THE TEXAS CAVER VOLUME 32, NO. 6 DECEMBER 1987

I CONTENTS I

Kickapoo Summary (J. Ivy) ...... 131 Cot map ...... 132 Kickapoo Biology (Elliott & Reddell) . 133 State Park (P. Fambro) ...... 135 Beaver Creek Bat Cave (W. Elliott) . .. 137 The Texas Caver is a bi-monthly publication c · the & Map ...... 138 Texas Speleological Association (TSA), an inf ;rn al First Timer's Old-Timers (D. Allen) ... 139 organization of the National Speleological Sc :ie cy Kamikaze Bob ...... 140 (NSS). It is published in February, April, une, News & Notes ...... 142 August, October, and December. TSS News (W. Elliott) ...... 144 Subscription rate is $1 0/year for 6 issues of The ] ~xas Trip Reports ...... 145 Caver. This includes a $4 fee for membership 1 the Long & Deep Caves (D. Pate) ...... 149 TSA. Out of state subscribers, libraries, and 1ther instituions can receive The Texas Caver for $6 'ear. altematin~ editors Send all correspondence (other than material fo The Texas Caver), subscriptions, and exchanges to: The Texas Caver, P.O. Box 8026, Austin, Texas 78 ~ n this issue next issue Dale Pate Jay Jorden The Texas Caver openly invites all cavers to s· bmit P.O. Box 1251 1518 Devon Circle articles, trip reports, photographs (35 mm slide r r any Austin, Texas 78767 Dallas, Texas 75217 size black & white orcolorprinton glossy paper:_, cave ph. 512-452-5184 ph. 214-398-9272 maps, news events, cartoons, and/or any other tving wk. 214-220-2022 related material for publication.

©Copyright 1987 Texas Speleological Associr. tion AUSTIN STAFF SUPPORT Computer assistance and proof-reading THE Erika Heinen Texas Caver labels TEXAS CAVER Rod Goke Texas Caver distribution Johanna Reece Printed by Kestrel Printing, Austin, Texas Front Cover.--Sarah Gayle begins her descent in to Dlusive Pit , a 130 meter deep entrance drop located Cave Rescue -- Call Collect in Coahuila, . (Brian Burton) Back Cover.--A high lead above El Jonuco, Nuevo 512-686-0234 Leon, Mexico. (Peter Sprouse) 130 The Texas Caver December 1987 r KICKAPOO PROJECT SUMMARY BY Joe Ivy

On October 17-18, well over 130 cavers from Cave and Green Cave were not surveyed since they all over Texas and beyond converged on what was are so large as to warrant a weekend unto themselves. previously the Sargeant Ranch about 20 miles north of All in all, the objectives of the project were acheived. Brackettville, Texas to participate in the TCMA/TSA The majority of the ridges on the ranch were walked Ki ckapoo Project for the Texas Parks & Wildlife with the notable discovery of six new caves. A worthy Department. Cavers began showing up as early as 5:00 achievement considering that the ranch has 6,400 pm Fri day and the bulkofthegrouphad arrived by4:00 acres. All of the known caves were photographed, am Saturday morning. At 9:00 am, ridgewalking collected, and located. All of the known caves were gro ups had begun to form and depart. By 11:00 am surveyed except Kickapoo and Green. A geologic survey crews had dispersed to survey the known caves. assessment of the area and many grandiose statements The main goals of the project were to locate , were made by George Veni. A group of New Mexico photograph, collect, and survey the known caves and cavers led by Jim Goodbar worked on washing the to ridgewalk in search of new caves. Kickapoo formations in Kickapoo Cave while another group used Keith Reuss' cave radio to located survey points Ron Ralph at the entrance to Kickapoo Cave (WR Elliott). on the surface above the cave for the future installation of a drip irrigation system. The system would theoretically stimulate renewed formation growth. Also Alicia Gale and Jocie Hooper led "Kiddie Kave Tours" to Cot Cave and Kickapoo Cave. And to finish out a busy, productive Saturday most of the group watched the bat flight out of Green Cave and visited Kickapoo Cave. Sunday saw mostcavers packing to head home -- a long drive for most-- while some cavers ran back to check leads in some of the new found caves. Also, one of the new caves was surveyed and all were accurately located. Many thanks to those cavers who traveled far and worked hard to cause the success of this TSA project. And special thanks to Kelly Bryant, Rune Burnett, and Ron Ralph of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, whose cooperation, help, and support we could not have done without.

The Texas Caver December 1987 131 J-4 UJ N COT CAVE ~ ('\) Kinney County, Texas g~

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PROFILE

TAPE & SUUNTOS SURVEY 17 October 1987 0 5 10 15 Erika Heinen Dale Pate - Nm:---.-- Mary Standifer Meters Drafted by: Dale Pate TSA KICKAPOO PROJECT BIOLOGY REPORT By William R. Elliott & James R. Reddell Texas Speleogical Survey

The project at Kickapoo Cave State Park Site and reported to the biology team during the project. October 17-18,1987, wasagoodopportunitytoadd All collections are being processed at the Texas our knowledge of the cave fauna of the area. Memorial Museam and will be loaned out to Kickapoo and Green are famous caves, taxonomic specialists, who will identify them. tially nothing was known about their biology Conditions were generally dry in the caves, so the the project. Cave swallows had been reported collections may not have thoroughly represented the both caves, but the Mexican freetail bats in arthropods that live there. Few troglobites (blind, ree n Cave had not been identified until 1986. The cave-adapted forms) were found, so further work may • vc.,vuc- • project resulted in invertebrate collections be needed after a wet period. We have found that der a permit from TPWD) and observations of several trips to an area under different moisture brates in nine caves on the park site. This nearly conditions usually result in better data. Nevertheless, the number of caves in Kinney County that new records of some species were made. ever been studied biologically (Green Cave Honey bees were observed and photographed tually lies in Edwards County.) This report will in Bee Cave and Green Cave . The hi ve in Green ly outline our findings. Most of the collections is quite large. Most of the caves contained cave not been identified in detail as yet. crickets. Males were collected to see which of several Collections were made by the authors, species they might be (only Ceuthophilus cunicularis elino Reyes, Allan Cobb, George Veni, Joe Ivy, and C. apache have been found in Kinney County so Oczkowski, and Andy Grubbs in Bee Cave, far). Cave, Dead Porcupine Cave, Green Cave, Two types of darkling beetles were found in kapoo Cave, Porcupine Cave, Saddle most of the caves and may prove to be species of ve, Scorpion Cave, and Sumac Pit. Only a Eleodes or Embaphion. These are the large, black , very small caves remain to be studied. beetles commonly found in the entrance zone. ervations of animals were made by several cavers Reddish, ant-like beetles, probably Rhadine howdeni , \laejovis reddelli, a Texas scorpion found mostly in caves. were taken in Bee and Cot Caves. These are eyed (Wr Elliott) forms, which are larger and more robust than the .~ ... "" troglobitic Rhadine found in caves farther east. Rove (Staphylinid) beetles, a small red-orange carabid beetle, pillbugs, and desert roaches (Arenivaga) were also common members of the entrance zone fauna. The common Daddy-long-legs harvestman (Leiobunum townsendi) was in almost all of the caves, and many of them carried red chiggers on their legs. There seemed to be no troglobitic Hoplobunus harvestmen, found in some other caves in the county. A few ticks were found, and long-legged pholcid spiders were collected, but there was a lack of small , delicate, troglobitic spiders. Most everyone who went to Kickapoo Cave observed dark scorpions on the walls and floor. One was photographed by Elliott and videographed by The Texas Caver December 1987 133 report observations of such animals to the author1 whenever they can. The only troglobites found during the project were blind millipedes (Cambala speobi~ in Dead Porcupine Cave and some small, white trichoni scid isopods on a piece of wood at the very end of l Kickapoo Cave . The terminal room was noticeably damper than the rest of the cave. The fauna was not nearly as diverse and cave-adapted as those from othe1 Kinney County caves such as Palace Cave, Webb Cave, Brackettville Sink, and Rattlesnake Cav~ \ Long-eared bats (Plecotus townsendii) were observed in small numbers in Cot Cave and Sumac Pit, but were not caught. Rex Wahl has observed bat stains in small domes in Kickapoo Cave , and Ron Ralph reported seeing a small, old area near the entrance talus. Kickapoo has been inhabited by only small numbers of bats, but no one knows how recentl y. The entrance seems too small and vegetated for freetails, so cave myotis or long-eared seem more likely. Rex Wahl, assisted by Carol Beardmore, Bob Burnett, and others, has conducted bat surveys in ' Green Cave for the Texas Parks &Wild li fe

