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January/February
2000
The
year 2000 started off with a bang, with 1.86 miles of survey in a two-month period.
This was the most survey during a two-month period in Wind Cave since the Southern
Comfort breakthrough of 1991. The survey efforts were focused in the Historic,
Club Room, and the Half Mile Hall Zones. 1/5/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Michelle Karle, Nick Myers & Matt Truitt
Rod led an evening trip into the Historic Zone to continue surveying in the Roman
Catacombs, an area he has been working in near Rome. They surveyed 288 feet and
found some strange looking twig-like wormtubes (?) protruding from some boxwork.
1/7/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Steve Langendorf & Nick Myers
Rod led an evening
trip into the Historic Zone to the Newspaper Room.
There they relocated and marked the old JD survey stations. They also surveyed
317 feet of additional cave. 1/8/2000
(Wind Cave Weekend) Evan
Anderson, Pat Roberson, Micah Ball & Shawn Kramer
Evan
led this trip out to the Western Fringe to the Easter Basket.
There they pushed a small nasty lead and broke into large cave. They surveyed
1,055 feet including a nice big room, which looks to be the other half of Deep
Confusion. Mike
Goar, Randy Macan & Frank Leskinen
Mike led this group
out to the Club Room Zone to continue his efforts in the SC survey west of Christmas
Tree Park. They surveyed 476 feet of cave in four leads and left leads for another
trip. Carl Bern,
Amy Johnson, Jeff Goben & Christa Schnieder
Carl led the
crew out to the Club Room Zone to survey leads off of the YT survey. They surveyed
a total of 311 feet and left leads. One of their leads ended in a too tight hole
encrusted with white aragonite, which they named “White Denial”. Mike
Wiles, Matt Truitt Sammi Langendorf
Mike led this trip
into to the Half Mile Hall Zone where they surveyed 380 feet in three leads off
of the KI survey. Jim
Wilson & Eric Dutton
Jim and Eric went to the Spillway
area in the Historic Zone to the IC survey where they have been working recently.
They surveyed 106 feet in three leads and left a few really tight leads.
Clarence Williams & Debbie
Lebert
This duo went into the Historic Zone to the Rome
area to work on inventory but had trouble finding the original survey. They ended
up surveying 40 feet. 1/12/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Steve Baldwin, Steve & Sammi Langendorf
Rod led
this evening trip into the Historic Zone to a lead that Steve Baldwin remembered
from the Rachael Cox rescue. They named a walking passage Lycos Hall and an upper
level room Yahoo. They surveyed 420 feet and designated it the YH survey. They
left some great leads for a return trip. 1/19/2000 Rene
Rogers, Marc Ohms & Mary Laycock
Rene led this trio into
the Historic Zone to the Rome area to photo document an 1892 drawing by Alvin
McDonald. In addition to the photos they surveyed 90 feet. 1/21/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Nick Myers
Marc led a work trip into
the Colorado Grotto Zone to check on a few surveys magnetic declinations and to
check a couple of suspicious shots. 1/29/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Steve & Sammi Langendorf
Rod led the group
into the Historic Zone to the Yahoo area (YH survey). They surveyed two 40-foot
diameter rooms and a total of 572 feet and left a few small leads. They noted
a lot of bat scratches in the upper levels. 1/21/2000 Bob
Kobza, Shawn Larson & Mark Belitz
Bob lead a work trip
to “What the Hell” in the Lakes Zone to move the staff gauge in the lake. The
gauge was 3.9 feet below the water surface due to a very sudden rise in the lake
level. The gauge was placed further back in the passage to continue the monitoring
of the lake level. 1/22/2000 Rene
Rogers, Marc Ohms, Steve & Sammi Langendorf
Rene lead the
group into the Lakes Zone to continue pushing and surveying leads. They surveyed
a lead off of RC2 for 150 feet of lower level cave with pools of water up to 5-feet
deep. They also surveyed 227 feet of interconnecting passages off of the LA survey.
