Thanks for posting your trip report, Marvin. I think maybe this is the cave I went to with Vernelle Elliott in summer 1970 to collect salamanders. I didn't do any sump diving, but I remember climbing out on rope, when I spotted a large *Scolopendra* centipede on the ledge below the entrance. I had on gloves, so I reached down and grabbed the critter by the hind end to collect him, but the head end swung around and started coming up my sleeve. I was just head above the entrance, and I flung the darn centipede out into the bushes. I never tried to collect one that way again. The life of a cave biologist!
*William R. (Bill) Elliott* 30105 Briarcrest Court Georgetown, Texas 78628 *speodes...@gmail.com <speodes...@gmail.com>* 573-291-5093 cell On Mon, Jul 4, 2022 at 9:51 AM Marvin Miller <cave0mil...@gmail.com> wrote: > I made a few corrections to the report. The cave is in Kendall County and > Gerry's name is spelled with a z. > Marvin Miller > > On Saturday, July 2, seven cavers entered Cascade Sink (not the commercial > cave) in Kendall County. Three persons – Gerry Geletzke, Marvin Miller, and > John Young – were a survey team hoping to find a sump in the cave open and > pushing the resurvey of the cave further. The four others – Adam Daw, > Crystal Grafft, Tobin Hays, and Mio Kitano – were there to take the > opportunity to see the cave and ended up pushing further into it than > anyone has been since probably the 1980’s. > > > > John rigged the cave with a nice rebelay at the ledge above the free drop. > A rattlesnake on a ledge above the bottom pool provided some excitement. > The first sump in the cave is in the low passage that leads from the bottom > of the pit. It was immediately obvious that the water level was lower than > had been witnessed before and that this passage would not be a problem. The > survey team traversed this bit of passage with a nice 10” of airspace and > popped out into the tall fissure passage that runs straight south and a > little east for 105 meters to the second sump. This sump had not been > expected on the first resurvey trip, organized by Jean Krejca on 10/19/19 > and consisting of 3 teams. The plan had been to survey as much of the known > cave as possible but it was cut short by finding the unexpected sump. On > Saturday the survey team found it open with about 8” of airspace. The sump > was about 2 meters long and then the ceiling went back up as the passage > teed into a tall fissure passage. Surprisingly, on the other side of the > sump an old steel anchor was found bolted to the floor. The only > explanation is that early explorers, finding this sump frequently closed, > installed a line to assist in the short free-dive. As the survey team > started the survey the other team - let’s call them the push team – caught > up. It was suggested that they explore to the left – upstream – which was > plugged almost immediately at stream level with flood-borne debris, but > which might be traversable higher in the fissure. The old map indicated > that this was the case. A small stream flowed from the bottom of the debris > plug and on down the passage to be surveyed. From this point on the passage > was mostly hand-and-knees crawl in 20 – 30 cm of water. The passage was a > tall fissure but got too narrow a meter or so above the floor, so walking > was generally not an option. The passage width at floor level was typically > 1.0 to 1.5 meters. > > > > The push team caught up to the survey team again and announced that there > was at least 30 meters of passage they had explored going the other way. > The push team passed the survey team and was soon out of earshot. At one > point the floor in the passage sloped down and water level got to about > chest deep. This chilled the survey team and they were happy to find just > past this area a nice island of stream cobbles that spanned the passage and > provided plenty of space to sit out of the water and eat a late lunch. > While sitting there they heard the push team returning and soon saw their > lights. They reported dry, crawly areas of passage, two dry pancake rooms, > and several options for routes. They did not make it to the large room that > is reportedly at the end of the known cave. Remarkably, they found leopard > frogs living, and apparently healthy, this deep into the cave. Several > places in the water passage, before the start of survey and after, large > tadpoles had been spotted. After the push team headed out the survey team > continued until setting station D23 (first station was D1) on a large dam > of dirt and rock that seemed to be holding back water in the passage. The > far side of the dam sloped down into water and a low-ceilinged passage. > John explored ahead for a bit and reported that the passage comes out of > the water but stays low and the rough nature of the bedrock floor made > crawling difficult. It was 4:00 p.m. so the team decided to end the survey > there in order to make their exit time of 6:00 p.m. > > > > Tobin, of the push team, had a bit of excitement at the bottom of the > entrance pit. She was the last of the team to climb, and as she was getting > on rope in the knee-to-waist deep water the rattlesnake decided to join her > in the pool. She stayed cool and was able to avoid it and start > climbing. The survey team didn’t see the snake at all when they got there > and exited without incident. > > > > 105.5 meters were surveyed. More trips are planned to take advantage of > the current dry conditions. > _______________________________________________ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >
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