Caving in Camp Wood - Karst Information Portal

The Editor SpeaksI've realized, after thumbingthrough past issues of thecaver in order to acquaint·myself with the task at hand,that I may have the dubioushonor of being the least experiencedcaver to ever assumethe editorship. I hope, however,that this is something I cantum to our mutual advantageas cavers. I've had time toponder the types of informationnew cavers may seek thatI have found lacking in our publications, and hope to use mypost to ferret out articles on subjects that you more experiencedcavers may take for granted; things like where theaccesible caves are and how to get into them. Who runs whatin the organization and how to find them. Karst geology:what is it? What makes caves and caving tick? I believe thatat times the Caver has focused a bit too much on the peoplewho cave and not enough on the caves themselves. I've beencautioned not to try and turn the Caver into a bulletin, butwith this issue's article on Burnet County, there are thosewho may be afraid that protestations have fallen on deafears. Oh, well. Stick around for a few issues and we'll seehow it goes.Musings of a new Caver.Editorships are a two edged sword. Along with the the hardwork of soliciting articles and editing other people's 100word sentences, there is the joy of writing the editorial.There is much I'd like to say about my first two yearsamongst organized cavers, but the obvious fears of offendingunintentionaly are ever present. I didn't come into cavingby the formal route of the beginner- inducted as a recruitduring a grotto membership drive, taken on weed-out tripsand then outlasting the other 19 or 20 people who didn' t likeMaple Run either, to emerge a fledgling caver. Caving wasmore a thing I slowly gravitated to over a period of years, &sort of just found myself doing, despite the organized cavingcommunity.I joined the TSA and started attending functions primarilyto get more information and education about something Ienjoy doing. However, as explorers in general are people ofstrong personality, the greatest frustration to me as a newcaver must be the flood of contradictory informationencountered as a result of the opposing viewpoints of themore experienced cavers. In general, access to informationrequires too much politicking and you never know whoyou ' re going to fall out with just by falling in with someonethey don ' t like. Caver' s opinions of one another all to frequentlyget in the way of common sense and the commongood. I am sti ll , after two years, tryi ng to figure out whodoesn' t like whom, and for what reason. Time spent on thissort of cogitation is time taken away from caving.In summary, I must submit a polite request to watch thoseegos around the promising newcomers, and to help merefrain from having to quote Rodney King.Caver For Life, (you ' re stuck with me)The Editor.Amendment ProposedThe following amendment to the TSA constitution is proposedfor a vote at October's TSA board meeting, whichwill take place at the Texas Caver's Reunion.In accordance with Article VI, "Amendments" of the Bylawsof the TSA Constitution, the following proposedamendment is announced:Article VII Texas Cavers' Reunion Foundation Boardof TrusteesA. The Texas Cavers' Reunion Foundation (hereinafter TCRF) Board of Trustees (hereinafter theBoard) shall consist of three members.I. The TSA Chairperson shall serve as a BoardMember during his/her tenure as Chairperson.2. A second Board Member shall be electedfor a term of three years, beginningJanuary I, 1996, and successive membersat three-year intervals thereafter. Electionshall be at the time and in the manner prescribed for TSA officers.3. A third Board Member shall be appointed bythe TSA Chairperson incumbent on January I,1996 for an initial term of two years, andsuccessive Members appointed in like mannerby the incumbent TSA Chairperson for threeyearterms.4. Vacancies on the Board shall be filled byappointment by the TSA Chairperson for theremainder of the appointed term, and untilthe next scheduled TSA Officers' election, inthe case of the elective term, when theremainder of the term, if any, shall befilled by election in the normal manner.B. The Board of Trustees hereby established shall beresponsible for maintenance and administrationof the TCRF, as established and agreed to in theTexas Cavers' Reunion Foundation Agreement,and for the maintenance and administration ofother funds and resources in possession of theTSA and designated for the same or similarintent, specificall y, land acquisition.Respectfully submitted by the officers of the TSA.The Texas Caver June 199539

From the Secretary's DeskA FEW WORDS ABOUT MEMBERSHIPSFor several years the probl em of membership terms hasplagued the TSA. I' ve looked back through correspondenceover the last ten to fifteen years, and all the formerSecretari es have had to regul arl y ex plain to members whentheir memberships (or I should say Texas Caver subscriptions, sin ce that's what most members are concerned about)began and ended.T he TSA Constituti on establishes dues of (presently)$ 15.00 "per current calendar year" (By- laws, Art. I , Sec. A,I , my itali cs), strongly implying a Janu ary to Decembermembership term . This has been routinely disregarded, andmost members have renewed whenever convenient, themajority tak ing the opportunity to renew in person at TexasCavers' Reuni on. This gives ri se to various problems, but itbecomes especiall y troublesome when compounded with theirregul ar publicati on of the Caver. With membershipsbeginning and ending at random points throughout the year,and Caver publicati on dates differing significantly fromissue elates. decisions as to who's entitled to what becomedifficult and often arbitrary.The TSA is undergoing significant changes at present,some obvious (e.g. the TSA Activities Newsletter, the substantialincrease in membership) and some not so obvious(e.g. proposed constitutional changes, future land acquisitiontrust fund). Among these is the substantial upgrade of theTSA and TCR membership database, which Gill Ediger hasbeen workin g on since last year. Gill and l have di scussedthe membership term problem several times and decided thatit would be to TSA · s advantage to adhere to a strictly calendar-yearmembership. I cion 't beli eve this requires any voteor other membership action. since the constitution alreadysee ms to provide fo r it (see above).Actuall y. thi s has been the poli cy since about last October.Since the majorit y of members renew at TCR, all dues paidat th at time and since have been applied to calendar yearJlJY5 . This means that most members got a few months·free· at the end of 1994. Conversely, those who haverenewed their membershi ps since '94 TCR, and through thefirst half of thi s year will get shorted by a few months. Thisminor drawback is. however. mitigated by two factors. First,it is a one-time occurrence. and I think most reasonable people\\'ho arc affected will agree that it is for the good of theTSA as a whole. and worth the sli ght sacrifice. Second,there isn't that much of a sac rifi ce after all. since the mainthing that mi ght be affected is receipt of Texas Cavers. With• th e late appearance of the March Caver. anyone renewingc\·en as late as mi d-May shoul d ha ve been on the mailing listin time to ge t that one and then regul arl y receive the rest of40June 1995the whole year's subscription. Additionally, anyone whofeels that they' ve been unjustly shorted of a certain issue ofthe Caver can contact me and arrange to correct the situation.Renewals which I receive from this date forward will beconsidered 1996 memberships, unless otherwise specifiedby the member when he or she pays dues and renews theirmembership. In case someone should wish to reactivatetheir membership retroactively, say in August or Septemberfor the current year, I can arrange a reduced rate for backissues, instead of the normal $3.00.I think this policy can be implemented without any noticeableeffect on the vast majority of members. I hope thatanyone who is inconvenienced by it will contact me and letme know how I can correct the problem. I would also behappy to hear comments or suggestions from TSA memberson this or any other subject relevant to TSA membership orCaver subscriptions.Gary J. NapperSecretary, TSA\iIi~\]\(.I \} \The Texas Caver

Caving in Camp Woodby Jay JordenRanchers rolled out the red carpet for the TexasSpeleological Association in late February as the TSA'swinter Board of Governors' meeting expanded into twodays of caving. The Southwest Texas town of CampWood, a ranching and recreation hub for parts of threecounties, was the focus of activity for Feb. 18-19. Froma campsite along the Nueces River, dozens of caversfanned out over two days to leads provided by arearanchers, in collaboration with the local Chamber ofCommerce. Developing good relations with ranchers inReal and surrounding counties is important. The area isnear the Brackettville site of the 1994 NationalSpeleological Society Convention and is a leadingmohair-producing region. Sheep, goats and cattle herdsproduce almost all of Real County's $6 million averagefarm income. The TSA event was co-hosted by the TexasCave Conservancy. A group of Texas Cave ManagementAssociation members and others, in a Sunday visit to oneranch, mapped several hundred feet in a cave that arancher had rediscovered on a hillside. The amiablerancher, who had earlier bulldozed a road to near thecave, was then lowered more than 50 feet into a pit bymeans of a line tied onto a vehicle. On this weekend,impressed by cavers' use of rope and vertical equipment,the rancher made his first rappel - and remarked howsmooth the descent was! Some family members andfriends followed down the shaft. Personnel on the tripincluded William Russell, Jerry Atkinson, Bill Sawyerand Noble Stidham. During the weekend, a group ofcavers also visited Devil's Sinkhole, which was a conventioncave last year. Other cavers went to Turkey PenCave and other caves. Much ridgewalking was accomplished,including a search for the fabled "Blowhole"on one ranch. On that property, cavers saw the addedattractions of petroglyphs and dinosaur footprints along acreekbed. So friendly and cooperative were the area' sranchers that at least one caver heard about cave leadsduring a gas station stop! Saturday evening and Sundaymorning were busy times for meetings, with the TSA andthe two Texas cave conservation groups all gathering fordiscussions. During the TSA business meeting, a vacanteditorship for The Texas Caver was filled . TerryHolsinger and Chris Vreeland, both of Austin, will worktogether to co-edit alternating issues of the publicationwith Noble Stidham of Lubbock. Chris and Terry fill thevacancy of Austin caver Keith Heuss, who resigned topursue other interests. Breakfast during the meeting featuredeggs and sausage, with plenty of coffee and salsa tokeep participants alert! The weekend was marred only bya rabid wildcat' s visit to the Nueces River camp, whereit frightened residents and eventually was cornered by ananimal control officer who sustained some injuries. Nocavers were hurt, although one was surprised on a visit tothe shower building to see the cat ambling out! Manyreturn trips are planned to the area, which has nowbecome a hotbed of Texas caving and conservationefforts.PHOTO BY GILL EDIGERAgreement SignedAn important agreement was signed between the NuecesCanyon Chamber of Commerce and the Texas CaveConservancy in a joint effort to bring more cavers to thecamp wood area. The agreement was signed at the TSA wintermeeting by Carl Cordell of the Chamber, Jack Ralph ofthe TCC and Cathy Winfrey of the TSA. The text in itsentirety reads:"Whereas Caves are valuable natural resources as habitatsfor bats and other animals and are an important part ofthe natural recharge to the aquifer. It is the goal of the TexasCave Conservancy to work with each cave owner to protectand study their caves.It shall be the goal of the Nueces Canyon Chamber ofCommerce to introduce the representatives of the TexasCave Conservancy to twenty-five cave owners in 1995.It shall be the goal of the Texas Cave Conservancy toarrange five hundred caver visits to the Nueces Canyon areain 1995."According to the TCC, as of 13 May 1995, the NCC hasintroduced the TCC to nine cave owners and the TCC-TSAhas brought out a total of 311 caver visits.The Texas Caver June 199541

Letter from theChairmanFir~ t ofT, big T HAN K YOUs are in order for the outstandingwork of th e many people who worked so hard in order tomake our Spring Conventi on a success. Specifically, I wouldlike to acknowledge Doug Allen for once again pulling it alltogeth er: great site, fine camping, nice river, a hall for us allto gather in and a BANQUET. Fine job, Doug.Special acknowledgements to the three people who werewilling toorganize the Conventi on events of the day:Terry Sayther for enduring the swelter of the hall all day inmake sure everything worked for the speakers and presenters:Dan Hogenauer for being willing to undertake organizingmaps and judges, and seeing that the cave maps weredisplayed to good advantage: and to Susie Lasko for doinga superb job of presenting not only the slides of the PhotoSalon but also giving the prints which were submitted a trulyfin e format.The .Judges: We don ' t know who you were, but thesa lons would not have been quite as interesting without you.·rhank yo u for taking the TIME to be judges.To the entrants. some of whom had never seen a photo ormap salon . but were still willing to allow the product of theirlabors to be displayed for all their fellow cavers to view:THANK YOU.To the people who gave presentations or spoke at thesessions:T HAN K YOU. There was plenty of variety in theofferings. and lotsof good information. I' ll only apologizefor the vagaries ofTexas weather once. that caused the sun tocome out and try tocook us al l.And lastl y. THANK YOU to every Texas Caver whoca rne out to Kendali a. Some of you had an idea of what toexpect. hut others had never been to a Convention. Thankyou for coming. I sincerely hope you had a good time,learned somethin g and wi ll consider comingto Nex t Years Conve nti on!out there who figurethat they are the only ones who shouldappropriately execute a cave rescue. These are the variousFire Departments, County EMS,Police Departments and -ohyes- many Texas Cavers. Second is that when people use theterm Cave Rescue, it's helpful to figure out which aspect ofCave Rescue they' re actually talking about. There seem tobe at least five types of rescue that people talk to me about,perhaps even more. These are:Type A: Texas Cavers involved in rescuing some unfortunateinMexico.Type B: Texas Cavers involved in rescuing a fellow Caver.Type C: Traditional Rescue Personnel (Fire Department,Police,EMS) rescuing some unfortunate who is lost or damagedin a Texascave without Texas Caver assistance orinput.Type D: Traditional Rescue Personnel (ie. Fire/EMS)involved in a rescue of a Texas Caver from a Texas cave.Type E: Traditional Rescue Personnel (ie. Fire/EMS) rescuingsome unfortunate who is lost or damaged in a Texas cavewith the assistance or input from Texas Cavers.A sane, clear thinking individual might point out that allof these rescues have one thing in common: extrication of alost or damaged person from a cave. But there has neverbeen an excess of sanity in organizations, whether they beprivate, non-profit or governmental. Different solutions tothese types of rescue are likely to evolve, given their verydifferent natures. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to seethat the discussion can very quickly degenerate to the foamat-the-mouthand fall-over- backwards stage if we don't payattention to which type of rescue is actually under discussionat any given time.In the months to come, as this issue heats up like a Texassummer, keep a cool head, and try to identify which type rescueis being di scussed. Remember, it's only by Texas Caversworking together toward consensus that the problem of ourrole in cave rescue is goi ng to first be addressed and then,possibly, resolved.-Cathy WinfreyOn Cave Rescue .. .Over the last se ve ral months. I have functionedas a sort of touch-poi nt for a varietyof individuals re garding Cave Rescue. andthe rolc(s) Texas Cavcrs shou ld (or shouldnot) play in rescues. The issues are complex.and in IHl way clear cut or simple. Buta nnrple of things have been winnowedfrom hmrrs of li stening. I'll share these inthe hopes that it \\·iII he I p an y of you othercavers out there as you li sten to or participatein tilL' nngoi ng Jebate.First is that there arc some organi zationsJune 1995The Texas Caver

TSA Convention 1995Photos: Chris VreelandWhere the influentual meet to chart th e:: future course of caving in Texas(left) Kendali a Halle From Atop The Grey Pendejo (above) Banquetdinner: Far above standard cave food (ri ght) Ropes courses in the bigoak treeThe Texas Caver June 199543

Proyecto Cheve1986-1993Edited by Nancy Pistole. 45 pp.softbound.$ 1 0.Available from Cheve Project, Pat Kambesis, 246 DrewValley Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30319; add $2 for mailing.This nice report summarizes the exploration ofSistema Cheve in Oaxaca, Mexico, which was, at 1386meters. for a few years the deepest cave in the WesternHem isphere. It also covers a number of smaller caves inthe area. including those where the water resurges afterdescending over 2500 meters, a record for proven karstunderground tlow. There are fourteen cave maps, includinga nicel y drawn plan and profile of Cheve. Since Cheveis 23 kilometers long, those maps are not too detailed, butthey arc a lot better than the line plots that are all too oftenall we sec for the larger systems these days. Unfortunately,the profile map is loose, because there was only one centerspread available for a two-page map; this very baddecision will result in a lot of lost maps over the years.Otherwise. the booklet is quite well done. The materialon the caves and their ex ploration is by Peter Bosted, PatKambesis. and Carol Vesely . There are also short sectionson archaeology and geology by Janet Steele and Jim Smith,respec ti ve ly . A Spanish translation of almost the entire textparallels the English version. I cannot speak for the Spanish,hut the English is quite well edited. Evidently I am not theonly cavcr who has heard of commas and hyphens, as I hadcome to suspect.Book Reviews-Bill MixonAdaptation and NaturalSelection In Caves. TheEvolution of Gammarusmznus.Dav id C. Cul ver. Thomas C. Kane. and Daniel W. Fong.Harvard Uni versit y Press. Cambridge: 1995. 223 pp hardbound.$39.95.David Culver· s 1982 book Care L!le is much betterdescribed by its subtitle. "Evolution and Ecology.''Similarl y. the true scope of this new book is much moreaccurately described by its subtitle, as it is entirely devotedto a single species of amphipod. Gammarus mucus is particularlyinteresting to biologists studying evolution becausepopulations exist in both surface springs and cave streams inseveral different groundwater basins in the Virginia. Thecave populations display some of the traditionally recognized"troglomorphic" characteristics, such as longer antennaeand reduced eyes. Using many sorts of data on the populations,the authors are able to compare the various populationsand measure evolutionary trends. For example, theyfind that, despite the morphological similarities among thecave populations, they are more closely related to the nearestspring populations than to each other, which is interesting,though not surprising. Probably the most interestingquestion that can be asked in general about cave animals is,what accounts for the regression of the eyes? In the case ofGammarus minus, it appears that there is actually selectionin favor of loss of eyes (as distinct from simply a lack ofselection against it). Unfortunately, the study doesn't produceany real mechanism for this selection, although a conjectureis offered.The book is rather dense with numbers and statistics. Ihope that cave biologists are not joining cave geologists inuse of more quantitative techniques than their subject ortheir talents warrant. In at least one place, where a numbersatisfying the statistical criterion p

