Archive | April, 2005

Warren Cave

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A Trip to Warren’s 4-17-05

Posted on 17 April 2005 by admin

WARREN’S CAVE, ALACHUA COUNTY

The trip into Warrens Cave last Sunday went very well. We all got to do pretty much what each of us wanted to do and no one got hurt. Wendy collected some loose trash from the Crossroads and made a list of the contents of the Crossroads’ emergency kit. Wendy and I collected three more old bones from where I got that llama bone a few weeks ago, and hopefully Sean will get them identified before the FSS gettogether at the Brinson’s later this month.

I was excited to learn from Brian about the floor collapse between the Crossroads and the Second Drop. I have been going to Warrens for 30 years, and this new development IMO can be called a “major” event in Warrens Cave, at least in terms of the life of this caver. Here is a list of “major” events that I can remember: (a) the long term lowering of the aquifer in the mid-1970s which caused the pool at the Crossroads to dry up for at least two decades, (b) the collapse of the enormous chunk of bedrock forming part of the west wall beside the Second Drop, (c) the long term drought reversal that has allowed the aquifer to rise once again to the level of the Crossroads floor, (d) last year’s hurricane inputs of water and detritus, and (e) the current collapse of the floor. If anyone knows of other similar, significant events, I would like to hear of them. If I install a staff (water level) gage at the Crossroads, would y’all be willing to email me with readings whenever you are in the cave?

I do believe the enormous hunk of bedrock that has broken off (this needs a name: How about the Sixty-Ton Gorilla? It sits wherever it wants to) is continuing to settle down further. How far down can it go? Is there only sediment under it like the sediment in the lowered passage? Did the Sixty-Ton Gorilla break down because the sediments are washing away from below it, or vice versa? Who knows these things?

Like Brian, I am intrigued about the stratigraphy in the floor collapse, and wonder how much of it is recent and how much of it is much older; i.e., Pleistocene? Neat stuff, these dirty data banks. I dropped down into the lower passage using a rope I had brought and strung through a jug handle in the east wall. I did not use the new rope Brian had left permanently rigged at the Second Drop because it would have rubbed too much additional dirt into the lower passage. Frankly, I was more concerned about clods of dirt falling down into the back of my jumpsuit than I was about the dirt sides caving in, although the latter was cause for pause. I waded through muddy, tannin-stained water maybe 6 feet to a low restriction that led another 5 or 6 feet further and down into cleaner but still tannic water.

I do hope that, if cavers in the future decide to continue to dig the passage to the west of the Crossroads, they refrain from dumping their dirt into this new opening. Sediment-filled passages get opened up by fluctuating water tables, and it would be way cool if the process were allowed to continue and the passage subsequently enlarged sufficiently that additional surveying would be appropriate. That would be the first surveying that I know of in Warrens Cave in appx 14 years, and it would be within a stone’s throw of the entrance! Ok, ok, you’d have to have a pretty good arm.

The old bones (llama and whatever) that we collected for the FMNH were taken from a layer of sediment appx 16 inches below the former floor level on the north side of the Crossroads, yet the height of the lowered floor section on the south side of the Crossroads is much deeper, perhaps 7 – 8 feet. Thus, some of the exposed sediments in that passage could be very old.

After exploring and, yes, pushing new passage in Warrens (I went at least 4 feet beyond Brian’s boot prints), I tested my full-body Italian SRT harness in the Cashew Squeeze and in some of the passages between there and the Second Squeeze. It works fine. How convenient is it to not have to take off one’s SRT harnesses until one leaves the cave? How many times have I had to take off seat and chest harnesses below an entrance pit in TAG in order to explore the cave beyond, and then had to stop again to put them back on when returning to exit the cave? This is not so important in Florida, but it will be a real boon in TAG, and in Austria if I ever get there.

I saw no bats whatsoever in the cave. This was disappointing, as Adam Scherer had mentioned at the April FSS meeting that he had recently seen about 10 bats in the cave. He said they looked like they were hibernating, so maybe it has warmed up enough for them to awaken and move on. I hope that’s the case.

The majority of our group went all the way back to The Pit: Sean, Becky and Brandon Roberts, Mike Gordon, Ann Markley (“but everyone knows her as Kitty” – sung to the tune of the Beatles’ Rocky Raccoon), and Danny and Annette Brinton. Perhaps one of them will chime in with their adventures, and photos.

