Punkin Cave Survey Trip #11, 6-8 November 2009
reported by Jim "Crash" Kennedy, expedition leader
Punkin Cave is a fascinating long cave located deep in the heart of Carta
Valley, in rural Edwards County, Texas. It, along with nearby Deep Cave (also
a major cave with ongoing survey) are owned by the Texas Cave Management
Association, and managed for their considerable scientific value. Limited
recreational trips are permitted in non-sensitive areas of each cave. Both
caves are excellent examples of hypogenic cave formation, and in addition,
Punkin Cave is a major bat cave. Since 2005 I have tried to run 2-3 survey
trips there a year outside of the bat season. This is a summary of the most
recent trip.
After postponing the usual June trip due to a little event called ICS, we were
all anxious to get back to the cave to pursue leads left from the April
expedition. The usual call out to previous Punkin survey veterans
("Punkinheads") produced about 12 positive replies. A post to CaveTex produced
a few more. The expedition was on!
We arrived at TCMA's Carta Valley fieldhouse on Friday. Those of us smart
enough to take off from work Friday got there before dark. Those not so lucky
trickled in the rest of the night, with the latest arrivals showing up around
midnight. An evening movie and snacks entertained us early arrivals while
waiting for the others. The cabin easily sleeps over a dozen, but only 5 of us
stayed indoors. Others slept on the spacious new back porch or in tents
nearby.
The next morning, Arron Wertheim and I whipped up a delicious batch of pumpkin
pancakes and sausages to give everyone fuel for the day's surveying. We broke
into four teams, and people rapidly got their gear together. The first team
left for the cave by 9:30, with the other teams right behind.
At the cave I quickly rigged both the main entrance (~45', or 14m) and the
small entrance (~30', or 10m). Having both entrances rigged helps keep the
ropework from being a big bottleneck for so many people. No one seemed to have
any problems with the rappel, and we were soon gathered again in the entrance
room, leaving our vertical gear behind until the trip out.
The first team, TEAM FLACO, left to pursue some tight leads trending downward
on the east side of the entrance room. Joe Datri, Lacey Heath, Sean Lewis,
Heather Túček, and Andy Zenker set 22 stations and surveyed 39.63m (130.0
feet), for an average of 1.8m (5.9 feet) per shot. Their survey continues down
into a black spot on the map, and may possibly eve connect to Superstition Maze
with more work.
The second team, TEAM PANCREATITIS, returned to the extensive west maze off the
entrance room. Led by an ailing Lee Jay Graves, who bravely soldiered on
despite his discomfort, the team set 17 additional stations and surveyed 44.89m
(147.3 feet), for an average of 2.6m (8.7 feet) per shot. Assisting Lee Jay
were veterans Bonnie Longley and Chris Vreeland, and new Punkin surveyor
("Punkin Sprout") Josh Rubinstein. This is a really hot area of the cave, with
loads of good leads everywhere. The current survey also trends down into a
very large blank spot on the map.
The third team, TEAM GORDO, consisted of Don Arburn, Allan Cobb, Joe Ranzau,
and Ann Scott, who became the designated lead pusher and checker. They started
out mopping up some mid- to upper-level leads in the Medusa Maze section, and
ended up making multiple loop closures with previous surveys and Team Four's
survey that day. This was very important to us to "finish" off that section
and flesh out more of the map in that complex area. This team surveyed 75.29m
(247.0 feet) in 21 shots, for an average of 3.6m (11.8 feet) per shot.
The last team, TEAM PANCAKE, also started off cleaning up leads in the Medusa
Maze, but ended up in someplace altogether different and exciting. Gary
Franklin, Tone Garot, Jim Kennedy, Linda Palit, and Arron Wertheim made a
whopping 31 shots totaling 96.14m (315.4 feet), averaging 3.1m (10.2 feet) per
shot. Arron climbed a fissure to an obscure lead and discovered the Pumpkin
Pancake Room, a nice find with 6 leads. Several were connected into previous
surveys in the ER (Entrance Room) and MS (Nightmare on Maze Street) sections.
Another was tied into Team Three's survey, and one went deep. Jim found an
obscure pit hidden by some rocks which he removed. Tone took over rock removal
duty while Jim returned to the rest of the team to finish sketching. The pit
is free-climbable and goes an estimated 27m (90 feet) or so before hitting
loosely-cemented breakdown. It is very reminiscent of Fifty Fathoms, and
awaits a name from the future surveyors.
In summary, four survey teams in Punkin Cave put in another 91 shots of survey
and added another 255.95m (839.77 feet) of passage to the length of the cave.
The new length of the cave is now 2513.1m. It just moved up to the #19 spot on
the Texas Long Cave list, displacing Stowers Cave. It only needs another 49m
to hit #18 (displacing River Styx Cave), 59m to hit #17 (displacing Rocket
River Cave System), and 61m to hit #16 (displacing Phantom Springs Cave). Deep
Cave is still 217.3m longer and 14.6m deeper. The depth of Punkin has not
changed in several trips, remaining at #28 on the Texas Deep Cave list. The
next trip will likely be sometime in February, and as usual, Punkin survey
veterans will receive first notice.
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