A total of 375 feet was surveyed. Myk
Coughlin, Mike Wiles & Dan Austin
Myk led the trio out
to the Elephant Trunk in the Half Mike Hall Zone. They surveyed 540 feet of lower
level cave and left some leads. 1/27/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Rod Horrocks
Marc led this work trip
that focused on fixing up the red/white trail out to the water collector in Half
Mile Hall. They also replaced the hose on the water collector. 1/29/2000 Rene
Rogers & Marc Ohms
This twosome headed into the Historic
Zone to push leads along the east side. They surveyed 158 feet in two leads. One
of the leads ended in a small hole too tight for either of them to enter, but
it had good airflow. 1/30/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc and Rene returned to the Historic
Zone to continue pushing leads on the east boundary of the cave. They surveyed
329 feet in three leads. In several places they saw hints of upper cave but could
not access it. 2/4/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Rene Rogers & Marc Ohms
Rod led this work
trip into the Historic Zone to obtain missing inclinations along the UI survey.
After inspecting the survey first hand it became quite obvious that the whole
thing needed to be redone. The UI is responsible for a major loop closure error. Rene
Rogers, Marc Ohms, and Matt Truitt
Rene led this trip into
the Historic Zone to survey leads along the east side. They surveyed 280 feet
in two leads. A large amount of newspaper was noted along with a ticket stub for
John Stabler. They also noted profuse gypsum. Bob
Kobza & Shawn Larson
The pair ventured around the Historic
Zone removing dye bugs and water collectors from a past dye-tracing project. They
visited Fairy Palace and Beacon Street. Rod
Horrocks, Belinda Fox & Nick Myers
Rod led these two
into the Roman Catacombs/Flower Shop area in the Historic Zone. They closed a
few loops and surveyed a few leads for a total of 372 feet. 2/8/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rod Horrocks & Rene Rogers
This work trip headed
into the Overland Trail in the Historic Zone to resurvey the UI survey, which
was deemed to have serious errors. They started the resurvey off of Monte Cristo’s
Palace and followed it up to the start of the UIA survey, where they tied it off
for the day. The new survey designation is the FD. 2/9/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Nick Myers
This crew went to Colombian
Hall in the Historic Zone to photo document the large room and historic signatures. 2/12/2000
(Wind Cave Weekend) Tom
Dotter, Randy Reck & Karla Whittenburg
Tom led this
trio out into the Club Room Zone to an area south of the Nudist Colony.They surveyed
133 feet and found a good going lead at the end of the day. Carl
Bern, Amy Johnson, Jeff Goben & Christa Schnieder
Carl
led this trip out to the Club Room Zone to the YT survey where they worked in
January. They surveyed 384 feet and left more to do next time. Cyndi
Mosch, Mike Goar, Rich Wolfert & Skip Withrow
Cyndi
led this crew out to the Club Room to continue their work off of the SC survey.
They surveyed 243 feet and found several good-looking leads. Along their survey
they found profuse frostwork, popcorn, and a huge 40-foot sediment cone they named
the “Snow Buddha Room”. Evan
Anderson, Christy Harrison, Stephanie Haderlie, and Phil Kriz
Evan lead this group out into the Half Mile Hall Zone to survey pit leads off
of Half Mile Hall. They discovered a maze of passages in which they surveyed 617
feet. They found large aragonite
bushes and plenty of good leads for a return trip. Sandy
Kramer & Kathy Petty
Sandy and Kathy traveled along
the Bishop Fowler’s Loop to learn this recreation route for the upcoming Restoration
Camp held in May. Jim
Wilson, Eric Dutton, Howard Barrett & Tonya Bouchard
Jim and his crew went into the Historic Zone to continue their work in the Spillway
area along the AI survey. They surveyed 257 feet and left some leads. Clarence
Williams, Bob Stucklun, Dan Wray & Todd Hitch
Clarence
led the group into the Muddle Room area and inventoried a few stations of the
UZ survey. 2/13/2000
On the Sunday
of the Wind Cave Weekend, the park’s Cave Management staff held a sketcher-training
course, which over 20 cavers attended from Colorado and South Dakota. The morning
consisted of classroom activities and after lunch the group went into the cave
and practiced sketching. The training seemed to be appreciated. Additional training
is in our future plans. Rod
Horrocks, Matt Truitt & Nick Myers
Rod led this trip
into the Roman Candle Room area north of Upper Rome in the Historic Zone. They
