GVKS Weekend Recap for 09-MAR-02

It was a very productive weekend for the GVKS. Accomplishments include:

Memorial Day Cave lineplot, March 2002

Breakfast at the Germany Valley Karst Survey Fieldhouse

1. We did not try to burn down the fieldhouse for a change. Considering the last two months, this was no small accomplishment. The house also came one step closer to being back to its old primitive self. The fire place has been trimmed out in luan, and a shelf was also installed for the stuffed chicken. The poor bird always looked so forlorn sitting on the computer table.

2. Virginia Creeper was surveyed. It is a little over 60' feet in length, and just shy of 50' in depth. Considering how little effort (in comparison to our other digs) was needed to open it I think we can consider this one a freebie.

3. After much booty scooping, the Memorial Day Cave survey has finally started. Current length is just under 1300', and the depth is 83'. Both ends of the cave still go, so this survey is no where near completion. Oddities observed so far: Both ends of the cave are downstream, we have yet to find the upstream feeder. Large blocks of sandstone have been observed, and dodged at the end of Scoop 1. We started to dig it out, but unfortunately the dig is now going straight up into a complex boulder choke that takes a goodly amount of air. Dangerous digging, Pete Penczer managed to evade enough of a 500 pound boulder that he can still tell the tale, but it could have just as easily gone the other way, i.e. flat rocked.

Mike Frisina and son on at the bottom of Virginia Creeper

The Zimmerman Passage is going strong, and heading directly toward 20-Acre Lake Pit. We are a little less than halfway there. This passage also does something very bizarre, it actually cork screws over the top of itself, and comes within 3' of intersecting itself. Very strange.

Scoop 2 dig went after a few hours of work. There is no end to this passage in sight yet either. Sections of it are a little tight, but most of it is a walking meander-passage.

Without more data I do not want to get into the current working theory of the speleogenesis of this cave. You'll probably just think I was nuts. I mean can caves really grow uphill?

4. An overland survey was accomplished connecting 20-Acre Lake Pit, Memorial Day Cave, and Ruddle Cave. With the already existing overland survey connecting Ruddle Cave with Con Cave we now have a pretty good idea of these caves geographic relationship to each other. Now to work out the geo & speleological relationship.

Much work still needs to be done. Memorial Day has so far raised a whole lot more questions than it has answered.

See you all next month.