The CavesCountyby Gerald L. Atkinson and William R. ElliottTexas Speleological SurveyIntroductionWith this article the Texas Speleological Survey hopesto start a "new tradition" in the Texas Caver- a series of briefreports on Texas karst areas. We especially want to coverthose areas that were not published in TSS's ongoing reportseries, which started in 1961 .The purpose of this article is to create some interest inBurnet County by responsible, dedicated cavers who will goout, make friends with landowners, and maybe find somenew caves. We hope you will feed information back to theTSS for our central files. The TSS files are for cavers,researchers, and conservationists to use. We' ll be glad toprovide technical assistance in mapping and documentingthe caves, but we' ll be happy if a grotto wants to takeresponsibility for the work. Sensitive information can beprotected in the TSS database, and we can note who thecaver contact is for access to a cave. We also hope to elicitalmost-forgotten maps, cave descriptions, and photos fromcavers' closets. The next article in this series may be on RealCounty, but we need more material, especially on Cave ofthe Lakes and Perry Water Cave.Burnet County has some important caves such asLonghorn Cavern, Beaver Creek Bat Cave, Dead Man'sHole, and Resurrection Well; but few have heard about themore recent discoveries like Simons Water Cave or the interestinglittle caves at Moon Rock Ranch. A look at the TSSfiles reveals about 92 known caves, sinks, fissures, and shelters.Of these, 17 caves have been mapped (some twice) butfour of the maps were not filed with TSS and probably werelost. In preparing for this article Jerry Atkinson developed a53-page manuscript, which will be the basis for a future publication.Cave Geology of Burnet CountyBurnet County is located at the eastern edge of theLlano Uplift, a present-day topographic depression coveringparts of six counties in Central Texas. Structurally, the LlanoUplift is a broad dome that exposes a sequence ofPrecambrian metamorphic assemblages, Lower Paleozoicclastics and carbonates of the Moore-Hollow andEllenburger Groups, and less-well-exposed secti ons of theUpper Paleozoic. The region is rimmed on the east, southand west by Lower Cretaceous limestones which form theof BurnetEdwards Plateau.Burnet County straddles the boundary of two majorgeological provinces as shown on the accompanyi ng geologicmap. The map depicts cave areas with numbers keyedto the descriptions below. The eastern part of the county isunderlain by the Lower Cretaceous limestones of theEdwards Plateau. This area is essentiall y unfaulted andforms a broad, sloping bench dipping to the southeast at I oto 2°, and which is di ssected by various tributaries of the SanGabriel and Lampasas Rivers. The western part of the countyis dominated by exposures of Precambrian to UpperPaleozoic units of the Llano Uplift. A complex set ofPennsylvanian-age, northeast-southwest trending normalfaults divide the Llano Uplift into a series of structural hi ghsand lows (horsts and grabens). The grabens preserve thicksections of downdropped Paleozoic rocks which otherwisewould have been removed by subsequent erosion during theearly Mesozoic. These "windows" of preserved Paleozoicstrata contain most of the known caves in Burnet County.Cave development in Burnet County is restricted tothree stratigraphic units:1. Lower Ordovician Ellenburger Group: TheEllenburger Group, which is about 500 million years old, isdi vided into three formations which are, in ascending order,the Tanyard, Gorman, and Honeycut Formations. All arecomposed of alternating sequences of limestone anddolomite which can be generally described as thin to thickbedded,aphanitic (micro-grai ned) to fine grained, very li ghtto medium gray in color, and cherty. Where preserved, theEllenburger Group can attain a maximum thickness of 1600to 1800 ft. (490 to 550 m). The Ellenburger is the mostimportant cave-forming unit in the county containing 44% ofthe known caves, and approximately 72% of the total reportedpassage length. Most of the caves that have been formedin the Ellenburger are developed in the more calcitic portionsof the Gorman and Honeycut Formations.2. Pennsylvanian Marble Falls Limestone: TheMarble Falls Limestone, about 300 million years old, consistsof very fine-grained, thin to thick-bedded, cherty, fossiliferous limestone and lesser spiculitic mudstone, whichare colored various shades of brownish-gray, medium-grayand oli ve-gray. The formation has a measured thickness of385 ft. ( 115 m) at the type section near the town of MarbleFalls, but variations in thickness can occur over relativelyshort di stances, reflecting rapid changes in depositionalenvironment during the Penn sylvani an. The Marble FallsLimestone is the second most important cave-forming unit inthe county, representing 36% of the known caves and 16%of the total reported passage length.3. Lower Cretaceous Walnut Formation: The WalnutFormation, about 100 million years old, is di vided into twomembers; the upper Cedar Park Limestone and the lowerThe Texas Caver June 199545

Bee Cave Marl. The Cedar Park Limestone consists of up to40 ft. ( 12 m) of hard, fi ne-grain ed, li ght-gray, nodular lime­~to n c , whi ch was ex tensively burrowed by in vertebrates.The unit is thin to th ick-bedded and weathers white in outcrop.T he underl yin g Bee Cave Marl is a soft , white, nodularmarl whi ch is up to 50 ft. ( 15 m ) thi ck and is generall ypoorl y ex posed. The Cedar Park Limestone forms the resistivecaprock of the Edward s Pl ateau in eastern BurnetCounty and is the primary cave-forming unit in that area.Most of the low areas in eastern Burnet County are UpperG le n Rose Limestone, whi ch is not a good cave-fo rmer.Approxi mately 17% of the known Burnet County caves aredeveloped in the Cedar Park Limestone. Most of the reportedcaves are small , however, representing onl y 10% of thetotal report ed passage length fo r the county.No Precambrian granite talus caves, like those atEnchanted Rock in neighboring Ll ano County, have beenreported fro m Burnet County. However, there are some suitahlc granite hills in western Burnet Coun ty that have notbeen checked. It is worth notin g th at thick carbonates existin the Cap Mountain and San Saba Members of theambri an Moore-Ho llow Group. With the possible exception o f Duncan · s Flea Cave. no caves are reported from theseunits wi thin Burnet Coun ty . Considering th at Cambrianlimestones arc known to host caves in Ll ano County, futureworkers should give considerati on to the cave potenti al ofthese units."Bad air" has been re ported from approx i111 atel y 10% ofthe known Burnet County caves. Bad air typicall y is causedhy increased carbon diox ide and reduced oxygen levels. Badair is o ft en ascribed to the decomposition of organi c matterin caves th at receive runoff. but this expl anati on does not fitthe types and di stri buti on of bad air caves in Texas verywel l. T he Austin Chalk along the Balcones Fault Zone inBt.:xar and Medina counties o ft e n has bad air caves and a fewan.: known from Edward s Limestone. Most other bad aircavt.:s arc form ed in the Marbl e Falls Limestone and theEll e nburger Group. a peculiar phenomenon whi ch has beennoted in Burnet. San Saba an d other counties of the region.W h ~.:t h e r the occurre nce of bad air is related to the specificgeochemi stry of these fo rmati ons or to some as yet unknownvariable common to the region is an interestin g probl em th atmerit s further stu dy (Elli ott and Yeni , 1994).As illustrated on th e accompanying geologic map. therearc large exposures of cave-forming limestone in the countyth at cont ain no known caves. Thi s is undoubtedl y related tothe rel ati vel y little effo rt that has been given to cave reconnaissan ce in the region. O nl y a few areas of the county havebeen dlecti ve ly explored. G ive n the relati vely hi gh densityof caves within these few areas. it is reasonabl e to assumethat even cursory reconnaissance in the remaining unexplored areas will produce pos iti ve result s.Early Use of Burnet County CavesEarl y Texas settlers learned of Longhorn Cavern fromIndians who used it as a campsite. Prior to the Civil War, aband of Comanches kidnapped a young woman namedMarie! King and brought her to the cave. They were followedby three Texas Rangers, who fired on them, grabbedMari el, and made for the entrance of the cave. TheComanches counterattacked, and a hand-to-hand battleensued. The Rangers escaped with Mariel, who later marriedone of her rescuers, Logan Van Deveer (Elliott and Veni,1994).The earliest writte n reference we have to caves inBurnet County was the following letter regardingConfederate gunpowder, a copy of which was given to us byMarion Smith of Knoxville, Tennessee:"Burnet, Texas. March lOth, 1862To his Excellency Gov. Lubbock, Austin Tex1 send you herewith a specimen of the gun powderI am making in the county. My means are very limited, andI gather and prepare my own saltpeter from the caves inthis county. My machinery is as yet very crude and imperfect,yet they are as good as I have been able to erect.I think the powder 1 shall hereafter make will besuperior to the specimen I send you.I am using all my time and all the energies andmeans I have in the manufacture of powder. Therefore Ibeg the favor of you, if you have the power to grant it, tohave me excusedfrom the performance of military duty, atleast whilst I am engaged in the manufactory of gun powder.I can afford to the go verment the powder 1 am makingat one and 251100 ($J?i) per pound. If the governmentwants it, I can furnish about one hundred pounds by the15th, or 18 of this month.Can you detail some men, whom I have as assistantsin the manufacture of powder?- to wit Thos. Cate &}as. Barton.Your obt. servantConstantine Foster"Saltpeter, a necessary ingredient of black powder, wasmined from Texas caves during the Civil War. The nitrogenrichguano was gathered and sacked for transportation to theleaching vats, whi ch were usuall y located near a dependablewater suppl y and not always near the cave. There the guanowas pl aced in wooden or stone vats, in alternating layerswith wood ashes. The layers were separated by broomweeds.Water was then poured over the top of the filled vat andall owed to graduall y filter through it into a trough, fromwhi ch it ran into a coll ecting barre l. The water was thenpoured into large. open, cast-iron boilers, which were thenheated. When the liquid was reduced to the proper density it..J.6June 1995The Texas Caver

was conducted into large shallow pans where saltpeter crystalsformed when the remaining water evaporated. It wasthen sacked and shipped by ox-team to the powder factory(Meador, 1964).Foster did not mention the caves he mined, but theyincluded Longhorn Cavern (then known as Sherrard Cave)and probably Beaver Creek Bat Cave. According to Meador(1964), a powder mill was located on Powdermill Creek,which rises near Sherrard Cave. The mining activities inSherrard Cave were confined to the winter months. In thesummer months Foster and his half-dozen workers operatedthe powder mill. They probably were the ones who fired thebullets, later found in the main room, to test the powder,using a spot on the cave wall. Additional small rooms in theback of the cave were used as gunpowder storerooms. OnMarch 14, 1862, a Mr. Moore wrote to the Governor requesting"Employment of some six to eight hands, good stoutlaborers, to come up and assist in getting saltpeter. Fostersays it is abundant, but it takes a great deal of labor to get itout, to refine it, etc. This is the greatest part of the labor."E.O. Sampson wrote on April 12, 1862, for Foster, saying,"He wants three kettles, holding 30 gallons each, to weighfrom 50 to 80 pounds each. Mr. Foster is perfectly willing toturn over all the powder he makes to your board, with theexception of sufficient powder for our frontier protection, asIndians are continually visiting this and Llano County."The Texas Almanac of 1872 stated that "During the lastwar, niter works were in operation two miles south of theMount of Fall Creek, Burnet County." This may have beennear Beaver Creek Cave, which is near Beaver and Nitrecreeks. (Meador, 1964; Elliott, 1987). Possibly other caveswere involved.Legend holds that Sam Bass, a notorious Texas bandit,used Longhorn Cavern for his hideout in the 1870s. The currentmain entrance is named after him. Dead Man's Hole,south of Marble Falls, also was used by criminals for the disposalof bodies.After the Civil War bat guano became popular as a commercialfertilizer, and much was shipped out of Texas byrail. Phillips ( 190 I) mentioned a cave, possibly BeaverCreek Bat Cave, in which a guano fire had burned, leavingashes two or three feet deep, but ashes are not seen in thecave today. His sketch of the entrance may be the oldestexisting Texas cave map. The most recent guano venturemay date from the 1940s and 1950s. A collapsed sheet ironbuilding is nearby and an iron boom hangs over the entrance.Wooden mining ramps are still visible in the cave.Cave DescriptionsSpace does not allow us to describe each cave in detail.Instead we will give a synopsis of the more interesting caves,arranged by geologic formation and loosely defined areas.All known caves, sinks, and shelters are tabulated near theend of this article with their known lengths and depths infeet. The "TSS ID" number is a unique number assigned toeach cave or karst feature in each county; in this case "BUR"refers to Burnet County. Readers will see that TSS lackslength and depth information for quite a number of caves.ELLENBURGER GROUP CAVESNORTHWEST BURNET COUNTY AREASouthwest of Lampasas in Northwest Burnet County isthe old Vann Ranch, which has at least eight small fissurecaves, which were explored in 1962 by the UT Grotto.Depths range from 15 to 55 ft. and lengths range from 30 to200ft. Three of the caves are described below, then we jumpto Beaver Creek Bat Cave on another ranch.Old Bat Cave BUR067Description: This rumored cave was reported in the oldDallas Grotto files to be large. The cave is located on top ofa hill on the Vann Ranch.Vann Cave BUR047Description: A 50 ft. ( 15 m) fissure leads into a I 00 ft.(30 m) long cave containing solutional tunnels. The deepestpoint of the cave is 55 ft. below the entrance.Vann Ranch Fissure System No.1 BUR049Description: The cave comprises a typical fissure system.Numerous fissure entrances drop 5 to 20ft. ( 1.5 to 6 m)into a series of sometimes interconnected fissure passageswith a total length of more than 200 ft. (60 m).Beaver Creek Bat Cave BUR004Description: A map and complete description may befound in The Caves and Karst of Texas (Elliott and Veni ,1994). The cave is 1718 ft. (524 m) long and 68ft. (21 m)deep, but is not open to casual visitors. The cave reportedlycontained close to 14 to 18 million freetail s at one time,which would have represented the second largest bat colonyin Texas. This may have been an overestimate, but evidencesuch as the uninhabited stain area in the entrance room suggestthat the colony probably has declined. On 28 March1987, the cave contained about 4.5 million Tadaridabrasiliensis mexicana, or Mexican free-tailed bats.History: The cave has been mined for guano since about1850. [twas explored by Bob Hudson around 1954 and DaveS. Kyser in 1955. Numerous trips have subsequently beenmade to the cave, including some by Tom Warden, fromwhich he prepared a rough outline map of the cave.On 17-18 September 1977, Jerry Atkinson, Tom Byrd,Maureen Cavanaugh, John Chelf, Bill Elliott, RobertHemperly, Dale Pate, and Lisa Wilk surveyed and photographedthe cave. Elliott took temperatures and gas readings.Temperatures in the cave ranged from 64° F near theentrance, to 70o Fat Ammonia Mountain, a large guano hill.Carbon dioxide readings taken the same day ranged fromThe Texas Caver June 199547

0.08% at the west end of the cave, to 0.19% at AmmoniaMountain, where the measured ammonia levels were 4 ppm.As is common in most freetail caves, the temperature andammonia levels should increase dramatically during thesummer months.BURNET AREABlue Room Cave BUR007Description: The cave, located on Post Mountain nearBurnet, is 290 ft. (88 m) long and 30 ft. (9 m) deep with twolevels. A 15-ft-deep, 4-to-5-ft-diameter entrance drops into apassage 3 to 4 ft. high ranging from 3 to 6 ft. wide. To theleft. the passage extends about 30 ft. to an end. A pit on theleft side drops into a lower level passage about 30 ft. longand 2 ft. high . To the right from the entrance, a slope leadsup into a chamber about 12 ft. long and 5 ft. wide with twopassages leading out. To the right, a 1-ft.-high passage leadsfor about 8 ft. to a 15-ft.-deep pit. At the bottom of the pitthree passages lead out. These range from 6 to I 0 ft. highand each ends after about 30 ft. To the left from the junctionroom. a 4-ft.-high passage extends for 25 ft; the ceiling thenrises to I 0 ft. and the passage continues an additional 15 ft.to an end .History: The cave was mapped on 16 May 1964 byFrank Jasek, B. Wood. and J. Peck. This may be identical tothe Blue Room Cave mentioned in the Texas Cave Survey,except that the cave was reported to have a 40-ft drop to aledge. followed by a 30-ft drop to the floor of a room withblue walls. The cave was visited in the summer of 1968 byWilliam Elliott. Brian Peterson, and Jim Shepperd, at whichtime the air was bad.Pnst Mountain Cave BUR026Description: Located somewhere on Post Mountain nearBurnet. this cave was reported by White ( 1948) to be "asmall. single chamber cave ... Its semi-circular room is about20ft. (6 m) in diameter. doming to a height of about 35 ft.( II m)." This could be a pit cave seen in 1968 by WilliamElliott. Brian Peterson. and Jim Shepperd. A carbide lampflam e was extin guished twice by bad ai r when lowered justbelow the entrance lip. No one entered the cave that day.Shepperd Cave BURln5Description: By far the most pr01msmg cave nearBurnet. Shepperd Cave may be lost. Reported to be over 200ft. (60 111 ) long and more than 90 ft. (27 m) deep, it is onproperty about I /4 mil e west of where the old Burnet driveintheater was located on State Hi ghway 29. Information issketchy. but this area may now be in a park.The entrance to the cave is a shaft 2 ft. in diameterwhich drops 20 f't. From the bottom of the entrance drop thefloor slopes downward at an angle of about 40

