until I get close to the New Mexico border west of Lubbock.

Meaning I might get as far as Lubbock and turn around and come home.

 

The bizarre dilemma I have is giving up my motel for a week just to save $ 280, 
will be a huge setback, such that I am better off to just flush $ 280 down the 
toilet and pay the motel while I am gone.

 

Maybe I can sub-let it out to a crazier person than me on Craiglist while I am 
gone ??   That will add some flavor to the trip report.   Right ??

 

David Locklear

281-995-8487

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Re: [Texascavers] Anybody out there still blogging ?

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Yeah. Despite his statements to the negative, I’m looking forward to reading 
David’s narrative of his dramatic, last-minute, desperate, midnight ramble 
across Texas and New Mexico to drink a few beers and take a few selfies at the 
Howdy Party.

 

Marvin

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
Stefan Creaser via Texascavers
Sent: Thursday, June 1, 2017 5:37 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Cc: Stefan Creaser 
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Anybody out there still blogging ?

 

Well at least *somebody* is posting something!

 

Quit complaining and post something cave related then, it’s too quiet here.

 

-Stefan

(retired cook and now professional PITA)

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
James Jasek via Texascavers
Sent: Thursday, June 1, 2017 5:10 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com  
Cc: James Jasek mailto:caver...@hot.rr.com> >
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Anybody out there still blogging ?

 

It is more or less like he is the only one posting on CaveTex and is the reason 
I got off. 

Sent from my iPhone


On Jun 1, 2017, at 3:06 PM, Louise Power via Texascavers 
mailto:texascavers@texascavers.com> > wrote:

I thought you said a couple of years ago that you were going to quit emailing 
because nobody answered. Now nobody is answering the blog. Does this tell you 
something? 

 

  _  

From: Texascavers mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com> > on behalf of David via 
Texascavers mailto:texascavers@texascavers.com> >
Sent: Thursday, June 1, 2017 11:57 AM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com  
Cc: David
Subject: [Texascavers] Anybody out there still blogging ? 

 

I have decided to give blogging another try.My previous attempts failed 

miserably to annoy anybody.

 

I am not sure how you find me on a blog, but I think the link below shows 10

post that I blogged over the last 4 years.

 

 https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6768672593579462012 


  Blogger

www.blogger.com  

Free weblog publishing tool from Google, for sharing text, photos and video.

 

 

Below is an example of a post that I added to my blog I today.




 
http://david-locklear.blogspot.com/2017/06/mageia-6-release-candidate-may-2017.html

 

I should I have another blog out there somewhere on the web that I have not 
used in years, from

before the blog above started.

 

 

The NSS Convention is just 19 days away. In order for me to attend that I 
would want to leave

Houston by Thursday the 15th, or Friday the 16th.  But knowing my past 
attempts, I will probably

leave late, and arrive late.

 

I have some new drama this year that I did not have on my road-trip to Nevada 
last summer.   I ma

living in a motel, and it would be stupid to pay for a motel here in Houston, 
during the days I am out

of town.While that would only be about $ 280 thrown away, it is still just 
stupid.  Moving out of the

motel, would be complicated as I have most of my stuff here just as I would in 
a furnished apartment,

It would take a full-day to pack up and store all my stuff in storage.That 
would just be inconvenient,

as I would have to repeat the process when coming back.Plus I do not want 
to lose this particular 

room as it is the best one in the motel.My next issue is 2 shyster 
customers ripped me off and it

is starting to look like I am going to lose about $ 1,400.My next issue, is 
my gas-guzzling Seqouia

needs lots of maintenance. If I were a betting person, I would bet that I 
do not make it to the Howdy

Party this year.  So realistically, I need to lower my expectations, and 
just try to attend the Tuesday

festivities only and just get a Day Pass.

 

David Locklear

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[Texascavers] January Government Canyon trip report

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Government Canyon Karst Project Report

 

January 7, 2017

(No activities occurred on Jan. 8 due to the TSA and TCMA meetings held at
the SNA)

 

Participants: Julian Garcia, Liz Herren, Marvin Miller, Kevin Pride, Will
Quast, Joe Schaertl

 

Activities

Two teams left the VRS parking lot on Saturday morning. 

 

Liz and Will hiked up the Laurel Canyon trail and then turned west to
Solitude Pit. Their objective was the dig at the end of the Solitude Pit
drain passage. After locating the cave entrance in the thick brush, their
second challenge turned out to be removing a small Black-tailed rattlesnake
from the edge of the pit. The pit is only 2 meters inside the entrance, the
morning was very cold—about 38º F, but the snake was apparently plenty warm
from the air rising up the pit. Will moved the snake out of the cave. They
then rigged the pit and rappelled to the bottom. Liz couldn’t make it
through Superman Squeeze into the drain passage so Will had to go to the end
and dig on his own. At the end of about 6 m of crawl passage is a small room
in which one can sit up comfortably. From there the passage continues as a
crawl but sediment has raised the floor level to where it is too tight. Will
dug out some of this sediment but decided against getting muddy and so
didn’t investigate the passage any further. Back at the bottom of the pit
Liz was taking photos and got a nice one of a millipede, probably Speodesmus
reddelli. The two left the cave at about 2:00.

 

Julian, Kevin, Joe, and I drove up the Joe Johnston Rd. to the parking area
at the Rockpile and then continued north to Lilyhammer Cave. Our goal was to
survey down the blind pit that Joe had explored on our last trip and also
survey some of the upper level passage above the pit. I also wanted to make
a definite plan for accessing the large space beyond the far lip of the pit.


