team flaco? I don't get the reference. On Sun, Jun 5, 2022, 8:15 AM Kurt Menking <kurt.menk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Great trip. Congrats to team flaco. > > On Sat, Jun 4, 2022, 9:14 PM Marvin Miller <cave0mil...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Kelsey Dennis and Mio Kitano joined me today to finish up a little bit of >> muddy survey and to push leads in Dinosaur Cave. Dinosaur Cave is a 642 >> meter-long cave in Comal County. The survey went about 2 meters down a hole >> that had been too tight for the previous survey team. Both Kelsey and Mio >> have slight figures ideal for these kinds of leads. The next survey shot >> was 3 meters through a muddy trough into a small terminal room with some >> drops falling from the ceiling. The drops had been a trickle when I had >> first seen this room last year. The room isn't really terminal because >> there is a slot in the floor that could be enlarged to get down to the next >> little space 2 meters below but then there is another, tighter >> constriction. There is no airflow so this is not a high priority lead. >> >> We struggled out of these muddy confines and headed back towards the >> entrance till we stopped at a hole that dropped down in the middle of the >> passage. This hole leads to a bit of walking passage in the breakdown that >> makes up the floor and fills the lower part of the main passage. 10 meters >> along the breakdown passage a small hole in the floor drops down into a >> small room, the floor of which slopes further down to the opening of a >> small, horizontal tube in bedrock. The tube is straight and clean-washed >> and can be seen to extend at least 5 meters. The tube is intimidating (to >> me, at least) because it looks barely larger than body-sized. Once you get >> into it there is actually a little more space than that, and only one spot >> where you are scraping floor and ceiling. At about the 5-meter mark you >> encounter a cross-joint which provides some relief, and immediately after >> that the floor drops down into a fissure and then the passage widens, opens >> up to the right, and drops over a ledge into a small room. Bennett Lee >> pushed this passage and discovered this room. A small trickle of water >> falls from a too-small tube in one wall. At floor level a duck under the >> ceiling leads to a short 5-meter section of passage, at the end of which >> was today's objective. At that point the floor trends slightly down and the >> ceiling comes down to within 20 cm of the floor, which is clean-washed from >> that point. I had tried to cram myself into this lead when Bennett, Greg >> Mosier, and I surveyed the preceding passage but it was a no-go. I couldn't >> even get far enough to see around the near corner. Kelsey is a skinny girl >> and had no problem with it. There is a pool in the floor just after it gets >> tight so she had to consider whether she wanted to get wet, but in the end >> she committed to it and soon disappeared around the corner. She kept a >> running commentary and informed us that just ahead it was going to open up >> to walking - or at least stoop-walking height. She was soon there and >> continued, sometimes in several cm of water. There was another short >> constriction to be passed and then the passage dimensions resumed. She had >> to stop, probably about 20 to 25 meters along, due to a boulder that was >> filling the passage. She could see the passage continuing past the boulder. >> Her assessment was that it could probably be broken up with a sledge or >> rolled out of the way. There is good airflow coming out of this passage, >> really the only airflow we have seen anywhere in Dinosaur Cave. >> >> When Kelsey came back out, excited by her discovery, we set to work on >> the other passage that exits here, stacked almost right on top of the water >> crawl below. The problem with this one was that it was almost filled with a >> 2 meter-long, 1 meter-wide slab of breakdown. It wasn't very thick so we >> had some hope that we could break it up somehow. We took turns beating on >> the near end, and some bits broke off easily, but then it got hard. I >> decided it was time to employ the hammer drill and straws. I had barely >> drilled 4 cm into the rock when my bit got stuck and would not move. The >> only way to rescue it was to beat on the rock some more. I started in on >> that and suddenly the rock broke across its width about half-a-meter back. >> This large chunk fell to the ground in front of the lower passage, and the >> remainder of the slab started to slide down what must have been a slight >> slope towards us! Fortunately, it stopped moving after 10 or 15 cm. We then >> had a discussion that if a survey team was going to come back and attack >> the lower passage, the slab would first need to be eliminated. We continued >> pounding on it - with some care to have an escape route - and eventually >> were able to lever it and chock it in a more stable situation. What all of >> that ended up doing for us was open up space over the top of the slab to >> crawl across and see what lay beyond. A quick look showed that the passage >> took a sharp right turn and followed the trend of the lower passage. Mio >> ventured in and I noticed that I could see a reflection of her light on the >> pool in the lower passage. There were holes in the floor. In fact, she >> remarked that the floor was not stable and there was a danger of falling >> through. Several rocks were dislodged and fell into the lower passage. >> About 4 meters in, the passage was blocked by flowstone, but she could see >> around it into a larger space. It is almost certainly the same passage that >> Kelsey traversed. This is a possible bypass to the lower level >> constriction. >> >> The new discovery is at the lowest point of the cave and the air was not >> very good. We will wait until winter to organize further survey trips. We >> left the cave happy, muddy, and tired. >> >> Marvin Miller >> _______________________________________________ >> Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com >> Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ >> http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >> > _______________________________________________ > 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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