1963, by James Reddell and David McKenzie.Biology: A small biological collection was made in thecave on 20 April 1963, by James Reddell and DavidMcKenzie. The cave is populated by millions of fleas, aswell as numerous small mites, ticks, and spiders.Collembola, harvestmen, caterpillars, and centipedes alsoinhabit the cave. The bones of goats and other animals arealso present.LONGHORN CAVERN AREAFrustration Cave BUR014Aside from Longhorn Cavern, Frustration Cave is thelargest cave in Longhorn Cavern State Park. The entrance islocated in a large sink. The cave is essentially a long crawlwaythat extends about 200 ft. (60 m) from the surface sink,to where the passage becomes too small to follow. The cavewas mapped by William H. Russell in 1986.Longhorn Bad Air Cave BUR018Description: Believed to be southeast of the Sam BassEntrance to Longhorn Cavern in a shallow sink. The cave isreported to be a 20-ft.-deep pit leading to two small crawlwayswith bad air. At times, the air in the pit is only moderatelypoor, producing heavy breathing. At other times, a carbidelamp will go out when held in the entrance, indicatingthat the pit could be dangerous if entered on rope by anunprepared caver.Longhorn Cavern BUR060Special Hazards: Stream crawls at the rear of the cavecan flood.Description: A map and complete description may befound in Elliott and Veni (1994). Longhorn Cavern, formerlyknown as Sherrard Cave and Hoover's Valley Cave, isabout 9850 ft. (3002 m) long and more than 130ft. (40 m)deep. The cave has one artificial and four natural entrances.The Sam Bass Entrance, presently serving as the entranceand exit for tours, is a 30-ft.-deep sinkhole approximately 75ft. in diameter. A remnant span of rock forms an often-photographednatural bridge across the entrance. The formerMain Entrance at one time allowed tours to enter the cavevia the Lunchroom but was sealed in 1935. Two natural pitentrances approximately 60 ft. deep are located 625 and 790ft. respectively from the Sam Bass Entrance. A 60-ft-deepartificial shaft was excavated at the intersection of LumbagoAlley and the Hall of Marble to facilitate the removal of fillduring commercialization.The cave consists of two major sections which trendnorth-south. The southern half of the cave is a mazelikecomplex of passages consisting of a main corridor whichextends from the Sam Bass Entrance to the Hall of Marble,and a lower level, seasonal stream passage extending fromthe Cathedral Room to Lumbago Alley. The main passage,now dry, has numerous smaller passages feeding into it, andwas obviously once an important underground drainage systern.It averages I 0 to 20 ft. wide and 8 to 15 ft. high withlarger rooms reaching 50 ft. by 30 ft. high. Modest displaysof draperies, stalactites, stalagmites and travertine dams arevisible in alcoves and ceiling pockets. Massive redissolvedflowstone can be seen throughout this section of the cave.The most notable speleothems are the large calcite crystalswhich line the walls of several passages, especially theCrystal Rooms and Hall of Diamonds. Individual crystalsare commonly 2 in. (5 em) long. The commercial trail followsthe main passage and through some adjacent meanderloops, ending near a permanent lake (Catfish Lake) abouthalf-way through the cave.The northern half of the cave, past Catfish Lake, continuesprimarily as a single passage 10 to 15 ft. wide and 3to 6ft. high with occasional small crawls leading off, whichend in mud plugs or low airspaces. The one major side passageis The Wiggleys, which parallels the main passage.Both passages connect near the terminal siphon at the northernend of the cave.History: Early history was given near the beginning ofthis report. In the I 920s, a local businessman opened a dancehall in the cave's largest room and built a wooden dancefloor. He also opened a restaurant in the next room, loweringfood through one of the pit entrances. A local preacherbuilt bleachers in the cave to accommodate his congregationfor Sunday services. After the Depression struck, the ownerssold the cave to the State Parks Board in 193 I and LonghornCavern was opened to the public the following year.Tours initially used the Main (now sealed) and SamBass Entrances to visit the Cathedral Room and the Hall ofMarble. In those days, the route between these two chamberswas through the lower level Lake Room Tunnel as the overlyingpassages were filled by sediment. Various groups haveworked to make "improvements" in the cave, but most of thework was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's innovations to helpthe unemployed during the Depression. Much of the cave atthat time consisted of low crawlways, so the CCC \ asinstructed to excavate the fill in order to open additional passagesfor tours. Artificial shafts were dug to facilitate theremoval of the original floor deposits which were comprisedof mud, guano, and bone-laden clay. These were dug out orwashed with high-pressure hoses down to the lower level. Inseveral passages, the original level of the clay floor can stillbe seen. The museum in the rustic stone park headquartersdepicts the days of the CCC. It was during this work that thebats probably vacated the main passage. (Elliott, 1992.1994). Bats may still roost beyond Catfish Lake in the lowerpart of the cave.One of the first detailed explorations of the cave \ asmade by Bob Hudson and others of the University of TexasSpeleological Society in 1952. They carried out fairl y extensiveexplorations of the main passage beyond Catfish Lake.The next significant study of the cave was during the TexasRegion Project in July 1957. Numerous cavers attended theproject during which extensive surveying and meteorologi-The Texas Caver June 199549

cal observati ons were made. It was during this effort that thelower levels and the Wiggleys passage were discovered andpartially explored and mapped.The most successful mapping effort was begun in I 97 Ias a Texas Speleological Association Project. The commercialtrail was surveyed using a transit and metal tape.Passages off the trail were mapped with tripod-mountedBruntons and metal tapes. At the end of the Project, the cavewas not completely surveyed, so the Dallas-Fort WorthGrotto made additional trips in an attempt to finish the map.All major, accessible passages were surveyed and the mapwas completed in 1972. All attempts to survey the streamcrawls at the rear of the cave have failed due to high water.Only in the driest of summers can these passages be entered.The cave was used during the Cold War to store CivilDefense supplies as a potential fallout shelter. In 1989, theTexas Speleological Association held a volunteer cleanupproject and removed the Civil Defense materials and an oldphotographic lab from the cave. A sinkhole that had beenused for decades as a dump was cleaned up and many truckloadsof trash were hauled off.Biology: Eyed crayfish inhabit the cave stream-they arepale but not cave-adapted.Geology: The cave is developed in the GormanFormati on of the Ell enburger Group. Kastning ( 1983) providesan ex haustive dissertation on the geology and speleogenesisof the cave. For a more general di scussion, seeMathews ( 1963).Meteorology: During the Texas Region Project of 1957,a continuous temperature and relative humidity recorder wasused to make meteorological observati ons in the cave.Temperature readings vari ed from a hi gh of 72° F to a lowof 5X" F during the three-day expedition. Where this datanow resides is unknown.Paleontology: Longhorn Cavern is an important vertebratefossil localit y. Paleontological deposits in the cavewere first studied by Lundelius ( 1958) and Semken ( 1961),and included three bone-bearing units dating back to the latePleistocene. Semken identified a large population of rodentsand found several species of higher vertebrates no longerendemi c to Central Texas. Later workers studied the remainsof Pleistocene bears. southern bog lemmings and other vertebatesas report ed in Patton ( 1963), and summarized inFrank ( 1%4). Lundelius ( 1967). Lundelius and Slaughter( ILJ 7 1) and Lundelius. et al ( 1983).Pic Cuvc BUR025Descri pti on: Pie Cave. located on private land nearL1 111ghorn Cavern State Park. is 130 ft. (40 m) long and 96ft. (~9 m) deep. Located in a small depression. the I ft. by 2ft. entrance drops 4ft. to a small crawl that goes for 10ft. Atthe end of the crawl. a fissure drops 22 ft. to a second crawlthat goes for 20 ft. to a point where the passage turns ri ghtand CL1ntinues for 10ft. while dropping an additiona16 ft. Atthi s pnint a small hole drops-+ I ft. into a beer-bottle shapedroom. A hole in the tloor of this room makes it possible toclimb down an additional 23 ft. to an area of mud and breakdownfill.Spider Web Pit BUR062Description: Spider Web Pit is located in LonghornCavern State Park, and currently is 21 ft. (7 m) long and 6 ft.(2 m) deep. The entrance is located at the southern edge of alarge, flat, dirt-floored sink. The 2-by-3-ft.-wide entrance pitdrops about 6 ft. through dirt, roots, and logs to where it ispartly blocked by a large tilted slab. By squeezing around theslab, a breakdown-floored room, 2 to 4ft. high and about 15ft. in diameter is entered. Air appears to blow from looserocks on the floor near the north wall of the room directlybelow the entrance. The cave receives considerable runoffduring floods, which appears to drain in all directions fromthe base of the entrance pit.History: The cave was discovered and explored byWilliam Russell and Katherine Arens on 24 May 1986.Standing Pipe Cave BUR042Description: Located in Longhorn Cavern State Park,Standing Pipe Cave is 85 ft. (26 m) long and 33 ft. (10 m)deep. The entrance is a narrow slot, 2 to 3 ft. wide, that dropsI 5 ft. to a room 15 ft. wide, 40 ft. long, and 3 to 10 ft. high.The entrance is climbable, but an old pipe set in the crackprovides helpful handholds. At one end of the room a small,I by 2 ft. wide pit drops 15 ft. and ends. Considerabledrainage enters the room at floor level along the northeastwall and drains into the pit.Tally Cave BUR043Description: Located near Longhorn Cavern State Park,Tally Cave consists of a sink complex dropping to an area offissures and cracks with crawlways. The length and depthare unknown. The name refers to a row of tally marks on thecave wall at the entrance.NOLAN'S CAVE AREAThe caves in this Ellenburger area south of Longhornwere explored on April I, 1961 , by Bud Frank and MargaretCridlebaugh.Ken Kave BUROI7Description: A large 5-ft-deep sink leads to a small holedropping 3ft. into a single room 40ft. (12m) long and up toI 5 ft. ( 5m) wide. A tight squeeze at the end of the roombecomes too small but it is possible to see a few feet downinto a second chamber. The cave is a total of 40 ft. long and20ft. deep.Nolan's Cave BUR022Description: The cave is a small maze with a total lengthof about 400 ft. ( I 22 m). The average passage is 3 ft. by 3 ft,and most floors are covered with clay.50June 1995The Texas Caver

Pregnant Cricket Cave BUR027Description: A walk-in entrance on a bluff extends for35 ft. (11 m) before ending abruptly. There are massive stalactitesat the entrance and numerous other formations in thecave.Riley Cave BUR031Description: Riley Cave is 80 ft. (24 m) long and 35 ft.( 11 m) deep, and is 300 ft. (90 m) from Ken Kave. Theentrance to the cave is a small hole on one side of a 30 ft. indiameter shallow sink. This hole drops 35 ft. into one end ofa room 40 ft. long, 45 ft. wide, and up to 20 ft. high. A smallconstriction at the end of the room leads into a second roomabout 30 ft. wide and 40 ft. long. No passages lead from thisroom. Part way down the entrance, a short passage extendsto each side of the sink.DEAD MAM'S CAVE AREAThis area south of Marble Falls contains four caves inthe Honeycut Formation, a very pure limestone of theEllenburger Group that is mined at the Huber LimestoneMine for its pharmaceutical-grade quality. An inactive areaof the mine, begun in the late 1930s, now harbors over 4 millionMexican free-tailed bats.Dead Man's Hole BUROlOSpecial Hazards: Bad air-proceed cautiously, especiallyin the summertime. Vertical; at least a 200 ft. (60 m) ropeand appropriate gear required.Description: The entrance to the cave is a small verticalsink about 8 ft. deep which drops 29 ft. to a sloping ledge.At the bottom of this ledge the pit continues as a 103 ft. dropto a sloping fissure passage about 50 ft. long and up to 10ft.wide, which ends after 15 ft. The bottom of the pit consistsof boulders and rocks. Total depth is 155ft. (47 m); lengthis about 50 ft. (15 m).History: The cave was also known as Soldier Cave andBurnam's Hole. Meador (1965) recounted the early historyof the cave, which was notorious as a place to commit murderand hide the bodies. Several recorded murders areknown, with a total of 17 skeletons and bodies reportedlyrecovered from the cave. The entrance was first visited bycavers when it was explored by UT cavers Carroll Slemakerand Tom Tony in April 1951 . The cave had earlier beenentered by an amateur Austin spelunker, George Shelley, in1949. He was unable to climb back out of the cave handover-handand fell less than 20 ft. from the bottom. He waseventually rescued by the Marble Falls Fire Department. Thecave has since been visited numerous times by cavers. It wasmapped 4 June 1968 by Brian Peterson, Ed Fomby, and BillElliott.Resurrection Well BUR030Special Hazards: Bad air; Vertical gear and roperequired for 4 pits.Description: Resurrection Well is a sporting series ofdrops and crawls ending in a tight stream passage thatremains to be pushed. The cave is 558 ft. ( 171 m) long and189 ft. (58 m) deep. A complete description was publishedin Elliott and Veni (1994).The entrance sink leads to an 8 ft. chimney that opens toResurrection Well, a 72ft. drop measuring up to 25ft. by 50ft. , and which is lined with flowstone and other speleothems.After a couple of rooms and some pools Grimm's Glee Pitdrops 25 ft. This is followed by flowstone, a muddy crawl,two dome rooms, and Sugar Shaft, which drops 30 ft. Afterthat a 7.5-ft. drop into a tight, stream-cut crawl leads to a 12-ft. drop. A walking passage continues for 25 ft. to a streampassage that becomes too narrow.History: The entrance sink was discovered in 1989 byEli Grimm during a trip to nearby Dead Man's Hole. MikeWarton, Mike Grimm, and Eli Grimm subsequently excavatedthe entrance and explored the cave. Warton's map waspublished in the Texas Caver in 1990.Roper Cave (Roper Ranch Pit) BUR034Description: The cave is 93 ft. (28 m) long and 43 ft. ( 13m) deep. The entrance is located in a shallow, rock-flooredsinkhole and consists of a vertical slot about 30 ft. long and43ft. deep, which can be chimneyed with difficulty. A shortpassage, which becomes a crawlway, extends to the northwestalong the same joint trend as the entrance slot. Thecrawlway becomes impassable after about 50 ft.History: The cave was first reported by K. Wyrick, J.Moran, and C. Wiseman. It was explored by Linda Handleyand Glenn Merrill on 18 January 1964.MARBLE FALLS LIMESTONE CAVESNORTH MARBLE FALLS AREAThe following two caves were explored on 20 June1976 by John Chelf, Marcia Cossey, Debbie Tolar, andCharles Yates.Jones Cave BUROI6Description: Jones Cave is-reported to be a 15-ft.-deep,joint-controlled cave with more than I 00 ft. of passage, andwhich contains a stream that was not fully explored. Thecave is floored by mud and breakdown and the only formationsnoted were curtains. The entrance was noticed when abulldozer cracked through the roof of part of the cave.Unnamed Cave BUR046Description: The cave, near Jones Cave, is reported tobe about I 00 ft. (30m) long and 20ft. (6 m) deep. It is jointcontrolledand does not contain water.The Texas Caver June 199551

