Report published in the April/May 2004 MSS Liaison newsletter
Carroll Cave Conservancy
April/May 2004
March 27, 2004: I made my first trip in Carroll Cave in over 17 years last month. It’s a 3 hour jaunt now from the new CCC/Danuser entrance at the T-junction to the Round Room. With heavy rains the previous night the water level in upper Thunder was up 1.5 feet over the previous weekend with a flow est. of 20+ million gallons per day and reached waist deep in places. The new discreet trail markers were very helpful keeping us out of deep water but during low water the trail may differ to avoid walking in riffle areas. We saw a cave salamander near the Convention Hall passage and two cave fish near the Bio-10 survey marker. Seeing the fish was interesting in 4 ft. deep water moving around 2-3 knots. We also saw 2 cig. Butts in the round room, a carbide dump just beyond the R.R. and a few careless steps trampling survey stations on the ground near trails. A lot of survey stations were seen under a foot of water that day too. I do not believe we impacted the cave much on our trip and I was reminded of what an awesome resource the CCC is involved in studying and protecting. The CCC allows one introductory trip into the cave for first time visitors so contact me or other trip leaders and come see the monster for yourself. Future trips require participation in active projects like bio-inventory, survey, restoration, clean-up, etc. and for liability reasons signed waivers and membership dues($15/yr.) are required. All of the info. is available on the website at www.carrollcave.org.
I’ve received many positive compliments concerning the CCC website recently. One was from Heather Levy from Ft. Campbell, KY who participated in our trip this weekend. Because of the website cavers from all over the world can keep up on the latest news and happenings at the cave and thanks to our CCCNews email list and online calendar schedule Heather was able to get in on our 10 hour photography trip. I did not ask if her parents worry more about her driving 10 hours alone roundtrip to rappel in a 120’ shaft and cave in chest deep water for 10 hours (waist deep to me) or to be with her engineering unit in Iraq where she routinely saw or was in vehicles with live enemy grenades being tossed in. I suppose in this case they preferred the dangers of the road and tempting the forces of nature. It was good to see Heather again and hear her Iraq stories while we proceeded with our own mission that day. Heather has participated in multiple CCC projects joining us while she was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO.
Often I don’t hear from readers of the website until a problem develops and then emails come in from Europe or Asia & parts beyond wondering what is going on with our Missouri caving projects. Cave Surveyor Joe Sikorski also complimented the webmaster on prompt attention to address change requests and surveyor Tony Schmitt on the webmasters update list sent to the CCCNews email group whenever major changes to the website occur. Both of these boys are members of CCC survey teams. Every trip and meeting report is available on the website as an archive and research tool, especially valuable for catching new members up to speed.
Our CCC treasurer, Rosalie, made her first trip into the cave and was quite relieved after 10 hours photographing beyond the Round Room to climb above the 1 gallon / minute of flow that hits you while on the exit ladder. The last forty feet of climb is mostly dry and the people at the top of the ladder start looking more life sized. We got off rope, climbed up through the air lock into the silo and out into a clear night filled with sounds of spring peepers. Photos from our trip of the Up Thunder azure pool beyond the CSL cairn, cave fish and cave pearls will be on our website after May 1 at http://carrollcave.org/photo_gallery.htm