Ash Cave September 1st |
Bob Taylor and Roy Gold |
Bob Taylor and Roy Gold visited Barry County’s Ash Cave a cave that Bob had mapped and is now drawing up. Bob had some geological questions he needed answered to satisfactorily complete the map. During the visit, they were especially upset at the copious spray paint and the hundreds of burned out candles left along Ash Cave’s main corridor. Prospects for a clean up are not good as such would be an overwhelming task and vandals could redo their dirty work in a visit or two. Afterwards, Roy and Bob located Onyx Cave, but didn’t attempt to enter as it was getting late in the day and they found two of its three entrances gated. Roy also took advantage of the visit to get GPS locations on Ash Cave, Ash Cave Annex and two of the three entrances of Onyx Cave. |
Bat Cave, Junction Cave, Cricket Hole Cave September 2nd |
Alicia and Jon Beard |
Alicia and Jon Beard visited Ritter Springs Park in Greene County and checked the entrance gate to Bat Cave (aka Ritter Cave). Someone has dug a hole under the gate, so this will need to be fixed soon. Junction Cave was also checked. Trash was removed from this cave and graffiti noted. On the way back to their car, they stumbled upon an undocumented cave tentatively named Cricket Hole, a 40-foot cave with walking passage and lots of namesake crickets. |
Cricket Hole Cave September 3rd |
Jon Beard and Bob Taylor |
Jon Beard assisted Bob Taylor in the survey of the aforementioned Cricket Hole in Greene County. While Bob sketched, Jon took several photos of the cave crickets. Also noted was a slug, a pickerel frog and a few very minor vandalized speleothems. The cave is dry and is developed in the Burlington limestone. Bob assured Jon that Cricket is not the elusive ‘Possum Pit Cave (Copperhead Pit #2) that Bob and others ran across in the early 1970s and have never been able to relocate. Cricket is in the wrong area of the Park and its entrance is quite different from that of Possum. |
| Garrison Cave #2 September 8th |
Jon Beard and Eric Hertzler | Jon Beard and Eric Hertzler attacked an uncooperative siphon system at Garrison Cave #2 in Christian County. The siphon system was installed several years ago to lower the level of the First Watercrawl upon demand to give access to cave mappers. However, the siphon lost its prime and efforts during the summer of 2007 were unsuccessful. After 6 hours of filling the 300-foot siphon line with water, they finally were able to prime the siphon. A mapping trip will be scheduled in the fall season. Afterwards, Jon and Eric visited the resurgence, Garrison Spring, which was overflowing due to recent prolonged rains. |
| Round Spring Caverns September 8th |
Dr. Gouzie | Dr. Gouzie took his speleology class to Round Spring Caverns in Shannon County. Bob Osburn led the class through the cave. |
| Lowell Cave, Garrison Cave #2, Gush Hole Cave September 9th |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Bob Taylor | Jon Beard and Roy Gold assisted Bob Taylor in his continuing survey of Lowell Cave in Wright County. On this trip, Bob sketched more of the amazing complexity of the main passage and its ceiling channels. Roy and Jon also did some photography and graffiti removal in the cave. Afterwards, the trio visited the entrance area of Garrison Cave #2 in Christian County to check the progress of the siphon system. Lastly, the group checked a rock-walled sink near flooded Gush Hole Cave in Christian County. No entrance was visible, but there is a potential dig. |
| Garrison Cave #2 September 10th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard rechecked the siphon system in Garrison Cave #2, but left it running as the water level wasn’t low enough yet. |
| Giboney Cave September 11th |
Dr. Gouzie | Dr. Gouzie took his Speleology class to Giboney Cave of Greene County. |
| Garrison Cave #2 September 10th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard checked the siphon system in Christian County’s Garrison Cave #2 and shut it off after it had reached a level of 10 inches. |
| Breakdown Cave September 13th |
Charley Rey | Charley Rey took his 30 Earth Science Honors students, who are also MSU students through dual enrollment, to Breakdown Cave for a geological, biological, environmental and meteorological introductory trip. He introduced them to all these topics through a series of lab questions that they were to answer as they explored the cave. All did the typical loop with an additional squeeze through Hell's Gate for any who wanted to experience it. Only one 6’2, 300 lb student had a problem getting through the squeeze, but made it through with some help. The students were very careful and sensitive to the cave after Charley’s talk to them prior to entering, a relief to him, as thirty students could have a big impact on the cave. The cave looked great and there were no signs of the fumes that had haunted the cave earlier. The students had a very educational and fun experience. |
Heusel Cave, |
Duncan Gold, Doug Richardson and Roy Gold | Duncan Gold, Doug Richardson and Roy Gold went to Taney County’s Heusel Cave for photography. While there Roy re-checked its and nearby Zoo Cave location with the GPS. |
| Onyx Cave September 15th |