SOUTH MARBLE FALLS AREAMarble Falls Cave No.2 BUROI9Description: The entrance is located in a cliff face andleads to a main passage about 50 ft. ( 15 m ) long and 12ft. (4m ) hi gh. A small er passage near the end leads into an upperroom. When Bill Ru ssell visited the cave in January 1965,several crawl ways off the main passage were blocked bywater.Marble Falls Cave No.3 BUR020Descripti on: A sink entrance on top of a bluff leadsdown into a I 0-ft.-high passage. The ceiling height drops to3 ft. and the passage ends about 50 ft. ( 15 m) from theentrance.Marble Falls Cavern BUR02 1Descri pti on: The cave consists of three very small staircasedrooms ha vin g openings at the bottom and top of a vertical cliff (White, 1948). The overall length is less than 50 ft.( I :'i m). T he cave was caused primarily by the shifting oflarge masses of rock on the cliff face. There has been somefl owstone deposition but it is not obvious. The cave is developedin the Honeycut Formation of the Ellenburger Group.Hi story: Explored by members of the University ofTexas Grotto in 195 I.Description: The cave consists of a 50 ft. (15m) deep pitdeveloped at the intersection of two solutionally enlargedjoints. The length of the entrance fissure is coated with flowstone.There are reportedly several levels of crawlways.History: The cave was discovered and initially exploredby Geoff Hoese and Andy Grubbs on 27 March 1993.Mean Vicious Nasty Cave BUR061Description: The cave is more than 80 ft. (25 m) longand 22ft. (7 m) deep. The entrance fissure drops about 15ft.and then trends to the south for approximately 25 ft. to wherea 7 ft. drop leads into a small room. A southwest-trending,tight bellycrawl goes for about 20 ft. to where it intersectstwo extremely narrow cross joints called Christina's Crack.This keyhole shaped joint can be negotiated by staying highat a point where it widens to about I 0 in. , being careful notto slip downward and thus become wedged. After about 10ft. , another cross joint is intersected which opens into a niceroom. The cave remains unsurveyed and incompletelyexplored.History: The cave was reportedly discovered and initiallyexplored by members of the San Marcos Grotto in 1992.A subsequent trip was made by Terri Whitfield and JimWolff on 19 December 1992.Biology: In March 1993, Andy Grubbs and Jim Wolffcollected several Texella harvestmen, a pseudoscorpion, andother fauna.Rohbcrs Cave BUR032Description: The cave is a 40-ft.-deep sink dropping intoa small room. The total depth is about 50 ft. ( 15 m) and thelength is about 50 ft. ( l .'i m).MOON ROC K RANC H AREAMoon Rock Ranch was leased for a time by Austin caverTcrry Whitficlcl. Weekend trips were enj oyed by manyAustin arca cave rs in 1992-1 993. The more interesting cavesarc dcscribccl below.Rachel's Playroom Cave BUR068We have no description for this cave, which presumablywas named after Rachel Savvas, the young daughter (andgood caver) of Charley Savvas. Charley has his own areanearby-"Savvas Sinks."Waldman Cave BUR063Description: Waldman Cave is about 197ft. (60 m) longand 41 ft. ( 12.5 m) deep. The upper entrance is a 15-ft.-deepchimney to a very low, wide room. A bellycrawl through theroom leads to a 13 ft. climbdown and a squeeze developedalong a joint. The cave continues for about 45 ft. through aseries of joint-controlled fi ssures that form complex bedrockshapes in the ceiling and floor. A tight squeeze (the WolffPlug) opens into a low, wide crawlway that can be negotiat­,ed by means of a ceiling channel. The crawlway continuesfor about 75 ft. to a breakdown-floored passage about 30 ft.long and 6 ft. wide. A narrow fi ssure at one end leads up tosecond entrance but is too small to negotiate.Hi story: The cave was surveyed 24 April 1993 by SusieLasko, Peter Sprouse, and Jim Wolff. The map was publishedin the UTG News (Sprouse, 1993).Big Bad Wnlfl Cave BURO.'i4Desniption: The cave is 355 ft. ( I 08 m) long and 54 ft.( 16 111 ) dccp. T hc 6 by 18 ft. entrance fi ssure leads to a shortcomple x of int crsccting joint-controll ed passages averaging3 ft . wid c and 5 ft. hi gh with several ti ght crawls.Approx imatcly .'i .'i ft. from the entrance. a southwest trending passage of thc same dimensions leads about 150 ft. towhere a small holc in the fl oor drops clown to a ti ght waternawl namcd the Sewcr Passagc. Pl ant debri s on the wallsand small (0.5 in .) scall ops in the main passage suggest thatthe cavc floods pc ri odi call y.1-li stmy: Thc cavc was di scove red and explored by JimWplfl. Linnell Dccarli. Nico 1-lauwert. Geoff 1-loese. and SNELLING'S AREASusan Wall surveycd the cave on 16 May 1993.Bad Air Cave BUROOIBlm•bonnct Cave BURO.'i5 Special Hazards: Bad air; extreme caution should beJune 1995The Texas Caver

BURNET COUNTYSIMPLIFIED GEOLOGIC MAPWITH CAVE AREASN{rLegend:~I ,., ILower CretaceousWalnut formationPennsylvanian MarbleFalls l.imestone00 5KILOIIE1BS5tOI o. ID___.,..Ordovlclan EllenburgerGroup UndividedPrecambrian to Recent Non-CaveBearing Stratigraphic: UnluFaultCity Limit or TownsiteCemplladon: G. L. AtkinsonCemputer Drafted: C. K. Conley

taken, especially in the summertime.Description: Bad Air Cave is at least I 000 ft. (300 m)long and 50 ft. (15 m) deep; it is also known as Snelling'sCave No. 2, Old Airless Cave, and Spicewood Caverns. Asmall , 25-to-50-ft.-deep sink leads to a 15-by-5-ft.-wideentrance. The cave consists of a single north-trending passageof uniform size averaging 15 ft. wide by 7 ft. hi gh. Thepassage drops steadily as a series of 3-to-5-ft., stair-steppeddrops spaced about every 20 ft. The only di vergence in themain passage is a small, guano-filled room measuring 30 by30 ft. wide which lies directly overhead about 300 ft. fromthe entrance. The room is shaped like the inside of an icecream cone; the sides being composed of extremely slippery .guano, with the point of the cone being the hole in the floorleading to the main passage below. About 16 to 18ft. abovethe fl oor and just below the ceiling, there is a ledge with asmall, inviting hole beside a large stalactite. At a point about500 ft. ( !50 m) from the entrance, a trickle of water appears,which soon enlarges to a small stream that covers about halfof the fl oor area. The passage continues for another 500 ft.or so to where the ceiling drops to 12 to 18 in. , the passagewidens and the stream forms a lake 15 by 15 ft. wide andabout 4 to 5 in . deep. At this point, the passage appears todi vide fo r the first time; the left passage going out of sight ata bend; the right passage appears to broaden and possiblyend. Bad air forced an end to exploration at this point. On asubsequent trip a week later, one member lost consciousnessat the entrance due to the bad air.History: The cave was discovered and explored byMackie Brown and Roy Pietsch in the spring of I 952.Subsequent trips were made in November I 954, March I 955and October I 957 by members of the Dallas SpeleologicalSociety. The cave was reportedly mapped 14 March I 955 byDon L. Widener. William Russell also reportedly mappedthe cave but the map has since been lost.Meteorology: William Elliott, accompanied by WilliamRussell, measured carbon diox ide and oxygen levels in thecave on September 3, I 985. An Ed mont oxygen meter and aDrager Multi-gas Detector were used at numerous points.They made a quick trip (about 30 minutes) into the cave toavoid cumulati ve physiological stress. At their farthest station they were forced to turn around by extreme panting. Atthis point the 0 2 was at I 2.3% and the C0 2 was at 6.5% (normalis 20.95% and 0.03% respectively). Many humans willpass out when oxygen falls to about I 0%.Rock Bridge Cave BUR033Description: Rock Bridge Cave is also known asSnelling's Cave No. I, and is located a few hundred feetwest-northwest of Bad Air Cave in the same gull y. Theentrance is located in a large breakdown sink about 50 ft.deep with two main passages leading northeast and northwest.The northwest passage fo ll ows a roughl y circul arcourse for about 750ft. (230m), finally emerging back at theentrance by way of the northeast passage. A crawlwayreportedly takes off from the northeast passage approximately300 ft. from the entrance. The cave is named for aprominent natural bridge found close to the entrance. Thecave is dry wi th onl y a trace of fl owstone noted about I 50 ft.inside the cave. The cave is more th an 30 ft. (9 m) deep.Hi story: The cave was di scovered and partially exploredin the spring of I 952 by Mackie Brown and Roy Pietsch. Itwas subsequentl y expl ored by members of the DallasSpeleological Society in November I 954.SPICEWOOD AREABar Cave BUR002Description: Bar Cave is I 90 ft. (58 m) long, and isentered by two openings on a cliff face overlooking LakeTravis and by a sinkhole entrance on top of the bluff. Thecave is named after a bar that had been set up in the roombeyond the entrance sink. At least three other small cliffcaves are nearby: Bar Crack Cave, Blair' s Cliff Cave I andII. Most were visited by Austin cavers between I 95 I and1971 .Cap Mountain Fissure System B UR008Description: The Cap Mountain Fissure System is locatedin an area of extensive fracturing, solution along whichhas resulted in fissures from a few inches to 5 or 6 ft. inwidth, from a few feet to about I 2 ft. in depth, and frominches to over I 00 ft. in length. The narrow fissures are generallythe deepest, but some of the larger ones are quite deep.They are locali zed in an area about 300 ft. ( I 00 m) wide andI 300 ft. (400 m) long on a low hump of exposed limestonesurrounded by dirt. Many of the entrances are connected bysolution tubes or fissures with ceilings of limestone ordebris. Only a few were adequately ex pl ored with manydozens of holes left unchecked. Using a stri ct definiti on of"cave", there would doubtless be dozens of caves in the area;but since all are certainly interconnected, even if throughpassages too small to humanly negotiate, it is more practicalto consider the feature as a single fissure system.Geology: The system is probably developed in theMarble Falls Limestone of Penn sylvani an age.Marble Falls Bat Cave BUR064Description: Thi s rumored cave was reported to containa great number of bats. Bob Hudson in I 952 reported thecave to be 8 miles from Marble Falls, which could be eitherin the Marble Falls Limestone in the Spicewood Area or inthe Ellenburger near Marbl e Fa lls.Waterfall Cave BUR053Description: The cave is located more or less beneath awaterfall , which consists of nothing more than the flow froman overhead spring flowing over the edge of the bank into apool. The entrance is a verti cal fis sure at water level whi chextends upward about 8 ft. and opens into a room about 30ft. in diameter. The outside pool extends into the cave and isThe Texas Caver June I 99553

about 5 ft. deep. It is n oored with twigs and mud whichgraduall y slope upward to where the top of a beaver mo undcan be seen above the water again st the far wall. Twob ea ve r ~ were observed on the first ex pl orati on.Hi sto ry: The cave was ex pl ored members of the UTG rollo in the spring of 195 1.WALNUT FORMATION CAVESOATMEAL AREAReed C aves No. I & 2 BUR028, BUR029Descripti on: The first cave is a 25 ft. (8 m) vertical pitdropping to a dead-end . Total le ngth of the cave is only 6ft.(2 m ). The second cave is a 20 fl. (6 m) deep vertical pitdropping to a dead-end . Total length of the cave is 8 ft. (2.5Ill ).Hi sto ry: The caves we re expl o red in 1961 by BobRodgers and o ther me mbers of the UT Grotto.diameter shaft drops about 10ft. from the floor of this roomto a slope that leads into a 3-ft.-wide, 2- ft. -high passage containingseveral inches of water. Ceiling height varies from 2to more than 4 ft. with a few places large enough to stand.The passage gradually enlarges downstream and at the endof exploration is about 6 ft. wide and 5 ft. high. One small,largely silt-filled, side passage enters the main stream passagenot far from the where it is first entered. A second, largerpassage located about 600 ft. ( 180 m) from the entrancehas not been explored.History/Biology: The cave was partially surveyed inJanuary 1991 by Lee Jay Graves, Dan Love, and MikeW arton. Eyed crayfish were collected from the back of thewater passage. A turtle, blind amphipods, and asellidisopods al so were found in the stream.BURNET COUNTY CAVESNote: Please notify TSS of corrections and additions.POST OAK RIDGE AREACAVE NAMETSSIDLength Depth Map?ft. ft.Some of the ranches in thi s area are being bought up forbird habitat for the Balcones Canyonlands Natio nal WildlifePreservt: ; no endangered cave species have been found inthi s area. Many small sinks and fi ssures were found on theEckhardt and S imo ns ranches during the course of studiesfor the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Elliott and Reddell ,I

Nutria Cave BUR023 25Old Bat CaveBUR067Old Mesquite Sink BUR074 10 8Persimon Sink BUR024 20 24Pie Cave BUR025 130 96Poison Ivy Cave BUR075 4 15Porcupine Cave BUR092 100 10Post Mountain Cave BUR026 20 35Pregnant Cricket Cave BUR027 35 6Rachel's Playroom Cave BUR068Reed Cave No. I BUR028 6 25Reed C ave No. 2 BUR029 8 20Resurrection Well BUR030 558 189 yRiley Cave BUR031 80 35Robbers Cave BUR032 50 50Rock Bridge Cave BUR033 750 30Roper Rancher Pit BUR034 93 43 ySavvas SinksBUR069Shepperd Cave BUR035 200 90Shinnery Sink BUR076 12 9Simon S ays Sink No. I BUR077 5 17Simon Says Sink No. 2 BUR078 6 15Simo ns 1174 Sink BUR036 21 21 ySimons Coral Draw Sink BUR079 15 10Simons Creekside Sink BUR080 20 12Simons Pretty Pit BUR081 9 12Simons Rattlesnake Well BUR037 32 26Simons Road Side Sink BUR082 7 12Simons Shin Oak Sink BUR083 10 14Simons Snake Pit BUR084 10 14Simons Squeeze Down Pit#! BUR085 7 10Simons Squeeze Down Pit#2 BUR086 6 12Simons SquirmAround Cave BUR038 24 10Simons Tree Ladder Sink #I BUR087 5 5Simons Tree Ladder Sink #2 BUR088 7 13Simons Tree Ladder Sink #3 BUR089 6 7Simons W ater Cave Syste m BUR039 1800 30 ySmoky Joe Cave BUR040 105 45Snelling' s Cave No.3 BUR041Spider Web Pit BUR062 2 1 6Standing Pipe Cave BUR042 85 33Tally CaveBUR043Taylor W ater Cave BUR044 38 3 1 yTwilight Cave BUR045 20 35Unnamed cave BUR046 100 20Unnamed CavesBUR070Yann Cave BUR047 100 55Yann Fissure BUR048 70 20Yann Ranch Fissure Sys. #I BUR049 200 20Yann Ranch Fissure Sys. #2 BUR050 200 15Yann Ranch Fissure Sys. #3 BUR05 1 100 15Wagon Trail Cave BUR090 16 I IWaldman Cave BUR063 197 41 yWashout Cave BUR052 20 15Waterfall Cave BUR053 30 8Bibliography:Anderson, L., R. Hoover, and R. Ritchie. 197 1. Tales of caves and men.Natural Hi story of Texas Caves, Dallas, Gulf Nat. Hi st. :157-167.Comstock. T. B. 1890. Preliminary report on the geology of the CentralMineral Region of Texas. First Annual Report of the Geological Surveyof Texas, 1889, Austin. State Printing Office. :235-39 1.Elliott. W. R. 1987. Beaver Creek Bat Cave. Texas Caver. 32: 137- 138. I-ll .Elliott. W. R. 1992. Cave fauna conservati on in Texas. pp. 323-337 inFoster, D.G. (ed.). 199 1 Nat!. Cave Mgmt. Symp. Proc. Amer. CaveConsv. Assoc .. Horse Cave. Kentucky.Elliott. W.R. 1994. Conservation of Texas caves and karst. pp. 85-98 inElliott. W. R .. and Veni. G. (eds.). The Caves and Karst of Texas. NSSConventi on Guidebook.Elliott, W. R., and Reddell. J. R. 1989. The status and range of fi ve endangeredarthropods from caves in the Austin. Texas region . A report supportedby the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. and the Nature Conservancyfor the Austin Regional Habitat Conservation Plan. I 03 pp.Elliott, W. R., and Veni . G. (eds.). 1994. The Caves and Karst of Texas.NSS Convention Guidebook.Fieseler, R. G. 1978. Cave and karst di stribut ion of Texas. pp. 15-53 inFieseler, R. G., Jasek, J., and Jasek. M. (eds.) . An Introduction to theCaves of Texas. NSS Convention Guidebook. 19.Flack, B. 195 1. Caving society organized at Uni versity of Texas (contributedby Bob Flack_from a letter to the Grottoes Committee by J .L.Ri ggs). Nat!. Speleol. Soc. News. 9(7): I.Fralia, B. 1989. Longhorn Cavern Cleanup project. Texas Caver.34(5): I 03.1-103.2.Frank, R. M. 1964. The vertebrate paleontology of Texas caves. TexasSpeleological Survey. 2(3). 43 pp.Hudson, B. 1976. Deadman's Hole. An historical report. Texas Caver.2 1: 122- 124.Kastning, E. H., Jr. 1983. Geomorphology and hydrogeology of theEdwards Plateau karst. Central Texas. unpublished PhD, Uni v. TexasAustin. xxx i + 656 pp.Kunath, C. E. 1965. Ye Olde History. 60 pp.Lundelius, E.[L. , Jr.] . 1958. Fossil bones in Longhorn Cavern. Texas Caver.3( I): 18. (Reprinted in: Speleo Digest, 1958(2): II 0. 1959.)Lundelius, E. L., Jr. 1967. Late-Pleistocene and Holocene faunal history ofcentral Texas. Pp. 287-3 19 in: P.S. Martin and H.E. Wright . Jr .. eels.Pleistocene ex tincti ons. The search for a cause. Proceedings of the VIICongress of the Intern ati onal Association for Quaternary Research. 6.New Haven: Yale Uni versi ty Press.Lundelius, E. L., Jr., and B. H. Slaughter. 197 1. Fossi l vert ebrate remainsin Texas caves. Pp. 15-27 in: E. L. Lundelius. Jr.. and B. H. Slaughter.eds. Natural hi story of Texas caves. Dallas: Gulf Natural History.Lundelius, E. L., Jr. , R. W. Graham, E. Anderson, J. Guilday. J .. A.Holman, D. W. Steadman, and S. D. Webb. 1983. Terrestrial vert ebratefa unas. Pp. 3 11 -353 in : Porter, S.C., ed. The late Pleistocene. In : H. E.Wright, Jr. , ed., Late-Quaternary environments of the United States. I.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Mathews, W. H. 1963. The geologic story of Longhorn Cavern . Guidebook4. Burea u Econ. Geo., Un iv. Texas Austin.Meador, J .T. 1964. Confederate cavers. Texas Caver. 9( I 0): 145- 146. andSpeleo Digest, 1964:276-277.Meador, J.T. 1965 . How Dead mans Cave got its name. Texas Caver. I 0:28-29.Patton, T. H. 1963. Fossi l remains or southern bog lemming in Pleistocenedeposits of Texas. Journal of Mamma logy. 44:275-277.Phillips, W. B. 190 1. The bat guano caves or Texas. Mines an d Minerals.2 1:440-442Reddell , J. R. 1991. Further study of the statu s and range or endangeredarth ropods from caves in the Austin. Texas region. A report to the U. S.Fish and Wildlife Service.Semken. H. A. , Jr. 196 1. Fossil vertebrates from Longhorn Cavern. BurnetCounty. Texas. Texas J. Sci. , 13:290-3 10.Sprouse. P. 1993. Waldman Cave. UTG News, XII. No.6: 1-3.Wahl , R. 1989. Important Mexican free-tai led bat colonies in Texas. pp. 47-50 in Jorden. J. R .. and R. K. Obele (eds.). 1989 Natl. Cave Mgmt. Proc.Texas Cave Mgmt. Assoc . and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.Warton. M. 1990. Resurrecti on Well. Texas Caver, 35:86-87, 9 1.White, P. J. 1948. Caves of Central Texas. Bull. Na t I. Speleol. Soc .. I 0:46-64.The Texas Caver June 199555

