| April 3rd | Bob Taylor, Roy Gold, Todd Twilbeck and Jon Beard | Bob Taylor, Roy Gold, Todd Twilbeck and Jon Beard made a multi-faceted trip to Hall Branch Cave (Greene Co). After they obtained entrance data and photographs for the Greene County project, Todd and Jon trekked to the north passage to attempt, unsuccessfully, to lower the pool level in a passage yet to be mapped. While they did that, Roy assisted Bob in the survey between Hall Branch and nearby Mousetrap Cave, a small cave suspected to have once been a part of Hall Branch. Bob and Roy then returned to Hall Branch to develop a profile along the north-south passage that extends both directions off of the cave's entrance. Jon also took photos inside the cave that included the ponded passage as well as bear claw marks in the ceiling and fungal growths. |
| April 3rd | Dave Ashley, Charity and Eric Hertzler | Dave Ashley, Charity and Eric Hertzler conducted a bio inventory transect of the north stream passage in Sequiota Cave (Greene Co). This is the stream passage unaffected by the catastrophic silt event that occurred in the cave more than three years ago. Aquatic fauna seen included flatworms (planaria), amphipods, and isopods (both cave adapted and otherwise). |
| April 4th | Roy Gold and Jon Beard and Bob Taylor | Roy Gold and Jon Beard assisted Bob Taylor in the completion of the survey of Cedar Bluff Natural Bridge (Webster Co), a feature described in Geologic Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri. Their subsequent attempt to investigate two nearby cave leads and a smallish natural bridge were not successful due to the landowner not being home. |
| April 5th | Jon Beard | In preparation of making Breakdown Cave (Christian Co) available for education tours (the cave was closed during winter), Jon Beard checked some of the caves on the property to see how they had fared during the off season. The caves were typically dripping for this time of year and Jon noted no salamanders. |
| April 8th | Jon Beard | Jon Beard guided two groups (morning and afternoon) of earth science students from Nixa High School through the main room of Breakdown Cave (Christian Co), teaching geology and cave ecology along the way. The first group was videotaped by a local NBC affiliate for a news segment that aired later that evening. Between tours, Jon checked nearby Fitzpatrick Cave for new vandalism (none) and biology. Jon saw a bristly cave crayfish in the phreatic pool as well as several pickerel frogs. |
| April 9th | Jon Beard, Kevin Helton and Charity Hertzler | Jon Beard, Kevin Helton and Charity Hertzler led two more morning and afternoon groups of earth science students from Nixa High School through the main room of Breakdown Cave (Christian Co) for a total of about 70 students for the two days. |
| April 10th | Charley Young | Charley Young guided six Ozark High School students and a teacher through Hicks Cave (Wright Co). |
| April 10th | Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Roy Gold and Bob Taylor | Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Roy Gold and Bob Taylor did some surface recon and survey in the Fantastic Caverns/Ritter Springs Park area of Greene County. First they surveyed Bobcat Shelter Cave, then found Heart of the Ozarks Grotto Cave. Zach and Jon did some digging to open the latter's diminutive pit opening to verify it was that cave, then all briefly visited and photographed nearby Fantastic Collapse Cave. The group then moved east to Ritter Springs Park to search for, and find, Possum Pit, a cave Bob had first located in the mid 1970s. Since then, no one had been able to re-find it again--until this trip. Determined that the cave will not again disappear, the group photographed and GPSed its entrance, and Bob surveyed it to a length of 73 feet. |
| April 10th | Eric Hertzler | Eric Hertzler and members of KCAG floated the Little Niangua River and found several new caves. |
| April 11th | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Todd Twilbeck and Melvin Johnson | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Todd Twilbeck, along with Melvin Johnson, Scott Stanton and Kara Warren of the Springfield Greene County Parks did some photography in Giboney Cave (Greene Co) during the morning hours. Their hunt for aquatic life included finding a 3-inch bristly cave crayfish. After this, they searched for Doling Cave #3, but as the entrance to this cave was covered with concrete slabs some 30 years ago, they were only able to obtain an approximate GPS location for it. At lunch, the group was joined by Bob Taylor. All but Todd then drove to Lost Hill Park, which is not yet open to the general public. They split into two groups, with the park people going off to do their thing while Bob, Jon and Roy hunted unsuccessfully for Hell Hole Cave. Then, Roy and Bob took photos of the landform features known as Low Arch and High Arch as well as entrance shots of Low Arch Cave, Low Arch Cave #2, Crevice Cave, and High Arch Cave. Jon and Roy then helped Bob resurvey Stalactite Cave, ending up with a mapped total of 146 feet. Bob had first surveyed this same cave back in 1969, one of Bob's first maps. |