Large passage in Kickapoo Cave (WR Elliott) Department and Bat Conservation International. Rex noted that Mexican freetails were present in Green on Butch Fralia' s crew, and several were taken there and his first visit in February 1986, and he has returned five in Scorpion Cave . These probably are Vaejovis times since then. The bat population flu ctuates reddelfi, an eyed, troglophilic species, which is found greatly, ranging from 200,000 on May 23, 1987, to in many Texas caves, but only rarely above ground. 4,500 on June 22. At one time he found females th ai The cliff frog, Syrrophus marnocki, is had recently lactated, but which had no yo ung common in the entrance of Kickapoo. Elliott anymore. Another time he found a few pregnant photographed the frogs as well as a rock squirrel, females, but the cave in not a nursery colony. Rex which was busily corning in and out of the entrance to hypothesizes that Green may be an overflow or store food in a tight place back under the entrance. The stopover colony for bats from the Devil' s Sinkhole and squinel was oblivious to several cavers sitting and other major roosts. Further studies, perhaps with radio talking at the entrance gate. collars if a grant is obtained, may clarify this Three porcupines were seen nesting in the end interesting situation. room of Cot Cave by several visitors, including the On Saturday, October 17, most of the project Kiddie Cave Tour, who also got an impromptu lesson cavers enjoyed watching a 17-minute bat fligh t at on cave bugs from Elliott. Joe Sumbera saw a Green Cave. The entrance is on the side of a hill and porcupine in Porcupine Cave. These are the first the crowd was able to get very close to the flight as il records of porcupines in Central Texas caves (Elliott came down the slope, then rose to the east. Many did see a dead one in Celery Creek Cave, Menard cameras and video camcorders recorded the scene. Bat County, a few months ago). Porcupines are fairly Conservation International members Cynthia Grant, common in caves of southeastern New Mexico and Bob Burnett, and Bill Elliott exhibited a couple of adj acent Culberson County, Texas. Cavers should (Biology--continued on pagc l48l 134 The Texas Caver DecembP. r 1987 A REPORT ON CAVES LOCATED IN GARNER STATE PARK & LOST MAPLES STATE NATURAL AREA by Paul Fambro

Erika Heinen, Dale Pate, and I met with Jim the cave. A single remammg large formation Feely Saturday morning, May 24, 1986 at Gamer State mentioned in a 1961 report of the cave in now gone. A Park, then went to the Park Office to tum in our permit quick hike to the Park high point indicated that there and releases. After a brief visit with Park Manager, Jim was a lot of park left where caves might be found on a Mlil son, we got our gear together and hiked to Icebox later trip. Ca ve . The cave has a high fissure entrance at the Biological collections were not made, but junction of a high cliff face and its talus slope above the surface crickets and spiders were noted in both caves. Frio River. It was quickly noted as to why the cave got Two wrens were also noted in and around the Vandal its name; cold air was pouring from the cave. It is Cave entrance. Geology was not done, but both caves speculated to be due to air entering surface cracks on seem to be in Edwards . top of the cliff, being cooled by the rock and then That evening we drove to Lost Maples Natural sinking to flow from the cliff face entrance. A number Area and arrived just as Manager Roy Heideman was of park visitors were touring the cave when we arrived closing the Park Office for the day. After a brief visit and the procession continued almost continuously we headed to our reserved camp spot. The next during our entire two-hour stay in the cave. We morning, May 25, we checked in at the Park Office and surveyed the cave while dodging cave visitors and then headed off up the Can Creek trail to locate and checked out the upper level and the breakdown at the survey some caves referenced on a topo by Bexar end of the cave. The general configuration of the cave members. is a hig h, narrow fissure about 60-meters long and In a short time we located two fossil resurgence trending 270 with a widened upper level in places caves in the cliff face on the west side of Can Creek abou t 8 to 10 meters off the floor. No water was present about halfway to the pond. One we named Cliff Face and the cave air temperature was 14 Celsius. Much Cave and the other Can Creek Cave . If previous tras h in the form of beer cans and bottles was present names exist we are not aware of them. Both caves are throughout the cave. It would be nice to clean up the almost identical with the small entrances located at the ca ve and maybe post an NSS Slogan sign at the top of steep talus slopes below the cliff. They are high entrance. No major damage to the cave seemed to be solutional fissures 8 to 10 meters long, I meter wide occutTi ng due to heavy visitation. After locating the and trending 240 . Air temp in both was 18 Celsius entrance on the topo map we headed down for lunch. while the pool of water at the back of Can Creek That afternoon, Dale, Erika, and I hiked the Cave measured 15.5 Celsius. No fauna was noted in tra il to Vandal Cave in the central part of the park; we the pool; however, there were lots of gnats and had this trail and cave to ourselves. This was a small harvestmen ("grand-daddy long legs") in both caves. one roo m cave with its entrance located in a ledge rock Both ended when the fissures got too tight. We outcrop near the head of a north trending valley. Its surveyed and located both caves on the topo map. A oval 2.25 meter by 2.6 meter entrance sloped down fair amount of park visitor traffic was noted with no sli ghtly to the main floor which totaled about 17 meters appreciable harm to the caves but with some by 7 meters and trended 240. We surveyed the cave accelerated erosion to the creek talus slope taking and marked its entrance on the topo. This cave has place. It would be best to keep park traffic to a been completely destroyed by vandals, hence the minimum to protect the slope and visitors due to the name. Every formation has been hammered away to steep, loose nature of the slope. the ceiling or floor. Trash is also piled in portions of (State Park Caves--continued on page 141) The Texas Caver December 1987 135 TSS

metere

0 3 8 9 12 1~

I I PROFILE ceiling is a high, narrow canyon large boulders wedged 1 in passage I \Jj . J ~ ~ J ICEBOX CAVE Garner State Park BUUNTOB & TAPE SURVEY 24 May 1986 Uvalde County, Texas Paul hmbro Jim Feely Erika Heinen Dale Pate

