| Mammoth Cave October 29th- November 2nd |
Eric and Charity Hertzler | Eric and Charity Hertzler visited Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave area. They took the Grand Avenue tour at Mammoth Cave, and while at the park, hiked to Floyd Collins Crystal Cave and Dixon Cave. Other caves that they visited in the area included Outlaw Cave, Hidden River Cave, Lost River Cave, and Crystal Onyx Cave. After leaving Kentucky, they stopped at Powder Mill during November 3rd and 4th to assist in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways restoration project. On the way back home on Sunday the 4th they visited Alley Spring near Eminence. |
| Bunker Hill Cave November 3rd |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Eric and Charity Hertzler, Max White and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Eric and Charity Hertzler, Max White and Charley Young were joined by CRF president Scott House in minor graffiti removal in Bunker Hill Cave (Shannon County). On the way to the cave, a small cave was found, but no name was given as yet. Afterwards, the group hiked to nearby Meeting House Cave where a 15 x 10 x 6-foot pothole was refilled using a jute mat to mark the extent of the pothole. Nearby Middle and Lower Meeting House caves were visited as well as a "new cave" that was named and GPSed—45-foot Echo Cave. |
| Turnback Cave November 3rd |
Bill Heim and Ashley Smith | Bill Heim and Ashley Smith were among a group that worked on a gate at Turnback Cave (Lawrence County) and conducted a bio inventory. |
| Bluff Cave, Bear Cave November 4th |
Jon Beard and Roy Gold | Jon Beard and Roy Gold rejoined a 4-foot by 1-inch column and a 3-inch stalactite in Bluff Cave in Shannon County. They then visited Bear Cave of Texas County to evaluate restoration needs there, finding four large potholes near the entrance and some lumber. These will be attended to in a future visit. Biota seen included one gray bat, one grotto salamander and three cave salamanders. |
| Garrison Cave #2 November 9th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard checked the water levels and siphon system at Garrison Cave #2 in Christian County. All was good for the next day’s survey trip. |
| GarrisonCave #2 November 10th |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Eric Hertzler and Lawrence Ireland |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Eric Hertzler and Lawrence Ireland did some mapping in Garrison Cave #2. Lawrence was assisted by Zach in the mapping of a short crawlway off of the Holy Moly Crawl, netting 27.1 feet. Eric and Jon spent a couple of hours digging in a lead off of the Rimstone Puzzle until they encountered a bedrock floor, effectively ending the dig. Although a thin caver could go further, they mapped what they could reach—17.8 feet with about 10 feet to go before intersecting a babbling stream passage. The net total for the day was 44.9 feet, raising the mapped length of Garrison to 24,420.3 feet (4.625 miles). Cave-adapted species observed: two bristly cave crayfish, a dipluran, isopods, a millipede and springtails. Others noted: Two adult cave salamanders. |
| Lowell Cave November 11th |
Roy Gold and Bob Taylor | Roy Gold assisted Bob Taylor in the continuing survey of Lowell Cave in Wright County. The trip accomplished a linking together of a floating section of passage survey to the main passage. |
| Breakdown Cave November 13th |
Jon Beard and Dr. Doug Gouzie |
Jon Beard was guest lecturer to Dr. Doug Gouzie’s MSU speleology class in Breakdown Cave (Christian County). Also present were Kasi Johnson and Gabe Rodgers who assisted in the guided educational trip. |
| SPG Business Meeting November 14th |
At the November SPG business meeting at the Springfield Library Station, Jerry Vineyard, representing the L-A-D Foundation, presented a $5,000 grant check to SPG to fund a soon-to-be-published "Caring for your Karst" booklet to assist cave and karst landowners in the management of their resources. SPG will be seeking additional funding and help in distributing the booklet from other organizations and agencies throughout the Ozarks. | |
| Calhoun Cave November 16th |
Bob Harvey | Bob Harvey visited Calhoun Cave in Wright County, a short 5-minute cave trip. He didn't know the name of the cave, but provided a good description of the cave and an approximate location. When Jon Beard checked the database and Bob Taylor’s 1969 map, all was consistent with Calhoun. |
| Tumbling Creek Cave November 17th |
Charity and Eric Hertzler, Jon Beard, Dr. Dave Ashley and Dr. Bill Elliott | Charity and Eric Hertzler and Jon Beard assisted Dr. Dave Ashley (MWSU) and Dr. Bill Elliott (MDC) in a stream transect inventory of fauna in Tumbling Creek Cave (Taney County). Also there to assist were Doug Foster of the MDC, and Lisa Goyette. Fauna included a few grotto salamanders, several dozens of Physa snails, amphipods and isopods, mayfly larva and the Tumbling Creek cavesnail. |
| Smallin Cave, Sonrise Cave November 18th |
Jon Beard, Tyler Bruton, Zach Copeland, Roy Gold, Kasi Johnson, Gabe Rodgers, Jack Rosenkoetter, Bob Taylor, Max White and Dr. Dave Ashley | Jon Beard, Tyler Bruton, Zach Copeland, Roy Gold, Kasi Johnson, Gabe Rodgers, Jack Rosenkoetter, Bob Taylor and Max White visited Smallin Cave (Christian County to assist Dr. Dave Ashley with a bristly cave crayfish study. Roy Gold helped Bob Taylor in some supplemental surface surveying near the Smallin entrance as well as checking one place along the old commercial trail where the sketch and the survey line orientation didn’t match—the survey line won out and the sketch was adapted to it rather than the other way around. Roy and Max took photos of the cave and crayfish. Kasi tested the water for several criteria with the new Hanna portable water testing lab recently acquired by SPG and also recorded data on air temps, air speed and humidity. Also counted were several stygobitic isopods and pickerel frogs. Before returning to the cars, the group looked into nearby Sonrise Cave and found more than a dozen large grotto salamanders and a bristly cave crayfish in the small pool 80 feet into the cave. |
| Mountain Dale Spring Cave, Watterson Cave November 20th |
Roy Gold and Charley Young | Roy Gold and Charley Young explored Mountain Dale Spring Cave in Webster County, a low spring cave that had previously had high water levels preventing entry. The cave is penetrable for about 100 feet, averaging 10 feet wide, mostly crawlway. The cave contained some pendants, a little flowstone. One brown epigean crayfish was found. Following this, they checked the gate on Wright County’s Watterson Cave. The gate was in good order without any evidence of vandalism. |
| Island Cave November 24th |
Gabe Rodgers and Kasi Johnson |
Gabe Rodgers and Kasi Johnson visited Ha Ha Tonka State Park for the purpose of taking water samples from a couple of caves that Eric had told them about. Unfortunately, they were unable to find either cave, but hiked around seeing the natural bridge and entrance to Island Cave. |
| Ozark Heights Pit Cave #1 November 27th |
Zach Copeland and Bill Copeland |
Zach Copeland and his dad Bill surveyed a cave by Bill’s house in Christian County. This cave, called Ozark Heights Pit Cave #1, turned out to be a 170-foot long, mostly all small canyon passage. Raccoon scat was everywhere but there were some nice white formations in the back of the cave. |