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January and February 2005
During January
and February of 2005, 19 survey trips were taken into the off-trail
portions of the following sections of Wind Cave: Historic (13 trips),
Club Room (3 trips), North (2 trips), and Southern Comfort (1 trip).
During these trips, and one lake monitoring trip were some survey
was also completed, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 7,683
feet or 1.45 miles of passage, with an average survey length of
399 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave
from 113.65 to 115.10 miles. With the additional survey obtained
during the January Wind Cave Weekend, Wind Cave passed Lechuguilla
Cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park to become the fifth longest
cave in the world. In addition to these survey trips, there were
six resurvey trips to the Historic Section where 1,112 feet of problem
surveys were resurveyed and one trip to the Lakes to check on the
lake levels.
1/4/2005
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, & Matt Busch
Jason led a survey trip to the Historic Section to survey leads
off the NK survey. They found an area with hundreds of bat scratches
while surveying 150 feet.
Jason Walz,
Ben Tobin, & Heather Veerkamp
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Kilroy’s Bridge area in the
Historic Section. They resurveyed 41 feet.
Ben Tobin, Andrea
Croskrey, Ryan Sprouse, & Ben Hutchins
Ben led a survey trip to the Star Cafe area in the Historic Section
to push leads. They surveyed several small leads for 120 feet.
1/5/2005
Jason Walz, Heather Veercamp, & Andrea Croskrey
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Wall Street area in the Historic
Section. They resurveyed 298 feet and found several leads for a
later trip.
Ben Tobin, Ben
Hutchins, Carrie Musick
Ben led a resurvey trip back to the Kilroy’s Bridge area in
the Historic Section. They resurveyed 146 feet and found leads for
a future trip.
Wind Cave Weekend
1/8/2005
Ben Tobin, Andrea Croskrey, Carrie Musick
Ben led a group of Kentucky cavers back to the Wall Street area
in the Historic Section. They named one junction the Chocolate Sprinkle
Junction after the wood rat pellets scattered around the area. That
lead eventually connected to the bottom of Quicksilver Pit (the
NM4 survey). They mapped 460 feet for the day, leaving several leads
for a future trip.
Marc Ohms,
Rene Ohms, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a survey trip to the House of the Fallen Snurd area in
the North Section. They surveyed several leads in the area for a
total of 832 feet. They discovered a small helictite bush of about
10 inches high.
Jason Walz,
Ben Hutchins, & Sara Booth
Jason led a survey trip to the Base Camp area in the Club Room Section
to continue pushing lower level leads. They surveyed 633 feet, including
a 77-foot shot, and left a few leads to return to.
Jim Wilson,
Tim Moreland, & Greg Glazner
Jim led a survey trip back to the new area he discovered in December
in the Historic Section off of the Elbow Room (the VW survey). He
finished up the gnarly area, mapping 394 feet in the process.
Rod Horrocks,
Ryan Sprouse, Ben Shouse, and Duff McCafferty
Accompanied by a reporter from the Argus Leader of Sioux
Falls named Ben Shouse, Rod led a trip to the E’ survey in
the Historic Section to continue pushing leads off of that route.
They surveyed 378 feet, essentially finishing up the area in the
process.
1/18/2005
Rod Horrocks, Alexis Brooks, Ari Juhala, and Amy Juhala
Rod led a trip to finish resurveying the G survey in the Historic
Section. They named a couple of unnamed rooms the Globe Theater
and Dusty Bottoms while resurveying 141 feet of the G survey and
mapping an additional 233 feet of associated passages.
Jason Walz &
Larry Shaffer
Jason led a survey trip to continue pushing leads off of the NK
survey in the Historic Section. They found some blast rubble from
trail construction activities and an old unused survey designation
(Z survey) while mapping 242 feet. They left several leads to return
to.
1/26/2005
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NP survey in the Historic Section.
They resurveyed 164 feet while adding 40 feet of new survey.
2/1/2005
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, & Steve Baldwin
Rod led a survey trip to the Garden of Eden area in the Historic
Section to continue pushing leads where the trio had left off on
their last trip to the area (February of 04). They mapped a parallel
passage at GE3 for seven shots, leaving a tight bellycrawl that
doubled back over the Garden of Eden. They mapped 148 feet for the
evening.
