| Fitton Cave November 1st |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Jack Rosenkoetter, Charley Young and Victor Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Jack Rosenkoetter, Charley Young and Victor Young spent the day photographing in Fitton Cave (Newton Co, AR). Areas visited included the Entrance Room, Missile Silo, West Room, Mystery Room, T Junction and East Passage to the Needle’s Eye. Biota noted were pipistrelles, cave millipedes, diplurans. |
| Junction Cave November 1st |
A local boy scout troop utilized helmet-mounted lights and brushes loaned by Springfield Plateau Grotto to remove spray paint graffiti in Junction Cave (Greene Co), a cave heavily visited by city park visitors each year. |
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| Smallin Cave November 2nd |
Dr. David Ashley, Jon Beard, Charity and Eric Hertzler |
Dr. David Ashley and three of his students were assisted by Jon Beard, Charity and Eric Hertzler and cave caretaker Kevin Bright in counting and measuring bristly cave crayfish in Smallin Cave (Christian Co). Also present were the water testing team of Gabe and Kasi Rodgers who tested the quality of the cave stream using a portable laboratory. Other biota noted were cave, dark-sided and grotto salamanders, pickerel frogs, chub (small fish), a ringed crayfish, a few pipistrelles, aquatic isopods. Nearby Sonrise Cave was also checked for biota: grotto, dark-sided and cave salamanders, pickerel frogs, two bull frogs, pipistrelles, house centipedes. |
| Cellar Door Cave November 4th |
Roy Gold and Charley Young | Roy Gold and Charley Young checked on a cave lead in Barry County. Although they didn’t find a cave on the property they were searching, they did learn of another cave that was named Cellar Door Cave. It was entered through a door at ground level and descended concrete steps for 15 feet to 20 feet of low walking passage to a 10- foot crawlway that pinched out. A small stream entered the cave at the base of the steps and exited the far end through an impassible hole. |
| Breakdown Cave November 8th |
Jon Beard and Charley Rey | Jon Beard and Charley Rey led a group of Kickapoo High School students on an educational trip through parts of Breakdown Cave (Christian Co) including the Main Room, North Loop, Lower Level Maze Loop and the Southeast Passage speaking of the natural history of the cave as evidenced by its features and other content. |
| Jacobs Cave November 9th |
Ben McCall | Ben McCall and a friend visited Jacobs Cave (Morgan Co). Among other things, they noticed plants attempting to sprout from seeds that had washed into the cave during spring floods. |
| Fantastic Caverns November 12th |
SPG held its annual business meeting in Fantastic Caverns (Greene Co) with members and guests totaling 43. After an abbreviated hour-long meeting, everyone posed for a group photo, then strolled through the tour section of the cave, some taking several photos of speleothems. |
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| Lowell Cave November 14th |
Zach Copeland and Brian Goeppner |
Zach Copeland and Brian Goeppner spent the day in Lowell Cave (Wright Co) exploring the confusing upper level meander maze before partially exploring the watercrawl upstream. |
| Breakdown Cave November 15th |
Jon Beard and Zach Copeland | Jon Beard and Zach Copeland led an Evangel University outing club through the Main Room, North Loop, Lower Level Maze Loop and Southeast Passage of Breakdown Cave (Christian Co). |
| Breakdown Cave, Fitzpatrick Cave November 18th |
Jon Beard and Dr. Doug Gouzie | Jon Beard lectured Dr. Doug Gouzie’s MSU speleology class in Breakdown Cave (Christian Co). Subjects discussed included the causes and effects of breakdown in passage enlargement, causes of clastic fill, favorable horizons in bedrock for cave development as well as the use of the cave as a restoration laboratory. The group also saw much of nearby Fitzpatrick Cave as an example of a cave with very little evidence of breakdown. |
| River Cave November 20th |
Brian Goeppner and Eric Hertzler |
Brian Goeppner and Eric Hertzler joined Christen Easter of LOG and park staff in the beginning of the process of installing a new cave gate for River Cave in Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Camden County. The spring storms of 2008 damaged the old stone gate necessitating a replacement gate to protect endangered Indiana bats. |
| River Cave November 22nd |
Eric Hertzler | Eric Hertzler assisted in the effort to remove more of the sandstone and mortar wall at the upper entrance to River Cave (Camden Co) in the project to install a new gate. |
Willis, Mud, |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter, Bob Taylor and Charley Young |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Lloyd Morrison, Jack Rosenkoetter, Bob Taylor and Charley Young, plus Jim Huckins of Chouteau Grotto, traveled to Newton County, Arkansas to photograph Willis, Mud, Friday the 13th, Walnut and Hutchinson Waterfall Caves. |
| Jones Cave November 29th |
Jon Beard and Eric Hertzler | Jon Beard assisted Eric Hertzler in the beginning of the survey of Archie Jones Cave (Camden Co). A few pipistrelles, cave crickets and several epigean amphipods were noted. The beds of Gasconade Dolomite appear to have a dip of about 12 degrees. After a good beginning (approximately 100 feet), they turned their attention to Rattlesnake Cave (Camden Co), a survey Eric began in 2007. This is a ~1,000-foot cave with zero speleothems and considerable mud. The survey was extended through a very large room that is part of the cave ponded earlier this year. One grotto salamander was seen as well as several dozen pipistrelles. |
| Fosters Cave November 30th |
Jon Beard and Eric Hertzler | Eric Hertzler was joined by Jon Beard in the survey of Fosters Cave (Camden Co), a recently recorded cave with a small entrance leading to a 100-foot cave that initially appears to be formed from an old surface stream meander with subsequent frost wedged breakdown, etc. Despite the relative small size of the cave, it did offer shelter from the snowy conditions outside. One pipistrelle bat, several cave crickets, heliomyzid flies, fungus gnats and a couple of snails were noted in the low, wide cave. |