Contacts For AccessingAvailable Caves In TexasBy Nico M. HauwertCavcrs may be frustrated by getting access to cavesbecause they may not know of avail able caves or who tocontact for access. Some caves are avail abl e for greatervolumes of users than others. Some of these caves areavai lable for recreati on, some may have limited accessbecause of seasonal bat populations, de li cate formations,land-owner relati ons, or for other reasons. This article isintended to let cavers know some of the available cavesin Texas and who to contact for access to them.Un less noted as "open access", the caves li sted aregated, fenced. or on private property and the specifiedcontact must be contacted in advance for access. Some ofthe cave areas li sted are available onl y for "work" trips,where the cavcr vo lunteers for locating caves, mappingthe caves. or he lping with cleanup or restorati on projects.These work projects can actually be very enj oyable andin many cases allow for some recreati onal caving. Forthose that arc newly discoverin g the wonders of caving,you arc encouraged to go with members from your localgrott o.The li stin gs arc organi zed as foll ows:Cave. Locati onCont ac t person. Ph oneRecommended Maximum Party SizeTexas Cave ManagementAssociationTCMA is a non-profit organi zation that is dependent onnH.:ml1l:rship fees. management fees. and donations to maintain their caves and to accuire new caves. A TCMA membermay be required to accompany trips to TCMA ownedcaves and on TCMA sponsored trips. For this reason, it isrecommemlcd that cavcrs join TCMA and support TCMA ·sefforts to preserve and make more caves avai I able.Whirlpool Cave. SW AustinNico M. Hau we rt. (5 12) 282-844120 personsLost Oasis Cave. SW Austinico M. Hauwcrt. (5 12) 282-844 1I 0 personsRobber Baron, San AntonioCarl Ponebshek, (210) 824-4843Bob Cowell, (2 1 0) 662-9171James Loftin, (2 1 0) 731-9392Kurt Menking, (2 10) 654-301410 personsNotes: A maze cave with poor air. No carbide lamps.0-9 Well, North of OzonaGralin Coffin, (9 15) 682-1904Walter Feaster, (9 15) 699-70495 personsNote: requires vertical equipment for pits with 130', 80',60 ', and three 10' drops and wetsuits. No trips fromSept. 5 through May I. No pets or groundfires. Limit offour trips per year.Amazing Maze, Ft. StocktonGralin Coffin, (915) 682-1904Walter Feaster, (9 15) 669-7049No limitNote: No pets or groundfires. One month advance notificationreauested .Texas Cave ConservancyThis non-profit organization expects to add a number of newcaves within the next year. For more information about newcaves, contact Pat Copeland (915) 643-2952 home (915)646-9583 work or Mike Walsh (210) 629-2169.Turkey Pen (Camp Wood), Real CountyDoug Allen, (5 12) 476-9031Note: This cave is available for surveying trips only at thistim e.City of Austin Park CavesThe caves on City of Austin Parklands are available forrecreation, education, and cleanups. The City of AustinParks and Recreation Department has authorized the specifiedTexas Cave Management Association contact to allow56June 1995The Texas Caver

access into these caves. Unauthorized modification of thesecaves, such as digging, blasting, or enlarging passages isstrictly prohibited. Hauling out trash, however, is encouraged.District Park, SW AustinBill Russell, (512) 453-47748 personsMidnight Cave, SW AustinBill Russell, (512) 453-477410 personsof a work trip. If you are interested in finding new caves andsurveying known caves, work trips are available in these twoparks.State Park, LocationContact person, PhoneColorado Bend State Park, S of Bend, TexasEd Young, (915) 628-3449Butch Fra1ia, (8 17) 346-2029Rune Burnett, (512) 444-11 27Keith Heuss, (5 12) 280-2812Note: Requires vertical equipment for 70' drop.cleanups are peiformed during the year.Airman's Cave, SW AustinBill Russell , (512) 453-477410 personsNote: Open access but tight entrance and long crawl.CaveGovernment Canyon Nat. Area, NW of San AntonioGeorge Veni, (2 10) 558-4403Note: First weekend of each month. Contact must be notifiedin advance for access.Other Caves and Cave ProjectsMaple Run, SW AustinBill Russell,(512) 453-47748 personsGoat Cave, SW AustinBill Russell, (512) 453-477420 personsNote: Requires vertical equipment or ladder for 20' drop.Cave Mapping ProjectsPowell's Cave, NW of MenardTerry Holsinger, (512) 443-4241unlimitedSonora Restoration Project, SonoraGeorge Veni, (210) 558-4403Note: Restoration is conducted on an annual basis during aperiod to be announced. No recreational caving off of thetrail because of fragile formations.Bracken Bat Cave, New BraunfelsKurt Menking, (2 1 0) 654-3014 home, (2 1 0) 224-8511 workBob Cowell, (2 1 0) 662-9171Note: Maintained by Bexar Grotto for the Bat Conservationlntemational.Cave is closed to access during the summerwhen bats populate the cave, although impressive bat .flightscan be seen from the viewing area during this time.Honey Creek Cave, W of New BraunfelsMark Minton, (512) 847-7422 home, (512) 471-5955 workKurt Menking,(2 1 0) 654-3014 home, (2 1 0) 224-8511 workunlimitedNote: Requires wetsuit. Vertical gear may be required toenter or exit 150ft deep shaft located about four hours fromthe natural entrance.Caves in the Texas State Parksand Natural AreasCave surveys are currently being conducted in ColoradoBend and Government Canyon State Parks. The caves inthese parks are not open to recreational caving except as partThe Texas Caver June 199557

Entrance 10 Po ::.o De Ln Pen(/CAVING INNORTHERNCOAHUILAby Peter prouseI want to stat e ri ght up front th at it"s Ron Ralph "s faullthat l" ve spent so mu ch time out in the barren desert ofnorthern Coahuil a of late. When he dec lared hi s intent tohl1 ld the 1994 SS Conve nti on in Texas. I knew the onl yway l"d avoid thl' politi cal pitfalls woul d be to vo lunteer' right off to work on field trips. Since the conventionwould be held only 50 kilometers from the Coahuilaborder, the long-neglected limestone of the northernportion of that state seemed a logical target.Despite being adjacent to Texas, home to 1000cavers, and holding the second largest expanse ofMexican limestone (after Yucatan), northernCoahuila was almost completely unexplored forcaves. This may seem odd, particularly in light of thefact that this border area requires no immigrationpapers whatsoever. But there are good reasons forthis, aside from the obvious allure of the spectacularkarsts farther south in Mexico. One reason is access,since the area is largely comprised of large, remoteprivate ranches secured by locked gates. But the realinhibition in the past was that the area had a bad reputationfor lawlessness on the part of the authorities.Until the 1980's travellers risked abuse by policewith overly broad powers to combat drug smuggling.When the government finally got seriousabout cleaning up police corruption in the late1980's the problems diminished, and the caving~ began.First into the area was Joel King, a San Antoniocaver who had gone to school with HomeroAmezcua of Cd. Acuna. Homero told him of a pit onhi s Rancho Seco an hour' s drive west of town.SUtano de Amezcua turned out to be a significantfind (see Texas Caver issue Dec.l993). It was a 65meter pit at the bottom of a large sink, with severalhundred meters of stream passage at the bottom. Inthis stream were found a new type of blind catfish.With two other troglobitic catfish known from farthersouth in Coahuila, this suggested the possibilitys--6.·-."'-t::lil of an extensive karst aquifer system. After the explorationand mapping of this cave we learned of and-SIIsie L_c..;; ls .. k•o• gained access to other promising ranches fartherwest in Coahuila.In November 1993 Jody Horton, Susie Lasko, and I metin Acuna with the owner of Rancho Corrales, which is locatedon the northern edge of the Sierra del Burro southwest ofChupadero del Caballo. The owner's son was driving out tothe ranch on a cattle-hauling run and would guide us there.We headed out the western road past Rancho Seco for severalmore hours. · We were impressed with the distancesin volved in getting to these remote ranches. Finally wereached Rancho Corrales, nestled in a cove in the foothills.We had been warned that the pit we were to visit had beenused as a trash dump for the past eight years. A couple ofbolts got us down the 22-meter shaft to the inevitable trashmound. I scrounged around for a few bugs, we finished thesurvey and got out of there. They called this A bra del Pastor,for supposedl y a shepherd fell to hi s death there years ago.The rancher assured us that there were many more caveson hi s other ranch higher in the mountains called El Nevado,but thi s was just a weekend trip for us and we hadn' t antici-58June 1995The Texas Caver

pated getting so far out into the desert, so we had to turnback.Jody Horton In Abra Del Pastor-Peter SprouseA WORLD OF MUDIn January 1995 I set off for the desert again, this time withPat Geery and Robert Crowder riding with me in theTrooper. It was pouring rain the night we passed throughAcuna, so we decided to grab a hotel room for the night anddrive the road out in the morning. Past the end of the pavementthe normally dusty road turned to mud. Endless mud,negotiated in four-wheel drifts. I was glad to have the widemud grips on. Our worst problem was visibility, as the tiresthrew a constant rain of mud onto the windshield. The washerwater soon expired and the wipers couldn't handle theload. To stick your head out the window meant a facefull. Soat times all we could do is drive blind, letting the ruts carryus along like a train. It was an interesting experience.After a time we came across a mired pickup hauling a cattletrailer. It turned out to be our rancher' s son, so we offeredto try to pull them out. They discussed my "jeepecito" dubiouslyamongst themselves, and having nothing to lose said"sure". I managed to get around them and lined up to pullthem backwards. With everyone pushing we crept along inslow motion until they were free.At Rancho Corrales the ranch-hands showed us the roadup into the mountains and left us to find the way with a fewverbal directions. It was an interesting drive in fog so thickthat we couldn' t see the landscape we were driving through.It lifted a bit when we topped out on a mesa 400 metersabove the plain. There we found the Rancho el Nevadoranch-hand, Benito, waiting for us. He lived with his familyin a quiet valley at the base of the impressive Cerro elNevado, an igneous intrusion poking up through the surroundinglimestone. He offered to take us over to the adjoiningranch where his brother worked, to stay in an old traveltrailer for the night. As it was still cold and rainy, we accepted.Also called El Nevado, this ranch had a few more vaquerosaround, as well as a captive black bear.The next day Benito' s brother took us on a hike down acanyon to the northwest of Cerro el Nevado. We were showna number of good-looking entrances in the canyon walls,some of which would require vertical work to reach. We didcheck two caves at the base of the cliffs. Cueva NumeroTrece was tectonic in nature, with the roof soaring high up toa skylight. Cueva del Molcajete was a short formation cavethat had been inhabited, as evidenced by a bedrock molcajeteand smoky ceiling. Nice little caves, but not really what wewere looking for.Benito recalled having found a spot on the mesa where astrong wind blew out of the ground, but couldn' t rememberexactly where it was. We encouraged him to try, so we setabout combing the hillsides north of El Nevado. It tookawhile, but eventually he found it when he noticed a sotolwhipped by the breeze. As we approached we could hear thewind emitting from the earth. No opening was visible, butafter removing a joshua tree we could see cracks around aboulder. Even Benito became excited as we cleared looserocks and dirt down to bedrock. What we found was a holeabout 15 em in diameter which seemed to go horizontallyinto the hillside. The wind was too strong to look into it withunprotected eyes, and glasses immediately fogged.Obviously, some major bedrock removal would be requiredto get into this cave.We headed down the mountain to meet the rancher, whowanted to show us some entrances in Canon el Caballo at thebase of the range. We followed hi s truck through the foggycanyon, where some of the leads he showed us were shroudedin mi st. We hiked up to one cave that we mapped, Cuevael Retiro. It went into a short crawlway with a false floor ofdeep dust. The road back to Acuna was a bit better, thoughstill quite muddy. The windshield of the Trooper retainedmany scratches from the mud-wiping episode.EXCAVATIONSince my goal at this point was to gather leads for the preconventionfield camp, we set out on one more trip to try toopen up the blowing hole. Seven of us left town the eveningof 17 February 1994 in David McKenzie's Suburban"Simba": David, Robert Crowder, Pat Geery, Jody Horton,Mark Blaze, Paul Reavely, and me. We stopped to see therancher in Acuna, then drove the rest of the way on toRancho el Nevado. Arrived at the gate at 5:30 a.m. and setThe Texas Caver June 199559

up tents for a bit of sleep.We arose at 9:00 and gathered up tools for our dig. Benitoarri vcd and took the firstwave down to our blowinghole lead. Pat uncovereda hole I .5 metersupslope from the bl owholethat came close toconnectin g, so we set thefirst two-sti ck chargeth ere. It at first seemed tobe in effecti ve, but it hadbl own a small conn ecti oninto the cave. With someenl argement we th enjammed two more sti cksinto it, enl argin g it some.By th e n lhe roof wasfrac tured such th at persistentham mering gain ed usan enlrance to a crawl ­way. The nex t severalcharges look out bits ofan easil y digable floor. Although the wind was in stasis atthe time, it began to pick up enough to tell we had the wayon. But it was time to go, so we stashed some____ supplies and left it for the next trip. We bathedat Pila el Nevado and headed down the mountainand on into Acufia. We dined at Crosby' s,and reached Austin about 1:00 a.m.CONVENTION CAMPFor the pre-convention field camp I had registeredas many people as wanted to go, whichfortuitously was about the number I thought wecould handle. Signed up were Don Bittle, KayBittle, Teaka Dearing, Judy Fisher, JohnFogarty, Paul Fowler, Andrea Futrell, MikeFutrell, Diana Gietl, Peter Grant, Pete Hollings,Jody Horton, Jack Kehoe, Paul Mozal, RayNance, Marion Smith, Steve Smith, Steve~- ~~~ Taylor, Marc Tremblay, Brian Watkins, and:.,;;l.Z':; ,.~!jij myself. We rendezvoused the weekend beforethe convention at Fort Clark Springs and left afew extraneous vehicles there before setting outthe next day. The trip out the desert road waspretty much trouble free, aside from one flat tirefal se noor, givin g steady N"ll\'lb.!ii1. .. ~_.. i.-,_and a points adjustment in my Power Wagonprogress. Robert , Jody,bus, which was making its first Mexico trip inand Mark did the seventh17 years. We set camp next to a large steelblasl lhat evening, and Da vid McKenzie in Blowhole Peter Sprousewater tank which would supply us with plentycame back reporl i ng thaiof water for the week.th ere was a lol more work to do.What followed was a flurry of activity, with cavers rang-The nex l day we decided to leave the di g for awhile and ing widely over the area, hunting and exploring caves.dri ve off 10 the southwest to look for two caves that Benito's Unfortunately I wasn't involved with much of it, since Ifri e nd Ri cardo had to ld him o f on Rancho el Dos. came clown with a mysterious illness that afflicted me untilUnfonunalely Ri cardo could not be located, but we decided after the convention. It turned out to be an obscure cave dislogoanyway. The dri ve was about 22 winding miles to theease called relapsing fever,soulhwesl. and look lhree hours. We were thencaused by a tick bite I'dal the base of a hi gh anliclinal ridge, at the basereceived the week before inof whi ch was supposed 10 be another bl owingan Austin cave.hole . Also nearby was reponed to be a pit intoDown in the blowhole, therewhi ch rocks fell a long ways. We split into twowere several more diggingleams 10 ridgewalk. bul fail ed to find eithertrips that extended the cave toenlrance. T he area did look good. so we vowedabout 35 meters in length. Atlo relllrn wilh I he proper guide. On lhe way backthat point it was slopingwe checked in wi lh a fe ll ow named Cosme atclown , still blowing, with·j id o Mariano Escobedo. Go1 back 10 camp well 1 ', '\ rocks blocking the way.alkr dark .A new pit called Pozo de IaThe foll owin g day Pat and I we nl into theEscalera Crista! was foundcra wl and moved large amounts of material out.between camp and El NevadoThen I moved up lo sci the eighth charge. Thethat went down three drops,low bedd in g plane conlinued ahead. whil e a t with several well-decoratedmore pro mi sing slopin g bedrock slot dropped ..chambers containing numerdowninlo an open lower leve l. Bolh were tak- "'ous paleontological remains.ing air. A small crack in lhe ceiling on the ri ghtDon Bittle and Steve Taylorwas pcrfccl fo r a zipl oc k stuff. I jammed fo urhave written good accounts ofsli cks worlh inlo il and il worked spcclacularly. ~~~li~:~fi thi s cave in the summer 1994Mark wcnl in and crawled ri ght through. Fifleen issue of the Crawlway~ ~ Jack Kehoe in Po~o de Ia Escalera Crista /lllCiers of open crawl led IO a low bellycrawl wi th-Marc Tremblay Courier, newsletter of the60June 1995The Texas Caver