2/1/2005
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, & Vickie Siegel
Jason led a survey trip to the Suburbia area in the Club Room Section
where they pushed the western edge of that lower level cave while
surveying 630 feet.
2/3/2005
Marc Ohms, Larry Shaffer, & Jason Walz
Marc led a trip to the Lakes in the Lakes Section to check on the
level of Calcite Lake. He found that the lake was down 1.1 feet
since the December trip. While in the area, they also surveyed 96
feet off of the NO survey.
Wind Cave Weekend
2/12/05
Marc Ohms, Rene
Ohms, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a trip back to the House of the Fallen Snurd in the North
Section to continue surveying the leads in that area. They discovered
a new area where they left numerous leads to return to on a future
trip. They surveyed 720 feet.
Jason Walz,
Tim Moreland, & Sara Booth
Jason led a trip back to the Base Camp area in the Club Room Section
to continue pushing lower level leads. They surveyed 688 feet, leaving
leads to return to on a future trip.
Carl Bern,
Mike Wiles, & Peggy Renwick
Carl led a trip through the Skinner in the Southern Comfort Section
to continue pushing that area. They found a lead on the edge of
the cave that blew significantly but was a little too tight. They
mapped 221 feet before finding a lead that kept going at the end
of the day.
Christa Schneider,
Jeff Goben, Beth Carbone, & Rick Speaect
Christa led a trip to the Colorado Grotto Section to push the Mud
Flats area near Red Crystal Canyon. They surveyed 239 feet, essentially
finishing the area.
Karla Whittenburg,
Kim McVey, Tomas Dawson, & Dan Wray
Karla led a trip to the Fireball Hall area in the Historic Section
to push leads. They mapped 114 feet.
Jim Wilson,
Skip Withrow, & Howard Bartlet
Jim led a trip to the Elbow Room in the Historic Section to continue
pushing that area. They surveyed some previously scooped passages
for 475 feet, leaving a few leads to return too.
Rod Horrocks,
Eric Kurth, and Dean Faust
Rod led a couple of Paha Sapa Grotto cavers on a survey training
trip to the Quicksilver Pit area to wrap up some leads he had left
from an evening trip four years previous. They surveyed 242 feet
and left a couple of small leads for a future trip.
2/15/2005
Jason Walz & Larry Shaffer
Jason led a trip back to the NK survey in the Historic Section to
continue pushing that area. They found some heavily trafficked passages
with evidence of historic digging. In one relatively pristine lead,
they found a room with a deep fissure pit that went down to lower
level cave that is located just north of the Monument Hall area.
They surveyed 323 feet for the day, leaving several leads for a
future trip.
Rod Horrocks,
John Scheltens, Steve Baldwin, & Alexis Brooks
Rod led an evening trip back to the Garden of Eden area in the Historic
Section to push the dome leads they found on their first trip in
February. They documented an Alvin and Elmer McDonald signature
in the previously unsurveyed Cathedral Dome. Surveying a 45-foot
shot up another dome in the Garden of Eden, they surveyed the highest
point in the whole area outside of Plummer’s Pit. They surveyed
a total of 305 feet while leaving a few leads for a future trip.
2/28/2005
Jason Walz & Larry Shaffer
Jason led a resurvey trip to the NP and NF areas in the western
part of the Historic Section. They resurveyed the worst loop in
the cave and a room located near the Guide’s Discovery, naming
it the Land Bridge after a 15-foot long natural bridge in the middle
of the room. They resurveyed 322 feet for the day.
March
and April 2005
March and April
of 2005 saw 6,143 feet (1.16 miles) of new survey added to Wind
Cave, raising the total survey from 115.10 to 116.26 miles. There
also was 1,103 feet resurveyed due to data problems with the former
surveys.
3/1/2005
Jason Walz led Larry Shaffer and Chris Dale to the NK survey in
the Historic Section. They surveyed 434 feet of popcorn lined passage.
They named one room the Popcorn Ranch and another the Holding Tank.
Rod Horrocks
led Alexis Brooks to the CU survey near the Roman Catacombs in the
Historic Section. They surveyed 410 feet, in which 210 feet was
resurvey to correct loop closure problems.