 

We entered the cave about 11:00 and quickly made our way down Shrieking Leia
Pit and Kevin’s Slot to the bottom of the 6-meter climb down where we had
stopped on our last survey at Station 23. I sketched 22-23, which I hadn’t
had time for on the previous trip. While I was doing that Joe rigged the
blind pit. Then we did one shot to define the small room at Station 23, and
from there down the short bit of passage to the ledge at the pit. At Station
23 we had been at -26 meters in depth. The deepest cave so far in Government
Canyon is Lost Pothole, surveyed to -26.9 meters, so I knew we were going to
break the depth record with this survey. The pit taped out to 6.1 meters
from the survey station, which was a bit over a meter above the ledge.
Later, after entering the data into Walls, I found out that the bottom of
the pit is at -31.77 meters. 

 

The walls of the pit were interesting, with many thin, stacked ledges of
white limestone that stuck out into the pit. The interstices between the
ledges were full of red mud. The floor of the pit was mud and rock and there
were a couple of small drains leading down. It’s probable that the pit could
be dug out to access the space on the other side of the wall, but it would
be a big job. When I ascended the pit, while still on rope at the top, I
worked out a plan with Joe and Kevin for bolting a traverse along the wall
to where the 2nd pit can be dropped. With the hammer I was able to identify
solid rock for bolts and to clear mud off of a small ledge for an initial
foothold. It will take 3 bolts to get across. Bolting the traverse and
dropping the next pit will be the goal of the next trip.

 

While I had been sketching earlier Kevin had climbed up into the passage
area above the pit. There are at least four ascending chimneys, one of which
he was able to climb up for a good distance. One problem is that everything
is initially covered with the slippery red mud, which doesn’t make climbing
the chimneys easy. It’s also hard to keep a survey book clean. We did two
shots to access this area and will survey up the chimneys on a later date.

 

We started out of the cave about 5:40 and emerged into the frosty evening
about 6:30. The hike back to the truck and drive down the canyon took
another hour-and-a-half. In all we did 23.85 meters of survey in 6 stations.
The cave is now 77.80 meters long and 31.77 meters deep. 

 

The next Government Canyon Project trip will take place on February 4 and 5.
For details see the project page on the TSA website.

 

Links to pictures:

Critters at Solitude Pit (taken by Liz Herren): 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cmbl6rpw6avij5b/20170107_110957.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wtrp0i1vquhxxl/20170107_122258.jpg?dl=0

 

Kevin Pride climbing down from the muddy upper level above the blind pit in
Lilyhammer Cave:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wjrsjp1bm3ejw7f/IMG_4558.JPG?dl=0

 

Marvin Miller

 

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http://lis

Re: [Texascavers] Krubera-Veronya

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Thanks for sharing this. Those are awesome pictures.

-Original Message-
From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of Sam 
Young via Texascavers
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2017 11:01 AM
To: Texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] Krubera-Veronya

I am retired from the Mathematics Department at Auburn University. One of my 
colleagues, Andras Bezdek, had a Masters Degree student, Gergely Ambrus, who is 
a serious Hungarian caver. Ambrus returned to Auburn to give a talk about his 
trip to the deepest cave in the world.  I have copied, below, the abstract of 
the talk and a link to the images.

... Sam Young

Gergely Ambrus ( Professor, Budapest Semesters in Mathematics) Title: 
Inverse Everest - Expedition to the deepest cave in the world.

Abstract:

In August 2016, a handful of Hungarian cavers descended into the deepest  cave 
in the world, the Krubera-Voronya cave located in Abkhazia (former  Georgia). 
Their goal was to make professional photographs of the cave  for the first time 
in history. During the one-month-long expedition, the expedition members spent 
16 days underground. Their longest trip,  leading to the depth of 6800 ft, took 
9 days. The expedition,  co-ordinated by National Geogpraphic Hungary, was led 
by Gergely Ambrus,  a former Auburn graduate in Mathematics. The deepest point 
of the cave  have been reached by far less people than the summit of Mount 
Everest.

In this talk, Gergely is going to present what a complex task organizing  and 
leading such an expedition is. Starting months before the summer,  the group 
had to find sponsors, make travel plans, purchase the  necessary equipment both 
for caving and for the underground photography.  Their endeavour started 
already before the expedition
itself: a week  before they intended to travel, the Russian army closed the 
border  checkpoint of Abkhazia, therefore getting to the location was already 
complicated. He is going to describe what material and equipment is  needed to 
withstand the extreme conditions. During their time underground, all their gear 
was constantly wet, due to the numerous  cascades in the pitches. The 
temperature of the cave had been constantly  around 35 F. The explorers carried 
with them three tackle sacs per  person, weighing about 70 lb. They had to 
descend sometimes in 500-ft  deep pitches, or in passages completely filled 
with water. 
Several  times, the expedition members got into danger due to floods or worn 
out equipment and ropes, and they had to solve these issues instantly on the  
spot.

Gergely is going to present a compilation of photographs and videos taken 
during the expedition, showing us what this unique underground world looks 
like. He will also talk about the scientific aspect of the
expedition: the group has completed several underground biology, geology  and 
measurement project

Here are the images - text in Hungarian:

http://index.hu/nagykep/2016/09/13/inverse_everest_bar/

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Re: [Texascavers] TPWD video on White Nose Syndrome research

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Great video!

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
Robert B via Texascavers
Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2017 4:00 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] TPWD video on White Nose Syndrome research

 

  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx_ViX9ye2M

 

On Sun, Jan 8, 2017 at 12:18 PM, Rick Corbell via Texascavers 
mailto:texascavers@texascavers.com> > wrote:

 

This recently released video shows Jonah Evans, Texas state mammologist, 
Bracken Bat Cave manager and Bexar Grotto member Fran Hutchins, and Katie 
Gillies bat researcher for BCI.  If you look close you may recognize other 
Texas cavers who have been involved in the project to get baseline populations 
and gather swab samples for testing for evidence of the Whitenose fungus.  
Hopefully, this years sampling will continue to show a Whitenose free Texas.

