texascavers Digest 12 May 2012 04:03:00 -0000 Issue 1544
Topics (messages 19961 through 19967):
Longhorn SP Project Report-Saturday, May 5th
19961 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com
19962 by: Mark Minton
19963 by: Mark.Alman.L-3com.com
More on the Massive Cardiac Arrest at MaCa
19964 by: Preston Forsythe
New Maya Calendar
19965 by: Mark Minton
Maya discovery
19966 by: Mixon Bill
CBS WFAA Ch. 8 (DFW) Story on WNS and Bracken Cave
19967 by: R D Milhollin
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TSA Longhorn Caverns State Park Project Report - Saturday, May 5th, 2012
Volunteers:
Lyndon and Barbara Tiu
Casey Tucker
Jackie Lambert
Gerry Geletzke
Natasha Glasgow
Austin McRee
David McRee
Mallory Mayeux
Brian Freyling
Yours truly, Mark Alman
Total Volunteer hours: 50 hours, plus 67 hours total drive time.
With finals week going on, we had a much lower turnout this month from the UT
and Aggie crowds, but a good time and much work was accomplished, anyway.
Mosquitoes were gone and the weather was warm, but, great weather, anyway.
It also marked the valiant return of a long time project co-leader,
Lyndon Tiu, and his lovely newlywed bride, Barbara. It was good seeing them
there.
We also had a few newbies along this weekend. Casey Tucker and Jackie Lambert
travelled all the way from Lake LBJ (15 minutes) to help out. We also were
joined by David McRee, the dad of Mallory's significant other, Austin McRee,
from Houston.
A great bunch to have out this weekend!
Longhorn Lumbago Alley Dig
Nothing done down here this weekend, although, we did walk back there to show
folks what has been accomplished and what the 6" of rain back in March did to
the passageway that Gerry, Leslie Bell, Christopher Francke, Bob Marshall, and
Company had so diligently dug out.
The lower passage that was opened up was about 75% filled back in by loose
gravel from the enormous dirt pile wall that was created. Thankfully, the upper
passageway that runs parallel to the silted in passage is still open and
beckons for further digging and exploration.
Lovers Lane Revisited
As we discovered last month and I reported, the trail that we had dug out near
the Pigs Trough and by the stone wall has anywhere from 1 to 3" of mud
re-deposited from the March rains.
We saw the holes in the wall and the washed out fill behind the wall where all
of the mud on the trails had come from. All of us pitched in with shovels and
buckets to remove the semi-dry mud, while Brian Freyling mixed up several
buckets of cement and filled in the trail side of the wall, while I worked on
lugging and cementing the dirt side of the wall.
Thankfully, there was a LOT of clay and I used this to create a 3" to 6" thick
barrier of clay to better seal the cement and the rocks to keep future water
and mud where it belongs.
We then filled in the washed out area with fill from the trail.
It looks sealed very well, but, the next heavy rain will be the true test.
After getting a LOT of work done, we all descended on the Longhorn SP café
where Amy and her Crew cooked us up a batch of hamburgers, hot dogs, and
chicken worms! The day was hot, we were tired, and the A/C in the Visitors
center was wonderful!
Crownover? No. Basement? Yes!
We were joined on this trip by Sam and Katy, new, friendly folks we had met at
lunch who had just completed the wild cave tour with some Boy Scouts that
morning. They seemed very interested in our volunteer efforts there and eagerly
jumped at the chance to go caving again with us, after I told them that I had
extra helmets and equipment.
Very nice couple and it sounds as if they'll be joining the Greater Houston
Grotto at their next meeting, as well as helping out in the fall on the project.
As we found last month, there now is a new owner of the land that contains the
Crownover back entrance gate and easement and TPWD is working on access
protocols for visiting the property. In the meantime, we have been asked to
stay off of the property until this is resolved and to not venture past the
Turnaround Point in the cave, where the Catfish Lakes welcome you to the rest
of the cave.
Discouraged, but still wanting to "play" after all of our "work", Amy said that
it would be OK for us to explore the Basement area of Longhorn Caverns, as all
of their wild tours were conducted that morning.
Natasha and I and 20+ others had done this trip during TCR in October and,
thankfully, she was more familiar with the route than I. After squeezing past
Fat Man's Misery and The Saddlehorn (a real challenge for the males out there,
if you know what I mean!), we dropped down through several squeezes into the
Basement and, probably, the lowest point in Longhorn.
There was quite a bit of mud and a lot of water in the passage. Much wetter
than October, when it was dry as a bone. Our merry gang had fun exploring this
area, which most had never been to, and even enjoyed visiting a large room and
tunnel, which turned out to be the wrong way. One could tell very easily, as
the air seemed to get really funky.
Backtracking and pushing on, we popped out in the Frozen Niagara area, just
down the trail from the Indian Council Room. The trail continues on from here,
and after a short break, we pushed on.
We actually waded through thigh deep water, more mud, and some other tight
areas so, all in all, it was like a mini Crownover trip! We popped out in the
vicinity of the Lumbago Alley dig, took a short respite, and headed to the
surface around 5 PM to get cleaned up and get cooking some fajitas!
Guacamole, Fajitas, Libations, and a Whole Lotta Lightning!
Saturday evenings after a work project is my favorite part of the whole trip!
