Cavers, Huge thanks to the 17 volunteers who came out this weekend to continue the dig in Niche Cave on the Texas Cave Management Association (TCMA) Rolling Oaks cave preserve in Northwest San Antonio. (Not to be confused with the Rolling Oaks in Wimberly.) Volunteers trimmed trees, cut dead trees around the property, and removed approximately 1 1/2 cubic yards of trash and debris from Niche Cave. Bob Cowell also found a small dig on the property that I named "Old Man Cowell Sink".
Most of the trash in Niche Cave was whole glass bottles with about a 4:1 ratio of bottles to dirt and rocks. Volunteers were full of excitement as they hauled out bucket after bucket of trash. They first opened up a crawl that had been discovered in the 80's but was completely covered when we started the dig on February 2012. Towards the end of the day, volunteers opened up a passage under all the trash on the floor of the entrance. Tom first noticed the void when his rock bar nearly fell through the floor. The newly opened area is too unstable to enter but is about 4 feet deep and can be opened with more digging. Thanks to: Ron Ralph, Rick Corbell, Galen Falgout, Don Arburn, Tom Florer, Allan Cobb, Linda Palit, Fran Hutchins, Bob Cowell, Chris Murray, Jessica Snider, Robert Davis, Juline-Amanda ViTapay, Mat Zappitello, Saj Zappitello, Tom Rogers We ended the day at 2pm with a good lead to greet us for the next work day in the Spring, date to be determined. Photos from 11.10.12: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151136038709506.446051.507449505&type=1&l=2676ee6a9b Thank you for your support of TCMA and cave management, Ellie Watson Rolling Oaks Preserve Manager