 

Rick Corbell

rlcorb...@hotmail.com  

Bexar Grotto, NSS


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[Texascavers] Camping at Government Canyon

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Cavers,

 

For those planning to attend the karst project workday and/or the TSA/TCMA
meetings on January 7 and 8, if you are planning on camping on Friday,
Saturday, or Sunday night, please let me know. I need to give you details
about campsite location, gate entry, and general info.

 

There will be karst project caving on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Meet at the Volunteer/Research Station at 9:00. There will also be karst
project activities organized after the meetings for anyone interested.

 

Marvin Miller

 

 

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[Texascavers] websites?

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Neither the TSA or the TSS websites are working this morning. Is it just me
or is there a larger problem?

 

Marvin Miller

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Re: [Texascavers] TSA Winter Meeting

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Cavers,

 

You can also plan to go caving after the meeting. I will be organizing trips.

 

Marvin Miller

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of Amy 
Morton via Texascavers
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2016 3:59 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] TSA Winter Meeting

 

 

Hello Cavers!

 

Here is a reminder of the TSA winter meeting.  

 

 

The TSA will hold its winter meeting on Sunday,  January 8th at 9:30 AM in the 
screened in Gallery at Government Canyon State Natural Area.  Join Marvin 
Miller for the caving project on Saturday and stay for the meeting on Sunday.  
See you there!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Sincerely,  

 

Amy Morton

Vice President 

Texas Speleological Association 

 

 

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

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[Texascavers] San Antonio Express News article - Hundreds of Texas blind salamanders missing

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Here is the link to the salamander article

 

Missing: hundreds of endangered Texas blind salamanders

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Missing-hundreds-of-endangered
-Texas-blind-10654733.php?t=b3e34a6f32a20aa4a7

&cmpid=email-premium

 

This message was sent via expressnews.com.

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[Texascavers] Government Canyon Project Report - June and October, 2016

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Government Canyon Karst Project Report

 

June 26, 2016

 

Participants:  Marvin Miller, Kevin Pride, Joe Schaertl

 

This trip was a special trip planned to pursue the survey of Lilyhammer
Cave. 

 

On this trip we started surveying at station 10 and surveyed to the bottom
of the pit that we named Shrieking Leia Pit. The pit is named after an
incident that occurred on the first survey trip. Leia Hill had gone into the
area at the top of the pit ahead of the survey team. Suddenly we heard a
deathly scream. After a few seconds of hysteria we came to understand that
Leia had seen a raccoon. 

 

The pit is barely free-climbable and there is loose rock on some of the
walls. I was climbing on flowstone above the pit when my shirt barely
brushed the wall and dislodged a 2 - 3 lb rock. It bounced off the wall of
the pit below and caught Kevin's arm with a glancing blow. Thankfully, he
wasn't seriously injured and the incident warned me that we needed to be
more careful in this area.

 

At the bottom of Shrieking Leia Pit is the slot that Kevin uncovered on his
first trip into the cave. It is vertical and tight but did not prove as much
an obstacle on the way out as I had feared. The down-climb to the floor of
Kevin's Slot is just over 4 m. After a short horizontal jog of about a meter
the cave continues vertical for another free-climbable pit. The entrance to
this pit is small but the walls bell out to more than a meter. The shaft
comes out in the ceiling of the room below, about 2 m off the floor. Good
handholds along the lip allow one to swing down to the floor. This drop
taped out at 6.46 m. In this little room we started seeing lots of sticky
red mud. We stopped the survey there and Kevin led the way around a mound of
mud and down about a meter to the lip of another pit. The ceiling was a
meter or less over our heads and there were some holes going up into what
looked like canyon passage. The pit was about 5 m deep. The walls were sheer
and somewhat mud-covered and on the far side, about 3 m distant, was a sharp
ridge of mud separating the near pit from another drop. A bright light
pointed in that direction illuminated some large stalactites and cast their
shadow on a wall or floor about 30 m distant. We set some bolts and Joe
rappelled into the pit in front of us. We were hoping for passage at the
bottom that would connect to the space we could see in the distance, but we
were disappointed. If there is a passage it is plugged with rocks. We will
take another look when we survey it. 

 

The length of the survey is currently 54.0 m and the depth is 26.0 m. The
current deepest surveyed cave at GCSNA is Lost Pothole at 26.9 m deep.
Lilyhammer will surpass that by at least 5 m. 

 

The air in the cave was not good but we didn't notice it until we started
climbing out, and were huffing a good bit more than we should have been.
Also, cigarette lighters would not light. The quality did not improve until
we were in the entrance crawl. We did not experience any headaches so it
must not have been that bad.

 

October 8 & 9, 2016

 

Participants:  Steve Gutting, Mio Kitano, Christin Miller, Leah Miller,
Marvin Miller, Greg Mosier, Sharley Rivas, Joe Schaertl, Nicholas Spyker

 

Five people were present Saturday morning. Steve, Mio, Christin, Nicholas,
and I took two vehicles up the Joe Johnson Rd. and parked at the Rock Pile.
We hiked north to Double Shot Drop, a new cave that was opened up on the
May, 2016 trip. It is a small cave and was a good cave to train my daughter,
Christin, in the art of sketching a cave. She has been interested in
learning. Mio and Nicholas were new cavers and new to the project and they
climbed down to check out the cave, which consists of a 4 m drop with a
small, low room at the bottom. Then, while Christin and I got busy with the
survey of the cave, Steve, Mio, and Nicholas went to continue the dig at
FC-14, about 100 m to the northwest. Double Shot Drop turned out to be 4.32
m deep and 7.07 m long. While Christin sketched, I made a bug collection. I
collected harvestmen, cave crickets, 2 tiny spiders, millipedes, and some
other critters.