DT,P

VANDAL CAVE Garner State Park

Uvalde County, Texas E

PROFILE BUUNTOB & TAPE SURVEY 24 May 1988 CAVE Paul Fambro. Erika Heinen. m Dale Pate

met era PLAN 0 SOFTLY

TSS DLP

136 The Texas Caver December 1987 BEAVER CREEK BAT CAVE BY WILLIAM R. ELLIOTT

High on a ridge in Burnet County, overlooking corehole, and the terminal room has no appreciable ake Buchanan to the west, lies the pit entrance to guano or bats. A good transit survey must have been eaver Creek Bat Cave. The cave is home to one of the run to located the drilling rig because the hole came major Mexican freetail bat colonies of Texas. through right in a dome in the middle of the room. The cave, which is formed in the Ellenburger On the west side of the entrance the passge Limestone, has been mined for quano off and on since goes about 100ft. to a fork. An upper level area to the abou t 1850. Little information is available on its right contains 1- to 24-inches of guano, but little hi story from the present owner, except to say that "it evidence of bats currently inhabiting it. To the left, the has been shut down more than it has been mined." passage extends about 200ft. to a circular room about itre Creek, which runs east of the cave, may have 80 ft. in diameter, floored with what may be cave been the site of a nitre, or saltpeter works during the myotis (Myotis velifer) guano. No bats are there. days of black powder. The most recent guano venture On my first visit to the cave in September, may date from the 1940's and 1950' s judging from the 1977, as I walked up the side of Ammonia Mountain, insciption "1-26-54 TSG" found on the concrete base I was struck by a hot wind as the bats took flight in a of an iron boom at the entrance. Also, the 1948 (Continued on page 141) Nati onal Speleological Society Bullentin 10, The Thepit entrance to Beaver Creek Bat Cave (W.R. ELLIOTT). Cave r, of Texas, mentions the now collapsed sheet iron building near the entrance. Wooden mining ramps are still visible in the cave. The name Marbach, long associa ted with guano mining at Bracken Bat Cave and Frio Cave, seems to have been familiar to the owner in discussing the cave's history. The owner protects the cave from casual sightseers, but has admitted a few cavers and bat biologists for studies. As is typical of freetail caves, the entrance is large, about 50 by 30ft. The shaft drops 40ft. to a talus cone, which leads down into a 90ft. wide, 250ft. long passge with ceilings 25 to 60 ft. high. There is some telltale staining of the ceiling on the right, but little guano, indicating that bats formerly did or occ asionally still do inhabit the entrance room. At the 60ft. dome the passage turns sharply to the right. One climbs up a gradual slope alongside a mining ramp for about 100ft., then encounters the base of "Ammonia Mountain". This is the main bat roost/dome. One descends the far side of the guano hill and enters a narrow passage that goes 400ft. to a corehole penetrating the ceiling. The 20-inch diameter hole is 54 ft. deep. The hole may have been drilled for the extraction of guano, but there is no evidence of any conveyance between Ammonia Mountain and the

The Texas Caver December 1987 137 w -00

~ ~ ~ BEAVER CREEK BAT CAVE _c::;c>'"~ ~ ~ BURNET CO., TEXAS ;g SUUNTOS AND TAPE SURVEY, SEPT. "'' 17-18,1977, BY J. ATKINSON,T. BYRD, M. CAVANAUGH, J. CHELF, W. ELLIOTT, R. HEMPERLY, D. PATE, L . WILK. PLOTTED ON ELLIPSE BY D. McKENZIE ~ AND W. ELLIOTT. DRAFTED BY W. ~ C) ELLIOTT. REVISED 1987.

NOTES• ~ I. SURVEY TRAVERSE • 3596'. ~ ·---~- 2.. TOTAL HORIZONTAL LENGTH • 1718' ~ ( te29' SURVEYED) ...... "'' 3. DEPTH • 68' . ~ OJ '-1 OLD SHED

-rib o ~ 100 eo 200 n ... bd bd bd E------d I

o ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~w bd bd bd bd

TOW 7.5' QUAD., 1967

1--+ 100• MAG ,_. 90'" ...... 17o-' 1--+ eo•

EXTENDED PROFILE (COMPOSITE OF PROJECTED SECTIONS INDICATED ABOVE) REFLECTIONS ON AFIRST-TIMER'S OLD TIMERS or (Impressions of a Neophyte) by Doug Allen

