Hey, good summary, Bill! This was a hard trip. Maybe James's trip was the hardest in Texas since 1990--and after coming out and sleeping for 3 hours, he did a marathon drive to Zacaton. For the rest of us, it could be the hardest trip with a four-hour nap in the middle. ;) I think I remember being more exhausted after a push trip past the Mile Long Crawl. I still haven't ever done the through trip--maybe that's harder.
Let's hear from other people about their hardest caving trip in Texas. I bet there are some good stories out there. Ed > It will probably now be argued whether or not a tank haul trip to the back of > Honey Creek Cave is the hardest caving trip in the state of Texas. However, > Iâve been an active caver in Texas for 30 years, and itâs the hardest > trip Iâve taken in the Lone Star State, and I've done several. > > Last Saturday, May 19, ten cavers carried a share each of the cave diving > gear from the shaft entrance of Honey Creek Cave to the upstream sump, an > in-cave distance of about three miles. The ten were James Brown (McKinney), > who did the dive, Ed Goff (Dallas), Roy âPuppyâ Lewis (Houston), Diana > Tomchick (Irving), Don Morley (San Antonio), Daniel Dase (Ft. Worth), Michael > Cicherski (Boerne), Mark Gee (Dallas), Edwin Lehr (Krum), and me (Irving). > We entered the cave at 10:45 a.m. and waded upstream. We reached the sump > around 5:00 p.m. > > Our objective was for James to follow the dive line laid in the upstream sump > by John Schweyan in two dives he did in 1989 and 1990. Schweyan surveyed > 1,168 feet into the sump and it still goes the same. > > James Brownâs dive was an hour and 45 minutes long. He came to two places > that the dive line was broken, so he patched it. When he got a foot cramp he > turned around, still about 270 short of the end of the line. His visibility > was about 30 feet going in and 20 feet coming out. The water was about a > foot higher than when some of us had visited there last October, planning > this effort. > > The trip out was smooth, though very long. Times spent on the trip varied by > three hours between the first to reach the shaft entrance and the last two: > 16 hours to 19 hours. > > A special thank you goes out to Don Broussard (Driftwood) and Kurt Menking > (San Antonio). They manned the surface and operated the tractor to lower and > raise us in the shaft entrance. They were up all night, keeping a camp fire > blazing. > > Of special note was Daniel Dase, the new Maverick Grotto chairman. He's a > new caver, but already he's a grotto chairman and a veteran of the hardest > caving trip in Texas. > > We plan to return to the sump for James to push farther upstream in the fall. > > Bill Steele > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com > For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
