| Lowell Cave March 1st |
Jon Beard and Roy Gold and Bob Taylor | Jon Beard and Roy Gold assisted Bob Taylor in the continuing survey of Lowell Cave (Wright Co), a lengthy cave owned by the MDC. Today’s effort continued the extensive and very interesting upper level of the cave, a twisting meandering old stream course that is like a whole different cave than the lower level. After the mapping was done for the day, the three did some photography of delicate speleothems and cave critters before calling it a day. |
| Billies Creek Cave March 7th |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Eric Hertzler, Melvin Johnson, Charley Rey and Jerry Vineyard | Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Eric Hertzler, Melvin Johnson, Charley Rey and Jerry Vineyard of SPG, Laurel and Gabe Dunn, Brent Gerling, Jan-Michael Gerling, Dan Myatt, Lorin O’Daniell, Steve and Kathleen Potter of PEG, Blake Stephens of the MDC, owner Mary Turton and friend spent five hours collecting three trailer loads of trash remaining in a sinkhole in Lawrence County she acquired some years ago. The sink lies within the recharge zone of Billies Creek Cave, a known cavefish habitat. Mary was very grateful for the help in cleaning out this 10-foot deep, 40-foot diameter upland sink. Afterwards, Mary and friend accompanied cavers to nearby Faye Valley (a.k.a. Harrison) Cave where two juvenile Ozark cavefish were found. The look of awe by the sink owner upon seeing cavefish was memorable. After this, the group visited nearby Predator (a.k.a. Charlton) Cave, then adjacent Billies Creek Cave, which had epigean crayfish and banded sculpin, but no cavefish. After everyone exited the cave, Laurel and Gabe checked a recently developed 15-foot deep 6 pit entrance which immediately pinched down. It is undoubtedly associated with the Billies Creek/Charlton System, which are themselves hydrologically connected. |
| Lowell Cave March 8th |
Jon Beard and Bob Taylor | Jon Beard helped Bob Taylor in the continuing survey of the upper meander levels of Lowell Cave (Wright Co). Afterwards, the two did some lower level photography of speleothems including septarian flowstone, a feature described by Hal Baker in a few Laclede County caves in the MCKC Digest (Fall 2000,Vol. 7, No. 4, pgs 49-51). |
| Math Branch Cave March 13th |
Roy Gold and Jon Beard | Roy Gold assisted Jon Beard in the continuing survey of Math Branch Cave (Christian Co). This 1,000-foot cave developed in the Cotter Formation is floored in bedrock almost its entire length and is noted for its grotto salamanders. Only one adult was seen this trip, along with an adult cave salamander, but hundreds of cave crickets were seen throughout the visited portion of the cave. Roy and Jon also spent some time with macro photography on this trip. |
| Onyx Cave March 14th |
Jon Beard, BJ Gray, Bill and Bonnie Heim, Lisa Medlock, Steve Medlock, Nancy Nycom, Jack Rosenkoetter, |
Jon Beard, BJ Gray, Bill and Bonnie Heim, Lisa Medlock, Steve Medlock, Nancy Nycom, Jack Rosenkoetter, Maria Thompson and Max White of SPG as well as several MVG and MMV cavers attended an archaeology workshop conducted by Craig Williams, an archaeologist with MVG, at the Onyx Cave site in Pulaski County. A slide presentation on prehistoric artifacts and rock art started the workshop, followed by lunch, then an informal trip to the entrance chamber of Onyx Cave to discuss how the cave was utilized by prehistoric people. After this, a group visited the main passage of the cave to discuss the use of the cave as an onyx quarry operation in 1892, followed by a trip to the end of the cave to show the use of the cave as a major gray bat roost at one time. |
| Slaughter Sink March 15th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard visited Slaughter Sink (Phelps Co), photographing the Slaughter Sink Tunnel and the various cliff faces and small shelters within this quarter-mile wide, 200-foot deep collapse structure that is said to contribute water to Boiling Spring in the Gasconade River. Besides direct rainfall and water cascading down the sides of the sink, the pond in the sink is fed apparently by wet weather springs as evidenced by rock strewn gullies emanating from locations issuing upwelling water. |
| Breakdown Cave, Fitzpatrick Cave March 15th |
BJ Gray, Rob Holland |