I attended my first TOTR this past Sept. 19-20, Jim Bowden, and a most helpful young lady who and I must confess to having a great time! There were, showed me the finer points in selecting the best carbide I believe, upwards of 300 attendees at the gathering. I lamp. fel t somewhat "lost in the shuffle" of so many Saturday nights feast was both bountiful and seaso ned cavers who all seemed to know everyone else delicious! Kudos to all who made it possible-- I pigged - I know but a handful of the UT Grotto people out! I also took the opportunity Saturday to join the myself. I got to meet and chat with a lot of people who TSA. The beer flowed freely into the night, and I were new to me from other and without relished the camarderie. The slide shows were exception everyone of them was very open and gorgeous. My appetite is whetted for the 1988 NSS fri end ly, and pleased to welcome a new caver into the Convention as well as to see some of those beautiful caving ranks. I didn'tcatch everybody's name, nor can caves that were shown from various people's trip. The I reme mber all of those I did get, but a hearty "glad to awards presentations were fun and funny. I was ha ve met you " to you all. hoping my name would be drawn for a "door prize", The site at Lazy L&L was really nice. I myself and when it was I joyously jumped up front. Erika cam ped alongside the river and enjoyed the scenery. I Heinen looked at me puzzled and asked ifl was really didn't partake of the river's many possibilities for fun, Doug Allen. I assured her that I was. It turned out that bein g caught up in talking with people and absorbing one of her house-mates name is Doug Allen and he was as muc h information, tips, and beer as I could. at TOTR also. She showed me the ticket and I said that However, next year. .. I only had time to try my luck on no, it wasn't the one I had filled out. By this time Andy th e cable-ladder climb (with a time of something like Grubbs wasn't sure what was going on so he 27 seco nds for my first and, so far, only time on a cable­ announced that since the other Doug Allen wasn't ladder). The 30-meter rope climb was out of my there, that two identical prizes would be awarded for league, seeing as I'd only had one other experience the name. wit h rope-walking gear and didn't have any of my own After all the awards, people started heading for an yhow. The speleolympics looked like lots of fun and the hot tub, sauna, and bon-fire. I joined the throng like a shoe-in for me, but I was utilizing my time inside the "black curtain" to enjoy the fire, beer, and pe rusing and purchasing new equipment during that conversations. By 11:30 pm I'd had enough pa rt of the day (excuses, excuses). excitement and retired to my tent (whimped out). My main purpose at TOTR was to acquire my Sunday I sat in on the TSA meeting to see what ca ving gear, which I'm pleased to say, I accomplished. this organization that I had just joined was all about. In fa ct, I accomplished more than I had anticipated! New officers were elected and items were discussed. I For me, this was the highlight of my weekend. I pretty didn't vote on anything myself, not really knowing mu ch knew what I needed and wanted, but was unsure what most of the hub-bub was about. I am still curious of wha t it all was that I was looking at. I nabbed Bill though. What was resolved? After the meeting broke Mi xo n, Rod Goke, and whoever else was nearby, to up, people began packing it all up to head for home. As help me in my purchasing decisions. With their people left and some others formed off into little kn owledge and advice, I got some pretty good stuff. groups, I was left reather by myself. I was feeling a Th anks Bill! And a special note of gratitude to Rod, (Contined on page 14 8) The Texas Ca ve r December 1987 139 140 The Texas Caver December 1987 Cont inued from page 137) (State Park Caves--continued from page 135) circul ar pattern. Charlie Yates, TomB yrd, Dale Pate, We were unable to locate two caves that had and I were among the few cavers to ever visit there. been marked on our topo map, but did note a major he air was oppressive with gnats and ammonia. A spring at the juncture of Can Creek and Mys tic rief tou r of the cave convinced us that a return trip at Canyon. ight (w hen the bats were out) with more cavers would We then hiked up Mystic Canyon to the plateau be necessary to map the cave. On September 17-18, and located two sinks in the southwest portion of the : 1977, I returned with Jerry Atkinson, Tom Byrd, park near Primitive Campground E. Only one pit was · Maureen Cavanaugh, John Chelf, Robert Hemperly, accessible; the other was plugged by rocks thrown in Dal e Pate, and Lisa Wilk. We watched the long bat the entrance. We named these County Line Pit #1 and ig ht, which started very late, then entered to survey #2 due to the proximity to the Bandera-Real County and photograph. This went on until4:00 am. I was not line. We measured and sketched the open pit and , to return for ten years. marked both on our topo. The pit measured only 1.72 On March 28, 1987, Rex Wahl and I led about meters deep with a small entrance, .3 meters by .5 a dozen members of the Austin Chapter of Bat meters. A small bell at the bottom was about 2 meters Conservation International on a trip to the cave. The across and contained some trash. The cave may purpose was to train people for the Science Committee eventually have the fate of its counterpart if people fill inc avit~g techniques and bat censusing methods. Our it up with rocks. No fauna was noted or temperature measurements indicated there were about 4.5 million taken. fre ctai Is present in the dome over Ammonia Mountain. Again, the park has a vast area that could have Afe w cave myotis were seen in the far east end of the some caves if the time were spent searching the area. cave. Members of the Bexar Grotto has supposedly done During the March trip I took some some surface reconnaisance of the park. tem peratures and gas readings. The temperature ran ged from 64 F near the entrance to 70 F at Am monia Mountain. Carbon dioxide ranged from SORE PRAISES ADD HORNY CRACK 0.08% atthe west end to0.19% at Ammonia Mountain, Repotted buy Nuance Waiver wh ere the ammonia was 4 parts per million (not very Oily wan Setter-die moaning inn Augers, money carvers high). As in most freetail caves, the temperature and winter Horny Crack Carve foursome carving an swarming. am mo nia should increase dramatically by Deplane worse mopping an engorging dare Cue-Hay presage. su mme rtime. Pimple pot honor fence an whats-its anther swarm enter carve. We hope to return to the cave to monitor the Wrestler's Murder worsen assumption, anther swarm tutor Cu e­ Hay wander money lower species. Wit mulch aardvaark bats . We especially need a summertime count to see if winsome armors anther prey boars, Wit Laps worse hostelry! Den the population comes anywhere close to the 14 to 18 whey prosecuted tutor doom attar astute pork bindery fodder mi llio n es timate that was published in the bat literature sore-praise berth-clie parody fur Wan Bucklemoan. Dare worst long ago. The cave would have been ranked as the chuckle-lit kke whiff kindles an oil sank Hoppy Berth-die, wail second largest bat colony in Texas, but that probably Wan maiden whoosh and bellow outer kindles. Gorgeous Viney handsome fiends dodder threw trap was an overestimate. However, it may be that the inner carve collating warder simples fur superstitious porpois es. po pula tion has declined, judging from the uninhabited Main-wiles, Jam Bedoulin an Jaw Ivory prosecuted stain area in the entrance room. This is difficult to allah weigh tutor beck offer Cue-Hay threw naseous assumptions evaluate, since the cave was mined and the entrance anther souffled fief-tea meagres (50m). Murk Mitten, Nuance Waiver, Wan Bucklemoan, Merry Cheesy, Brain Burden, Chi ck room guano may have been removed. The cave is still Click, an Curd Milking torque pitchers an louvered ass umptions. am ong the top ten colonies in Texas, and it is fortunate Mini otter pimple enjoined barf carving an campaign add Taxes' th at it is under the protection of a caring owner. moist anomalous carve.

