| Sequiota Cave August 1st |
Melvin Johnson | Melvin Johnson helped direct a Springfield Park Board tour of Sequiota Cave (Greene Co) for a group of area school teachers. |
| Lon Odell Memorial Cave August 2nd |
Jon Beard, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter and Charley Young were accompanied by archaeologist Craig Williams of MVG, Scott Little (son-in-law of the cave owners) and Scott's friends Chris and Gordon Garrett to Lon Odell Memorial Cave (Dade Co). The purpose of the trip was to conduct trail maintenance and photodocument prehistoric human footprints and torch remains and other features. Despite an unusually rainy year, the cave and its trail system fared very well. Chris photographed a newly discovered footprint amidst several bear tracks. Approximately 2/3 of the linear length of the braidwork cave was seen during the trip. |
| Little Smittle Cave, Lowell Cave August 6th |
Zach Copeland, Brian Goeppner | Zach Copeland, Brian Goeppner and Brian's sons Ben and Colton traveled to Wright County to see Little Smittle Cave. While going through the decorated 1,200-foot cave, they filled a trash bag with beer bottles, old shoes and an old flashlight. They saw one grotto salamander. After they headed nearby Lowell Cave and counted four cave salamanders, five pickerel frogs and a pipistrelle in the approximately 1,200 feet of cave traversed. They checked out some upper level meanders as well as the main stream passage. |
| Mammoth Cave August 6th & 7th |
Bonnie Curnock | Bonnie Curnock participated in restoration work in Mammoth Cave (KY). |
| Long Cave August 8th |
Bonnie Curnock | Bonnie Curnock joined a group to Long Cave (KY). |
| Willis Cave, Mud Cave, Walnut Cave, and Hutchinson Waterfall Cave August 8th |
Brian and Renee Goeppner | Brian and Renee Goeppner hiked Broadwater Hollow in Arkansas and went to Willis Cave, Mud Cave, Walnut Cave, and Hutchinson Waterfall Cave. |
| Breakdown Cave and Fitzpatrick Cave August 9th |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland and Charity Hertzler | Jon Beard, Zach Copeland and Charity Hertzler led a group of cub scouts through Fitzpatrick Cave, then the Main Room, Lower Level Maze Loop and Hell's Gate sections of nearby Breakdown Cave (Christian Co). The scouts were shown four larval salamanders, a slimy salamander, springtails, cave spiders, webworms, a toad and a few pickerel frogs. |
| Branson Cave August 16th |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Jason Hardinger |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Jason Hardinger of SPG, Joe Nicolussi and son Joe Jr. and Kris Butler plus George Bilbrey, Scott House and Spike Crews drove and hiked to Branson Cave (Shannon Co). While Scott, Spike and George did some mapping, the others completed the trail marking in the first several hundred feet of the main passage using coffee mug sized stones placed about three feet apart. Larger stones were used as "bridges" across pool crossings to prevent damage to aquatic habitat. Some graffiti was removed in the back section of the cave and photos were taken. Afterwards, some of the group visited Alley Spring for photos. |
| Cave Spring Cave, Lost Man Cave August 17th |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Jason Hardinger, Max White and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Jason Hardinger, Max White and Charley Young of SPG plus Joe and Joe Jr. (Nicolussi) and Kris Butler briefly visited Cave Spring Cave (Carter Co) to remove new graffiti from flowstone and collect trash (mostly bottle rocket sticks). After taking some photos, the group continued the restoration of Lost Man Cave (also of Carter Co). They removed red spray paint arrows, collected and took out about a quarter trash bag of trash, and they cleaned about 60 square feet of flowstone and stalagmites of profuse mud from past hands and boots in the upper level of the cave. They also took several photos. |
| Garrison Cave #2 August 28th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard checked the level of the First Watercrawl in Garrison Cave #2 (Christian Co) in preparation for the next survey trip. The water level was low enough that he elected not to run the siphon system except to test that it was still working. |
| Crystal Caverns August 30th |
Bill and Bonnie Heim | Bill and Bonnie Heim, along with Joyce Newman and Jesse Poynter of Purdy, Missouri went to Cassville to check on Crystal Caverns (Barry Co) prior to the September MCKC meeting. They found that the small building housing the entrance was quite overgrown with small trees. Once they were able to get in to the cave, they found no new vandalism. Bill did have to do some minor repair on the cable gate on the road where the power company had disconnected it in order to trim the power lines. |
| Garrison Cave #2 August 30th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard turned on the siphon system at Garrison Cave #2 to lower the water level, with a target of 11 inches minimum air space. After a brief search of the lowermost of the four entrances, he found a bristly cave crayfish. |
| Garrison Cave #2 August 31st |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Brian Goeppner and Lawrence Ireland | Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Brian Goeppner and Lawrence Ireland participated in a survey trip to Garrison Cave #2. Sections of the middle portion of the main passage were mapped and sketched resulting in more than 100 additional feet of loops and side passages. The group also found additional passage that had not yet been mapped. This was saved for a future trip. Mapped length now stands at 24,600 feet (4.659 miles). Eight bristly cave crayfish and several isopods were seen in efforts to avoid any while crawling and wading in cave streams along the way. Also noted were a few pipistrelles either roosting on ceilings or flying about. |