On a sadder note, when picking up the key to the cave, Bill Oldacre told me his dad had just died. He will be out of town as a result until sometime next week.

 

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Horn Bone Cave Map

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Horn Bone Cave

Posted on 09 April 2005 by admin

By Buford Pruitt, Jr.

Annette and Danny Brinton, James Brown, Peggy Young and I visited some of the Archer Caves on April 9, 2005. Our primary goals were to visit Watch Cave and survey Possum Pipes Cave. James and Peggy live nearby and were interested in seeing both caves for the first time, and the Brintons and I were planning to survey Possum Pipes. Sean Roberts had intended to join us to finish the survey of Watch Cave but was unable to do so.

We met at Peggy’s house and walked south to the area where Watch Cave is located and spent a little while searching for it. I had forgotten a few details of the route, but when a flash of memory returned I was able to walk directly to it. I had told everyone that SRT would not be necessary so no one brought SRT gear, but I was wrong, SRT is indeed needed, so I didn’t get to show them the cave. Oh well.

Retracing our steps, we hiked back to Possum Pipes and, yep, had a little trouble re-finding that cave, too. But find it we did and we all explored the entrance area of the cave. At that point Peggy and James left us as they had other plans for the remainder of the day. I pulled out my surveying gear and we began the survey, but we didn’t get far. I had only sketched the entrance area and we had surveyed 5 stations when it became apparent that the remainder of the cave had sumped. Oh well.

There was nothing we could do but go looking for a cave with AIR in it, so we wandered around and found six other karst features worth noting. One, named Not Today, is a 19ft pit requiring SRT gear, which as I said we didn’t have that day.

Another feature is a solution pipe plastered with slick mud that inspired me to name it Mud Pipey, sort of after Mudpuppy (Peter Michaud), the well-known TAG caver. Mud Pipey is a narrow solution pipe averaging perhaps 2 feet wide or less from the surface to about 10 feet down, at which point it has a very tight restriction that could be composed of either mud or bedrock. We determined that we would need SRT gear to descend to it in order to determine which.

The last hole in the ground we checked out was a small joint-controlled cave with two entrance pits and a skylight. It met the Florida Cave Survey’s definition of a cave so we did a Grade 5 survey of it. The cave contained some vertebrate bones including turtle, deer, pig and the horn from a skull believed to be a water buffalo. Unsure if there is already a Horn Cave in Florida, we named it Horn Bone Cave to ensure a unique name. We were able to survey all but a single water-filled passage in 7 survey stations for a total horizontal length of 63ft and a vertical extent of 13 ft. The cave has a few nice formations, including some really pretty ones that Danny found in a tiny alcove in the ceiling of the southern passage that you have to climb up to in order to see.

Fortunately, all the caves and pits mentioned are on the Goethe State Forest property and therefore will be protected for the foreseeable future.

Horn Bone Cave Map

 

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Gremlin Cave

Posted on 03 April 2005 by admin

By Randy Youngman

On April 3, 2005, a successful expedition to Gremlin Cave was mounted by Central FL Cavers “SchoolGirl Caving Squad”

Emily and Gail Youngman on April 3, 2005 accompanied by Randy Youngman and lead by Mike Gordon of FSS. After the customary rendezvous screw-up, we finally arrived at the site and proceeded to scramble around in the two smaller caves of the Gremlin trio and make a general nuisance of ourselves while Sarah Cervone, Wendy Shirah, Tom Feeney, and Kitty Markley tried to get serious work done practicing their cave mapping skills. Much to their relief, we split off from their mapping trip and Mike guided us through the main Gremlin passages. As usual, the girls had a blast and are becoming more accustomed to tight crawls, scrambling, and climbing around in the dark.

There were no equipment failures, near-misses, or incidents to report, and air quality was good. This was our first visit to this cave, so we cannot report on changes of condition. No particularly dangerous conditions, significant litter, or vandalism were observed.

On behalf of “SGCS”, I want to express our gratitude for all those who have taken the time to help me get my kids engaged in caving, including all those listed above, Bill Birdsall, Steve Nesmith, and our own Central FL grotto members. With lots more to learn and explore, caving has offered us valuable lessons in expanding our limits, developing self-assurance, confronting fears, stewardship, team work, and the joys of coin-operated Laundromats (Mommy won’t let us wash our cave stuff at home!).

Cave Safely, Cave Often

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