Re: [Texascavers] Government Canyon caving
Yay! Trip reports on CaveTex! It sure beats the alternatives! Mobile email from my iPhone On Nov 23, 2013, at 11:02 PM, Marvin and Lisa mlmil...@gvtc.com wrote: All right. I give up. All those great Colorado Bend project reports make me realize I've got to do the same thing. We had two teams at Government Canyon on November 10. I led Rick Corbell, Christin Miller, Sierra Ostrov, and Petra Ostrov to Big Dome Cave to continue the survey. We concentrated our efforts in the entrance room and surveyed 44.14 meters in 12 stations. We tried to follow the perimeter of the room as closely as possible but on the east side the rising floor comes too close to the ceiling and the furthest extents of the room cannot be verified. We also surveyed into two small rooms at the southeast corner that have interesting solution features in the bedrock floor. While Christin and I were giving Petra and Sierra a tour of the lower part of the cave, Rick removed a rock at the northwest corner of the entrance room to gain access to another small, low, dirt-floored room. In the entrance area we still need to survey the new room that Rick found and survey out the second entrance to the cave. Significantly, the cave length is now 258.15 meters, making Big Dome cave officially the longest cave in Government Canyon SNA. The cave that was knocked from the top spot is Dancing Rattler Cave at 225.24 meters. The second team was made up of Christopher Francke, Leslie Bell, Tom Rogers, and Jill Orr. They took the long hike to the top of the hill loaded down with rope, vertical gear, hammer drill, batteries, hammer, chisel, etc. to continue pushing the lead in the bottom of Lost Pothole. They were successful in getting into Rebecca’s Pit, but, against all expectations, there was no going cave or leads of any kind at the bottom. It was a blind pit. So where does all the air come from? Everyone was so focused on the pit that no one had noticed that the airflow was coming from the solution channel that crosses over the pit and continues on the other side. After finding that the bottom of the pit had no leads, the team confirmed that, indeed, the air was coming from the channel at the top. The opinion of the team was that the channel was too small for an indefinite length and that continuing to try to follow it by micro-blasting or hammering was not feasible. We will do a survey trip to survey Rebecca’s Pit, since it is likely the lowest point in the deepest cave on the SNA. Otherwise the cave will be considered finished. The next Government Canyon Karst Project trip will be on December 7 8 and will continue the first weekend of the month until further notice. Marvin Miller
Re: [Texascavers] Government Canyon caving
Dang, I was on the digging trip when Rebecca first squeezed through to peer down that pit -- I had such high hopes for that lead had such a great time caving with her that day. This report closes a chapter on a favorite personal piece of caving history. Lost Pothole is a great cave. Still. I remember discovering that lead on the first survey trip with Andy Grubbs and Geoff Hoese so many years ago now -- it had burned a hole in my brain since then. In my fevered imagination, we'd break through into going stream passage some day. Maybe I can use a photo trip as an excuse to go back one last time. On Nov 23, 2013, at 11:02 PM, Marvin and Lisa mlmil...@gvtc.com wrote: After finding that the bottom of the pit had no leads, the team confirmed that, indeed, the air was coming from the channel at the top. The opinion of the team was that the channel was too small for an indefinite length and that continuing to try to follow it by micro-blasting or hammering was not feasible. We will do a survey trip to survey Rebecca’s Pit, since it is likely the lowest point in the deepest cave on the SNA. Otherwise the cave will be considered finished. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Government Canyon caving
All right. I give up. All those great Colorado Bend project reports make me realize I've got to do the same thing. We had two teams at Government Canyon on November 10. I led Rick Corbell, Christin Miller, Sierra Ostrov, and Petra Ostrov to Big Dome Cave to continue the survey. We concentrated our efforts in the entrance room and surveyed 44.14 meters in 12 stations. We tried to follow the perimeter of the room as closely as possible but on the east side the rising floor comes too close to the ceiling and the furthest extents of the room cannot be verified. We also surveyed into two small rooms at the southeast corner that have interesting solution features in the bedrock floor. While Christin and I were giving Petra and Sierra a tour of the lower part of the cave, Rick removed a rock at the northwest corner of the entrance room to gain access to another small, low, dirt-floored room. In the entrance area we still need to survey the new room that Rick found and survey out the second entrance to the cave. Significantly, the cave length is now 258.15 meters, making Big Dome cave officially the longest cave in Government Canyon SNA. The cave that was knocked from the top spot is Dancing Rattler Cave at 225.24 meters. The second team was made up of Christopher Francke, Leslie Bell, Tom Rogers, and Jill Orr. They took the long hike to the top of the hill loaded down with rope, vertical gear, hammer drill, batteries, hammer, chisel, etc. to continue pushing the lead in the bottom of Lost Pothole. They were successful in getting into Rebecca's Pit, but, against all expectations, there was no going cave or leads of any kind at the bottom. It was a blind pit. So where does all the air come from? Everyone was so focused on the pit that no one had noticed that the airflow was coming from the solution channel that crosses over the pit and continues on the other side. After finding that the bottom of the pit had no leads, the team confirmed that, indeed, the air was coming from the channel at the top. The opinion of the team was that the channel was too small for an indefinite length and that continuing to try to follow it by micro-blasting or hammering was not feasible. We will do a survey trip to survey Rebecca's Pit, since it is likely the lowest point in the deepest cave on the SNA. Otherwise the cave will be considered finished. The next Government Canyon Karst Project trip will be on December 7 8 and will continue the first weekend of the month until further notice. Marvin Miller
[Texascavers] Government Canyon caving
Cavers, The Miller family sojourn to Nashville, TN has come to an end and we are thankfully back in the great state of Texas. This means that I am preparing to restart the Government Canyon Karst Survey. The first weekend planned for the project is November 7 and 8. Since you haven't heard about it in awhile, here is a little background: Government Canyon State Natural Area is located about 20 miles NW of San Antonio near the town of Helotes. The SNA contains approximately 8624 acres, all but 700 of which are in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. The karst survey, a project of the Texas Speleological Association, has been ongoing since 1993 with the goal of locating and documenting all of the caves and karst features on the property. 47 caves are currently known along with several hundred features. A number of these features have existing digs with some potential to lead into a cave. Less than half the property has been systematically surveyed. The project is strongly supported by SNA management and staff. Caves are both vertical and horizontal. The longest cave so far is Dancing Rattler Cave at 225 meters long and the deepest is Lost Pothole at 23 meters deep. Both of these caves have leads that need to be pushed. The terrain is rugged and the brush is thick. If you come, be prepared to do a lot of hiking and bushwhacking, carrying food and water with you. All skill levels are welcome! There is plenty to do! We will meet at 9:00 both mornings in the parking lot at the Volunteer/Research Station. Camping is available but you need to contact me to get the details. Directions: Find the intersection of U.S. 16 and Loop 1604 in northwest Bexar County (clearly shown on any state highway map). Drive 2 miles north on U.S. 16 to the third traffic light and turn left onto FM 1560 (there is a Shell station on the corner). Follow 1560 for 3 miles till you see the sign for GCSNA. Follow the arrow to the right and drive 2 more miles to the sharp left turn in the road. The gate to GCSNA is straight ahead. Enter at the gate and then take the first right. There is an unlocked gate that will need to be opened and then closed behind you. Continue to the Volunteer/Research Station, where we will meet. -Marvin Miller (210)-415-5190