Little Egypt Grotto. This cave is 200 meters long and 64meters deep.Mike and Jack led a number of trips down to Cafion elCaballo at the base of the mountain where quite a few caveswere explored. None were of much extent. The rancher didshow up to take Mike and crew up onto a ridge east of thereto a nice pit called Pozo de Columpio. This went down aseries of drops to a depth of 62 meters.Several caves were mapped in the canyons west of ElNevado as well. At the end of the week we packed up campand headed back toward Acufia. Not far from town our caravanof vehicles passed astrange-looking naked manby the roadside. A minutelater Jody's truck came to ascreeching halt with alocked-up rear end. Withonly an hour or two of workhe had it back togetheragain. Did the odd-lookingbrujo back up the road cast a I'Miri'W~'I:'i.lcurse on us? This theorygained credence later whenwe reached the conventionsite and heard the Bittle'stale. Don, who was at thehead of the caravan, hadsoon tired of waiting forJody's truck to be repaired.After picking up a cow skullfrom the roadside they wenton across the border.Halfway to Brackettville ascorpion crawled out of theskull and stung Kay on thefinger. They spent the nextday or so running back andforth to the doctor.Marion 0. Smith soecond pitch in Pozo De Columpio-Mike FutrellFARTHER INTO THEDESERTI still had a number of leads left to follow up after the dustof the NSS convention settled. One of these was from a DelRio school principal who had called up the convention committeeto see if we would come explore his pit in northwestCoahuila. We made arrangements to do that in January 1995,and Pat Geery, Jody Horton, Susie Lasko and met the rancherin Del Rio. We rode out to the ranch in his pickup, and itwas a very long trip across the desert. Rancho Ia Pir·midewas a lot farther out the desert road than we had been, andwe aJTived very late that night.The next day we all hiked up a nearby ridge to the pit. Itwas a very nice entrance indeed. Smooth bedrock slopedinto a pit that seemed reasonably deep. Although broken bya rebelay at a ledge halfway down, it was really a 61 meterdrop. I didn ' t quite get to the bottom before running out ofrope, so I spent half an hour or so waiting for more and star-ing into a huge borehole I couldn' t quite reach. Soon, wewere down, and exploring through the new borehole.This was big passage, 20-30 meters in diameter and 100meters long. Big breakdown blocks were nearly buried indeep dust into which we sank up to our thighs. This placewas very dry, drier than the desert above, sinking therancher's hopes of a new water source. A few mummifiedbuzzards seemed to emphasize this point.Rather than take the long rough road back to Acuna wedecided to exit Mexico at La Linda and drive the highwaysback to Del Rio, a longer but better route. Since therancher's brother appeared to be having aheart attack, this seemed the prudent thingto do.There are still many things to do in thenorthern desert, and Terry Sayther is downthere doing some of them as I write thesewords. I'm sure that after a few trips oftropical rain I'll be ready to venture out thedusty roads once again.CAVE DESCRIPTIONSPOZO SIN OSORancho el Nevado, CoahuilaDepth: 12 metersUTM coordinates: E 790,625 N 3,239,670This pit is located 1800 meters north of Cen·oel Nevado at an elevation of 1158 meters. It is asmall bedrock pit on the north side of adrainage. It is a blind pit about 12 meters deep.Pozo Sin Osos was located in January 1994, andexplored in June 1994.CUEVA DE LAS AVISPASEl Nevado, CoahuilaLength: 9 meters Depth: 3.0 metersUTM coordinates: E 783, 150 N 3,238,740This cave is situated on the east side of Canonel Bloque 7500 meters west-northwest of Cerro el Nevado, at anelevation of I 040 meters. It is in a south-facing cliff. The entranceis 1.5 meters high and I meter wide, narrowing to a low crawl. Itgets too low in a tlowstone pinch. It was explored by John Fogartyand Ray Nance in June 1994.CUEVAS CON YIST ASEl Nevado, CoahuilaUTM coordinates: 784,755 N 3,237,100This is a cluster of five caves on the east side of Canon Botella,6000 meters west of Cerro el Nevado. They are in the canyon wall40 meters up a slope at I 135 meters elevation, and have the appearanceof cliff dwellings. Two of these go through a rock outcrop.These caves were ex plored and mapped in June 1994 by JohnFogarty and Ray Nance.CUEVA DE CACA DE RA TONESEl Nevado, CoahuilaThe Texas Caver June 199561

Length: 40 meters Depth: 3 meters UTM coordinates: E 2 10,525 N3,24 1,690Thi ~ cave is located about 6200 meter northeast of Cerro elcvado along the east side of Canon el Caballo. The entrance is atI 000 meters elevation, and leads into a hori zontal passage whichgraduall y diminishes until it becomes too ti ght. T he fl oor is coveredwith fine dust and rat feces. It was ex pl ored by John Fogarty, SteveSmith ,

ending. It was explored in June 1994 by Andrea Futrell , MikeFutrell , Diana Gietl, Jack Kehoe, and Marc Tre mblay.CUEVA DE CIENTO AVISPASEl Nevada, CoahuilaLength : 23 meters Depth: 5 metersUTM coordinates: E 2 12,645 N 3,248,640Cueva de Ciento Avispas is located 4600 meters south of RanchoCorrales, at 890 meters elevation. It is in the west cli ff wall ofCanon el Caballo. It has a wide shelter-like entrance that narrowsto a pinch in the back. Some archeo remains as well as looter's pitswere noted by explorers Andrea and Mike Futrell.that is covered in deep dust.Pozo de Ia Pena was explored on 14 January 1995 by Pat Geery,Jody Horton. Susie Lasko. and Peter Sprouse.POZO DECOLUMPIOMUNICIPIO DE ACUNA I COAHUILA I MEXICOPOZO DE COLUMPIOEl Nevada, CoahuilaLength: I 00 meters Depth: 62 metersUTM coordinates: E 214,440 N 3,244,700Pozo de Columpio is located 9800 meters northeast of Cerro elViejo at 990 meters elevation. It consists of a number of rope dropsand climbs. The entrance is a 7-meter climbdown, followed by aslope to a 6-meter pitch. A short climb then leads to a 17-meterdrop. A 3-meter drop leads down to a rift that is too narrow to pursue.This cave was explored on 16 June by the Futrell s, Diana Gietl ,Jack Kehoe, Marion Smith, and Marc Tremblay.CUEVA DE LA SORPRESAEl Nevada, CoahuilaLength : 75 meters Depth: 9 metersUTM coordinates: E 784,790 N 3,236,9~ 50 -SURVEYED161 1994A. FUTRELLM. FUTRELLD. GIETLJ. KEHOEM. SMITHM. TREMBLAYThis cave is located 5900 meters west-southwest of Cerro elNevada. It is on the east side of Canon Botella at I I I 0 meters elevation.The cave has several Y -junctions which all pinch. It wasmapped on 15 June 1994 by Marion Smith and Peter Sprouse.cCUEVA WYSIWYGEl Nevada, CoahuilaLength : 15 meters Depth: II metersUTM coordinates: E 783,105 N 3,238,74010-20-30-Cueva WYSIWYG is located on the east side of Canon el Bl oque7500 meters west-northwest of Cerro el Nevada. It is at the base of 40-the cliff-wall at I 040 meters elevation. Just inside the entrance onthe left wall are some pictographs. Beyond the cave extends up aclimb to a blind domepit. It was explored on 15 June 1994 byMarion Smith and Peter Sprouse.Pl7POZO DELA PENARancho Ia Piramide, CoahuilaLength: 200 meters Depth: 83 metersUTM coordinates: E 746,895 N 3,279,38050-Thi s pit is located 3500 meters northeast of Rancho Ia Pi ram ide at885 meters elevation. It is near the top of a ridge. A bedrock sin kslopes into a pit 5 by I 0 meters across. About 5 meters down is amajor ledge, but rigging on the north side avoids that for a 27-meterdrop. This lands at the base of a slope where the shaft continuesdown fo r another 34 meters. This pitch ends at the top of a talusslope leading down into a large borehole. This passage is 20-30meters in diameter and I 00 meters long. It is fl oored in breakdownI IAIR62-I TTMFThe Texas Caver June 199563

.......c~0\~\0\0Ul~@~@ @® ~@ ~@©@~@[]@ ©[]0@~@~Mexico, CoahuilaLegendnb Natural Bridgev"' Zero DatumA ColumnA StalagmiteV StalactiteT Soda Straws• Coraloids? Unknown4:: SlopeQPitChange in Floor\.. Elevation., Chanf.!e in" Ceihng Height""' BreakdownIs Too SmallNotesIbonesiHuman remainsClam shellDeer skeletonSnake skeletonBaar skullCougar/JaguarUnidentified skullSmall cat bonesCaver's lightsvisible throughopenings381t/11.6mRappel ToMiddle LevelNmJune 1994Feet f " " "l"l ~0 I 4fI \ II II I IMeters o 10Scale381t/11 .6mRappelEntrance~82fV25m -Rappel---r•l$l5t\Surveyed 14 & 16 June 1994Don BittlePeter GrantPaul MozalRay NanceManon SmithSteve TavtorBrian WatkinsTotal Length of Survey657ft/200.4mTotal Depth 211ft/64.3m-40-80-120Scale:-20-40-160....,::::;(1)~:>

- :~tootight 7,,~INmPLANCUEVA CACA DE RATONESEL NEVADO, COAHUILASuunlos and tape survey 14 June 1994John Fogarty, Paul Fowler, Sieve SmithDrafted by Peter SprouseLength: 40 meters Depth: 3 meters10METERSPROFILE: 350" VIEW0ABRA DEL PASTORRANCHO CORRALES, COAHUILASuunlos and lape survey 6 November 1993Jody Horton, Susie Lasko, Peler SprouseDrafted by Peler SprouseLength: 30 meters Deplh: 24 meters10P2215Nm ----------~o-,,20.·,, . '..,o -: I~E-I' I TRASH 1 _·:_,'.PLAN24 METERSThe Texas CaverJune 199565

a­a-_..,C).a. 0 .~ ~ --.-(________-/ 0 _j-v- .0 --~l.o:·. o .. . .......,.... . . . ~. . - . . 1--.:.. ;,..-->-'-------:..:011w()gzw~'­ c::::l(1>\0\0Ul0 5 10~(cPOZO DE LA PENALA PIRAMIDE, COAHUILASuuntos and tape suNey 14 Jan. 1995Pat Geary, Jody Horton, Susie LaskoDrafted by Peter SprouseLength: 200 meters Depth: 63 metersmeters 010P27~--c-2030....,::r~(;3>CllnQ:>

This is a column devoted entirely to gear review, testingand abuse. What's the point? To find out which pieces ofequipment are worth a **** and which ones aren't.Obviously, there is a lot of subjectivity and Opinion, but itshould still help out with your gear purchasing decisions. Ifyou would like to see a particular piece of gear tested, writeto:The Inquisition4019 RamsgateSan Antonio, TX 78230-1629Also, if you feel that I am way out of line with a particularreview, write a rebuttal and we'll publish it in this column.The BMS MicrorackThe BMS Microrack is manufactured by a New Jerseycaver (I know, I know get a rope!) at the Bassett MetalStudios. The first production models came off the line in thesummer of '94 and I came across them at the NCRCNational Seminar in Virginia of the same year. TheMicrorack is a I 00% stainless steel U-rack with four stainlesssteel brake bars. The top bar is a "J-bar" that extends outfrom the frame of the rack and has a stainless roll pin in theend to keep the rope on the J-bar. Unlike the traditional SMCracks, the open end of the rack is the top where two selflockingnuts hold the whole thing together and you clip in tothe bottom end of the "U". This is becoming a more commondesign, but it sure made me a little nervous at first. However,the manufacturer showed me certified test results where theself locking nuts stripped off the rack at over 14, 000 pounds('), so I stopped worrying.Using the Microrack is like a dream come true. It is 1/3 thebulk and size of a standard rack, goes on and off the ropemuch more efficiently and is just as versatile as the old rack.Most of the time, you can rappel with the four brake barsgiving plenty of friction . If you need more friction, you simplyput the rope up and over the J-bar and you have all thefriction you could possibly need. If the four bars are toomuch, such as when you are using really old and dirty 7 /16"The InquisitionBy Joe Ivyrope, you use only the top two bars with the J-bar wrap andyou have about the same control you get with a Figure 8.Obviously, you would only use the two-bar configuration ona short nuisance drop of I 0 meters or less. The only questionthat still remains about the Microrack is how it would do ona really big pit like Sotano de Las Golondrinas (335 meters).To date, the longest drop that the Microrack has been usedon is a I 05 meter deep pit in Pozo de Montemayor, and itworked great there.The other complaint I've run into is that you can' t do apull-down rappel with the Microrack. This is only true if youare referring to the old double-rope type of pulldown, sincethe Microrack is only wide enough for one rope. However ifyou rig the pulldown in a slightly different way (see illustration),you only need to run one half of the rope through therack. I've found this to be a more convenient way to rig pulldownsanyway, regardless of which rappel device 1 use.Locking off the Micrcorack is also much more easilyaccomplished than with the old-style racks. All you do is putthe rope over the J-bar then bring it back down and pass abite of rope through the bottom of the rack from front toback, pull it up and hook it off the J-bar with the rest of therope. What's nice about this lockoff is that you can do it easilyand quickly with only one hand and it is much moresecure than an old style rack.All in all, the BMS Microrack is truly a new and wonderfulinnovation, even if it is made in New Jersey. It is small,compact and easy to use. It is also very durable. Between theMontemayor trip in November of '94 and the Cheve epeditionthis Spring, I put at least 1700 meters (more than a mile)through the thing and it's just now getling signifigantgrooves in the two top bars. The bottom two are still fine.The Microrack's suggested retail price is $55.00- about thesame as an SMC rack with aluminum brake bars. Currently,the only vendor carrying the Microrack in Texas is GonzoGuano Gear in San Antonio. I think that the Microrack is thewave of the future, since caving gear in general is movingtowards the lighter, stronger more compact end of the scale.Once you use one, you won't want to use your clunky oldstylerack again. Catch the wave!~ ..III•••awn~~ L't' ./~ !( r I I I""} I /'l ltr6o

DTIMPROFILEWilliam RussellBy Tim StitchBill Ru ssell was born in Houston and grew up in TulsaOklahoma and Bryan, Texas, although he considers the facthe was born in Texas the more important feature of hi s childhood.Bill 's father was a geologist and thus exposed him tothe di sc ipline and showed him it's allure. Bill majored inphysical geography at UT. While in school he was veryinterested in caving and even more so in launching rockets.The UT Rocket Club built solid fuel rockets and got tolaunch th em at a military test ground on the coast. Thesewere a far cry from the kind you can buy at a hobby store,and some of th em reached 30,000 feet in altitude! But therocket professionals came in , and the club changed, and Billmore or less turned to cavin g as hi s main hobby. Bill hasbeen intensely interested for some time in making archivesof cave maps and cave descriptions. Over the years he hascoll ected cave data in cluding maps of several hundred cavesin Travis county alone. At hi s home he has a chalk boardwith the names of hi s current cave dig leads and the manhours that have been spent on them to date. Many of Bill 'sdi gger he lpers arc recruited UT Grotto members who arenew to cavin g and are full of enthusiasm. Bill teaches hi sdi ggers many sk ill s not the least of which are surveying andmapping techniques. Bill al so works on the records of theTex as pelcological Survey with James Redell. This largedepository of cave maps. data. and descriptions is what madethe NSS conventi on guide book possible and has records ofTexas caves goin g back to before the 1930's.Bill was also in on the earl y clays of Mexico ex pl orationand continues to visit there in hi s somewhat abused, silverToyota 4-Runncr. Oddly enough. one of his first Mexicotrips was with a professor who was studyin g mites on birdswho nested ncar cave entrances. Bill. like other cavers, visited and spread the word about caves in the Bustamante arealike Palmito and Carrizal. In those days most people tookthe train to the station in Bustamante instead of all drivingtogether. The usual cave vehicle was whatever you had.ome of these passenger vehi cles couldn't quite make it allthe wa y to wh ·re the caves where. Bill remembers takinghi s Chevy Corvair to Huatla back when the road was justbuilt. som ·thing you wouldn't clare do today'Bill's first wild c.l\·e experi ence was in a Tennesseecave named Glover's Cave where flashlights were the onl ygear for young cave explorers. Land owners of that daywere happy to let anyone explore their caves; the legalatmosphere of the time being accommodating. Bill says thateven the Austin White Lime Company at one time had acave open to the public. Relationships between businesses,landowners, and the public were very good. Things havechanged since then, but Bill continues to practice the quietdiplomacy and non-political bargaining that has saved manyAustin caves from being paved over or filled in by developerswho weren't as sensitive to the need to preserve caves.Sometimes this was accomplished by merely pointing outthat caves were on a developer's property. Goat Cave preservein South Austin was set aside by the developer as apark when Bill and others simply showed him the caves.Bill also publishes professional quality karst studies and catalogsas many caves as he and his volunteer diggers candetect. There is even a project under way to dig into thecave beneath Bowie High School in Austin that hasinvolved many student volunteers and donated constructionequipment. For a time Bill was furiously trying to playcatch-up cataloging the endangered caves, but those years ofeffort have put him on a better footing. The environmentalmovement of late has charged the atmosphere of conservationefforts and great feelings of distrust have appearedbetween land developers in Travis County and cave conservationists.That's unfortunate, says Bill, because the actualamount of effort it takes to set aside a half of an acre or sofor cave preserves and a building a gate or grating on thecave entrance most developers have found to be a minor costconsideration. It's more the idea that you have to deal withthe issue at all and the accompanying media tlak that makesdevelopers wary. Regardless of what others will do in thename of cave conservation, no doubt Bill Russell will quietlygo on finding and negotiating the preservation of cavesbehind the scenes.There are many interesting people in the cavingcommunity that you may or may not have met. This profilecolumn will introduce you to some of these folks whoha ve been around a while and you may have somethingin collmwn with whether it be caving related or not. Thisis the first of hopefully a long series of profiles.68June 1995The Texas Caver