 

When we were done with the survey we went to FC-14 to help out with the dig
for the rest of the day. The team did some impressive work, pulling out more
than a meter-depth of rock and dirt. The dig was helped along by Steve's
rock-shaving techniques. The soil and rock at the bottom of the dig - almost
2 m down - are still loose, but when we ended for the day it looked like we
had uncovered a solutioned protrusion from the wall that is filling much of
the pit. We will need to deal with that on the next trip.

 

On Sunday Leah, Greg, Sharley, and I headed to Big Dome Cave to push some
leads. I took Leah to the narrow passage at the southwest corner of the cave
that could be seen to go for about 3 m to a small hole. I was also curious
if the passage continued around the corner. Leah has a slight enough build
that I figured she would be able to

Re: [Texascavers] [TCR]

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Don,

I can help wash dishes or help organize the survey comp.

Marvin

-Original Message-
From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of Don 
Arburn via Texascavers
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 5:41 PM
To: TSA Cavers List 
Subject: [Texascavers] [TCR]

One Month Left!!

TCR needs confirmations for the following volunteers:

•Dish washers: Sheryl, Dale (2 more please!)

•Firewood gathering, work to be done at the park soon!!! Contact me.

•Shiner Retrievers, WHO DOESN'T WANT FREE BEER!? Are we going to do this again 
this year? How do y'all feel about BYOB?

•Ropes Organizers

•Survey Squad organizers

•SpeleOlympic organizers

•Sleeping Bag Clothes Change Contest Crew (contest resurgence) organizers

•Hot Tub Team, folks who can help put the tub and sauna together.

•Mud wrestler pit builders. Galen, Cruz (a couple more helpers & a referee)

•Minion(s) enthusiast to help me

--Chief Cat Herder
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[Texascavers] Government Canyon Karst Project

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

The Government Canyon Karst Project will be starting up again on the 2nd
weekend of October, the 8th and 9th. Typically the project will be schedule
on the first weekend of the month. For details see the project page on the
TSS website: http://www.cavetexas.org/projects/gcsna.html. 

 

We will meet in the Volunteer/Research Station parking area at 9:00 both
mornings. After entering the park take the first right. The entry code for
the gate there is 1234. Camping is available. Contact me to set it up.

 

Marvin Miller

(210) 415-5190

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Re: [Texascavers] Research finds porcupines are prominent in many south-central Texas caves :

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

And I can say they have been common in Government Canyon caves for years. 
However, just in the last couple of years have I seen increased amounts of 
road-killed porcupines around Spring Branch.

Marvin Miller

-Original Message-
From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
Jerryatkin via Texascavers
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2016 8:01 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Cc: texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Research finds porcupines are prominent in many 
south-central Texas caves :

They're quite common (hence the Porcupine Grotto) in the western Edwards 
Plateau caves.

Jerry Atkinson.

Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 25, 2016, at 6:54 PM, Don Arburn via Texascavers 
>  wrote:
> 
> A couple live in Deep.
> 
> 
> --Don
> 
>> On Aug 25, 2016, at 7:51 PM, Jerryatkin via Texascavers 
>>  wrote:
>> 
>> http://www.theeagle.com/landandlivestockpost/agrilifetoday/research-f
>> inds-porcupines-are-prominent-in-many-south-central-texas/article_7cf
>> be577-b3dd-581d-9d44-e2b136b331aa.html
>> 
>> Jerry Atkinson.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
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>> http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/
>> http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
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[Texascavers] FW: Government Canyon SNA Resource Specialist Job Opening

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Government Canyon SNA wants to hire a Resource Specialist. See below.

 

From: Chris Holm [mailto:chris.h...@tpwd.texas.gov] 
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2016 4:01 PM
Subject: Government Canyon SNA Resource Specialist Job Opening
Importance: High

 

Folks,

 

We are now hiring for a fulltime Resource Specialist at Government Canyon
State Natural Area.  The position posted to our TPWD Jobs page
(http://tpwd.texas.gov/jobs/) on August 19th and will close on Friday,
September 2nd (posting #16-00669).  The job announcement is attached.

 

Please share this with anyone who might have an interest in joining our team
to help us manage the natural and cultural resources of this special place.

 

Thanks,

Chris Holm

Superintendent,

Government Canyon State Natural Area

12861 Galm Road

San Antonio, TX 78254

210-688-9055, x2008

 

 

 

 



GCSNA Resource Specialist_16-00669.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
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[Texascavers] Comal County caving

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Greg Mosier organized the Kleck Park project for Bexar Grotto cavers today.
Kleck Park is a new Comal County nature park. It's not big but the main
hilltop is covered with karst features. Participants were Lauren Deleon,
Christin Miller, Leah Miller, Marvin Miller, Greg Mosier, Joe Schaertl,
Victoria Sommers, and Arron Wertheim. Greg organized permission for the
project from Comal County. We surveyed two small caves and dug on several
sinks. Kleck Cave was surveyed to 8.4 m long and approximately 6.2 m deep.
Little Kleck Cave was surveyed to 4.8 m long and 3.9 m deep. Plans are to
dig at the bottom of this cave, where fissures can be seen going deeper, so
it will end up at more than 5 m deep. Also remaining to be done are more
sink digs and a survey and map of all the surface karst, which is really
quite interesting and unique for Bexar - Comal region. There are many
meters-long, intersecting, linear, solutioned features with depths in some
areas approaching 2 m.