The Texas Caver December 1987 141 called Bill Russell, and a new alignment was workeo I NEWS & NOTES I out protecting the caves but still enlarging the lot. Witn the changing real estate market, many previous11 TSA LIBRARY MOVED 10 AUSTIN approved subdivisions will undergo sucn modifications. However, the City of Austin is vigilan\ The Texas Speleogical Association library of and cavers will be called when changes involve cave1. exchange publications has now been transferred from Caves are thus adequately protected in the City o! Bob Oakley in Uvalde to the Texas Speleological Austin and within its extraterritorial jurisdiction Survey in Austin. It is presently being organized and (ETJ). catalogued on the computer. When this is completed, The situation is not so rosy elsewhere. Several it will be available for anyone to examine. of the towns around Austin are just beginning to If anyone has exhange copies for The Texas develop environmental programs. The City o! Caver, I would like to have these so that they can be Georgetown contacted Jon Cradit of San Marcos. He placed with the remainder of the library. I will be referred them to John Gunter who is coordinating TSI happy to pay any shipping costs. work in Williamson County. The City of Georgetown I am particularly eager to get copies of Texas would like to develop a cave inventory as a first step in grotto newsletters for the TSA library. Anyone having environmental protection, and cavers will have some extra copies or simply wishing to donate them to the input here, it seems. library can do the TSS a great service by providing The City of Cedar Park has no environment al these for our use. If you wish them returned, I can protection for caves in the Brazos River (Brush] xerox them if necessary and return them to you. There Creek) drainage. Some protection is provided th rough is a considerable amount of valuable information in the Texas Water Commission, but their main intere 11 many of these publications and should be made is preventing pollution through caves and sinks, not in available for future TSS publications. preserving these features. Publications should be sent to: James Reddell, TEXAS **To the south of Austin, the newly formeo MEMORIAL MUSEUM, 2400 Trinity, Austin, Texas Edwards Aquifer Conservation District has been 78705. criticized for only spending 1.6% of its $3 00,000 budget for aquifer protection, education, research, ano CONSERVATION UPDATES conservation. The rest goes for salaries, office by Bill Russell expenses, and to repay organizational costs. Thi $300,000 original organizational costs are to be repai( **Developers frequently complain that over three years, costing obout $10,000 per month conservation causes undue delays, and that these After the debt is retired, more money should bi delays cost them money. A frequent cause of available for other programs. misunderstanding and delays is revisions to previous agreements. The Parke Development along Highway A NEW IDEA IN CAVING BOOTS 620, northwest of Austin, provides a recent example. by Bill Steele NSS 8072 In the current Austin real estate market (optimistically described as "depressed"), developers I wonder how many pairs of boots I've gon are eager to please any potential customer. When a through in my years of caving? There were work boot concern wanted to locate in the Parke but could not find in the early days. Then came the jungle bQ( a large, suitable lot, the developers revised the site plan era which outlasted the conflict. Most people triet to please the customer, moving several streets, but only a pair of two of the Korean copy of theNam boot forgetting the reasons for the original alignments. and saw them die before their eyes. Now Kretchrnarr Sink would be under a street and For years now I have been using good hi kin: KretchmarrCave by a sidewalk. Fortunately, relations boots for caving. Ones are available which have nt between the City and cavers are such that Chuck stitches on the sides: single piece leather uppers, ant Sexton, a caver from a city environmental office, are fairly lightweight. Last spring I bought a pair o

142 The Texas Caver December 1987 Vasque boots which even discounted cost nearly $100. The same meeting reported Howard Crow and In 19 days of Huautla caving I blew out one side and Jim Blanford's visit to Dead Man's Hole (near Marble p,enetrated a toe. Everyone knows that nothing ever Falls): "The air was bad and they found large mastiff works with which to glue over a leather toe. bats, and a mystery object- a lead ba111-1/2 inch in I think I now have the ultimate. The Tennessee diameter with the initials CD and a triangle cast into it. cavers in Huautla had them this year. They are rubber Speculation had it that it was a Civil War cannon ball. industrial protective boots. They're made of stout Howard also reported developing a new rapelling rubber, are ankle high, have good enough lugged soles, technique using broomsticks for breakbars. On and have steel toes and shanks. And they're cheap. October 12th Bill Elliott and Brian Peterson surveyed They run less than $30. I had some ordered for me Wimpy's Cave in Williamson County (known in the through an industrial shoe store in San Antonio. TSS files as "The Chimney"). On October 1, 1968 Bill They're made by Tingley Rubber. The model # is Elliott reported that he, Brian Peterson, and Jim ML821 S. The sizes run a little large so I bought my Shepard went to West Texas and found a 100-foot pit reguiar size and will be able to get wetsuit booties into near Marathon, previously unentered. The pit, them . developed in completely vertical beds, was named The store I purchased mine from was Tuff­ Donnell's Dead Cave after an 8-point mule Sole, Inc. , 1731 S.W. Military Dr., San Antonio, Texas deer head found mummified at the bottom. Bill Elliott 78221, phone (512)927-5400. They are located two also went to Mexico with Dwayne Faith to a 620-foot blocks off Interstate 35 on the southside. I called 800 pit called sotano Puerto de los Lobos , "third infonnation and got the numbers 800-526-2131 and deepest drop in the Western Hemisphere." They used 800- 63 1-5498 for Tingley Rubber. They said they a 1200 foot length of Samson rope borrowed from the could direct retail them but their cost was $2 more than UT Grotto. A probable new species of blind beetle was my local outlet. You can call them and learn of a dealer collected. Wolfgang Lehnhardt announced a trip to in your city. Powell's with Silver Mine . In 1967, T.R. Evans I'll have to use them awhile to see if they are discovered Sotano de las Golondrinas , and the good in all caves. To date I have used them in a semi­ Florence cavers of the Balcones Grotto dug through mu ddy cave and in the water and mud of Honey Creek into the new section in Cobb Caverns. On Oct. 3, Cave. They worked just fine. I anticipate finding out David Merideth and Eugene Haydon reported 782 feet what the TAG guys did and that was that they last many mapped in the Z section and in an upper level chimney times longer than leather boots. Water doesn't faze in the cave. Bill Russell reported that the results from them and crawling over sharp rocks makes no placing dye in the Powell's Cave stream were not in difference. For walking up mountains such as to yet. Wolfgang Lehnhardt discovered five new caves Precipicio, I don't know. I do know that the southeast and a large sinkhole on the Beck Ranch Sept. 15. guys have had their original pairs through a couple of David Merideth went caving with the Texas Tech ~ear s of constant tough caving. people after the Boerne TSA convention and visited Grosser's Sink and Alzafar Water Cave , THEBALCONESGROTTOINTHE mapping 338 feet in the process. Bill Russell reported four more feet gained in InnerSpace with 2 sticks of GOOD OLD DAYS dynamite (20 years of progress has made digging by Bill Russell much safer). And on July 2, 1968 Bill Russell, Ronnie Fieseler recently discovered the Wolfgang Lehnhardt, and Howard Crow returned records of the Balcones Grotto of about 20 years ago. from looking for a large cave on the Blanco River Reading through these brought back memories of how downstream from Wimberly that was mined for lead things used to be back when caves were mapped with during the Civil War. The cave, near a whirlpool in the a Brunton compass. To put things in perspective for river, was not found and a boat trip was suggested. the non-mapper, the 5 November 1968 meeting announces "a new cave discovery, the deepest cave in the US, with a 510 foot free drop, found in Alabama." The Texas Caver December 1987 143 TSS NEWS