Jon Beard and Max White | Jon Beard and Max White from SPG, Gary Johnson from KCAG, Lorin O’Daniell and Steve Potter from PEG, Tandi Edelman from MSM and several others began the process of building stepping stones at key crossings of the cave stream in the main passage of Onyx Cave in Pulaski County. This involved taking blocks of rock from near the old onyx shaft and placing them a few hundred feet away in the stream. The purpose of the stepping stones is to make attractive crossings so that visitors will stop making quagmire crossings. Later, some graffiti was removed from deeper in the cave as well as the first section of passage in the right hand passage. |
| Smittle Cave September 15th |
Charley, Sarah and Jeff Young, Roy and Duncan Gold, Doug Richardson, Tim Course, and Kevin Hilton | Charley, Sarah and Jeff Young, Roy and Duncan Gold, Doug Richardson, Tim Course, and Kevin Hilton visited Wright County’s Smittle Cave. They explored the Formation Passage, the Meander Canyon, and a couple of small crawls not on the cave map. |
| Anderson Cave September 17th |
Lawrence Ireland and Roy Gold |
Lawrence Ireland and Roy Gold started the survey of Anderson Cave in Christian County. They did this so the owners of Stoneybrooke Development could avoid the cave while developing the land above it. |
| Breakdown Cave September 18th |
Jon Beard | Jon Beard led a "pre-trip" for high school teachers into Breakdown Cave of Christian County. The purpose of the trip was to rehearse a guided educational trip for four groups of students who will be visiting the cave in October of this year and March of 2008. The main room of the cave was visited as Jon covered topics that will be covered in future trips. |
| Smittle Cave September 18th |
Charley and Jeff Young, Max White |
Charley and Jeff Young, joined Max White in Wright County’s Smittle Cave. While there, they checked the Canyon Passage, the Hall of Dead Bats, the Dome Room and the Waterfall Room. |
| Tumbling Creek Cave September 21st |
Ron Oesch, Eric Hertzler, and Lisa Goyette | Ron Oesch, Eric Hertzler, and Lisa Goyette visited Tumbling Creek Cave in Taney County to search for Physa gyrina snails. Eric and Lisa plan to conduct an in-cave experiment on captive snails in order to develop methodologies for future work with Antrobia culveri (Tumbling Creek Cavesnail). Ron was there to answer questions and provide his expertise on aquatic snails. The trio found many snails in large pools, along with substantial amounts of guano. The project will begin next month. |
| Watkins Cave September 22nd |
Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Bill Heim, Bonnie Heim, Kasi Johnson, Melvin Johnson, Gabe Rodgers, Jack Rosenkoetter, Zach Copeland and Charley Young | Jon Beard, Roy Gold, Bill Heim, Bonnie Heim, Kasi Johnson, Melvin Johnson, Gabe Rodgers, Jack Rosenkoetter, Zach Copeland and Charley Young plus Eddie Simmons and Ashley Smith of OHG participated in the Great Outdoors Day at the Bois D’Arc Conservation Area in Greene County sponsored by several agencies and organizations including the MDC. SPG members led about 100 people through Watkins Cave on educational tours during the day. |
| Tumbling Creek Cave September 22nd |
Tom Aley and Dr.Doug Gouzie |
Tom Aley led Doug Gouzie’s MSU speleology class on an educational field trip in Tumbling Creek Cave in Taney County. |
| Busiek Cave, Busiek Spring Cave September 22nd |
Charity Gramm and Eric Hertzler |
Charity Gramm and Eric Hertzler surveyed Busiek Cave (Christian County), a short cave. They then began mapping Busiek Spring Cave nearby, but will need additional trip(s) to complete it. |
| Gardenias Cave September 23rd |
Eric Hertzler, Jon Beard and Ben McCall |
Eric Hertzler was assisted by Jon Beard and Ben McCall in the continuing survey of Gardenias Cave in Greene County. This is a 700-foot cave that involves pristine speleothems and watercrawls. At least one more trip will be needed to complete the survey. Jon also took several photographs of the passageways and speleothems including a few impressive rimstone dams. |
| Fisher Cave September 28th |
Alicia and Jon Beard | Alicia and Jon Beard spent the day in Fisher Cave (Franklin County) continuing the photo-cataloguing of broken speleothems including an additional 68 photos of stalagmite stumps on the Ballroom floor and 73 additional photos of broken pieces that have been collected and cleaned during past episodes of the restoration project. CDs of the photos will be sent to volunteers, who, during the winter, will play the "Match Game" on their computers—to find as many matching pieces as possible. Matches "found" will be rejoined with epoxy in 2008 trips to the cave. |
| Crystal Caverns September 29th |
Jack Rosenkoetter,Roy Gold, Gabe Rodgers, Kasi Johnson, Charley Young, Kristin and Charley Henson, and Tom Morton | Jack Rosenkoetter led Roy Gold, Gabe Rodgers, Kasi Johnson, Charley Young, Kristin and Charley Henson, and Tom Morton for a look-around and photography trip to Barry County’s Crystal Caverns. |
| Busiek Spring Cave September 30th |
Eric Hertzler, Jon Beard
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Eric Hertzler was assisted by Jon Beard in a push of a low watercrawl in Busiek Spring Cave in Christian County. After slabs of Compton limestone were relocated, Jon and then Eric crawled through ponded water to a place where they could beach themselves. The passage continues as a vertical slot, but too narrow for humans. They also checked a left hand (dry) lead that also didn’t go. |