July 2009 Cave Trips

Round Spring Cavern July 4th	Bill and Bonnie Heim	Bill and Bonnie Heim visited Round Spring Cavern (Shannon Co) as part of a family gathering.
Talking Rocks Caverns July 6th	Alicia and Jon Beard	Alicia and Jon Beard briefly visited Talking Rocks Caverns (Stone Co), discussing the planned repair of two stalagmites (five pieces) on a ledge near the roof of the cave with Chris Gertson and Bruce Herschend. Jon dry-fitted the pieces to make sure there would be no unforeseen complications when they return. The repair will occur later in July.
Fitzpatrick Cave, Breakdown Cave July 7th	Jon Beard and Blake Stephens	After meeting with the landowners in a discussion about their property, Jon Beard and Blake Stephens and McKenzie of the MDC visited Fitzpatrick Cave, Breakdown Cave and all the other cave entrances to the cave system in documenting the site as an endangered species habitat. There are 10 cave entrances leading into eight segments of the system. One possibility discussed was the purchase of a conservation easement.
Lowell Cave and Little Smittle Cave July 9th	Charley Young	Charley Young took granddaughters Abby and Sarah to Lowell Cave and Little Smittle Cave (Wright Co). They explored the lower level of Lowell up to the watercrawl.
Carlsbad Cavern July 10th	Roy Gold, Jon Beard and Bob Taylor	After traveling to the Carlsbad area from Springfield the day before and spending the night at Brantley State Park, Roy Gold, Jon Beard and Bob Taylor spent six and one-half hours in Carlsbad Cavern (New Mexico) photographing many speleothems along the tour route (Entrance Passage and Main Room). This all day photographic self-(mis)guided tour was just the start of a mostly photographic trip to a number of Guadalupe-area caves as well as Texas’s Caverns of Sonora.
Sitting Bull Falls Cave and Cottonwood Cave July 11th	Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Bob Taylor	Jon, Roy and Bob photographed Sitting Bull Falls Cave and Cottonwood Cave in Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. Sitting Bull Falls Cave is a short but wet cave with growing speleothems and fairly deep pools. Unfortunately, it has been heavily vandalized, but luckily contains still beautiful areas showing unusual coloration. These areas kept the photographers happy for a couple of hours. Cottonwood Cave is in Guadalupe Ridge, and its spectacular Goliath stalagmite is one of the most photographed scenes in the area. After several tries Jon and Roy, with some assistance from Bob, took a very fine photo of that formation.
Slaughter Canyon Cave July 12th	Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Bob Taylor	Bob, Roy and Jon hiked up to the entrance to Slaughter Canyon Cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park as part of a guided tour group and took many photographs in the cave. Some of the subjects included world-renowned speleothems, such as the Klansman and the Christmas Tree, plus the rimstone known as the Great Wall of China. The tour guides suggested that the three come back off season so that they could have a more satisfying and less-congested photographic trip.
Caverns of Sonora July 13th	Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Bob Taylor	Roy, Jon and Bob photographed the Caverns of Sonora (Texas) as part of a small early morning tour group. Even though one “wing” of the famous Bufferfly formation is gone (and hopes are fading that it will be returned), Sonora is such a spectacularly beautiful commercial cave it is well worth a visit (even without the Butterfly and with the $20.00 per person tour fee). After an extended photographic tour thanks to a sympathetic tour guide and a willing group of other tour participants, the three began the long drive back to Springfield. In general, the word “awesome” was uttered many times over the four days of photographing some of the most beautiful caves anywhere. About 1,000 photographs were taken of the five caves visited during the trip.
Breakdown and Fitzpatrick Cave July 14th	Charley Rey	Charley Rey guided a scout troop in an educational field trip through Breakdown and Fitzpatrick Caves (Christian Co). Areas of Breakdown Cave visited included the main room and a few loop crawls. The pool in Fitzpatrick Cave that contained the Ozark cavefish noted in June is dry due to recent dry weather.
Fisher Cave July 16th	Jon and Alicia Beard	Jon and Alicia Beard assisted Brian Wilcox of Meramec State Park in an interview and restoration demo at Fisher Cave (Franklin Co) for KPLR, the Fox network affiliate of St. Louis for a feature article to be broadcast around August 1st.
Crighton Natural Bridge and Cave complex July 17th	Zach Copeland and Eric Hertzler	Zach Copeland and Eric Hertzler completed the low and wet stream terminus of the spring cave at the Crighton Natural Bridge and Cave complex (Greene Co). They finished despite difficult survey conditions with low air space over rushing water.
Lowell Cave July 18th	Jon Beard and Bob Taylor	Jon Beard assisted Bob Taylor in his continuing mapping effort in the convoluted upper level of Lowell Cave (Wright Co), beginning at the flowstone area reached on the last survey effort in April. It is equally difficult to traverse the upper level’s constrictions as well as find optimum places to climb up into it and climb back down. While at Lowell, they also removed some new painted graffiti and some trash from the stream passage. Bob estimates that it will take one or two more trips to finish the replacement of his 1971 draft of Lowell’s upper level with all new sketch. As well as surveying a few areas not done before, he is adding detail and vertical control to the new version of his map.
Taney County July 18th	Jerry Vineyard	Jerry Vineyard checked out an interesting karst situation in Taney County. The road to the new Branson airport cut through a sizable cave, and two large stalagmites are exposed in half of a truncated room, with other flowstone and broken speleothems littering the ditch.
Garrison Cave #2 July 20th	Jon Beard	Jon Beard checked on the level of the First Watercrawl and tested the siphon system at Garrison Cave #2 (Christian Co) for an upcoming survey trip. The water level was five inches below the ceiling, but the siphon system is ready to lower the water level when it’s time.
Talking Rocks Cavern July 21st	Alicia and Jon Beard, Bonnie Curnock, Ray Lambert and son Jeremy, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter, Maria Thompson, Jerry Vineyard, Max White, Charley Young	Alicia and Jon Beard, Bonnie Curnock, Ray Lambert and son Jeremy, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter, Maria Thompson, Jerry Vineyard, Max White, Charley Young and granddaughters Abby and Sarah were guests of Chris Gertson and the management of Talking Rocks Cavern (Stone Co). The main purpose of the trip was the 5-piece repair of two stalagmites 90 feet above the floor of the cave, conducted by Jon and Alicia. Some talked with Chris about the cave while others took many photos of this highly decorated cave.
Garrison Cave #2 July 23 &24th	Jon Beard	Jon Beard checked the water level of the First Watercrawl of Garrison Cave #2 (Christian Co), turning on the siphon system on Thursday and turning it off Friday once the level was lowered about four inches.
Garrison Cave #2 July 25th	Jon Beard	Little Rock Grotto members Jeff Bridgman and Kayla New joined Jon Beard in another mop-up survey trip to Garrison Cave #2 (Christian Co). On this trip, they added floor detail to the main passage and side passages R-2 and L-2. They also took some photographs of some of the cave’s unusual features such as abandoned rimstone dams that hang several feet above the floor as well as pedunculated coraloids. Several adult cave salamanders were found (one photographed) and eight bristly cave crayfish were counted. They saw one bat in this area, a mild surprise considering the only access known is through the near sump of the First Watercrawl. In addition, they saw one big brown bat in the entrance passage.
Jewel Cave, Wind Cave July 27th	Brian Goeppner	While visiting South Dakota, Brian Goeppner and family took the Scenic Tour in Jewel Cave, then enjoyed Wind Cave’s Fairgrounds Tour. Brian remarks, “Wonderful caves!”