 

Marvin Miller

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Re: [Texascavers] Fwd: Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help :

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Jerry,

 

I plan to make a motion at tommorrow’s grotto meeting to help fund this.

 

Marvin

 

From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of 
Jerryatkin via Texascavers
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2016 6:29 AM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] Fwd: Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help :

 

Just a reminder that the gate still needs funding.

 

Jerry.

Sent from my iPad


Begin forwarded message:

From: Jerry mailto:jerryat...@aol.com> >
Date: June 9, 2016 at 3:21:56 AM MDT
To: Texascavers@texascavers.com  
Subject: Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help :


Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help


 Powell’s Cave is the second longest cave in Texas, with 26.1 km of surveyed 
passage. Treasure hunters dug the historic entrance open in the early 1900s and 
it is now stabilized with a concrete culvert installed by volunteer cavers in 
the late 1990s. The cave is used as a roost by a large colony of Cave Myotis 
(Myotis velifer). Recently, during a scheduled visit to the cave, it was 
discovered that trespassers had entered the cave and vandalized it, leaving 
cans, bottles, and other miscellaneous trash in the cave. Unfortunately, this 
also included spray-painting graffiti on the cave walls in the Crevice Passage 
(see attached photos). 

 

Concerns about protecting the integrity of the cave as well as the vulnerable 
bat colony (estimated at about 10,000 individuals) have led to the decision to 
install an above ground, bat-friendly, cupola-style gate, similar to the one 
recently built for Ezell’s Cave in Hays County. Jim Kennedy of Kennedy 
Above/Under Ground LLC has been contracted to build the gate and it is hoped 
that it will be completed sometime in the next month or so.

 

As part of the agreement with the landowner, cavers will be paying for the 
labor and ancillary costs of the gate construction, while the landowner will 
pay for the materials. This was done to support continuing landowner relations 
and demonstrate our commitment to the protection and stewardship of the cave. 
We need to raise approximately $3300 to cover our end of the deal. 

 

If you are interested in helping the project, please consider a cash pledge to 
help in alleviating the costs. Powell’s Cave has been an important part of 
Texas caving for more than 50 years, and hopefully will be open to recreational 
caving and research for many years to come. If all goes well, there will be 
clean up and restoration trips in the future that folks can volunteer for. Any 
and all donations of time and money are greatly appreciated.

 

Pledges can be sent to:

 

Gerald Atkinson – Powell’s Cave Liaison

jerryat...@aol.com  

 

If you have any questions, please email me. Thanks !

 

Photos courtesy of Arron Wertheim (May 2016)





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[Texascavers] Archeological excavations in Israeli caves

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Excavation in Judean desert caves.

 

http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/dead-sea-scrolls
/iaa-to-excavate-judean-desert-caves-in-search-of-scrolls/?mqsc=E3837376

&utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=BHD+Daily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=E
6B527

 

 

posted by Marvin Miller

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[Texascavers] April Government Canyon Karst Project Report

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Government Canyon Karst Project Report

 

April 2 & 3, 2016

 

Participants: Lauren DeLeon, Steve Gutting, Leia Hill, Leah Miller, Marvin
Miller, Greg Mosier, Victoria Sommers, Arron Wertheim

 

Saturday Activities

Greg Mosier, my daughter Leah, and I composed the Saturday team. We headed
up to the northern part of the SNA to the sink that Greg had identified on
the March trip and had opened to an obstruction over a pit. The feature is
called JAG Sink. We worked on it until all of my rock-shaving supplies were
used up, but we still hadn't cleared the bridge of rock over the pit. There
are two small holes that look down into the pit and what can be seen is
free-climbable. Some more work is required. We left JAG Sink at about 4:00
and took a little time to look at several of the other nearby identified
features. On the March trip Greg had looked at FC-009, -010, and -011. Of
these, FC-010 could probably use a little more digging before calling it
done.

 

Sunday Activities

On Sunday Lauren, Steve, Leia, Victoria, Arron, and I headed north again,
this time to Feature 20-54. This feature is about 56 meters north of JAG
Sink and is a dig that Steve and I had worked during the March trip. Steve
had assembled a rock-shaving kit of his own and was anxious to try it out.
His first shot was a blast and we heard rock tinkling down into the hole -
the sound of success. Leia and I left him and the others to keep working at
it while we went to check out some other identified features in the area. We
dug a little at FC-003 but didn't see anything that excited us and gave it
up. While travelling to FC-015 we came across the nearby FC-014, which I
didn't even have on my list to look at. Both sinks looked promising. At
FC-015 we felt a nice breeze coming out of a little hole. We rolled aside a
large surface rock but the dig quickly revealed an 8 cm wide crack extending
down as far as we could see. By the time we had finished we didn't feel any
more air either, so maybe our first sense had been an illusion. We left that
sink and went back to FC-014. This sink was approximately 2 m long by 1 m
wide by .3 m deep. There was a possible drain at each end. Leia took one end
and I took the other and we both started digging. It wasn't long before
Leia's dig started looking more promising than mine and I went to help her.
We were stopped by a root that was holding in a large rock. We went back to
FC 20-54 to see how the work there was progressing and to get a saw for the
root. When we got there Victoria and Arron were in the cave! Steve had been
the first one down and had already come out. 

 

The cave turned out to be a free-climbable pit that starts narrow at about a
half-meter wide (after the smaller, blasted entrance) and bells out to about
1.5 m at the bottom. The depth to the floor is about 5 m. A short section of
passage extends only about 2 m from the bottom. The floor is flat dirt and
the ceiling in the passage section is about a meter tall. Some signs of life
were observed: a cliff chirping frog and a spider web. Steve named the cave
Double Shot Drop. Cave # 61 for Government Canyon.