The Coordinator's CornerBy Joe IvyAs Texas Regional Coordinator of the National CaveRescue Commision, my job description includes the facilitationof cave rescue training and dissemination of cave rescuerelated information. The Coordinator's Comer is one waythat I will try to accomplish these goals.Last time, we covered some problems that exist With theTexas Cave Rescue Organization and some of the considerationsthat go With calling 91 1. We also talked about thenecessity of cavers knowing self rescue techniques. I hadhoped to start in on the self- rescue mater ial this time butthere is a little more information that needs to be out there,as well as some updates on the 911 scene in central Texas.First, let's cover the Good Samaritan Law. Most stateshave what is genericallv called a Good Samaritan Lawwhich is designed to protect rescuers from prosecution. InTexas, our Good Samaritan Law has the "Reasonable Man"clause that puts a caveat on the law. You are only protectedif you do not exeed you level of training and competency .For example, let's say that you're caving in Travis county(near Austin) with a group of new grotto members and oneof them falls and is injured. The injured caver is complainingof various aches and pains including back and neck painbut otherwise, they feel okay and none of the pains areexcruciatingly debilitating. You decide that they are okay toexit under their own power with assistance since they haveno obvious injuries ("obvious" means bones protruding fromthe skin and such). However, after exiting the cave, theystumble on the way back to the vehicles and go into seizure.This is a horrifying thing to see so you call 911 as soon asyou can. The modulance anives and takes the injured caverto the hospital where it is discovered that there was substantialc-spine and t-spine damage caused by the fall ("c-spine"or "cervical spine" refers to your neck and "t-spine" or "thoracicspine" refers to your spine approximately even withyour chest). This would have been fine if they had then beenplaced in a spinal immobilization unit like the OSS or KEDbefore being allowed to move. But you had them get up andthis allowed much more profound damage to occur such thatthey are now paralyzed from the chest down. If the family orthe injured caver sues you, their lawyer will ask you in courtwhat training you have that would enable you to decidewhether or not a person injured in a fall is okay. Are you aparamedic ? Are you an EMT? Were you aparamedic/EMT/doctor at some point in the past? If theanswer is "no," you exceeded the limits of your training andyou will be paying that lawyer and that family for a long,long time. The fact that you might have years of cavingexperience does not mean a thing. The fact that you were awell intentioned good samaritan does not mean anythingeither. Their lawyer will say that you were indeed a wellintentionedgood sanmaritan, but a REASONABLE MANwould have left the cave and called 911 because in the eyesof the law, that is the best thing to do. The injured caver wasin no imminent danger and therefore could have waitedthere until trained, competent help arrived on the scene.Now, if the cave had started to flood from a sudden cloudburstoutside, you would have been protected because theinjured caver would have definitely died if they hadremained in the cave any longer. Otherwise, you are in serioustrouble.What's the upshot of all this scary, doom-and-gloom information?Well, it is so that YOU as a caver in our modemday.litigous society are aware of the possible consequencesof attempting a self-rescue without any training. I have beeninvolved with the NCRC fo r several years, am currently anactive instructor as well as the Texas Region Coordinatorand in the scenario described above, I would not have movedthat injured caver- and I know how to put a spine splint on apatient with possible spine injuries! Instead, I would havecalled the folks I know in the Austin FD/EMS that aretrained in cave rescue and let them handle it and assistedthem in any way I could. Why? Because I am not a doctor orparamedic. In a wilderness setting (west Texas caving orMexico), I wouldn' t hesitate to use my training to deal withthe described scenario, though. I would have put the injuredcaver in a spine splint and gotten them to the nearest hospitalas quickly as possible. The point is, if there are 911 servicesavailable where you are caving and someone getsinjured during a caving trip, you should err on the conservativeside and call 911 to protect both yourself and the injuredperson. Obviously, I'm not advocating calling 911 whensomeone slips and gets a boo-boo on their wittle knee. But ifsomeone falls and has any sort of back/neck pain or breaks amajor bone (like the femur), you should call 91 I.And what about those folks trained in cave rescue in theAustin Fire Department/EMS?This is part of the 911 scene update I mentioned earlier.Currently, the City of Austin has no formal SOP's (standardoperating procedures) concerning cave rescue. However,Austin Fire Department /EMS has been told to come up withsome. The result is that an NCRC-trained fireman has beenassigned the job of coming up with the SOP's for the AFD.Now, some folks say that the agency folks can't cope withcaving or cave rescue but thi s particular fireman went withme to the Cheve Project this spring and helped rig the caveto the -650 meter level. Many of the agency folks who takeNCRC courses don ' t like caving much, but there alwaysseem to be a few that get bitten by that caving bug and startcaving with us here and in Mexico. Anyway, we will beworking to create a situation in Austin similar to the one weThe Texas Caver June 199569

have in San Antoni o; th at is, to develop a working relation­~ hip with the folks who have legal jurisdicti on over cave rescue.This way NCRC-trained cavers can assist or be assistedin any cave rescues th at occur. Plans are also under way forth e same arrangement in Hays and Coma] counties.To faci litate rescue training for both agency folks andcavers ali ke, we will be offering an NCRC Level I & IIcourse in San Antoni o thi s fall. As soon as we have soliddates, the seminar will be posted in tile TSA ActivitiesNewsletter. T he course will start on a Friday morning andrun the entire weekend . The fo ll owin g Friday, the schedulewill be repeated to complete the course in a total of six days.I know th at it is tough for most cavers to get that kind of timeoff so I wi ll also be contacting the various grotto chairpeople ac ross the state to offer NC RC Weekend Orientations ineach grotto's area if desired. Both the Level I & II courseand the Weekend Orientati on are extremely informative andhave lots of hand s-on training. If any of the afore-mentionedgrotto chairpeople reading thi s column want to go ahead andrequest a Weekend Orientati on, please feel free to call me at2 10-699- 1388 or send me a postcard (preferable) to:Joe IvyTexas Regional Coordinator40 19 RamsgateSan Antoni o. TX 78230- 1629And I promi se th at nex t time we will get into the more interestingand useful self-rescue type stuff.Cave Safely but Cave HardTrip ReportsCaving with Yogi and spacemenby Alex Smi th .O n the 12th of December 1994 I entered Lechuguilla Cave,N~.:w Mex ico. USA for a planned initial duration of fi vedays . My task was as an employee of the cave resourceoffi ce at Carlsbad Cavern s National Park to co-escort withassistant cave resource specialist Jason Ri chards a scientificr ·search group to the western secti on of the cave. This groupconsisted of three scient is ts from the National Aeronauticand Space Ad ministrati on (NASA). two Lech veterancavcrs. a photographer and a journalist doing an article forthc mithsoni an In stitute's peri odi cal. The purpose of thetrip was to further mi crobiological sampling and retrievaltcch ni qucs to be employed on the planned Mars expedition (the crap people come up with to get into Lech! ).T he whys and wherefores of my coming to be on this littil:jaunt arc fo un ded in ci rcumstance. chance. luck and beingcompletely pissed oil wi th the-onset of a British winter.After losing my job, I grabbed my final pay cheque and completelyout of the proverbial blue announced to all asundry Iwas buggering off to the States- much to the consternation ofStruan MacDonald and Nick Williams with whom I waslodging with on an alternating basis at this time, pleadingpoverty and prostitution. The United States was a country Inever got to visit during my seven year sentence in the RoyalNavy, hence Carlsbad Caverns, the Guadalupe Mountainsand Lechuguilla Cave where just images constructed fromarticles, personal recollections and photographs from arather well known Swiss bestseller. So, without further ado,I cracked out Nick's Rand McNally and all back issues ofthe NSS news he held, then using his office, faxed, E-mailedand spoke to the world across the pond, notably without agreat deal of success. Vince Simmonds gave me informationthat was of the most value- essentially, who runs the show.Relations with the park service that had been fostered on the'92 Lake of the White Roses dive in Lechuguilla by variousBEC members were to ensure an initial rapport with variouslocal cavers and personnel in officialdom.After hitching to Liverpool to change my defunct Britishpassport into a Euro techno you can' t bend it pink affair andstill with memories of the drunken escapade of chasingpissed off boars as big as your house around a shitty field inthe fog with Vince and Rich Blake on the night of theWessex dinner still very vivid, I boarded a North WesternAirlines DC 10 at Gatwick on the morning of the 3rd ofNovember ( with a great deal of help from Struan ). Takinggreat advantage of the copious quantities of free alchohol onoffer I arrived in Minneapolis,Minnesota, USA in fine fettle,proceeded to the Cheers bar ( via immigration interrogationon video )and continued for the six hour wait for theAlbuquerque flight. Verging on coma I made my gate, myfli ght, my seat and promptly awoke rather the worse for wearwith a decidedly dodgy landing in the place that no bastardcans pel I.After spending the night in a fellow passenger's house inSante Fe, I started to hitch the two week camel hike to sunnyCarlsbad. Five rides and ten hours later I made it and phonedlocal grotto members from the ubiquitous Lucy's Mexican"restaraunt" bar. Rob Gillespie a caver presently of no fixedabode coll ected me and lent me the use of the floor of ahouse he was presently decorating. In the morning beforeRob ran me up to the park I encountered my first Carlsbadsmall town atti.tude in McDonalds. A local redneckremarked" Hell , you speak priddie good English for a foreigner".I resisted the uncontrollable urge to grab him by theears and throw hi s face into a rapidly rising ri ght knee.Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a good half hour drivefrom downtown Carlsbad, situated at the end of W alnutCanyon. The first thing to hit you is the aridity and thinnessof the air; the altitude is near to that of shacking up on thetop of Ben Nevis. There are two stone-timber huts on theside of the canyon controlled by the cave resource office thatare intended fo r the Cave Resource Foundation, LechuguillaExplorati on and Research Network ( LEARN ), and private70June 1995The Texas Caver

parties such as NASA caving within the jurisdiction of thepark service. It was here that I had my first stroke of luck. Iwas introduced to Michael Queen, eminent and nationallyrespected professor of cave geology and two other northerncavers, Ken Davis and Chuck Porter. They were about tohead for the wild caves of the Lincoln National Forest in thehigher Guadalupe mountains some sixty miles away andthey invited me along. What followed was a week courtesyof Ransom Turner, National Forestry Officer guiding us tothe wild country caves, issuing the permits and providingropes. Hell Below, Pink Dragon, Cottonwood and Chimney( CCNP ) caves ensued and were all, bar Chimney, twelvehour trips predominantly vertical with pitches averagingaround 200 feet. It was in Chimney cave that I confirmed aPetzl Stop does exactly that and will not move on dirtyllmm PMI rope, the all American favourite ( actually 11.lmm) so I had to resort to borrowing a rack.On returning to the park I was introduced to Dale Pate, CaveResource Specialist and his assistant Jason Richards as wellas Ranger Lance Mattson, a caver my age from Wyomingwho was to be my house mate for the next three months.Mike Queen recommended me as a volunteer worker forcave resource management to Dale. This proposal wasmulled over the weekend by Dale who agreed to employ mecommencing that Monday. After a week on $5 a day workingdirectly for the Park, Dale decided to hire me for theduration of my stay in the U.S. using the StudentConservation Assistant scheme to pay my wages, subsistanceand contribute to flight expenses! This essentially renderedme a federal employee for the Park Service. In theweeks that were to follow I fully intergrated with the communitythat lives on the hill. There are around 25 rangerswho actually live in quarters and probably around anotherseventy personnel who live in Carlsbad. They accepted meand made me feel very welcome taking me into their homes,taking me out, inviting me to various functions and stuffingme with turkey on Thanksgiving. My duties working forDale and Jason were wide and varied but included surveyingin Carlsbad caverns, processing raw Lechuguilla survey andmineral inventory data, coin retrieval from trail pools, ropecutting and labelling, visitor interpretation and demonstrations,tackle store management- and caving! I also accompaniedtwo Texan cavers Jim Werker and Val Hildreth withDale and Jason on numerous weekends to establish photomon itoring points throughout Carlsbad Cavern; this is aresource management attempt to finally study the rate ofimpact on specific areas in the cave by guided tours andcavers engaging in survey, re-survey, restoration and inventory.The most memorable trip in Carlsbad itself must surely beto Chocolate High. This is the highest point in the cave andnext to the Spirit World, most strictly guarded. From themain trail a straight forward journey into the New Mexicoroom brings you to a corroded flowstone boss formationknown as the chocolate drop, above which hangs the firstrope to Chocolate High, after nearly 300 feet of sweatyascent a change of ropes carries you the further 150 feet pastthe chenile basin to a world of awesome beauty, incrediblyconvoluted helictites adorn amongst the "chocolate" of corrosionresidues. Jason told me I was one of the very few peopleto have been there and the first Brit, so delicate is thearea. Speleothem sensory overload is a real problem, youhave to keep reminding yourself that you are not going toencounter this anywhere else in the world.Access is usually the first point raised when contemplatinga visit to the States caving. Those caves which fall under thecontrol of the US National Park Service are subject toexceedingly tight resource management guidelines, includingthe justification of access policies that British cavers arelikely to encounter when making initial inquiries. Basicallyyou need a bona fide reason slanting towards conservationand restoration, or in the case of Lechuguilla, an invitationfrom LEARN or one of the private expeditions that enter tofurther the collection of survey data and mineral inventory.Lechuguilla cave was everything I envisaged except for thephysical conditions inside. With humidity in excess of 95%and a constant temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit plus thehigh altitude ( 4100 feet ) coupled with my rucksack overloadedwith supplies for a five day stay and NASA boffinsequipment, it took a day for me to acclimatize. Tortoise onits back impressions were quite prevelant while travelling tothe deep seas camp as well. Due to the make up of our party,progress through the cave was very slow and tedious. Afterthe queue to descend Boulder Falls myself and Ja on keptcatching the group in front resulting in several forced breaks.9 1\2 hours later we arrived at the campsite and I pitched mybivvy under crusty mammillaries which to the disgust of theNASA boffs I referred to as saggy tits. I slept like shit inLechuguilla and resented having to climb into cold wetclothes on awakening. Trying to dump in a freezer bag isquite an entertaining pastime, thank God for immodium aswell; I was taking no chances! The NASA people were notexactly the dome heads you would imagine, however I thinkit's true to say they could indeed tell you the cube root of-anorange but were unfotunately non plussed when coming tothe actual peeling and eating part.The next day as the space bods played chemistry with sterilelimestone chunks ( yes we carried rocks into the cave )we carried on along the trade route to the western boreholepast Lake Louise down the Cornflake Climb towards therope up to the Chandelier Graveyard and The Three Amigosfurther on. Emily Davis Mobley,infamous for her leg breakand consequent epic rescue from Lech three years previous,hadinformed the office on exiting the cave on theLEARN exped a week beforehand that this rope neededlooking at as it didn't seem to be.in too fine a shape. SoJason promptly sent the Brit up there. Apart from beingcaked in Gorilla shit, a nice piece of sheath abrasion at anasty rub point warranted a replacement. Now at this timeJasons lighting rig was at such a point of unreliability thatone could di stinctly hear " fuckin whore" from the top of thepitch. After failed attempts to repair the dodgy lead in thi sThe Texas Caver June 199571