Later that day
Rod Horrocks led another trip with Dan and Tonia Foster to the Apian
Way in the Historic Section. They surveyed 90 feet.
3/12/2005 Wind
Cave Weekend
Rod Horrocks
led Sara Booth, Duff McCafferty, and Eric Kurth to the Lost Carbide
Fissure in the Historic Section. They surveyed 277 feet off of the
ZF and CT’ surveys and named one moonmilk lined passage the
Moondrift Crawl.
Marc Ohms led
Rene Ohms and Larry Shaffer back to the EX survey near the House
of the Fallen Snurd in the North Section. They surveyed 925 feet
and lefts plenty of leads to return to.
Jason Walz led
Peggy Renwick and Chris Amidon to the area of Petey’s Puddle
in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 561 feet off of the CC survey
and named one thinly false-floored passage the Catwalk.
3/15/2005
Rod Horrocks led Alexis Brooks to the Roman Catacombs in the Historic
Section. They surveyed 273 feet off of the CU survey and found a
crawl lined with cobbles that connected to the Garden of Eden Tour
Route.
3/16/2005
Marc Ohms led Jason Walz to Room Draculum in the Historic Section
to finish resurveying the NP survey from there to the Cataract Room
for a total of 367 feet.
3/17/2005
Marc Ohms led Jason Walz in through the Snake Pit entrance to the
Chimera Room and then out of the cave via the pink trail to the
elevator. They flagged the route from the Snake Pit to the Chimera
Room with pink flagging. They discovered mountain lion scat in the
Snake Pit Entrance.
4/9/2005 Wind
Cave Weekend
Jim Wilson led
Tim Moreland, Dan Bryce, and Skip Withrow to the Lackagluten Room
in the Historic Section. They surveyed 510 feet off of the PV survey
and named a passage that went up for a ways, mostly in paleofill,
the Jenga Tower.
Mike Hanson
led Cory Wagner and Dave Springhetti along the Candlelight Tour
to continue working on retaking of old stereo photographs.
Rod Horrocks
led Sara Booth, Eric Kurth, and Duff McCafferty to the Chamber de
Norcutt in the Historic Section. They surveyed 715 feet off of the
IU survey and named passages the Looking Glass Fissure, Mirror Fissure,
and The Big Fish.
Larry Shaffer
led Rene Ohms and Dean Faust into the Snake Pit Entrance to the
WT survey in the North Section. They surveyed 480 feet. Dean states
from his experience that 6’4” is the tallest you can
be to make it through the Snake Pit.
Amy Bern led
Barbara Smith, Marty Morey, and Richard Dieter in through the Snake
Pit Entrance to the Pail-of-Fill in the North Section. They surveyed
206 feet off of the LQ survey.
Jason Walz led
Dan and Sean Foster and Peggy Renwick to the Petey’s Puddle
area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 741 feet off of the
DA, CC, DE, and LL surveys.
4/14/2005
Peggy Renwick led Marc Ohms and Jason Walz to the Basement in the
Historic Section to resurvey the A and UX surveys. They resurveyed
362 feet replacing both surveys with the continuation of the NF
survey.
4/19/2005
Jason Walz led Larry Shaffer, Sara Booth, and Chris Dale to the
Basement in the Historic Section. They surveyed 586 feet and left
many leads.
Rod Horrocks
led Alexis Brooks to the RSV Trail in the Historic Section where
they surveyed 145 feet.
4/26/2005
Marc Ohms led Jason Walz to the Juice Room in the Historic Section
to resurvey the numerous tie-ins throughout the room. They resurveyed
164 feet and removed some redundant survey.
May
and June 2005
During May and
June of 2005, 13 survey trips were taken into off-trail portions
of Wind Cave, including ten trips to the Historic and three trips
to the North Sections. During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried
a total of 3,051 feet or 0.57 miles of passage, with an average
survey length of 234 feet per survey. This new survey raised the
length of Wind Cave from 116.26 to 116.83 miles. In addition to
these survey trips, there were two works trips; one research trip
and one resurvey trip to the Historic Section, where 104 feet of
problem survey was resurveyed.