 

After everyone had exited the cave we packed up and I led the way to the dig
Leia and I had started. We continued digging and by the end of the day had
it about a meter deep. The dig is characterized by large loose boulders
interspersed with smaller rocks and loose dirt. Lauren was the last one
digging and she uncovered a small solution passage trending steeply down
along one wall. The passage is too small to get into as of yet, but the
walls of the sink are starting to bell out and we seem to be on top of a
debris pile.

 

While the dig was going on I took the drill, a couple of benchmarks, and the
die kit and installed benchmarks at Government Canyon Blow Hole and
Lilyhammer Cave. The numbers incised onto the benchmarks are the TSS Bexar
County identification numbers for the caves. 

 

We left the sink dig at about 5:00.

 

The next project weekend is May 21 & 22. This will be the last one until
October. We start at 9:00 both mornings in the parking lot of the
Volunteer/Research Station. To get there enter Government Canyon State
Natural Area at the main gate and then take the first right. (Don't go as
far as the pay kiosk). There will be a closed gate that opens to the code
1234. Follow the road for about a mile till it ends in front of a building.
The parking lot is to the right. Camping is available. Contact me to set it
up.

 

Marvin Miller

(210) 415-5190

 

 

 

 

 

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[Texascavers] Government Canyon Karst Project

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Cavers,

 

The date for the Government Canyon Karst Project for May has been changed to
the weekend of the 21st and 22nd. We will be surveying caves, digging on
some promising sinks, and ridgewalking. There are in-cave leads to be
pursued as well. This will be the last project weekend until October.

 

We will meet at 9:00 in the morning at the Volunteer/Research Station (on
the porch or in the parking lot). To get there enter Government Canyon State
Natural Area at the main gate and then take the first right. (Don't go as
far as the pay kiosk). There will be a closed gate that you open with a code
on the keypad. The code is 1234. Follow that road for about a mile till it
ends in front of a building. The parking lot is to the right.

 

Camping is available. Contact me to set it up.

 

Marvin Miller

 

(210) 415-5190

 

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[Texascavers] March Government Canyon Karst Project Report

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Government Canyon Karst Project Report

 

March 5 & 6, 2016

 

Participants: Sarah Gorton, Steve Gutting, Elizabeth Herren, Leah Hill,
Marvin Miller, Greg Mosier, Kris Pena, Kevin Pride, Will Quast, John
Sackrider, Aimee Sienkiewiz, Richard Silver

 

Saturday Activities

Shadow Pit Survey Team

Will, Kris, and Liz went to survey a cave on the Gallagher tract, on the
west side of 211. The cave is called Shadow Pit and it was found by Zara
Environmental during a karst survey on June 8, 2011, before the property was
transferred to Government Canyon SNA. The 1 by 1.5 m entrance drops
vertically and opens into an elongating fissure. Total depth from the lip of
the entrance sink is 10.8 m. At the bottom the fissure is 1 m wide at its
widest and is 11.5 m long. The flat floor is soil except for some rock fall
below the entrance. Total survey length is 23.20 m. Here is Will's report:

 

We took the trail to within 200 m of the cave and then headed off-trail. The
GPS point we had was right on target and we easily found the entrance to
Shadow Pit. We rigged a tree above the entrance and began the survey. Will
sketched while Kris and Liz traded off between setting stations and reading
instruments. The cave runs along a narrow fissure crack, with the entrance
pit being a 9.5 m drop from surface to the cave floor. The fissure crack is
about 10m long pinching out on both ends. All three of us were able to fit
in the cave and work on the survey, but it would have been tight with one
more person in there. We observed 2 gulf coast toads, several chirping
frogs, 2 species of millipedes (one appeared fully cave adapted with a
semi-transparent body), crickets, and one scorpion. Upon completing the
survey, we headed back cross-country in the direction of the car looking for
possible new features or caves along the way. We stopped briefly at a karst
feature noted on the map. It was a very small sink. We continued the hike,
not finding any significant features and made it back to the car around 4
pm.

 

Dig Team #1

Steve Gutting, Richard Silver, and I went to Big Dome Cave to push leads
below the Breakaway Room. We climbed down the pit at the I-survey to station
I8 and checked out a lead in breakdown there. A large rock in the way would
have needed to be removed by micro-blasting. This wasn't desirable due to
the mass of rocks above it. Richard climbed up and found that a higher lead
came down into the same area on the other side of the rock. He wasn't able
to fit into the space but I was just barely able to and found that there is
no continuing passage. After coming out I realized that this was the same
lead Tom Rogers had checked on an earlier trip. There was evidence of his
hammer work. However, in the same area Richard found another lead that went
horizontally into a small room where a low window ringed by formations
looked out into a larger space. With Steve following my voice we discovered
that this connected to the formation area in the Velvet Underground. We did
not have survey gear with us so will survey the loop of about 12 meters on a
future trip. After this we left the cave and headed north to Feature 20-54.
After removing surface rocks we could see a narrow 15 cm wide vertical crack
in bedrock. About .6 m down one wall disappeared and probes with a stick
proved that at that point it was big enough for a man. Richard's tape
measure showed that the drop was at least 15 ft (4.6 m) deep. We proceeded
to drill and blast off chunks of rock to make the cave accessible. We didn't
quite finish and some more work is required before we will be able to get
into it.