surveyed 392 feet and found a couple of nice rooms. They left plenty of leads
for the next trip. 2/16/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Marc Ohms & Nick Myers
Rod led a work trip
to the Overland Trail in the Historic Zone to continue the resurvey of the old
UI survey. They picked up where they left of on the 8th and continued to the Cairn
Room where they tied into the G survey. The UI survey no longer exists and has
been completely replaced with the FD survey. The once terrible loop (38% loop
closure error) now closes with less than 1% error. 2/21/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers, Matt Truitt & Nick Myers
The group went to Brown’s
Canyon in the Historic Zone and surveyed 256 feet. They discovered a nice display
of button popcorn, one of the only sites known in the cave. Rod
Horrocks, Nick Myers & Matt Truitt
Rod led this evening
trip into the Roman Candle Room area in the Historic Zone to continue surveying
that area. They surveyed 492 feet and discovered a couple of nice rooms. They
named one room the “Taylor Shop” after the park’s Superintendent, who was retiring
on February 29th. They name a 30-foot diameter room with a 15-foot high ceiling
the “Boxwork Quarry”, after piles of broken boxwork littering its floor. They
left four small continuing leads for a return trip. Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
The duo went to “What the Hell”
on the monthly work trip to obtain water level readings of the lake. The lake
was up 0.2 feet since the last trip on the 21st of January. They also resurveyed
the beginning of the RA survey due to multiple errors. 2/26/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc and Rene returned to Brown’s
Canyon in the Historic Zone and surveyed 150 feet in a parallel canyon. They then
traveled to the FD survey, north of Monte Cristo’s Palace and surveyed an additional
620 feet in two leads. They surveyed a total of 771 feet and left a few good-looking
leads for the next trip. March/April
2000
During March and April of 2000, 20 survey trips were taken to the Historic, Club
Room, and Half Mile Hall sections of Wind Cave. During these two months, cavers
surveyed and inventoried a total of 5,601 feet, or 1.06 miles, of new or unsurveyed
cave. An additional 1,294 feet of resurvey was conducted by Park personnel in
the Historic Section. The average survey was 328 feet in length. Of the new survey
total, Park personnel surveyed 2,686 feet, Wind Cave Weekend cavers surveyed 1,850
feet, and the local South Dakota cavers surveyed 1,065 feet. The new survey raised
the official length of Wind Cave from 88.61 miles to 89.75 miles, maintaining
the cave's position as the eighth-longest cave in the world and the fifth longest
in the US. In addition, a new cave in the park was located and surveyed, bringing
the total number of documented caves in Wind Cave National Park to 13.
3/2/2000 Rod
Horrocks and Marc Ohms
Marc led Rod on a three-hour trip
to follow up on a cave lead near Boundary Cave, that had been reported to them
the previous fall by the Park's Resource Management staff. They found a shallow
north facing rock shelter with an associated phreatic tube paralleling the cliff
that reconnected to the cliff face to the west of the main entrance. It took 37
feet of survey to map the rock shelter and associated tube. The cave was named,
Brachiopod Cave, after the numerous brachiopod fossils found in the ceiling. Another
associated, upper level tube, 19-feet higher on the cliff face, was not investigated
due to lack of vertical equipment. 3/4/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Joe Oliphant, Marc Pedersen, & John Citta
Rod led a group of cavers from Montana and Indiana on a 15-hour survey trip to
the Pyramid Room area in the Club Room Section. Pushing leads off the WX survey
in the Upper Level, they mopped up 225 feet of passage before finding a virgin
pit that was blowing very strongly. Surveying into the pit, and down a tube they
named the Air Tube, the group arrived at the top of a 12-foot pit. At the bottom,
they surveyed a chert-ceilinged crawl they named Karlian Crawl, which extended
for 50 feet to the north before popping up into a 90-foot long walking passage
with a chert ceiling, which they named Crumbling Bridge Hall. Surveying a side
passage off of Crumbling Bridge Hall, they found a formation room fastooned with
1½ foot long pure white stalactites and soda straws that they named the Dreamsicle
Room. From the middle of Crumbling Bridge Hall, they also surveyed into an overlying
chert-ceilinged passage and down a pit into a lower level boxwork crawl area.
