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Springfield Plateau Grotto Caving Trips July 2006 |
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| Garrison Cave #2 Mapping July and August |
Jonathan Beard Jason Hardinger Lawrence Ireland Lloyd Morrison Zach Copeland (OHG) |
We continued the mapping of Garrison Cave #2 of Christian County. Lloyd took several photos of North Creek (that’s Lawrence floating on the raft), Helictite Room and the Devil’s Bat stalagmite. The areas of the cave mapped during the summer included R-14 off of North Creek (Lawrence and Lloyd), the X Room Annex (Lawrence, Jon, Zach and Jason), the bitter end of Carl’s Bad Crawl (Jon and Zach) and the digging effort in the Babbling Crawl off of the Rimstone Puzzle (Lawrence, Jason, Jon). Mapping will be completed in 2007. |
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| Ha Ha Tonka State Park Devil's Kitchen July 9 |
Jonathan Beard Michael Carter Bonnie Curnock Charity Gramm Jason Hardinger Max White |
Eric Hertzler, Charity Gramm, Jon and Alicia Beard were part of a crew including Ron and Lorely Lather and Christen Stewart of LOG and Pedgie Heintz of KCAG in some cave survey and files work in Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Camden County under a research permit. Jon and Alicia mapped the 37 feet of Devils Kitchen, a two-entrance cave remnant in a very large and deep sink, one of many deep sinks in the park. One of the highlights of the trip was photographing a fearless white-tailed deer inside of the small cave. Image is Alicia Beard in Devil's Kitchen. Taken by Jon Beard. |
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| Tumbling Creek Cave Restoration July, September, November |
Tom Aley Cathy Aley Jonathan Beard Bonnie Curnock Dr. Doug Gouzie Charity Gramm Eric Hertzler Melvin Johnson Ben McCall Jack Rosenkoetter Greg Hansen (Onondaga State Park) Employees of the Springfield Green County Parks Dept. KCAG members |
Restoration efforts in
Tumbling Creek Cave of Taney County (Tom and Cathy Aley’s Ozark
Underground Lab) continued with stalagmite reattachment, flowstone
cleaning, bootprint removal and graffiti removal in the East Passage of
the cave as well as the cleanup efforts on an old garbage dump in the
recharge area of the cave. The stalagmites were repaired using 2-part
epoxy adhesive, but more remains to be done. The flowstone cleaning
involved removing mud stains derived from cavers walking on these areas
prior to the gating of the cave in the 1970s. Each weekend spent at the
OUL had many perks including large delicious meals served by Cathy Aley,
great sleeping accommodations and after-dark photographic opportunities in
the cave.
Photo by Jon Beard shows Eric Hertzler cleaning. |
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| Fisher Cave Restoration July, August, September, October |
Michael Carter Jonathan Beard Bonnie Curnock Jason Hardinger Max White Greg Hanson (Onondaga State Park) Chris Gertson (OHG) Greg Schmidt Jenny Pratt |
Michael Carter continued
to direct restoration efforts in Fisher Cave of Franklin County in
Meramec State Park. Groups concentrated on removal of mud and gravel from
vast areas of flowstone floors and the reattachment of several stalagmites
and stalactites including a stalagmite complex near the trail that began
as two stalagmite nubs on the floor. Five pieces and 350 pounds later the
complex stands over six feet tall and has been nicknamed “Big Boy”.
Restoration in this cave will continue in the spring of 2007. Image is of Michael Carter admiring progress on the "Big Boy" |
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