Post by Brian Roebuck on Mar 11, 2007 7:43:24 GMT -5
March 10, 2007
Lynn and I had been emailing with some of our old friends and caving mentors from a cave mapping and survey group known as HR3 about going caving on the tenth. Surprisingly a couple of them (Don Lance and Ray Pope) were actually able to attend and emailed back saying they would be there. Despite threats of rain we converged on Ray's house and found yet another HR3 member Marbry Hardin there we didn't expect. Soon Don arrived and we sped off trip to the cave area down very dusty roads where we met some other caving friends and the newer generation of HR3 known now as HR3-G2 (sounds like a chemical you don't want to find in your coffee ;D ). Gerald and Avis Moni were there too and we greeted them along with Bull and Steve (our younger generation attendees). As we were greeting and organizing the founding father of HR3 Ron Zawislak eased up quite unexpectedly in his familiar van! The sun came out from behind some thinning clouds and the thoughts of rain were a distant memory as the air warmed up nicely. This was destined to be a fine day of HR3 caving!
Soon we were all geared up and began checking some old caves that had been rediscovered by the younger generation. Bull had to leave by then but we all trooped on after stopping off for a snack of Avis' awesome cookies! After a short time we headed for a tour of a nice new cave the young whipper snappers had found recently and looked at the easy part of it whimping at a flowstone climb where most of us "geezers" had issues with knee problems etc. Oh well
The last part of the day was spent ridgewalking where we found six new caves of various lengths. All of them except one were mostly walking passage, several hundred feet long, and decorated well with light colored flowstone. Rays son Connor solo scooped a 58 foot long crawl cave named Connors Crawl Cave in his honor. It was amazing to go out and find these with the old group. We surveyed them all of course and will produce some maps eventually. One of the caves had yet another flowstone obstacle that only a few of us negotiated using some webbing and "ant pile" techniques to achieve. We'll come back later and finish the survey with vertical gear since it dropped off a sheer 25' on the other side.
It was a great end to a great day when many of the original HR3 group plus Gerald and Avis headed for the restaurant after a day of fine caving. The promised rain that stayed away all day started washing the dust off our trucks just before we all headed off in different directions home. Having a day like that is truly a blessing. I truly hope there are more just like that in the future.
Lynn and I had been emailing with some of our old friends and caving mentors from a cave mapping and survey group known as HR3 about going caving on the tenth. Surprisingly a couple of them (Don Lance and Ray Pope) were actually able to attend and emailed back saying they would be there. Despite threats of rain we converged on Ray's house and found yet another HR3 member Marbry Hardin there we didn't expect. Soon Don arrived and we sped off trip to the cave area down very dusty roads where we met some other caving friends and the newer generation of HR3 known now as HR3-G2 (sounds like a chemical you don't want to find in your coffee ;D ). Gerald and Avis Moni were there too and we greeted them along with Bull and Steve (our younger generation attendees). As we were greeting and organizing the founding father of HR3 Ron Zawislak eased up quite unexpectedly in his familiar van! The sun came out from behind some thinning clouds and the thoughts of rain were a distant memory as the air warmed up nicely. This was destined to be a fine day of HR3 caving!
Soon we were all geared up and began checking some old caves that had been rediscovered by the younger generation. Bull had to leave by then but we all trooped on after stopping off for a snack of Avis' awesome cookies! After a short time we headed for a tour of a nice new cave the young whipper snappers had found recently and looked at the easy part of it whimping at a flowstone climb where most of us "geezers" had issues with knee problems etc. Oh well
The last part of the day was spent ridgewalking where we found six new caves of various lengths. All of them except one were mostly walking passage, several hundred feet long, and decorated well with light colored flowstone. Rays son Connor solo scooped a 58 foot long crawl cave named Connors Crawl Cave in his honor. It was amazing to go out and find these with the old group. We surveyed them all of course and will produce some maps eventually. One of the caves had yet another flowstone obstacle that only a few of us negotiated using some webbing and "ant pile" techniques to achieve. We'll come back later and finish the survey with vertical gear since it dropped off a sheer 25' on the other side.
It was a great end to a great day when many of the original HR3 group plus Gerald and Avis headed for the restaurant after a day of fine caving. The promised rain that stayed away all day started washing the dust off our trucks just before we all headed off in different directions home. Having a day like that is truly a blessing. I truly hope there are more just like that in the future.
;D ;D
Something like.....
It gets real ugly out there by then.