Back at the bottom of the 12-foot pit from the Air Tube, Karlian Crawl was also
extended 100 feet to the south, where it reconnected to the ceiling of the Frostline/Nudist
Colony area. They surveyed a total of 905 feet, with 680 feet of virgin passage,
for an average shot length of 10.7 feet. They left three good virgin leads for
a future trip. 3/4/2000 Mike
Wiles, Steve Langendorf, & Matt Truitt
Mike led an
all day trip to the KI survey in the Half Mile Hall Section to continue the survey
he had started earlier. They found a fair amount of virgin cave and an easier
connection to the lower level while surveying 390 feet. 3/7/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rod Horrocks
Marc led Rod on a six-hour trip
into the Rome area in the Historic Section to resurvey the RS survey to the Mules
Ears and part of the UU survey. They named a 32-foot diameter room on the old
UU survey the Pendant Room. In addition to 275 feet of resurvey, they surveyed
174 feet of unsurveyed passage, with an average shot length of 20 feet. 3/8/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc led a 3 1/2 hour evening survey
trip to mop up leads off the Q survey in the Monte Cristo area and then the Assembly
Room area of the Historic Section. They surveyed a total of 268 feet.
Wind Cave Weekend Trips (3/11/2000)
Hazel Barton, Ken Neville, & Dan Preston
Hazel led
a 10-hour survey trip to the Pizza-Potluck Pool area in the Club Room Section.
They surveyed 226 feet of nasty popcorn-lined crawls, getting soaking wet in the
process, to determine that the Porcupette Passion passage is completely pushed
out and really doesn't have any side passages to speak of. Sandy
Kramer, Kathy Petty, Jamie Sherer, & Cheryl Yearwood
Sandy led a 4 1/2 hour trip to the Bishop Fowler Loop in the Historic Section
to flag that route for recreation/education trips. They then went to continue
the survey of Jamie's Dead End, but were unable to find the area until everyone
was too tired to survey. 3/14/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Nick Myers, Belinda Fox, & Caity Czaja
Rod
led a 5-hour evening trip to the Chamber of Lost Souls in the Historic Section
to survey some leads that had been found on 8/4/99. The purpose of the trip was
to determine where the bones in the room had come from. Surveying into a bellycrawl
at ceiling level, they found a small lake (twice the size of Silent Lake) and
further on, for only the third time in Wind Cave, roots were found penetrating
the cave. This indicates that the party had reached a point less than 30 feet
below the surface. Some of the roots had calcite crystals growing on them. An
18-foot diameter room covered with formations was also found nearby. The passage
ended in a cone-shaped pile of dirt and rocks spilling from a presumed former
entrance. It is theorized that this possible entrance may represent the source
of the bones in the Chamber of Lost Souls. The group surveyed a total of 330 feet,
with an average shot length of 10 feet. 3/22/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc led a 2 1/2 hour evening trip
to survey leads under Silent Lake in the Historic Section. They surveyed 278 feet,
mostly scooped but with some virgin passage, including a passage with deep sand
that they named the Sandbox.
3/25/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Dave & Debra Herron, & Richard Downey
Rod led three Utah cavers on a 10-hour survey trip to the Omnibus Hall/Newspaper
Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed the southern portion of Omnibus
Hall and tied into a dome that led into the Mind Boggler area. After surveying
three short virgin leads, one of which ended in a dig, they went to the Newspaper
Room area to mop up some side passages along the Wild Caving Route and to close
several loops. They surveyed a total of 540 feet for the day, including 103 feet
of resurvey where no stations existed, with an average shot length of 14.5 feet. 4/7/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rod Horrocks
Marc led Rod on a 2 1/2 hour trip
to resurvey from WCTU Hall to Rome in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 390
feet and added 17 feet of new survey to the length of Wind Cave. They were able
to correct several problems in the survey. Wind
Cave Weekend Trips (4/8/2000) Amy
Johnson, Jeff Goben, & Christa Schneider
Amy returned
to the YK survey northeast of the Club Room, where they have been pushing upper
level cave for several months. They attempted to finish the four leads left in
the area. However, they only finished two leads, leaving two for yet another return
trip. They surveyed 52 stations for a total of 393 feet, with an average shot
length of 7.5 feet! Jamie
& Ron Sherer, Steve Turner, & Debbie Slinkard
Jamie
led a trip back to Jamie's Dead End near the Natural Entrance in the Historic
Section to continue pushing that area. They named a room with a soft sandy floor
the Living Room and a tight squeeze that Steve had to take his clothes off to
get through, Shirley's Canal. They surveyed 296 feet and left four good going
leads for a return trip.
