Merry Christmas and Happy 2014, y'all!
I have had a few inquiries as to the status of the Longhorn Caverns SP Project. At this point, I have decided to put it in the "Completed" or, at least, "On Hiatus" state of things. The TPWD folks, the concessionaire at the park, and the project folks had a "to do" list at the park and, to the best of my knowledge, all have been completed. This past spring, the TPWD crews did a superb job on repairing the dangerous trail areas in the cave, replacing and, in some cases, installing new handrails, repainting other handrails, and an excellent job of cleaning up after themselves. This, after switching all of the lighting in the cave from incandescent to LED the winter and spring before. The Project had a very long laundry list and it has been completed, as well, except for additional mapping in the back areas of the cave, near the Crownover entrance. This entrance still remains inaccessible, due to a new landowner and permissions to access the cave via this passageway have yet to be resolved. Hopefully, someday, the additional survey points and data collected by the various surveys will be added to the Longhorn Caverns map and we will have a completed and thorough idea of the total length and lay of the cave! I would love to be able to present this completed map to the park, someday! Highlights of the Project leader list include improvements and restoration of the Lovers Lane area, and removal of dead fall, cedar, and other unsightly underbush in the sinkhole near the Visitors Center, and pushing leads in the Lumbago Alley section. Numerous other smaller projects were completed and I'd rather not list them all or bore you with them here. Some of the folks I would like to thank, in no particular order, are: Lyndon Tiu, Gerry Geletzke, Natasha Glasgow, Daniel Ramirez, Bill Larson, Edwin Lehr, George-Paul Richman, Mallory Mayeux, Andrew Alman, Allison Alman, Chris Franke, Leslie Bell, Jim Sheets, and a cast of hundreds of others who have come out to help and my feeble memory can't recall! Some of the groups I'd like to offer a HUGE thank you are the Aggie Speleological Association and the Greater Houston Grotto. The Aggies, especially, were the hardest working, most enthusiastic, and hardest partying bunch I have ever been associated with and the success of this project, Pre and Post ICS, would not have been possible without their participation! Finally, I would like to thank ALL of the Boy Scout Troops that have come out to volunteer and to camp. They performed a huge service to the park,plus, a BUNCH of new youth received their first taste of caving and many have gone off to become more involved. (Why more cavers prefer to NOT work with Scout and other youth groups is beyond me! They are a great resource of labor and deep pool of potential new cavers. Refusal to work with them has puzzled me for 18 years and y'all know who you are!) In closing, to all of you who have come out to help on the project since 2008, either for just one weekend or for several weekends, I salute and thank you! I will always remember the fun times, hard work, evening meals (at the Park or at The Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls), and the stargazing and camaraderie up in the Observation Tower on Saturday nights! To those of you who never made it out, y'all missed a VERY special project! If it gets resurrected or a special task at the park comes along, I'll be sure to let y'all know! Thanks and hats off! Mark Alman