| April 11th | Steve Holdren | Steve Holdren GPSed, photographed and took entrance dimension measurements on Greene Co's Tatum Chapel Cave, Clear Creek Cave and Cunningham Cave, the latter a cave that Bob Taylor once attempted to visit and was told by the lady owner, "It is not permitted!" Cunningham and Tatum Chapel caves will both need some digging to enter. |
| April 11th | Doug Gouzie | As part of the Joint North Central & South Central Section Meeting of the Geological Society of America, Tom Aley and Doug Gouzie led a group of 21 people into Tumbling Creek Cave (Taney Co). After a few stops above ground, they went underground for about two hours through 2,100 feet of the trail in the cave. The group included a variety of people from Minnesota to Texas including city and regional agency staff, college and high school educators and students and private consultants. Some reported it was their first time ever in a cave, while others were recognized karst experts. All were pleased with the trip and the complimentary copy of "Caring for Your Karst" that they received. One college student even skimmed through the publication and said "I wish MY grotto would do something like this!" |
| April 12th-15th | Melvin Johnson | Melvin Johnson organized educational trips into Giboney Cave in Doling Park (Greene Co) as part of an effort to educate the general public about cave resources and conservation of caves. |
| April 17th | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Nancy Nycum and Maria Thompson | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Nancy Nycum (and grandson Garner Rudroff) and Maria Thompson (and grandson Hutch Thompson) led a group of 16 volunteers on Earth Day at Ritter Springs Park to Junction Cave (Greene Co) to conduct much needed restoration. The much-vandalized cave contains profuse graffiti and trash. The main passage was essentially rid of it by the end of two hours, leaving only the major side passage remaining to be restored another time. Despite all of the visitation and abuse, about a half-dozen tricolored bats were found to still occupy the cave. After this, the SPG group of six visited and photographed nearby Cricket Hole and Possum Pit caves. Crickets occupied a couple of ceiling domes in the former, while slimy and cave salamanders were seen in the latter. |
| April 17th | Tom Morton, Gabe and Kasi Rodgers, Bob Taylor and Charley Young |
Tom Morton, Gabe and Kasi Rodgers, Bob Taylor and Charley Young explored Dallas County's Jones Creek Cave. Bob took GPS data, entrance dimensions and photos, while the others explored the easily-accessible parts of the two-entrance cave for about 200 feet. Charley returned to his truck for more caving gear, then checked out the crawls, all of which soon ended. The group also looked at nearby Hendricks Spring and Dill Spring, where Gabe and Kasi performed water quality tests, while Bob took GPS data. |
| April 18th | Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Charley Young participated in an afternoon photo trip to the side-by-side Craig Caves (Greene Co). The two caves were mapped by Bob Taylor et al in 1980 and consist of tall narrow anastomotic canyon passages. There is some nice aragonite to photograph which the three of them did with the owner's help. Jon spent much of the time exploring some of Craig Cave #2's winding, twisting side passages which also contain aragonite. He found old rusty beer cans in some of the more remote places, and gathered these together to take out of the cave. Two adult grotto salamanders were found in the main passage as well as a tricolored bat. |
| April 24th | Jon Beard and Bob Taylor | Jon Beard and Bob Taylor drove to Dade County at the request of dog owners who had lost two dogs in a cave. Bob took a GPS reading and photographed the entrance while Jon got into his wetsuit for the low, wet crawl. Jon soon found the two dogs at the beginning of walking passage. The dogs were at first hesitant about getting wet again, but once Jon got them within sight of the entrance they took the lead out. Jon then turned around and spent a half hour exploring an estimated 1,600 feet of cave with no end or side passages in sight. A name has yet to be given to the cave. The cave appears to be formed in the Pierson Limestone. Jon noted five northern crayfish in the cave stream as well as five solitary tricolored bats plus many old raccoon droppings. |
| April 25th | Roy Gold, Lloyd Morrison and Todd Twilbeck | Roy Gold, Lloyd Morrison and Todd Twilbeck created and started a siphon in Hall Branch Cave (Greene Co) in an effort to lower the level of a deep pool in the remaining section of cave not yet surveyed. Using a 100-foot hose with a valve, the siphon was started, issuing an estimated four gallons a minute. |
| April 25th | Zach Copeland and Jon Beard | Zach Copeland assisted Jon Beard in the beginning of a resurvey of Johnson Cave (Greene Co), a cave originally mapped in 1983 by students of the late Dr. Ken Thomson. The 27-year old map showed 40 feet of passage. Jon and Zach used wetsuits to brave the wall-to-wall pool in the cave, amassing nearly 100 feet of mostly wading passage with at least 50 feet of additional eyeballed passage before calling it a day. So far, there is no end in sight. Biota observed were limited to a single tricolored bat and a pickerel frog. |