5/2/2005
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a trip to lower level cave in the Club Room Section to
collect a sample of the “pink stuff on moonmilk” found
by Jason Walz. The sample is being examined for DNA by Dr. John
Moore at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
5/3/2005
Chris Amidon & Ajax (B. Dalman)
Chris led a survey trip back to the QC survey in the Historic Section
to finish a lead from an earlier trip. They named several things,
including Something Crunchy, Doorway to Delights, and Just Say No
to Crack; while surveying 282 feet.
5/3/2005
Larry Shaffer, Jason Walz, & Sara Booth
Larry led a survey trip to continue the NF survey in the Historic
Section. While surveying, Jason rediscovered a lead that went into
a large blank area on the map between the Historic and North Sections.
The strange thing, is that the passage had survey in it but the
survey is not used nor does the park have any record of it. They
named one sandy-floored room along this route the Make-out Room.
They surveyed 535 feet and left numerous leads for another trip.
5/14/2005 Wind
Cave Weekend
Tim Moreland,
Rick Speaect, & Mary Klaus
Tim led a survey trip to the GR survey in the North Section to push
leads. They surveyed a couple of leads for 227 feet.
Sandy Kramer
& Mary Laycock
Sandy led a trip to check side leads along the Natural Entrance
Tour Route. They surveyed 140 feet of gnarly tight cave.
Rod Horrocks,
Duff McCafferty, & Melissa Johnston
Rod led a survey trip to the old BG survey in the Historic Section.
After not being able to find any of the old stations, they resurveyed
104 feet of the BG and then 240 feet of side passages off of those
new stations, leaving many leads for a future trip.
5/17/2005
Rod Horrocks, Ajax (B. Dalman), & Vickie Siegel
Rod led a survey trip back to the BG area in the Historic Section
to survey some of the side leads they found on their last trip.
They mapped 350 feet in an incredibly complex area made up of four
interconnected parallel fissures. They left numerous leads for a
future trip.
6/7/2005
Larry Shaffer, Vickie Siegel, & Ajax (B. Dalman)
Larry led a survey trip to some leads off of the PK survey in the
Historic Section. They surveyed in a swiss-cheese type of maze,
finishing with 185 feet of survey.
6/11/2005 Wind
Cave Weekend
Jim Wilson,
Tim Moreland, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led a trip in the Historic Section to attempt to push the UK
survey, due to the lack of side leads in that area. They surveyed
a few small leads for 231 feet, leaving one tight fissure lead for
the next generation.
Marc &
Rene Ohms
After getting rained out of a Snake Pit Entrance trip, Marc led
a survey trip to the NP survey area in the Historic Section. They
surveyed 426 feet and left several leads for a future trip.
Rod Horrocks,
Melissa & Misty Johnston
Not being able to print a line plot (due to computer problems);
Rod led a trip to an area he knew well enough not to need one, Room
Draculum in the Historic Section. They pushed the north and west
walls of the room, finding some pretty formations and then a small
area underneath a calcified, sediment-covered breakdown block. They
surveyed 100 feet and left a good pit lead along the west wall for
a later trip.
Sandy Kramer
& Pat Jablonsky
Sandy led a trip to check leads off of the Rookery along the Natural
Entrance Tour Route. They checked several leads but didn’t
survey anything.
6/21/2005
Marc Ohms, Andy & Bonny Armstrong, Jenny Whitby
Marc led a survey trip back to the leads he left from the 6/11/2005
trip to the NP survey in the Historic Section. They mopped up 139
feet and left a few leads for another trip.
6/21/2005
Larry Shaffer, Gary Whitby, & Darren Dowler
Larry led a trip to the Santa’s Frosted Forest area via the
Snake Pit Entrance. They checked all of the leads in the first two
rooms while surveying a total of 196 feet.
July
and August 2005
During
July and August of 2005, five survey trips were taken into off-trail
portions of Wind Cave, including four trips to the Historic Section
and one trip to the North Section. During these trips, cavers surveyed
and inventoried a total of 888 feet or 0.17 miles of passage, with
an average survey length of 177 feet per survey. This new survey
raised the length of Wind Cave from 116.83 to 117.0 miles. In addition
to these survey trips, six work trips were taken; including one
lake monitoring trip and five resurvey trips, where 721 feet of
problem survey was resurveyed.