BJ Gray, Rob Holland and Lisa Medlock took three friends into Breakdown Cave (Christian Co), visiting the Fourth Level, Lower Level Maze Loop and Hell’s Gate as well as nearby Fitzpatrick Cave, including its rarely visited Upper Level. |
| Little Smittle Cave, Smittle Cave March 21st |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Charley Young and Jack Rosenkoetter |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold and Charley Young met Dr. Bill Elliott at the Fuson Conservation Area for some graffiti removal in Little Smittle Cave (Wright Co). The white spray paint had been applied to an area festooned with delicate cave coral and septarian flowstone, making it impossible to clean with brushes. The SP2 backpack pressure sprayer was used with tarps and sponges below to catch the spent water and paint chips. The sprayer was able to remove about 90% of the paint without harming the coral. Afterwards, Bill checked the condition of the gate of nearby Smittle Cave and the other three did some photography near the back end of Little Smittle Cave. Jack Rosenkoetter arrived and talked with Bill before Bill left for home, but in time to join Jon and Roy for a late lunch at Grovesprings. |
| Breakdown Cave March 21st |
Zach Copeland and Charity Hertzler |
Zach Copeland and Charity Hertzler led a group of scouts and a few others through Breakdown Cave (Christian Co.) including some of its looping crawlways as part of SPG’s public outreach education program. |
| Cox Cave March 22nd |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland and Brian Goeppner | Jon Beard was assisted by Zach Copeland and Brian Goeppner in the survey of 311-foot newly documented Cox Cave (Lawrence Co). The cave has a small vertical entrance squeeze then becomes a narrow crawlway into the main entrance passage. This passage averages about four feet high and 15 feet wide and ends in about 60 feet. To the left is a short bellycrawl to a north trending wide easy crawl that ends in collapse fill. To the right is a twisting narrow squeeze barely 10 inches wide and two feet tall that leads to the majority of cave, which is wide, stoopway and walking passage to a narrow passage too low to continue to the south. Biota noted were several pipistrelles and cave crickets, but there is evidence the cave has been used by raccoons and/or coyotes. |
| Hall Branch Cave, Mousetrap Cave March 23rd |
Jon Beard and Bob Taylor | Jon Beard assisted Bob Taylor in the beginning of the survey of Hall Branch Cave (Greene Co) and some photography of the cave’s speleothems. This is a very mazy dry cave with hundreds of feet of interconnected passages. Several pipistrelles and cave crickets were noted. Nearby Mousetrap Cave was also mapped to completion. This is a 60- foot crawlway that quickly becomes too low. It is near enough to the main cave that it may have once served as its lower level drain. Bob did GPS readings which corrected the location of Mousetrap by a few hundred meters. |
| Watterson Cave and Fry Creek (Hicks) Cave March 27th |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Jack Rosenkoetter, Leo Thompson and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Jack Rosenkoetter, Leo Thompson and Charley Young led six Colorado Grotto cavers to Watterson Cave and Fry Creek (Hicks) Cave (Wright Co) as part of an annual Colorado cavers’ trek to southwest Missouri. The group visited the upper level of 2,000-foot Watterson Cave before seeing all of the main passage of 6,895-foot Fry Creek Cave. Watterson Cave is formed in the Cotter Dolomite. Fry Creek Cave is developed in the Compton Limestone, but several domes reach into the Northview Shale. |
| Fitzpatrick, Breakdown and Glenn Caves March 28th |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Leo Thompson and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Leo Thompson and Charley Young led the Colorado cavers through Fitzpatrick, Breakdown and Glenn Caves (Christian Co). The heavy persistent rains of the past two days caught up with the caves—Breakdown Cave’s Hell’s Gate was ponded, so the group chose not to go through this constriction, and Glenn Cave, which normally has 12 inches of standing water in the entrance passage was waist deep in flowing water. Also, throughout the joint-determined cave, water was showering from the joints, making the going in dry passages as wet to the cavers as the entrance passage. |