After cleaning up at the deluxe accommodations in the picnic area (spigot and a
hose), Lyndon and Barbara got their stoves out to cook peppers and onions,
while Casey got busy making rice and Brian cooked well over five pounds of
fajitas I had brought on my grill.
Natasha made a big ol' batch of guac and we put our feet up, drank a cerveza or
three, and filled our bellies with some delicious Mexican food.
We passed around various adult beverages, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, and
talked late into the night about trips, kids, and politics. Lyndon, Barbara,
and Gerry headed home and Sam and Katy, who joined us later that night headed
back to their B & B before the storms arrived.
We ascended to the top of the Observation Tower to observe a most excellent
light show from the line of thunderstorms heading our way from the west. It was
a very impressive display of nature's power, until we concluded that a high
point on a hill was probably not the best place to be in a thunderstorm!
Not wanting to sleep in the tents immediately during the storm, some of the
folks spent the night on the second floor of the tower, while I spent the night
high and dry in the back of my truck.
Everyone survived OK and the area received quite a bit of much needed rain. We
all headed home Sunday AM.
Epilogue
We discussed summer activities and whether to continue on next month and the
consensus was to put the project on hiatus until October. With some other tasks
in the cave remaining and others still being worked out during the bidding
process, as well as the colleges being out and losing a large source of
volunteers, not to mention the HEAT, taking the summer off seems to be a wise
move.
Temporarily losing access to the Crownover property was also a mitigating
factor.
Hopefully, by the time the fall rolls around and the project starts back up in
October, we will have something worked out with the new owner.
In the meantime, thanks to ALL of the myriad of volunteers who have helped out
with the project in 2011 and 2012 and hope to see all of you, as well as some
new faces, in the fall of 2012 and the spring of 2013!
We are now entering the 5th year of the projects and the folks at Longhorn,
TPWD, and I really appreciate you and couldn't do it without you!
Have a great and safe summer and we'll see you in the fall!
Thanks!
Mark
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What the heck are chicken
worms? Something other than a veterinary problem, I hope!
Mark
At 10:55 AM 5/10/2012, [email protected] wrote:
After getting a LOT of work done, we all
descended on the Longhorn SP café where Amy and
her Crew cooked us up a batch of hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken worms!
Please reply to [email protected]
Permanent email address is [email protected]
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Longhorn's version of Chicken Fingers, Mark.
(I didn't know chickens had worms, fingers, or lips!)
Glad to see someone was reading!
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Minton [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 12:01 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Longhorn SP Project Report-Saturday, May 5th
What the heck are chicken
worms? Something other than a veterinary problem, I hope!
Mark
At 10:55 AM 5/10/2012, [email protected] wrote:
>After getting a LOT of work done, we all
>descended on the Longhorn SP café where Amy and
>her Crew cooked us up a batch of hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken worms!
Please reply to [email protected]
Permanent email address is [email protected]
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The National Park Service is reporting a visitor on one of Mammoth Cave's
tours died this afternoon. In a press release, spokeswoman Vickie Carson
wrote:
William Larry Martin, 67, of Bronson, Florida, was on the 11:00 a.m.
Historic cave tour when he became ill in River Hall, about one and one-half
miles into the two-mile tour. The tour guides telephoned their supervisor
on the surface for assistance at 12:20 p.m. and immediately began CPR.
Emergency medical technician rangers and a rescue crew entered the cave at
12:35 p.m. and arrived on the scene at 12:45 p.m.
In River Hall, rangers administered CPR and applied an AED. In spite of
these efforts, Mr. Martin did not survive and was declared dead at 1:18 p.m.
Martin's cause of death isn't know. Carson says to the best of her
knowledge, the last time a visitor died in Mammoth Cave was in the early
1980s.
One of the last things Mr. Martin said to his son was "This Place is
Amazing."
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A report on BBC News yesterday said that archaeologists in
Guatemala have discovered a Maya calendar that goes beyond the
commonly, but incorrectly, touted end of the world in December
2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18018343> For
a more scientific take see articles in Science
<http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/05/looting-leads-archaeologists-to.html>
and <http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6082/714> and podcast
(first segment) at <http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6082/751.2.full>
Mark
Please reply to [email protected]
Permanent email address is [email protected]
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There's also an article about that Maya room with the calculations on
the wall in today's NYT, and no doubt other places. As usual with
press releases, there's a lot of hype involved. There's nothing
particularly exciting about finding a calendar system that extends
over more than 2.5 million days. The long-known long count, in fact,
will cover 2,880,000 days (18 x 20^4) before a new digit would have to
be added at the left. The present high-order digit, 12, will roll over
to 13 on either December 21 or December 23 this year, depending on
which of two competing correlations one accepts. (I suspect the
December 21 one is more popular with the public partly because of the
coincidence with the winter solstice. Austin's resident expert and ex-
caver Barb MacLeod favors the December 23 version.) Presumably that
digit will continue to count up to 19, after which it will go back to
0 and another digit will be needed, in about 2300 years, provided, of
course, that the world doesn't end this December.
The long count is a mixed-radix number with, currently, 5 "digits."
All but the second from the right count from 0 to 19; the second from
the right counts from 0 to 17. Today is 12 19 19 6 14, by the December
23 scheme. -- Mixon
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God created the world in six days. On the seventh day, while God
rested, the Devil created religion.
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http://www.wfaa.com/news/texas-news/Bats-threatened-by-mysterious-disease-150833365.html
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