7/19/05
Larry
Shaffer, Ajax (B. Dalman), Andy & Bonnie Armstrong
Larry led a survey trip to the WT survey in the North Section. While
climbing up a slippery sloping series of ledges, Andy fell and sprained
his wrist on the same climb that Rod Horrocks fell and tore his
rotator cuff in 2001. They were able to continue their survey, adding
187 feet of hard-fought-for survey to the length of Wind Cave.
7/20/05
Marc Ohms
& Karen Henker
Marc led a lake monitoring and data logger placement trip to What
the Hell and Calcite Lakes in the Lakes Section. Both lakes were
down slightly, with What the Hell falling 0.03’ and Calcite
falling 0.68’.
7/30/05
Seth Spoelman, Ajax (B. Dalman), & Erin Nieduinghaus
Seth led a resurvey trip to the UY survey in the Historic Section.
Seth found a real mess and was only able to resurvey 38 feet on
that initial trip.
7/27/05
Seth Spoelman, Vickie Siegel, & Erin Nieduinghaus
Seth led a return trip to continue the resurvey of the UY survey
in the Historic Section. They were able to resurvey 145 feet this
time.
8/2/05
Rod Horrocks, Peter & Ann Bosted
Rod led a survey trip to Room Draculum in the Historic Section.
They found a fissure/pit that hadn’t been entered before and
were able to survey 234 feet in a lead along the west edge of the
room.
8/6/05
Rod Horrocks, Karen Henker, & Billie Myers
Rod led an evening trip to the New Beginnings Room area in the Historic
Section. They named a 7” squeeze that Karen was able to just
slide into, New Proportions. They surveyed 89 feet.
8/8/05
Seth Spoelman, Karen Henker, Nathan Parker, & Erin Nieduinghaus
Seth led a trip back to the UY survey in the Historic Section to
continue his resurvey project. They were able to resurvey 195 feet
of that problem survey, nearly completing their project.
8/8/05
Seth Spoelman, Vickie Siegel, & Erin Nieduinghaus
Seth led a final resurvey trip to the UY survey in the Historic
Section. They surveyed 44 feet, finishing that project. They were
able to fix some bad tie-ins and correct 14 bad loops in the process.
8/10/05
Marc Ohms, Karen Henker, & Tom Jarvella
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NV survey in the Historic Section.
They found an Alvin McDonald signature while resurveying 299 feet.
On their way out of the cave they discovered a paleontological site.
8/13/05 Wind Cave Weekend
Rod Horrocks, Bonnie Armstrong, & Tom Jarvella
Rod led a survey trip to the BG and IU surveys in the Historic Section.
They closed several loops while wrapping up the remaining leads
in this area and bringing the four-trip total to 1,761 feet. They
were able to survey 168 feet.
8/16/05
Rod Horrocks, Andy & Bonnie Armstrong
Rod led a trip to the Terra Cotta Trail area in the Historic Section
in an attempt to mop up all of the remaining leads in the CQ survey.
The Armstrong’s were able to survey several leads too tight
for Rod and in the process accumulated 210 feet of difficult survey.
This brought the total survey in this area to over 3,000 feet, almost
all of which was previously unentered.
September
and October 2005
During September and
October of 2005, 7 survey trips were taken into off-trail portions
of Wind Cave, including 4 trips to the Historic Section and 3 trips
to the North Section. During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried
a total of 2,327 feet or 0.44 miles of passage, with an average
survey length of 387 feet per survey. This new survey raised the
length of Wind Cave from 117.0 to 117.44 miles. In addition to these
survey trips, 2 work trips were taken; including 1 rescue cache
maintenance trip and 1 resurvey trip, where 160 feet of problem
survey was resurveyed.
Wind Cave Weekend 9/10/05
Marc Ohms, Vickie Seigel, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a trip to some leads south of the Key Room in the North
Section. They found an extensive new area and left many leads for
a future trip. They surveyed 806 feet during this very productive
trip.
Rod Horrocks, Duff McCafferty,
& Ken Geu
Rod led a trip to the Amphitheater area in the Historic Section
to mop up a bunch of miscellaneous leads. They surveyed several
loops and left a few leads while surveying 588 feet.