modified wheatl amp and the rejecti on of a petzl mega, ("useless pieces of shit " ) Jason decided we would exit thecave and re-enter the next day. We " haul ed ass " and surfacedin less th an 2 1\2 hours later.Events the fo ll owing morning did not bode well for a goodday either. Two minutes short of the Lech parking area lasked Jason if he had remembered to bri ng the repl acementrope for the chande I ier pitch ... About turn. Two hourslater with said rope now in tow and Jason adamant he hadrectified his lamp problem, I commenced the descent of theentrance pitch. I had rappell ed two feet when I was to heara by now fam ili ar obscene reference to Jasons lamp, so backto the now very we ll trodden path bac k to the Lech parkinglot and even more fa mili ar dri ve back to the office to stealDale's lamp, much to hi sam usement. Thus our planned re-entry into the cave at 7amturned into kn ockin g on midday.We steamed to the camp, ate lunch and then headed out torc- ri g. Having completed this task we backtracked after theob li gatory been there photo shoot to retire to bed, I was toescort one of the NASA bo ffs out of the cave (at 4 am! ) sohe could usc the "scope" time he had booked in Albuquerquestud yin g the corros ion residue slides he had sampled thatday; they had a stringent incubation peri od so I finally exitedat 2pm th e foll ow ing afternoon. A curi ous Lechuguillaexperi ence. after all I had caved the most but seen theleast. However I was be in g empl oyed and was payedEXTRA for suffering the ordeal of having to go toLcchuguilla Cave II finall y left Carlsbad amid scenes of rowdy partying onthe I 9th January to head for Ontario, Canada the home of acert ain youn g lady I had got to know rather well during mytime at the park. and the subject of Jingles' wry commentson mailing kit out to me: no it has n' t dropped off, Jingles. Ideparted the US on the I st February again making use of themu ch free alchoho l.Memorable ques ti ons and quotes while working for theS Nati onal Park Service In the My Way Saloon, Carlsbadat approxi mately I am,Waitress: .. Arc you the Engli sh Guy?-."." Yes.".. We ll we don' t care what you do. just don' t start fighting."Jason Deckert. grad uat e son o f Park Superirltendent FrankI ec kert en-rout e to Chimney Cave,Jason Deckert :.. o Alex. what' s the fundamental differencebetween the upper and lower entrance to Chimney Cave?"Alex :" One ' s hi gher than the other?"A middle aged Ameri can gentleman in the visitor centre.Hank the Ya nk : .. Say son. can we dri ve through the cave Ttwc nt somethin g American .. cool elude " fromalifornia to Ranger April Wei tl auf in the visitor centre bythe lifts.April: " Do you wish to descend to the Cave by elevator?"Dude: " What Cave?"Many thanks go to Dale Pate a) for hiring me b) letting mego to Lech and c) for having a big enough sense of humournot to deport me after various exploits.To Jason Richards for the good times and your friendship.To Mike ( Doc Rock ) Queen for the introduction to theAmerican caving scene and your recommendations.To Lance Mattson for tolerating my invasion of his houseand life and the use of his banking services.To Superintendent " Uncle" Frank Deckert and his familyfor their generous hospitality.To Tim and Barbara Stubbs and family for Christmas andnew year.And finally to all the Rangers and Cavern supply staff whohave made my stay in the US enjoyable, memarable but allto short. There are too many friends I have made to mentionthem all individually; however I will return. In the U.K.immense thanks to Nick Williams, Struan MacDonald,Vince Simmonds, Rich Blake, Tony Jarrett and Jingles.Without your help and support the outcome of this venturemay have been completely different. I hope that all I did andachieved will contribute further to the growing relationshipbetween the Bristol Exploration Club and Carlsbad CavernsNational Park." A pint of Butcombe please Roger "Destination: Powell's Cave, on ticks galoreplateau near Menard in Menard countyPersonell : Sundance, Old Man Wisdom, and a lot of otherpeopleDate June 1995WARNINGSome parts of OMW trip reports may deviate from the actualfactsThis is one of those trips that has taken place at regularintervals since Pete Lindsley found this cave back in 1837 .Which was right after James Bowie was offed by the greatarmy of Santa Anna at the Alamo. See NSS Convention atBrackettville. The James Bowie of Knife fame and of secretlost sil ver mine ' in them thar hills legend'. the legend hasplaced an onus on the whole area in and around San Saba, anonus that has the locals all believing that James Bowie reallydid have this mega sil ver mine hidden somewhere near oron the San Saba Ri ver, and the J. Frank Dobie story aboutthe "Lost San Saba Mine" did little to quash the rumor. MostGeology Types think that there is nary a chance that therecould be any sil ver in the area or if there is it would be, ah,reall y be something, ahh, that goes against the geology,(that's rock study).James Strickland however, another old caver, says thatJune 1995The Texas Caver

there was a silver mine on the San Saba River at...bla,bla.And I, mine own self, OMW, have been to the Lemon'sRanch Cave and seen the cables and all the mine gear thatwas brought in to mine the silver and had, the then alive, oldman Lemons entertain me and my young troop of spelunkerswith stories of untold riches found and Jost, refound andlost and refound .. .The old Lost Duchman story. If on a sunnyday during the winter solstice you stand by the big tree nearthe stone fence next to the arrow sticking out of the rock andlook East, there on the third knoll you will see, at 12: 14, aflash of silver that marks the spot, of the mine. Or I can sellyou this authentic map drawn by Sgt. Garcia, in 1506. BillElliot spoke of the Silver mine cave and the thousands ofdollars that have been spent looking for the silver; which sofar as he can tell was to no avail, at least in IRS terms. Thoseguys even disassembled a tractor and hand carried it into themine and reassembled it ( Shades of the Mujahadee and theirwar against the Russians).The interesting tales of silver far outnumber any realityother than that there are some really cool caves in the area,and if all goes well, and there is cooperation between caveowners, and the cavers persevere, this Powell's thing couldconnect up with Nellybelle, Comet, Cupid and Silverload,plus a half dozen other caves to become the longest crawlwayriver (stream ... brook) cave on the planet, yet known tohumanity.Back to Pete. The various legends about Pete and the caveare quite interesting and worthy of telling around the campfire.How he learned of the cave and then explored it to seeif it was worthy, and then doing all the leg work to get permissionto get in; and it was a monumental task, to get permissionthat is. And the part how the cavers proved that theywere indeed worthy hard working citizens of the realm, andhow they blew the socks off the owner with their diligenceand the first map that was really keen. Despite their grubbynessthey were indeed serious about this sillyness ofcrawling around in bat poop and mud.So Pete had to prove to the locals that he wasn't a dastardlysilver miner disguised as a caver which wasn't all that hardfor him since Pete was one to hang around in the caves andtake almost as many photos (beautiful photos, Kodakmoment shots that would make Mr. Land drool) as BillElliot. Pete is famous for the drop of water from the sodastraw slide show that is seventeen trays long. Anyway Peteconvinced the locals that he was harmless by showing themslide shows. Always an effective method.So in June of 1995 OMW and his pard Sundance, who is nokin to the Kid of the same name, took off for Menard whichis where this cave resides. After a two hour stop in Llano,where the group ate several kilos (deference to the metriccavers) BBQ at Cooper's Pit, it was on to Mason. Mason isthe home of some famous Bat Cave that the NatureConservancy Tree Huggers own. Then we stumbled upon agroup of these NCTH people who were engaged in cleaningthe cave. Sundance in his indimable way got to know Iabiologista who was in charge. He deftly wrote her his phonenumber in Cuba in magic marker (smudge, smudge, five,blur, blur smudge, nine). Being as how we were not all thatinterested in cleaning a bat cave and had no trash bags orshovel, we drove off into the night.We arrived in Menard at night time plus four and startedlooking for the stop sign seven miles from town on 190.Using a Hollsinger map that included nothing but straightlines and arbitrary distances and instructions all written in 2point type which is all but impossible to read in the darkwhile driving with only a carbide light to see by. The lightkept blowing out. Sundance finally took the map and led usto the ranch foreman 's house which was not on the map atall. It was pretty late and Sundance charmed the foremaninto telling us where to go at 11:45 pm.By the time we got back to the road some person or persons-possibly a Shade in a dorky hat- had placed some TSAsigns on the road. Lucky for them that we knew where to go.We made certian the signs were properly placed.At tick plateau we got out our instructionless super dooperREI tent. Putting up our tent was well beyond our technologicexperience. Rather than let us suffer, the local peoplefelt sorry for us and put up the tent for us with much chiding.Tom Sawyer strikes again. It was those silly black foldingsticks that threw us. Pengu has an Academy pop-a-toptent that goes up kaboing. I suspose this was what weexpected to come out of our bag. The tent being up, we proceededto sit around and talk for another couple of hours;discussing such things as caving in Bosnia, wether or notPhil Gramm was ever a caver and was all that lightninggoing to destroy our camp.The next morning it was less than brutally hot, so everyonesort of hung around being cool. It was the getting psychedup for the cave time. About ten or so, a semi truck load ofculverts showed up so everyone could marvel at the unloadingtechnology. Many photos of the technology were takenand the culvert things were stacked near the entrada to thecave.The next step is to get a huge oil field crane thing to liftthese huge culvert things and place them in the caveentrance. There was much said about this. "I know an oilfield guy who has a this and that, that is rated to lift battleships.""I think we need a Bobcat." " I have a shovel athome .. " Many helpful remarks were made to great guru andorganizer, who is somewhat suspect by me, due to hi s havingbrought a black cat along. A black cat on a leash tetheringdevice that keeps tangling and allowing the cat to hangitself. Not to worry SPCA folks, the cat survi ved in fine fettle.The crane show I am sure will be worth the price of admis-The Texas Caver June 199573

sion to the September event. If all goes well , it wi ll makeAme ri ca's Fu nn iest Home Videos. l am goi ng to design theCul ve rt Emplacement I was there; T-shirt. And if those bi gconcrete things aren' t cul verts but some sort of pipe thingiesor just huge round cement devices with bi g holes in theirmiddles or possibl y large concrete doughnuts, then I apologize.So much for the morning' s entertainment. By now it wasapproaching hot and the ticks had fo und us. All concernedwe nt into the cave to map and muck around in the mud andbat poop for hours and hours. Some of the people went tothe creek, ri ver, stream and lou nged around in the luke warmwater with all the local pickups whi ch also like loungingaround in the water and told gross bat poop stori es. "I recallthe tim e th at I swam th rough a sea of vampire bat barf .. .. "Some parts of the above are true. Only the untrue parts areleft in to confuse the reader.Respectfull y submitted OMW.Monterrey area (Potrerro Redondo)15- 19 June 1995On Trip : O ld Mnn Wi sdom, Alex Vi ll ngomez, John Loving,Sheldon Eden, David Leonndowicz, Chri s Vreel and,(from Monterrey) Arm nndo Landa, Ana Laura Landa,Jav ier Garcia, Rodnia (Last nasme unknown)'T he tru ck will run out of gns."These words kept resurfacing over and over as our stalwart group of cavers mountedand di smounted the Vreeland urban assault vehicle*. The"Gray Pendejo," as Old Man Wisdom called it, was rattlingitself apa rt on the roads- no. trail s- above Horse Tail Falls,and guzzlin g gas in such quantities as to make the oil sheiksjump with glee.Still . wi th out the Gray Pendejo we'd have been stuckhoofin g it up the crags and crannies, so we put up with it."The truck wi ll :run out of gas, they all do eventuall y, justhope the tran smi ssion doesn' t ranle out and fall off a cliff."This was an OMW. Alejandro Villag6mez trip with twoPingus. a Cletu s. the Gray Pendejo's owner, and fourregiorn ontanos in attendance. The idea. according to Alex,was to sli p dow n the side of this cli ff which was one clickfrom the base camp (yeah. ri ght) and enter the ancient habitatof a pterodactyl. one of those dinosaur-bird things. Thecave had been searched for eggs. it seems. back in aught-sixby an Austrian Bill Elli ot who claims all the fa t thin rockswere in reality petrified egg shells and he proved it by taking 300 sl icles of each shard and then showing them to ateam of experts who agreed wit h him after the tenth tray.So there we were in thi s pi ne forest- a rapidly becomingclear cut pi ne forest. by the way- ri gging our line toLlescend. While all this was transpiring. Pingu One and hi scn1111 aLires poked into a small cave on the ridge. It provedinteresti ng and promi sing in a Bill Ru ssell way.HaYing made it to the cave. the fearless group did what allfearless cavers do- ate their granola bars, and started backjust in time to enjoy climbing the cliff in the first rain stormthe area has had in six months.Remounting the gray pendejo, the gang, now nice anddirty, rode back down the treacherous trail in a pouring rain,which was a delight to those riding in the back.Dawn of the third day (or second, they all run together)was met with a dozen chickens crowing and fighting in midcamp.Armando, the guide, over a few dozen ai tiempos ( ani ce, sophisticated way to describe lukewarm beer)described a halfdozen other caves, and regaled us with stories of the Austrian Bill Elliot.So after a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, tomatoes, onions,chiles, cheese, tortillas, cookies, peanuts, Gatorade, Frenchroastcoffee, milk, and granola bars, we set off to the resurgencecave which was one click from base camp.This proved to be a mighty fine cave, a 10 on the OMWscale, being as OMW rates caves based on their horizontalnessand the more horizontal, the closer to 10 it is.Golondrinas, for example, would be a zero as would anynumber of the so-called cool caves. Gruta de las Palmitasranks as a 9 due to having to climb to get to it.This cave has multiple levels, stream passage, mud, andpassage you can walk around in and it seems to go a longway. OMW decreed 1500 to 2000 feet in, while standing atthe entrance. There's a good swimming hole about a halfclick downstream, to boot.Next came a beautiful pit which the Pingus, Cletus, and theowner of the Gray Pendejo (which was rapidly running outof gas sitting parked) assaulted. They took rope which wasmeasured in meters and climbed down. OMW still can'tconvert to meters from feet. Something to do with the ideathat all people's feet are measured in inches, so why do thismeter thing when no one measures their feet in millimetersor centipedes. OMW and the trip leader decided to nap inthe nifty cabin provided by the guide and let the other guysfigure out the math.The beautiful pit proved to be beautiful.With time running out, the group searched the village forgasto feed the Gray Pendejo to no avail, despite the "Si, haygasolina" statements of all the Nationals.With a deep frown of worry and a Carta Blanca tummyache, the owner of the Gray Pendejo shuffled about listlesslyoverseeing the packing.To everyone's amazement, the Gray Pendejo roared to life,and the group set off down the mountain to find a PEMEXstati on and Monterrey.All in all , it proved to be a wonderful trip. The access roadsto the caving area were really scary and almost impassable.The area was beautiful beyond description and infested withreal cool high altitude biting bugs. It rained twice, breakinga six-month dry spell. We didn't run out of gas despite all thegnashing of teeth and worry. There seem to be multitudes ofcave leads and Armando regaled us with great stories ofdrug dealers crashing planes into the peaks and bears andtales of the Carrancistas hiding in the forest waiting for the7-+June 1995The Texas Caver

federates back in 1910. Wow! 'Nuff said. M& W was still the place to go. rRespecffully submitted,0. M. Wisdom*A big, huge, 4-wheel drive thing will all sorts of machostuff, like zillions of lights, cool switches, metal roll thingies,shovels, and intimidator tires.They Came, They Saunaed, They Cavedby Jay JordenThe hard-core of the Dallas-Fort Worth and Mavs clans didit again: the M&W on April Fools Day. But these cavers'mamas didn't raise no fools! It was awesome! The BrazosRiver was a little on the chilly side, maybe just above freezing.And April 1 came a little too early for some on the sylvanshores of the M&W Ranch. DFW Grand Poobah Dave" Cave" McClung worked his culinary magic on pounds ofskirt steak and chicken fajitas. Tag Swann brought brisketfrom Northeast Texas. Mike Cagle, the Chilimeister,brought a special, secret blend that had cavers cryin" formore. And fixin's abounded: beans, veggies, guacamole, etc.The sun's rays warmed the North Central Texas ranchlandenough during the day Saturday to permit the hardy partiersto begin setting up for the shindig. Steve Dalton brought hisHot Tub, large pump and load of firewood. The tub was fillingwith Brazos water by mid-afternoon and temperaturesinched into the upper 80s and 90s by late evening. BobbyMoore and Jay Jorden were returning by mid-evening fromOklahoma, where a group of cavers had been working at aranch project. One of Bobby' s prized pieces of sauna metalwas from the bottom of Devil' s Sinkhole. It had beenretrieved the previous year at the NSS Convention inBrackettville. The traditional "sauna tent" was enhancedwith a tarp as a vapor barrier. The Paul Bunyan of NorthTexas had showed up Friday to begin cutting wood for amassive bonfire. Like clockwork, James Savage grabbedmost popular status when he showed up with his contributionto the grotto equipment: the Official Latrine. With itsPVC pipe framework and hinged foldaway throne, this artfullycrafted device was truly welcomed at the party." Danger" Don Metzner and Janette Fortney broughtcheese, rice and other dishes in the wake of their weddingfeast. Others seen around the fire included Lisa Fricke ofMissouri, Danny Sherrod, Martha McArthur, Sheree Mahanand Bruce Freeby. The Rites boasted at least three officialKiller Saunas -with the last a real scorcher, especially forthose on the uphill side of the tent. The numbingly cold riverwater prompted screams from bathers - even for shortliveddips. On Sunday morning, the traditional coffee wasaccompanied by donuts and other pastries. Caver campersslowly emerged from tents, the beds of pickup trucks andelsewhere. The dismantling of equipment and breaking ofcamp began later. We had looked high and low, but theThe Texas Caver June 1995*******Party Quotes:" Oz-totl! Oz-totl! "" Where's Bruce and Donna?"" Hot torts! Come and get 'em! "" Saw-nahh! Saw-nahh! Saw-nahh! "Cave SporeThe sky breathes in a whisperOr the Earth breathes out a sighAnd there is a knowingThat the clouds have fulfilled their destinyAs all clouds do,And yeilded up a hole-Chris Vreeland75

THE TEXAS CAVERP.O. BOX 8026AUSTIN, TEXAS 78713