Mike Goar, Cyndi Mosch, Pat Malone, &
Pete Graham
Mike led a 14½ hour trip to the Snow
Buddha Room west of the Club Room. They discovered their compass was broken when
they tried to start the survey. Mike and Pete made a four-hour round trip back
to the surface to get another set. Once the survey was restarted, they bypassed
a good fissure lead because of the lack of a handline, and instead, surveyed down
a narrow fissure that dropped into a 10' x 4' calcite-encrusted passage that ended
in a sediment cone dig. Their next fissure lead dropped into a 10 to13-foot wide,
4-foot high tube heading northwest. They had to quit in going passage due to the
lateness of the hour. They were able to survey 282 feet, leaving two good leads
for a return trip. Jim
Wilson, Eric Dutton, & Bob Stucklen
Jim led a 11-hour
trip back to the Elbow Room in the Historic Section to continue pushing an area
he was been working for awhile. They found a 45-foot deep pit at AI31. A side
lead half way down the pit led into a continuing passage, but they ran out of
time. They surveyed 274 feet, leaving four continuing leads and several 30-40-foot
deep unsurveyed fissures for a return trip. Kathy
Petty & Sandy Kramer
Kathy led a 9 1/2 hour trip into
the Bishop Fowler's Loop in the Historic Section. They surveyed a couple of upper-level
domes for a total of 170 feet. Rod
Horrocks, Briana Greer, & Jake Deeds
Rod led a couple
of new Wyoming cavers on a half-day survey training trip to the Newspaper Room
in the Historic Section to mop up some crawls. They pushed five small leads, surveying
209 feet, with an average shot length of 10 feet. Mike
Hanson, Dan Wray, & Todd Hitch
Mike led a 13-hour photography
trip to the Historic Section to continue retaking historic stereo views. They
have now retaken 23 of the 50 known historic stereo pairs. 4/11/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Matt Pruitt, Belinda Fox, & Caity Czaja
Rod
led some Jewel Cave cavers on a 4.5-hour evening trip to pursue the leads they
had found above the Chamber of Lost Souls in the Historic Section on 3/14/00.
One lead entered a virgin 16-foot diameter room with a breakdown/chockstone floor.
They left two tight, northward trending leads for a later trip. After surveying
three loops, they ended the day by surveying into a mazy area north of the Chamber,
where they left five good going leads for the next trip. They surveyed a total
of 345 feet, with an average shot length of 12.7 feet. 4/16/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc led a six-hour survey
to the Beacon Street area in the Historic Section to push the northern boundary
of the cave. They were only able to find some unsurveyed connections between Beacon
Street and the Way Back Room. Starting the V survey, they surveyed a total of
319 feet, with an average shot length of 15.1 feet. They left three small leads. 4/23/2000 Marc
Ohms and Rene Rogers
Marc led a six-hour trip back
to the Wall Street area in the Historic Section. They closed a couple of loops
and then pushed a fissure passage with air in it that led up into some virgin,
upper-level cave that ended in paleofill. They surveyed 205 feet, with an average
shot length of 12.8 feet. They left three small leads unsurveyed and found a lot
of highly impacted cave to survey in the Wall Street area. 4/24/2000 Rod
Horrocks and Marc Ohms
Rod led Marc on a resurvey
trip to the Cairn Room in the Historic Section. They continued the FD survey from
the Overland Trail, resurveying 288 feet between the Cairn Room and the Cataract
Room. They noted seven small leads in the area that could be surveyed. 4/25/2000 Rod
Horrocks and Marc Ohms
Rod led Marc on a resurvey
trip to the Columbian Hall area in the Historic Section. They continued the FD
survey, adding 83 feet to the surveyed length of the cave while resurveying 238
feet of the route to Columbian Hall. They noted three leads in the area that could
be surveyed. May/June
2000 May and
June saw an unexpected number of trips that produced 6,897 feet (1.3 miles) of