Karla Whittenburg, Kim
McVey, & Tom Dotter.
Karla led a trip to the Lost Paradise area along the western edge
of the Historic Section. They resurveyed the B’ survey a complex
area. They resurveyed 160 feet of problem survey and found lots
of leads for a future trip.
Sandy Kramer & Pat
Jablonsky
Sandy led a survey trip to the Natural Entrance Tour Route to push
leads near the Post Office. They surveyed 87 feet in some small
passages and left several leads for a future trip.
9/20/05
Larry Shaffer, Karen Henker, & Braden Barkholder
Larry led a trip to push leads off of the JJ survey in the Club
Room Section. They mopped up a few small leads for 181 feet and
left a tight lead with air at JJ23L.
Wind Cave Weekend 10/8/05
Tim Moreland, Jim Wilson, & Howard Bartlett
Tim led a trip to the GR survey in the North Section to push leads
along the north edge of the cave. They found a room they named the
Otis Room, but all of their leads died. They surveyed 395 feet for
the day.
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin,
& Don Anderson
Rod led a trip to the Cobblestone Crawl area off of the Garden of
Eden Tour Route. Unfortunately, they did not meet the objectives
of their trip and find the source of the stream-rounded cobbles?
In order to wash their tracks off of a flowstone-covered floor in
one dome they surveyed, they had to use a spray bottle to collect
cave water from Silent Lake and then cleaned the floor as they exited
the passage. Next, they went to the Snowy Arch area, originally
named by Alvin McDonald in 1893, and started pushing leads off of
the BF survey, which was surveyed in 1981. They surveyed 270 feet
and left a tight lead at BF9 for a future trip.
10/31/05
Marc Ohms, Bob Kobza, Karen Henker, & Braden Barkholder
Marc led a work trip out to Half Mile Hall to recover the PVC pipes
that used to hold that rescue cache. They found that someone had
drank the two spare quarts of water at the rescue cache and had
not told the Cave Management staff that they needed to be replaced.
November
and December 2005
During November and December
of 2005, 18 survey trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind
Cave, including 12 trips to the Historic Section, 2 trips to the
Club Room Section, 2 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section, 1 trip
to the Southern Comfort Section, and 1 trip to the North Section.
During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 5,010
feet or 0.95 miles of passage, with an average survey length of
278 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave
from 117.44 to 118.38 miles. In addition to these survey trips,
2 work trips were taken; including one biological sampling trip
and one resurvey trip, where 129 feet of problem survey was resurveyed.
Wind Cave Weekend: 11/12/2005
Amy Bern, Marc Ohms, & Rene Ohms
Amy led a trip to the EX survey in the North Section to continue
pushing a new area that the Ohm’s have been working. Entering
through the Snake Pit Entrance, they were able to clean up most
of the leads in the northern part of the EX survey while racking
up 632 feet of survey. They left several leads in the southern section
of the EX survey for a future trip.
Carl Bern, Tom Dawson,
Chris Vaiante, & Nate Fuller
Carl led a trip through the Skinner in the Southern Comfort Section
to push some leads on the western edge of the cave off of the LLB
survey. This was the first trip into the Southern Comfort Section
for three of the four surveyors. They found a complex area with
lots of airflow, where they were able to survey 319 feet. They left
numerous leads for a future trip.
Randy Macan, Jim Lawton,
Rob McFarland, & Pete Graham
Randy led a lead pushing trip to the BH and BX surveys near the
start of the Green Trail in the Half Mile Hall Section. They mopped
up a couple of leads for 365 feet.
Jeff Goben, Christa Schneider,
Rick Speaect, & Mary Klaus
Jeff led a trip to the BB survey in the Club Room to push some leads
off of the Red and White Trail. They surveyed two leads, one at
BB8 and another at BB19 for a total of 288 feet. They left some
good going leads for a future trip.
Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow,
Howard Bartlett, & Ken Geu
Jim led a survey trip to the UJ and VW surveys along the western
edge of the Historic Section. They mapped several loops off of those
surveys, arriving at 223 feet for the day.
Tom Dotter, Karla Whittenburg,
& John McLean
Tom led a trip back to the Lost Paradise area along the western
edge of the Historic Section. After surveying a lead off of BA3
for 80 feet, they spent the rest of the day in an unmarked lead
at BA2. They surveyed a total of 317 feet and left a couple of tight
leads for a future trip.
