| Fisher Cave October 3rd & 4th |
Jon Beard, Bonnie Curnock, Eric and Charity Hertzler, Max White, Abby, Charley and Sarah Young | Jon Beard, Bonnie Curnock, Eric and Charity Hertzler, Max White, Abby, Charley and Sarah Young were joined by Cyle Riggs of KCAG, Aaron, Ed and Kathy Kriska of MMV, Jarod and Robert Ozee, Acadia and Sue Golay in the continuing restoration of Fisher Cave (Franklin Co). Twelve additional stalagmites were reattached on this trip, including a 400-pounder. The current count of reattached speleothems stands at 181. The group also conducted some flowstone cleaning, which involved the removal of excess trail gravel. On Saturday night after supper, a few took photos of the Jane Fisher Room. In the afternoon, Eric and Cyle completed the survey of Panther Cave (Franklin Co), a cave Eric began surveying a few years ago. |
| Hall Branch Cave October 3rd |
Roy Gold, Jack Rosenkoetter and Bob Taylor | Roy Gold and Jack Rosenkoetter assisted Bob Taylor on a survey trip to Hall Branch Cave (Greene Co). Bob completed the sketch of some back-annoying sections (a number of low crawls and stooping areas) of the complicated cave north of the entrance. |
| Graham Cave October 4th |
Charity and Eric Hertzler | Charity and Eric Hertzler visited Graham Cave in its state park (Montgomery Co), then traveled to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park in Boone County to see the Rock Bridge and entrances to Connors Cave and Devils Ice Box. |
| Ozark Caverns October 5th |
Charity and Eric Hertzler | Charity and Eric Hertzler paid a visit to Ozark Caverns (Camden Co), a show cave in a state park. While there they discussed a possible replacement gate for the cave, taking measurements to help determine potential steel needed. |
| Cliff Cave October 5th-14th |
Jon Beard | The 6th National Cave Gating workshop was hosted by St. Louis County Parks. Participants helped gate Cliff Cave's two entrances, and a number of them took numerous classroom sessions. Participating instructors, students and volunteers included, but was not limited to: Jon Beard, Chuck Bitting, Chris Clark, Jim Cooley, Bill Elliott, Tony Elliot, Jerry Fant, Jim Kennedy, Klaus Leidenfrost, Alicia Lewis, Bree McMurray, Jeremy Micallef, Joe Nicolussi, Roy Powers, Sara and Steve Samoray, Erin Shank, Derek Shields, Pic Walenta, Joe Williams, and Shawn Williams. The cave was gated for several reasons; it is a seasonal habitat for Indiana bats, has been subjected to much vandalism, and was the site of tragic drownings in 1993. |
| Riverbluff Cave October 6th |
Doug Gouzie | Doug Gouzie and his speleology class participated in a field trip to Riverbluff Cave (Greene Co), a 1500-foot long cave owned by the county. |
| Blanchard Springs Caverns October 7th |
Judy and Roy Gold | Judy and Roy Gold visited Blanchard Springs Caverns (Stone Co, AR), and took the opportunity to give the staff a few copies of Caring for Your Karst. |
| Rockhouse Cave October 8th |
Judy and Roy Gold | Judy and Roy Gold visited Rockhouse Cave at Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas, a rock shelter known for its petroglyphs. |
| Hall Branch Cave October 11th |
Roy Gold, Bob Taylor and Charley Young | Roy Gold, Bob Taylor and Charley Young continued the survey of Hall Branch Cave (Greene Co). The survey involved some low and twisting crawls leading toward a highly decorated passage. After helping set up a number of stations and tape lines for Bob to sketch from, Roy and Charley departed to taller areas to do some photography. |
| October 16th | Roy Gold and Kevin Helton | Roy Gold and Kevin Helton met with a northeast Greene County landowner who thought he might own a cave. Roy and Kevin checked this out and found an interesting diggable sink that might possibly be a cave. The owner treated them to a free meal for their efforts. |
| Breakdown Cave, Fitzpatrick Cave, Garrison Cave October 17th |
Jon Beard and Roy Gold | Jon Beard and Roy Gold guided a group of high school students from Girard (KS) High School on an educational field trip through the Main Room, North Loop and Handshake Hall of Breakdown Cave (Christian Co). The trip was limited to these areas because of high water levels after 11 inches of rain over the past two weeks. After this Jon and Roy checked out the creatures in nearby Fitzpatrick Cave. Very recent guano deposits below a ceiling stain indicates a group of perhaps 50 colonial bats occupied the cave during the late summer or early fall. Photos were taken of cave and slimy salamanders and a bunch of frogs. After this Jon visited the entrance area of Garrison Cave #2 (also in Christian Co) in preparation for next week's survey trip. The water level of the First Watercrawl was high, so the Leo Thompson siphon system was turned on to lower it. While there, Jon saw one bristly cave crayfish, one cave salamander and some hibernating tricolored bats. |
| Garrison Cave October 18th, 19th, 20th, 23rd |
Jon Beard and Roy Gold | Additional trips were taken by Jon Beard and Roy Gold to Garrison Cave #2 to monitor the water level and operate the siphon system during one of the rainiest Octobers in years. They checked for cave salamanders, crayfish and bats in the entrance passage. |
| Garrison Cave October 24th |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Jason Hardinger, Kevin Helton, Eric Hertzler, Lawrence Ireland and Max White |
Jon Beard, Zach Copeland, Jason Hardinger, Kevin Helton, Eric Hertzler, Lawrence Ireland and Max White, along with Marissa Berger, Jim Cooley, D.J. Hall, Kayla New and Shawn Williams completed the survey of Garrison Cave #2 (Christian Co). Three survey teams made some additional minor surveys and added floor detail while a photographic team documented waterfalls, biota and speleothems. The survey, begun in September 1996, amassed 4.744 miles of surveyed passage. One tricolored bat was seen far into the cave as well as a number of cave salamanders, isopods, springtails and 12 bristly cave crayfish. Future trips are planned to conduct a comprehensive bio inventory as well as continued photodocumentation of the cave's many features. |
| Hall Branch Cave October 25th |
Charley Young, Roy Gold, Bob Taylor and Jon Beard | Charley Young, Roy Gold, Bob Taylor and Jon Beard surveyed into the northern walking passage in Hall Branch Cave (Greene Co). While Bob continued to sketch the intricate passage detail, Roy and Charley spent their time photographing the passage's speleothems. Later, just prior to exiting the cave Jon and Charley went to the part of the cave south of the entrance in search of pseudoscorpions. They found one capturing a gnat, which had made the fatal mistake of landing next to the pseudoscorpion. The latter then began dragging the gnat in a sidestepping fashion towards a presumed dining area. The pseudoscorpion seemed pleased with its catch. Jon and Charley were also very happy with their photos of the event. Presumably, the gnat had a different opinion. |