January 2008 Cave Trips

A Spring Cave  (Shannon County) January 5th	Zach Copeland, Max White, and Charley Young	Zach Copeland, Max White, Charley Young, Spike Crews and others went on a CRF trip to Shop Hollow Cave in Shannon County to do some mapping and photography. Max and Charley took photos while Zach and Spike made up one survey team. They surveyed a pretty grim side passage, which went about 220 feet before choking out. A second survey crew surveyed about 300 feet in the continuing main passage.
Busiek Cave Complex January 5th	Jon Beard, Evan Christiansen, Roy Gold and Eric Hertzler	When Eric and Charity Hertzler left the Busiek Cave Complex in Christian County on September 22nd of 2007, they had finished surveying one small cave, 75.6 feet in another cave, and the bluff line in which the caves are found. They also found four webworms, two dark sided salamanders, one cave salamander, an unidentified millipede, and two eastern phoebe nests. On the second trip (January 5th), Jon Beard, Evan Christiansen, Roy Gold and Eric Hertzler continued the survey of the Busiek Cave Complex, ending up with another 116.6 feet of survey, including the cave's "Grim Swim," a low water crawl that ends in breakdown. One more trip should finish up the project, including a lower stream passage as well as a short upper level cave adjacent in the bluff.
Ash Grove Cave January 6th	Jon Beard and Roy Gold and Bob Taylor	Jon Beard and Roy Gold helped Bob Taylor in the mapping of Dripstone Hall in Ash Grove Cave in Greene County. This is one of the most beautiful cave passages in southwest Missouri despite more than 100 years of vandalism. While Bob sketched this intensely decorated passage, Roy assisted Jon in some photography. Also while there, Roy and Jon made a few speleothem matches for future restoration. During the day, lots of graffiti was removed or masked using a plastic brush.
Lowell Cave January 6th	Ashley Smith	Ashley Smith visited Lowell Cave in Wright County.
Ash Grove Cave January 12th	Jon Beard, Kasi Johnson, Gabe Rodgers and Jack Rosenkoetter	Jon Beard, Kasi Johnson, Gabe Rodgers and Jack Rosenkoetter continued graffiti removal restoration in Greene County’s Ash Grove Cave. The most obvious spray paint graffiti was removed from the first section of the South Passage. As a result of January 7th’s tornadic activity, the main passage that Bob, Jon, and Roy had found to be dry on the January 6th trip was now running water (Ash Grove’s central portion is a thousand-foot long grand stream piracy).
Busiek Cave Complex January 12th	Evan Christiansen and Eric Hertzler	Evan Christiansen and Eric Hertzler finished up the survey of the Busiek Cave Complex with 79.2 feet mapped for a grand total of 271.4 feet. A lower resurgence passage was mapped as well as an upper level dome section high in the bluff. Evan was able to squeeze in far enough to see what appears to be walking passage but was unable to reach it. A possible future trip to push this might be scheduled. This is a cave that has very impressive air flow, but tight constrictions have thus far prohibited penetration past the various entrance passages. During the survey, they noted several ringed crayfish and larval salamanders in the cave stream.
Crystal Caverns January 13th	Jon Beard, Evan Christiansen, Roy Gold, Bill Heim, Ron Kittle, Ashley Smith and Bob Taylor	SPG members Jon Beard, Evan Christiansen, Roy Gold, Bill Heim, Ron Kittle, Ashley Smith and Bob Taylor hosted Chouteau Grotto’s illustrious Jim Huckins and four volunteers from JPMorgan-Chase in a multi-faceted day in Crystal Caverns, a Barry County cave leased by the MCKC (of which Bill and Jon also serve on its Board). While Bob Taylor did some careful cross sections for his map of the cave, Roy and Jim did some photo documentation of the cave with the help of volunteers. While Jon did some cave restoration using brushes and a portable pressure sprayer, the others conducted a thorough bio-inventory of the cave using copies of the cave map and macro photography.
Fitton Cave January 19th	Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Roy Gold, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter, Max White, Charley Young and Jeff Young	Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Roy Gold, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter, Max White, Charley Young and Jeff Young traveled to Fitton Cave in Arkansas to spend the day photographing the cave, concentrating most of the photography in the dry entrance passage, the Needle’s Eye, Tennouri and Millipede passages. In total, 12.5 hours were spent in the cave. On the hike back to the vehicles, literally dozens of frost flowers were noted within sight of the trail.
Cascade Cave January 25th	Zach Copeland	Zach Copeland visited Cascade Cave during the 27th annual Crawlathon held at Carter Caves State Resort Park in Olive Hill, Kentucky. It was a historically-themed trip that focused on various ways of lighting a cave, including; reed torches, oil lamps, torch throwing, and carbide.
Cow Counterfeiter Cave January 26th	Zach Copeland	Zach Copeland explored Cow Counterfeiter Cave in Carter County during the Crawlathon, visiting Bill's Crawl as well as the cave’s five different entrances.
Garrison Spring January 26th	Eric and Charity Hertzler	Eric and Charity Hertzler briefly visited Garrison Spring in Christian County.
Giboney Cave January 26th	Melvin Johnson	According to Melvin Johnson, 73 participants were involved in Greene County Park’s Caving Program during January of 2008. Of most significance was the discovery of a major spill within Giboney Cave during the Springfield Nature Centers Adult Tour on the 26th, the second major spill within the cave within the past three years. The entire main streambed is covered with a sandy-white compound, which formed a concrete-like base on the bottom of the streambed. No visible life has been observed in the streambed since the spill. A hotline call was made to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and on January 31st, a MDNR Environmental Specialist inspected the cave, testing and taking water and rock samples. At the request of DNR, Outdoor Initiatives Staff will continue to monitor Giboney Cave for any additional spill.
Jones Spring January 27th	Eric and Charity Hertzler and Max White	Eric and Charity Hertzler visited Jones Spring (Greene County) along with Max White.
Flood Cave, Fern Cave January 27th	Zach Copeland	Zach Copeland went to Fern and Flood caves in Carter County Kentucky during the Crawlathon. Flood Cave is a cave, which has a variety of crawlways and nice canyon passages. It is immediately obvious that Flood Cave is not a cave that you would want to be in during a flood, as it’s ceiling is well coated in mud and leaves. Fern Cave is a nice canyon, but requires a canyon-walk ten feet above the floor to stay out of the chest deep water flowing through it. Lots of big cave spiders covered the cave walls. Near the end of the cave is a 20-foot ladder climb to reach some really pretty formations.