Evan Anderson, Owen Leeper,
& Andy Poczobutt
Evan led a trip, via the Snake Pit Entrance, to Half Mile Hall to
check some leads he remembered from a past trip. They didn’t
go and they didn’t survey anything.
12/6/05
Rod Horrocks & Alexis Brooks
Rod led a trip to the BI survey off of the Natural Entrance Tour
Route, to push leads in an area that no one had been back to since
1981. They surveyed 256 feet before having to call the trip when
Alexis felt ill. They determined that the BI survey was likely the
“Geode Hall” area that Alvin McDonald describes in his
1893 journal.
12/6/05
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a trip to the Make Out Room area that Jason Walz had rediscovered
in May. Located along the western edge of the Historic Section,
they found that everything in this extensive area had been previously
scooped, but the Park had no idea of its existence until Jason relocated
the area. They surveyed 335 feet and left numerous leads for future
trips.
12/6/05
Larry Shaffer, Andy Armstrong, & Bonnie Armstrong
Larry led an evening trip back out Make Out Room area along the
western edge of the Historic Section. They surveyed 329 feet and
extended the upper middle level to within 90 feet of the North Section,
with going leads headed in that direction.
12/8/05
Marc Ohms, Dr. John Moore, & Megan Quirk
Marc led a biological sampling trip to Rainbow Falls in the Historic
Section.
Wind Cave Weekend 12/10/05
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, Cheryl Mayer, & Darryl Stisser
Jason led a trip to the lower level in the Club Room Section to
push the northwestern edge of that level. They mopped up a few side
leads off of the CC and JA surveys before surveying a vertical fissure
with lots of climbing off of ST6. They surveyed 439 feet, named
one white fissure the White Zinfindel, and left some leads for a
future trip.
Rod Horrocks, Sara Booth,
& Ken Gue
Rod led a trip back to Mercedes Pit, a pit located next to Rome
in the Historic Section that he had first surveyed in 1999. They
surveyed some passages that started 10-feet off of the floor of
the pit and reconnected to the Caving Tour Route and then to the
RO survey. They then climbed up to the BF survey to continue pushing
the Snowy Arch area. They surveyed several passages, one of which
reconnected to Mercedes Pit, but 40 feet off of the floor. They
could see that the dome pit still continued upwards from that vantage
point. They surveyed 409 feet for the day.
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland,
& Greg Glazner
Jim led a trip back to the VA survey in the Historic Section to
pick up some leads left from his November trip. They mopped up a
few grabby passages for 229 feet.
Ben Tobin & Heather
Veerkamp
Ben led a short trip to the NYY survey in the Wall Street area in
the northern Historic Section. They mapped 72 feet and left a pit
lead for a future trip.
12/14/05
Rod Horrocks & Derek Marohn
Rod led a resurvey trip back to the Geode Hall area in the Historic
Section. They resurveyed BI1-7 for 129 feet and then mopped up some
side leads for an additional 192 feet of new survey. They found
an Elmer McDonald signature from the 1890’s, some passages
covered with flood debris and charcoal, and a blocked passage that
headed right towards the Assembly Room but was choked with old discarded
wood from dismantled stairs.
12/14/05
Jason Walz & Chris Dale
Jason led a trip back to the Make Out Room area along the western
edge of the Historic Section to continue pushing that area. They
surveyed 283 feet, but missed their checkout time by 3 hours, which
initiated a search and rescue response.
12/20/05
Steve Baldwin, Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, & Derek Marohn
Steve led a trip to the BF survey in the Historic Section to push
the lead they had left at BF9D on their last trip. They surveyed
129 feet in some really tight stuff, only to find a Roy and Elmer
McDonald signatures in the last room. They gained a new appreciation
for those candle-wielding 1890’s cavers.
12/20/05
Larry Shaffer, Bonny Armstrong, & Kelly Brownson
Larry led a trip back to the Make Out Room area on the western edge
of the Historic Section. They surveyed 193 feet, but lost a pair
of instruments down a tight hole. This trip raised the total survey
in this area to 1,675 feet.
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