Punkin Cave Survey Expedition #17 2-4 December 2011 This past weekend, 2-4 December 2011, saw more than a dozen cavers convene at TCMA's Carta Valley resort, er, fieldhouse to tackle the monster mazes of the incredible Punkin Cave, the 10th longest and 28th deepest cave in Texas. We, as cavers, are extremely fortunate that we own Punkin and the equally awesome Deep Cave nearby. I strongly urge all cavers to join the TCMA and help support the purchase of additional caves!
Everybody arrived Friday evening, except Ann, who was attending a swanky office party. We cleaned up the cabin from the previous users, including tossing out three dead mice. Some folks just don't understand about mouse-proofing buildings by doing such things as sealing all paper products and food packages in tins, jars, and mouse-proof cabinets. Or turning all plates, cups, bowls, pots, and pans upside down when storing them. Sigh. But at least the sticky traps we set out are doing their job. After the flurry of cleaning and reorganization, we got the water and heat turned on, set out some snacks, and settled down to watch a couple of movies (Chronicles of Riddick and Talladega Nights) on the big screen while the rest of the crew trickled in. The next morning we ate a hearty group breakfast, organized into three survey teams, and left for the cave. Lee Jay and Galen led Vivian and Aubrey to the western side of the cave, below (but not connecting to) Hellmouth. Their survey was slow and meticulous, as Aubrey was working closely with Viv to develop her sketching skills. When I asked Viv later how Aubrey was progressing with her sketching, Viv proudly said "She's there!" Good to have another qualified sketcher in our ranks! That team only set 11 shots for a total of 21.36m (1.94m per shot), but the sketches (from both sketchers) are superlative! This survey is heading to a nice big blank spot on the map, and I hope it continues. The second team heading out to the West Maze had a bit of a delay when one of the party showed up at the cave entrance and forgot their boots. Matt Turner, who wasn't feeling up to caving that day, offered to make a run back to the fieldhouse for some borrowed footwear. Once properly equipped, Dale, Arron, Angela, and Andy went back to some leads in the far southwest corner of the cave that were left from a previous survey. They pushed a lot of passage and got the most length of the day, but, as usual, left lots more leads for future trips. They made 21 shots for 74.60m, for an average of 3.55m per shot. One shot was almost 9m long! Despite the early delay and all that survey footage, they still were not the last out of the cave. That dubious honor went to my team, which included Oscar, Yaz, and Lydia. I blame it all tight nasty stuff we were in this time. In fact, our first lead had to be enlarged by rock shaving a tight window through which several leads could be seen. Cemented breakdown plagued our survey, and we spent a lot of time pounding on rocks. Viv's team heard us almost the entire time, but we never saw them until the very end of the day. We still managed to make 14 shots, including an 8.41m shot. Too bad that was offset by the 0.64 and 0.65m shots! Our total survey was 43.57m (3.11m per shot). Yaz was the star of the survey, squeezing into subhuman leads that left Oscar and I just shaking our heads, and totally destroying her pants in the process. We got back to the cabin to find that everyone had already showered and that dinner was ready. Thanks to Don, who was still recovering from shoulder surgery, and Ann for that! The mood was festive, the weather surprisingly warm, and the fellowship awesome. We tossed down a fabulous meal of chicken mole, Mexican rice (courtesy of Yaz and Matt), frijoles, and iced tea, with an appetizer of chips, guacamole, and homemade salsas from Galen and Yaz. Dessert was flan, and followed with yet another movie, the classic seasonal flick Scrooged. The next day we had to clean up and close the cabin pretty early, since there was a TCMA meeting in San Antonio at 1:00, and we had 5 TCMA board members on this expedition. Expedition participants were Don Arburn, Yazmin Avila, Dale Barnard, Oscar Berrones, Andy Edwards, Angela Edwards, Galen Falgout, Lee Jay Graves, Lydia Hernandez, Aubri Jenson, Jim Kennedy, Vivian Loftin, Ann Scott, Matt Turner, and Arron Wertheim. It is truly a joy to work with such a dedicated, enthusiastic, skilled, and FUN group of people. Punkin Cave is still the 28th deepest cave in the state at 62.4m. Our three survey teams only added another 139.53m to the cave's length in 44 shots, for an average of 3.17m per shot, slightly up from average. This statistic is somewhat misleading, as longer shots could certainly be made, but the incredible complexity of the cave requires us to place stations at every passage intersection, and there are a HECK of a lot of intersections! This trip brings the cave to just over 4 kilometers, at 4090.29m. It is back down to the 10th longest in Texas due to a flurry of surveying in some of the Guadalupe Basin stream caves during this summer's drought. Currently we only need 364m to pass See My Shovel Cave and regain #9, 460m to pass Cave Without a Name and make #8, and 924m to knock Longhorn Cavern out of the #7 slot. We still have at least a kilometer of passage to map, but it will be slow going. And, of course, we always hope to break into the conjectured borehole that lies beneath these mazes and supplies all the tremendous airflow felt throughout the cave. We can do it! The next trip is tentatively planned for the long Presidents Day weekend in February, when we will have TWO days of surveying in the cave. Keep watching CaveTex and other caving calendars for the announcement. Respectfully submitted, Jim "Crash" Kennedy TCMA Punkin Cave Survey Coordinator 8 December 2011