by William R. Elliott

The Caves of Bexar County by George Project. At least 167 are only sketch maps, so we haw Veni is ready to go to press, says James R. Reddell, about 850 to 900 caves that have been surveyed witn editor of the volume for the Texas Memorial instruments. Sketch maps are just fine in many cases, Museam' s Speleological Monographs. The especially small, one-room caves. Some maps never hardbound volume will be 320 pages long and will get drawn up or sent to us. Nevertheless, I wa1 contain 184 maps (including 10 fold-outs) and 44 surprised that the percentage of mapped caves was so photographs. No orders can be taken yet, but an high. announcement will appear in The Texas Caver when it More important than the numbers of caves ana is published, probably in January 1988. maps is the fact that we now have a good map dat a b as~ About 18 months ago I began an inventory of that we can use to help cavers and researchers who arc all the maps in the Texas Speleological Survey files, planning a project or a publication. lean now printoU! recording them in a microcomputer database. This has a report on any county, listing all the known maps, been finished and I have also added records of all the where they were published or where they are lo ca t e~ maps ever published in the TSS publications, The and whether they are in the TSS files or in someone '1 Texas Caver, many scientific works, and in several private file. Cave maps are important documents that theses and dissertations. The county name, the year of have several uses, and I plan to keep improving thr the survey, and draftsman's and surveyor's names are database by asking surveyors for map information ana included and can be searched. If it is a file map, the by scouring grotto newsletters that have been type of map, such as "plot", "sketch", "ink", contributed to the TSS files/TSA Library. The file1 "bl ueli ne", "negative", or "xerox" is recorded. The and Library are kept by James Reddell at the Texa1 database also includes biologic, archaeologic, and Memorial Museum. geologic maps, diagrams, and graphs, which can be The database already is available on flo ppf found by key words. Published maps have the disks to TSS staff members who have IBM compatibk reference given. Eventually, location sketch maps in computers. The database is about 932 Kbytes in siu our county files may be added to the database. and comes to 1.2 megabytes with the necessary inde! We also are slow I y developing the general TSS files, so a hard disk is desirable to use it effectively. !I cave database, which contains general information of there is a demand for it, we may offer the database for Texas caves. This is based on the first database of sale, but a request from any TSA member for a count)' Texas caves, done by A. Richard Smith on IBM cards report will be honored in the interest of promoting fie !O in 1968. This included 1600 caves. I want to thank work. Please limit requests to one or two counties at a Butch Fralia for contributing much time and effort in time. Contributions of maps, photos, information, ana the field and on his computer updating information on cash to the TSS would be appreciated, so that we can North Central Texas and Northwest Texas. I wish we publish more information of Texas caves for you. had such good information of the rest of the counties. Please write to me at 12102 Grimsley Drive, Au sti n, So, how many Texas caves are there and how Texas 78759. many have been mapped? We have records of about 2300 or more caves. We're not sure until we round out our databases and get more information from the SUPPORT grottos. There are now 1055 "mapped" caves, THE incl uding many new maps in George Veni's Bexar County book and eight mapped at the recent Kickapoo TEXASSPELEO.SURVEY 144 The Texas Caver December 1987 I 1~RIP REP RTS _ ,j~ 4-i~ ·

:~ - I

estination: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico ~ate: 23-26 September 1987 ersonnel: Susie Lasko, Peter Sprouse Formations in Grutas de CasaBlanca. (S. Lasko) eported by: Peter Sprouse

We left Austin on a Wednesday night, arriving Monterrey the next day. We met up with a friend ho had been to a cave many years before that was 'gh up on the Sierra las Mitras, northwest of the city. We wou nd our way through the suburbs to a road eading up a steep canyon to a marble mine. While this · e did contain some natural cave passage, it was not hat we were looking for. After returning to the base of the mountain, we learned that the cave was higher up e mountain than where we had gotten to. We then ove west to CasaBlanca canyon and camped. On Friday, we talked to a number of locals, but oone knew exactly where Cueva de Aguila was. This as a pit partially explored by cavers from SWT in the ate 60's. However, we did located Grutas de Casa 1 lanca, an interesting formation cave. We made some ood faunal collections, including blind schizomids tl spiders. We noticed on the wall a 35-year-old cription by early Monterrey caver (and NSS mber) Pedro Wood. Leaving CasaBlanca, we backtracked east to next major canyon, where there is a fancy, high e€urity development called El Jonuco. On the drive The Texas Caver December 1987 145 up the canyon, two large entrances are visible on the east wall. One has obviously been mined, and may or may not be of natural origin. The other one is very high up and very impressive, reminiscent of Cueva de la Boca. It would be an ambitious climb to get to it. After talking our way past the security guards, we gained access to the high potrero, where new tile-roofed vacation homes dot the pine forest Towering over them on the western ridge was a large cave entrance. We made the steep hike up to Cuvea de El Jonuco, only to find that the cave ended in a roof of large boulder breccia 30 meters above the floor. Out of time, we rei uctantl y left the high canyons and returned to Austin the next day.

Destination: Lechuguilla Cave, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico Date: 3-11 October 1987 Personnel: Cavers from Texas, Colorado, TAG, California, New Mexico, etc. Reported by: Terri Treacy