 

Sunday Activities

Lilyhammer Cave Survey Team

I led Sarah, Leia, and Kevin to start the survey of Lilyhammer Cave. All
three were new to cave surveying so it was a training trip as well. We
surveyed 20.98 m in 9 stations and got to a depth of 6.66 m, to the top of
the pit series discovered on the previous trip. The plan was to quit the
survey in time to descend down through the passage that Kevin had opened on
the previous trip and assess rope and gear needs for surveying and exploring
beyond his stopping point at the top of another pit. The climb down to the
bottom of the first pit is rather technical and it took some time to get
everyone down. At the bottom, along the wall, was the slot that Kevin and
Luciano had uncovered on the previous trip. It was a clean-washed vertical
fissure in solid rock - obviously the drain for the pit. The top of the
fissure looked very tight for a vertical passage - easy going down with
gravity's help but hell coming back up. There was some slope to the wall 1.5
m down that might provide something to push off of on the way up. I knew
Kevin had gone down and come up once so I wasn't too concerned. Kevin went
down first and I invited Sarah to go next. She followed him down the fissure
but then was unwilling to free climb the next "20 ft" (6 m) pit. She came
back up and, as I had feared, had trouble with the top part. Her head

[Texascavers] January & February Government Canyon Karst Project Report

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Government Canyon Karst Project Report

 

January 2, 2016

 

Participants: Pam Campbell, Bennett Lee, Leah Miller, Marvin Miller, Joe
Schaertl

 

Saturday was a cold, rainy day but 3 participants showed up to join my
daughter Leah and me. Because of the weather I decided we would do a
monitoring trip into Dancing Rattler Cave. I also thought that Leah might be
able to make it through a tight, fragile spot to inspect a lead that I had
known about for a long time. 

 

The woods were wet and cold but the cave was dry and warm. We all made it
through the first three squeezes but Pam had a bit of a struggle. She
decided not to negotiate the last obstacle which requires a backward squirm
into a short pit. Leah is short enough she was able to do it head first and
get her legs under her into the pit. Once in the Dance Hall section of the
cave I took Leah to the place where a screen of stalagmites and stalactites
prevents a larger person from getting to the space beyond. Leah was able to
make it through and reported that the holes beyond were too small. I then
led her, Bennett, and Joe to the Pool Hall. We hoped to find the rimstone
pools below the Frozen Cascade full of water but they were dry. We then
exited the cave and returned to the Volunteer/Research Station. Our trip had
taken about 3 hours.

 

February 6 & 7, 2016

 

Participants: Kolin Beam, Luciano Bejerano, Bernadette Flehmer, Sarah
Gorton, Leia Hill, Marvin Miller, Kevin Pride, Joe Schaertl, Matt Waterreus 

 

On Saturday, Joe led Kolin, Sarah, and Matt to ridgewalk in Area 9. They
finished an unwalked region close to the south end of the area and
immediately west of the Sendero Balcones trail, and then proceeded to do a
transect along the northern boundary of the area. Unfortunately, the team
found nothing to reward their efforts. 

 

I led Bernadette, Leia, and Kevin to continue excavating feature FC-096,
which is a fairly large sink that my daughter Leah and I started working on
in September, 2015. The sink is also located in Area 9. We dug the floor of
the sink down to a rock floor that sloped on into the sink. We continued to
dig in the narrow confines between floor and ceiling until we confirmed that
we were just digging out a bedding plane void with just a few cm of air
space between the in-filling dirt and the ceiling. When we couldn't see any
hope of getting into a larger space we stopped the dig. 

 

It was only about 3:00 so I suggested we head back to Sendero Balcones and
go north the short distance to Sure Sink. Those who wished could explore the
cave. While hiking north we met Joe's team coming south. They had had their
fill of brush-crashing with no reward. They turned around and headed north
with us to the cave. Kevin, Joe, Kolin, Leiah, Sarah, and I entered the
cave, but not all at once, because it isn't big enough for that many. While
small, the cave has some challenging tight spots and some fun climbs. I took
some photos in the cave.

 

 

On Sunday Leia and Kevin were back and we were joined by Luciano Bejarano.
Luciano was the discoverer of Lilyhammer Cave in December of 2014 and he
hadn't been back to the project since then. Knowing that there was a dig
lead in the cave that needed micro-blasting, I decided that with Luciano
joining us, it was the appropriate time to go work on this lead. The trek to
the cave is a long one and we got there about lunch time. The cave is
located in a creek bed and takes considerable water at high flow levels.
Leia had been on the team that first explored the cave but I hadn't been
there since the day Luciano found it on a ridgewalk. On that day we had not
been able to proceed past the small entrance room. 

 

We traversed the sloping entrance crawl for 5 meters and then the floor
dropped about half-a-meter into a higher space. A fracture oriented
perpendicular to the entrance passage contributes to the taller ceiling in
this area. In less than 2 meters the ceiling comes back down to about 30 cm
from the floor and extends at this height and 4 meters wide in the same
direction as the entrance passage for an uncertain distance. However, this
space is mostly filled with organic debris and dirt washed in from the
surface. At the left end of the larger space the ceiling comes down and the
walls come together to form a constriction, with more space visible beyond
at a higher level than the low, dirt-filled extension. Two previous teams
had tried to get through this spot with muscle power alone. Using
micro-shaving techniques we removed several inches of rock from the right
wall. Then Luciano tried to fit through and found it was not yet large
enough. Kevin gave it a try and made it through.

 

While Kevin explored I started drilling to make the spot a little bigger,
but almost immediately Kevin yelled that he had found a pit. He evidently
down-climbed the pit because he then started yelling about it getting big.
This excited us and I commenced to setting one more charge. After it went
off and k

[Texascavers] Government Canyon Karst Project

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

Cavers,
 
The next Karst Project weekend at Government Canyon State Natural Area just
northwest of San Antonio is scheduled for the first weekend in February,
Feb. 6 & 7. We will meet at the Volunteer/Research Station at 9:00 on both
days. To get there enter the park at the main gate and then take the first
right. The gate is now electrically activated. Enter the code 1234 in the
keypad. Caving is getting so easy these days. Drive about a mile to the VRS.
The parking lot is to the right. Camping is available. Contact me to set it
up.
 
