Some of you asked about the rock shelter formation near Timpson, Texas. I found one web-site mentioning it,
http://batsoftexas.com/species/perimyotis-subflavus/ "cave between Timpson and Gary, 1 (SFASU); 3 mi N Timpson on Rose Hill Rd., Cave Springs" That is about a mile east of where my fuzzy memory tells me it was located. I looked at Google satelite imagery and couldn't find anything that looked familiar. map coordinates of 31.945899,-94.396453 would be a wild guess only, as it has been 20 years since I was there. That should be within 2 miles of it though. The locals know about it, but I don't know if they have a name for it, or even if it is still there. I would guess that it is more of an interest to biologist, than cavers, as I am guessing there are microscopic organisms in the water. I missed a good photo of a deer drinking in the entrance, when I first arrived there around 1987. However, it is a scenic spot and nothing that scenic for many miles. The water trickled out of a passage that was about 1 foot long and 6 inches high and a 1 foot wide. That may be an exaggeration. The cave was on private property about 100 feet north of a clay road that dead ended and that road ran westward. Only 2 or 3 roads in that area match my memory of that. I bet there are similar features all over that part of Texas, and I have seen 4 of them, and looked for many others that were rumored. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=sinkhole_2013 The best cave by far is Gunnel's Cave, which some of you have been in. The picture link below was taken 2 years ago, of the resurgence entrance of Gunnels's Cave. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6079/6110260428_5496c7fa50_b.jpg I took a nearly identical picture in 1987. Since the formation is a sandstone-clay material, one might speculate there would be lots of erosion. If the angle of the photo is the same, then the gravel bed was not there before. It is too bad the locals didn't keep a recorded history of rumored events at this cave, such as sorority hazing making the new girls spend the night in the cave, or a hobo that lived in the the cave most of his life, or 2 teens that died driving their truck off into the sinkhole, or arrowheads that were found in the cave, etc. I would guess that I have taken about 9 people to the cave, not counting a caving trip around 1998, that several GHG'rs attended. It is 176 miles from Houston, and 174 miles to College Station, meaning it is easier and more fun to go caving in the Hill Country. I would like to point out that old-timer Tom Warden of Texarkana was the one that turned me on to all of the caves in east Texas, but his notes that he left were quite vague, and it took some effort to find the 4 that I located, the 2 others being Carey Lake Cave, and a really tiny insignificant cave in the town of Lone Star. It appears there is a lack of info on the web related to these pseudo-caves. But the TSS does have a respectable publication available on the subject, thanks to Jerry Atkinson. http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/sponsored_sites/tss/publications/images/EastTexas.jpg An enthusiatic caver using the web, could probably discover a new pseudo-cave in east Texas. David Locklear P.S. My new ex-girlfriend is offering me temporary shelter while she is out of town. No idea how long that will last, as she is bi-polar. Fortunately for me, she plans to be gone at least 3 weeks.