Texas cavers Jerry Atkinson, Patty Kambesis, Terry Bolger, Mark Minton, Nancy Weaver, and Terri Treacy joined some 30-odd cavers from all over the country for continued exploration in Lechuguilla Mary Standifer in H, T. Miers Cav e . Cave. At the beginning of the week the cave was about (P. Sprouse) 3 miles long and 1051 feet deep- the sixth deepest everyone up and dining at the Texicali Resturam cave in the U.S. By the end of the week cavers had Drove through an overcast and very black night. Pete1 pushed Apricot Pit to a borehole maze and the deepest had a spot of trouble when his manifold/exhaust pi ~ point in the cave so far. At 1205 feet deep, Lechuguilla connection broke. Upon examination it wasn 't b a~ now ties the Big Foot-Meat Grinder Cave System for enough to stop travelling-just loud as hell. We gotli third deepest in the U.S. Cavers pushed a small our rendevouz at picnic area where everyone el se w~ crawlway in the Deep Secrets section and they found already there with tents pitched and sleeping. We se and mapped over 200 feet of borehole and it's still up tents in the blowing rain and slept at around 2 a. m going. Over 6 miles of passge has now been mapped, Woke to grey drizzle, ate brief breakfast ani and the tremendous airflow in the cave indicates there coffee, and all headed out of the picnic area in ' is much more to be found.d caravan. It drizzled most ofthe way to the ranch. Pete and Paul drove in to talk to the rancher before 11'1 Destination: H.T. Miers Cave, Val Verde Co. Texas headed to the cave. Upon arrival at the cave, we setuj Date: 23-25 October 1987 tents, donned our caving gear, and entered the cave ' Personnel: Aspen Adams, Doug Allen, Paul approximately 1:00 p.m. The going was a little s l o ~ Fambro, John Fogerty, Cynthia Grant, Terry since there was so many of us and four of us weri Gregston, Susie Lasko, Steve Mason, Ed Sevcik, Peter comparative "beginners". Terry and Paul startei Sprouse, Mary Standifer ahead and were rigging the drops. Peter caved alon! l Reported by: Doug Allen with us beginners and Suzie and Mary pretty mU(l brought up the rear. The cave isn't terribly large, bu· We left Austin Friday eve after picking consists mostly of a series of vertical drops with sh o~ 146 The Texas Caver December 1987 tervals of horizontal walking passage. The way in foreman, Terry learned the location of the key to one nsisted of a 15', a 30', a 30', an 80', and a 80' drop of the locked gates (it was hidden under a rock). The Jlowed by a long horizontal passage of stoopwalking next rancher revealed the hiding place for the key to his d upright walking with some crawling and climbing. gate and we were feeling successful. The last locked is led to a 15' drop into The Big Room. gate between us and the sierra proved more The Big Room is pretty fair size and also quite complicated. The key-holder/landowner would be uddy. A passage drops down out of this room, but arriving the next day. Hoping to somehow find a route as totally underwater. Peter took pictures and around the final obstacle on our own we drove for llected specimens while the rest of us looked about hours on every road and track we came across through ,d rested awhile before starting out of the cave. the beautiful desert. A monarch butterfly migration Once all out, everyone got comfortable, ate was a special treat, as were the wildflowers and 'nner by the campfire and relaxed. John got out a blooming cactus. Although we never got any closer to lescope and Peter, Suzie, and Paul played musical the mountain looming on the horizon we did manage struments. Thatnightl slept the slumber of the dead. to get stuck for an hour in an unctious mud puddle and unday we all headed home for Austin. have a tire blowout. We retreated for the night to a warm spring which we shared with thousands of monarchs. estina.tion: Illusive Pit, Municipio de Candela, The next day we met up with Sarah and Brian. oahuila, Mexico We located the landowner who had the key and we ate: 22-25 October 1987 were on our way to search the canyons for the pit. As ersonnel: Brian Burton, Sarah Gayle, Gary we approached the mountain, we ran across a young apper, Terry Raines, Cathy Rountree, Terri Treacy boy who informed us we were trespassing. We needed eported by: Terri Treacy permission to be there from his father, the ranch foreman. While the rest of us began looking for the On the evening of 22 October 1987 Terry, cave, Terry, Brian, and the boy drove into Candela to ary, and Terri picked up Cathy at the Austin airport get the necessary permission. The foreman insisted we and headed fo the Sierra Ia Ventana in Coahuila. Sarah obtain permission from the landowner. After a call to and Brian would be joining us Saturday morning. The Nuevo Laredo and some quick talking, Terry secured urpose of the trip was to gain access to Illusive Pit and permission. easure the depth with Terry's electronic distance Meanwhile, the rest of us were having no luck eter. locating the entrance. By late afternoon, with the help The first cavers to find the cave were from of the ranch foreman we had finally located the cave. aredo. Illusive was well-known to locals, since it had Although it was too late to descend the pit that day, een mined for phosphates many years ago. In Brian, Gary, and Sarah carried the rope up to the eptember 1973, AMCS cavers Craig Bittinger, John entrance. Graves, and RobertHemperly mapped the pit (see map We got an early start the next day. Making our ' the December 1973 issue of The Texas Caver). way through the lechugilla, prickly pear, sotol, and hey measured the pit depth to be -133 meters and the chola was now becoming routine. The inconspicuous overall cave depth to be -192 meters. entrance is no more than four meters in diameter. A Rampant rumors had it that the pit was now tiny second entrance if located about three meters ' accessable due to locked gates and uncertain further up the slope. We rigged the larger en trance and 1 ndowner relations. This made the prospect all the Sarah descended first. There are several major ledges ore intriguing. where the rope piled up when it was fed in. Sarah had Armed with topo maps, various cavers' to disentangle the spaghetti as she rappelled in. rections, and lots of determination, we began the On one of the ledges was a painted outline of s arch for the aptly named cave. As anticipated, the the prospector who met his demise there some 15 years first gate we came to was locked, as was the ago. He was being transported through the pit on a econd,third, and so on. After chatting with one ranch cable that failed and he was killed. The Texas Caver December 1987 147 (Continued from page 147) (Old timers--continued from page 139) The bottom of the pit is a large room, 50 by 70 little sad and drained. My first Old-Timers wa1 meters, comprised mainly of dirt and guano with large quickly drawing to a close. I wished I knew all the breakdown scattered about. Remnants of the mining people still left a lot better so as to have some one to operation, such as burlap sacks and buckets, were also join in conversation with. At this point, newly elected strewn about. The room slopes steeply down to some TSA chairman, Jack Ralph, spied me sitting al one ata smaller rooms with more breakdown and some picnic table anc came over to introduce himself. (Ed's formations. note--a true politician ifi ever saw one) We talked for Terry took a measurement from the upper a bit and I told him I was a new caver and thirsty for entrance with his EDM and it showed a depth of knowledge and experience. He told me about the Hill 130.075 meters-only a 3 meter discrepancy from the Country Cavers and invited me to their next get 1973 survey. together (which I did go to). His friendliness and openess exemplified the general reception I got as a (BIOLOGY--Continued from page 134) First-Timer at Old-Timers. So although I was a strange freetails, which they had netted (the bat handlers all new face in the crowd, and I felt a bitoutofplace, I had had previous rabies vaccinations). The bats were a very good time. You can bet I'll be there next yeart released after a few minutes. No one was allowed in And the year after that... Green Cave until after the bats left. Later that night a photography crew went in and the biologists UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY followed. The gnats and flies were very thick, so even the biologists stayed only a short time. The cave The. Resource Assistant Program of the Student swallow colony in the entrance room is one of the most Conservation Association (SCA) places ad ult accessible for viewing and photography that we have volunteers in 10 to 14 week positions as profess ion al seen. assistants. The SCA is a non-profit, educationa l A few atmospheric measurements were made organization that has provided the opportunity to participate in management and conservation of natu ral by Elliott, using a mercury thermometer and a Drager resources in the for over 30 ye ars. Multi-gas Detector. Cot Cave was 70 Fat the end. Although individuals serve as volunteers, the SCA Green Cave was 69 F near the end. Kickapoo provides them with funds to meet basic travel and food Cave was 71 Fat the end and the atmospheric carbon expenses, with housing provided free of charge. dioxide level was 0.08% about 3/4 of the way in, in the Positions working with cave resources, including bats, are available for 188 in five locations, dry section. This is a pretty low level of C02 as far as allowing volunteers to work directly with cave Texas caves go, although still higher than the usual management specialists and providing the opportuni ty outdoor level of 0.034%. This indicates that there is to explore some new and unique cave resources. Du ties very little ground water infiltration and offgassing of range from cave restoration work and research projects C02 in the cave at this time. Many caves in the to interpretation of geology and cave resources for park vtsttors. Opportunities are available at Carlsbad Edwards Limestone near Austin have C02 levels of Caverns National Park, N.M. (6 positions), Jewel Cave 0.5 to 1% during the warm months. Even Carlsbad Nat!. Mon., S.D. (4), Buffalo Nat!. River, Ark. (2), Wind Caverns has a level of 0.10%, although some of that Cave Nat!. Park, S.D. (2), and the Roswell District of the may be from the exhalations of many tired tourists. BLM (2). For more information, write: The Student Cavers with observations to report may write Conservation Association, Inc.; P.O. Box 550; to James R. Reddell, Texas Memorial Museum, 2400 Charlestown, NH 03603. Applications fornextsummer Trinity Street, Austin, Texas 78705. must be received by March 1.