Marvin Miller
(210) 415-5190
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[Texascavers] Government Canyon Karst Project Report

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

November/December Government Canyon Karst Project Report
 
November 7, 2015
 
Participants: Niki Lake, Marvin Miller, Joe Schaertl
 
Only Joe and Niki joined the project for what threatened to be a rainy day.
The ground was very wet from rains in the preceding days so the trails were
closed. I asked Niki, who is the Resource Specialist at Government Canyon
SNA, about the new pit that had been found on the Gallagher tract, on the
west side of Hwy 211. It had actually been found several years previous by a
bird survey team but the property did not fully transfer from the City of
San Antonio to Texas Parks until recently. 

 

The pit was named Loca Guera Pit by the team that discovered it. Niki had
only a location marked on a small topo on a poor scan of a Zara
Environmental report. Sometime after the pit's discovery Zara did a karst
invertebrate survey over some of the ridgetops on the tract and they had
noted the cave. The report Niki had did not contain the appendix with the
GPS coordinates.  Using the poor topo image and Niki's memory we set out
trying to find the pit. We did one sweep up the ridge that it was supposed
to be on without finding it. We regrouped and changed our strategy. In our
trek to the point we were going to start our next sweep we came across a
marked karst feature. The tag was numbered PR-10. This made us happy because
PR-10 was also located on the topo and the topo had a scale bar. We
calculated a heading and a distance to the pit and started walking - and
walked right to it. 

 

Niki had to leave to attend to other duties so Joe and I rigged the pit, a
7.6 m drop, and surveyed it. Sadly, there was no ongoing passage at the
bottom. The entrance is roughly diamond-shaped and about 2.5 meters across.
>From the pit bottom the floor descended a slight scree slope and then went
flat to the back wall. We surveyed a total length of 15.72 m and 8.61 m
deep. When Joe touched down after rappelling first he noticed a
diamond-backed rattlesnake on the floor. The floor was wide enough that we
could skirt around it. It never made any indication that it was disturbed by
us. The cave floor has had significant infilling. Large stalagmites along
the back wall penetrate the floor. There are also two sets of initials
inscribed on the back wall. The lower initials look more weathered than the
top, dated set, and, surprisingly, are located only about .3 m above the
floor level. Is it possible that sometime before 1957 (the date with the
upper set) the floor level was quite a bit lower? Discussions with George
Veni suggest that significant surface erosion of top soils has occured since
the beginning of ranch activities in the late 1800's/early 1900's. 

 

After surveying the cave we headed back to PR-10 and dug on it for a couple
of hours. At first it looked very promising but by the time we finished we
were digging down the floor of the sink, hoping to find an open space. The
soil and rocks are still loose and the dig should be continued.

 

December 5 & 6, 2015
 
Participants: Jorge Carcamo, Lauren DeLeon, Mike Gibbons, Sarah Gorton, Niki
Lake, Marvin Miller, Shauna Mohler, Mary Moore, James Morrow, Donnie Roland,
Victoria Sommers, Aarron Wertheim

 

Saturday Activities

Donnie Roland was in attendance on Saturday morning and was keen to go
looking for a cave that he knew lay close to Horseshoe Canyon Cave. Both
caves were found by Donnie in 1995. Horseshoe Canyon Cave is in one of the
private property inholdings on the northeast side of the SNA, but from
Donnie's description the new cave might be located on SNA property. Donnie
was also interested in finding a spring cave in the same area, but probably
on SNA property, that he had seen in the same 1995 timeframe. He had led
teams to look for this cave twice before, without success.  With the recent
transfer of properties to the SNA there were more places that were open for
searching. Other attendees Saturday morning were Jorge, Lauren, Niki,
Victoria, Aarron, and I. We made one large team and went looking for the
caves. 

 

Donnie said the cave close to Horseshoe Canyon Cave was called 9 Meter Cave.
I had coordinates from the TSS database for Horseshoe Canyon Cave so we set
out to go there first and, from there, find Donnie's cave. On our traverse
to the coordinates we came across a cave and Donnie pronounced that it was
the sought-after 9 Meter Cave. The cave has a low sloping entrance in a
sinkhole but then opens immediately to a 1.3-m-tall dome with a sky light.
Another dome follows that one to the end of the cave. On a flowstone shelf
at the end of the cave a too-small tube continues onward. The cave taped out
at 5.90 meters, so the 9 Meter name was a hopeful guess. After inputting the
coordinates of the cave into the TSS GIS database, WallsMap, I saw that the
location is within the inholding, and thus is not a Government Canyon cave.
However, this property may be transferred to the SNA in the future.

 

After this we decided to continue to n

Re: [Texascavers] Rope inquiry

[Marvin and Lisa via Texascavers]

 Agreed. Bexar Grotto cavers know to nod non-comittally, stroke their chins
or beards, and say "uh-huh, uh-huh, very interesting" when listening to
Geary Schindel stories or set-ups.

-Original Message-
From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of
George Veni via Texascavers
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 8:19 PM
To: texascavers@texascavers.com
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Rope inquiry

Back to the original topic. I've seen some cave speculation on Geary's
question, but I don't think he said anything about the rope being needed for
a cave...


George Veni, PhD
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue
Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-9215 USA
Office: 575-887-5517
Mobile: 210-863-5919
Fax: 575-887-5523
gv...@nckri.org
www.nckri.org



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