BORROWED FROM THE DECEMBER 1987 ISSUE OF BATS, THE NEWSLETTER OF BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL

148 The Texas Caver December 1987 Complied by Dale L. Pate LONG CAVES OF TEXAS

~ m~t~rs tm County 1. Honey Creek Cave (1986) 25,740 84,449 Co mal 2. Powell's Cave System (1982) 22,851 74,970 Menard 3. Caverns of Sonora 6,096 20,000 Sutton 4. Indian Creek Cave (1962) 5,488 18,005 Uvalde 5. InnerSpace Caverns (1981) 4,529 14,859 Williamson 6. Cave-Without-A-Name (1977) 4,313 14,151 Kendall 7. Airmen's Cave (1984) 3,642 11,950 Travis 8. Longhorn Caverns (1971) 3,002 9,850 Burnet 9. Spring Creek Cave (1983) 2,807 9,209 Kendall 10. Sorcerer's Cave (1981) 2,702 8,865 Terrell 11. Natural Bridge Caverns ( 1979) 2,621 8,600 Co mal 12. Prassell Ranch Cave (1970) 2,615 8,580 Kendall 13 . River Styx Cave (1975) 2,557 8,389 King 14. Stower's Cave (1970) 2,391 7,845 Kerr 15 . Diablo Cave 2,067 6,780 Val Verde 16. Felton Cave 2,049 6,721 Sutton 17. Wizard's Well (1983) 2,007 6,585 Terrell 18. Silver Mine (1982) 1,515 4,970 Menard 19. Robber Baron Cave (1977) 1,334 4,377 Bexar 20. H.T. Mier's Cave (1984) 1,122 3,681 Val Verde 21. Pothooks Cave (1963) 1,067 3,501 Childress DEEP CAVES OF TEXAS 1. Sorcerer's Cave (1981) 170 558 Terrell 2. Wizard's Well (1983) 118 388 Terrell 3. Big Tree Cave (1983) 106 348 Val Verde 4. Devil's Sinkhole (1983) 104 342 Edwards 5. Plateau Cave (1963) 104 340 Culberson 6. H.T. Mier's Cave (1986) 103 338 Val Verde 7. 0-9 Water Well (1965)(1980) 101 332 Crockett 8. Blowhole (1975) 101 331 Edwards 9. Emerald Sink (1986) 101 330 Val Verde 10. Helm's West Well (1976) 96.0 315 El Paso 11. 400 Foot Cave (1965) 94.2 309 Brewster 12. Troll Cave (1982) 91.7 301 Terrell 13. Deep Cave (1965) 91.1 299 Edwards 14. Mesa de Anguila Sinkhole (1980) 85 .3 280 Brewster 15. Langtry Quarry Cave (1983) 81.3 267 Val Verde 16. Genesis Cave 78 .0 256 Bexar 17. Fisher's Fissure (1961) 76.2 250 Val Verde 18. Natural Bridge Caverns 76.2 250 Co mal 19. Frio Queen Cave 71.9 236 Uvalde 20. Abominable Sinkhole 71.0 233 Val Verde 21. Montgomery Gypsum Cave 68.6 225 Terrell

The Texas Caver December 1987 149 Mexico News

Ocotempa Takes Second

On the first day of 1987 we rappelled the first All summer and fall we talked of the cave ana drop of Sotano de Ocotempa and began a series of trips of returning. Finally on 19 December it came together that would culminate in the exploration of the second and we headed for Mexico. In the village of Ocoternpa deepest cave in the New World. The story begins in the we were joined by three Belgian cavers and the spring of 1985 when a group of cavers from entrance was rigged and on down in the cave the drop1 went cave hunting in the mountains east of the town of were rerigged with the ropes that had been left Tehuacan in the state ofPuebla. When they eventually underground in places safe from flooding. Sooner th an reached the village of Ocotempa they were shown the expected we were at the end of the cave at a tennin al pits in the area by the local people, the largest being siphon, finishing the survey on Christmas Eve. Later Sotano de Ocotempa and located immediately below back at home the computer would show that we hao the schoolhouse. It is explored and surveyed and, as reached a total depth of -1040.9 m, measured from the reported in SPELEO FLASH no 148, "We reached (at upper arroyo at the entrance. last) the bottom of the entrance pit and landed in a great Back in Tehuacan we celebrated with a room. An upstream and a fossil network are quickly coincidental grouping of cavers from six countrie1 explored but they both end." The notes were before beginning the second phase of our trip. Th i1 calculated and the depth of the entrance drop was a reunion with Marc Tremblay and the Quebec determined to be 380 meters. A map was also drawn cavers and their forging into the new area of the Sierra up and published in this issue of SP ELEO FLASH. I Negra. In the two days we were there we helped became interested in exploring a pit of such great depth explore a new pit of 260m that led to a second dropo f and that Paul Courbon had listed in his Atlas as being six seconds. Also in the early stages of explorationare the fourth deepest pit in the world. Thus fate led us to several entrances blowing large quantities of air. this New Year's Day rendezvous. Many great caves will be found in the area. On this first trip we discovered that the 380 m This is only a very brief report of a great cavin! drop was actually two drops totaling 304m, and that adventure. After information is assimulated ana the cave did not end but continued down a drop of five organized a much lengthier report will be produced seconds. We had not planned for this and had no more Terry Raines rope so we exited and planned a return. One month AMCS later found us back at Ocotempa with rope and on two trips into the cave we pushed down to -647 m and ran out of rope again. This cave was a lot deeper than we had anticipated and continued to descend rapidly. We SUPPORT THE TEXAS CAVER next returned in May, camped at-300m, and pushed deeper. At just over -800 m a stream was encountered SEND US YOUR NEWS, TRIP that we followed down through waterfalls to about the REPORTS, PHOTOS, ARTICLES, -900 m level. Back at camp water was noticed coming ·down the second drop. It seemed that the rainy season :MEMOIRS, CARTOONS, CAVER had come early so we halted exploration at this point. FICTION, ETC. - 150 The Texas Caver Dec ~mber 1987 SOTANO DE OCOTEMPA PUEBLA. IAEXICO AIICS - 1187 117

. PROFILE: 31~.0 DEGREE VIEW y

Entrance Drop 221m

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Wind Drop 100m .....

Rain Drop 125m ..

..... " Split Drop f>7 m

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-1000 siphon The Texas Caver P. 0 . Box 8026 Austin, Texas 78713