new survey, pushing the Wind Cave survey beyond the 91 mile mark and establishing
the cave as the seventh longest in the world! Survey efforts concentrated in the
Historic and Half-Mile Hall Sections with a few trips into the North, Club Room,
Silent Expressway, and Colorado Grotto Sections. 5/7/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Myk Coughlin
This trio headed out
into the North Section to survey a few leads south of the Chimera Room. They surveyed
two leads for a total of 575 feet and left a few possible leads. The passages
they surveyed were filled with frostwork and moonmilk. 5/9/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Erik Freeman, Jim Vavrina & Sandy Myers
Rod
led this crew of participants from the restoration camp on a Bishop Fowler's Loop
in the Historic Section for a recreation trip. Sandy
Kramer, Burnis Piper, Sherry Sloan & Sam Russell
Sandy
led the second group of restoration campers along the Bishop Fowler's Loop in
the Historic Section for a recreational trip. 5/10/2000 Marc
Ohms, Erik Freeman, Jamie Sherer, Randy Shriber & Howard Shuman
Marc led this group of cavers who were attending the Restoration Camp down to
What the Hell to obtain the monthly water level and samples. What the Hell was
down .05" from April. This is only the second time since its formation that
we have recorded a drop in the lake. Rod
Horrocks, Erik Freeman, Sam Russell & Sandy Myers
Three
participants from the restoration camp accompanied Rod into the Historic Section
to do a bit of surveying on an evening trip. They surveyed 264 feet in the CW
survey. They named one room the "Frosted Flakes Room" due to the gypsum
crust flakes on the floor. 5/12/2000 Kathy
Petty, Jamie Sherer, Howard Shuman & Phil Partington
Kathy led three participants of the restoration camp along the Bishop Fowler's
Loop in the Historic Section for a recreational trip. Wind
Cave Weekend 5/13/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Matt Truitt
Marc led this trip
into the Colorado Grotto Section to push leads along the YD survey, a lower level
located on the eastern side of the CGS. They pushed many small holes but turned
up nothing. They backtracked along the pink flagged route to the XF survey where
they discovered some unsurveyed cave. Here they surveyed 163 feet and left a few
good lefts leading downward with airflow. Ed
LaRock, John Scheltens & Mike Behn
This trio went surveying
in the Club Room Section off of the LSB survey. They surveyed 276 feet in nice
tubular passage with dripstone formations. They named one exceptional area "Dripstone
Delight". Hazel
Barton, Evan Anderson, Amy Johnson & Jeff Goben
Hazel
led this foursome out into the Half-Mile Hall Section to survey leads northeast
of Martel's Madhouse. They surveyed 532 feet of crawlways and left a few small
leads. Jamie Sherer,
Chris Schneider & Erik Freeman
Jamie led this group
into the Historic Section to survey leads she left on a previous trip. They surveyed
225 feet of mazy crawls. Rod
Horrocks, Earl and Lannis Hancock, Erik Freeman, Chris Schneider & Jamie Sherer
Rod lead some of this group into the northern Historic Section
to a dirt plug in Root 89, an area he discovered a short while ago near the Chamber
of the Lost Souls. They set up a cave radio while Earl was on the surface trying
to locate their location. Once found it was determined that the depth was a mere
8-feet below the bottom of the gully and 60-feet up the trail from the Natural
Entrance! It is theorized that this former entrance was the source for the stream-rounded
bones in the Chamber of Lost Souls. 5/16/2000 Rene
Rogers, Nick Myers, Dawn Mosher & Amada Coleman
Rene
led this group of park Interpretative rangers into the Historic Section to do
some survey near the Muddle Room. They surveyed 131 feet and left a few small
leads, one heading south into a blank space on the map. 5/18/2000 Rod
Horrocks & Ed Petru
Rod and Ed ventured into the Historic
Section and resurveyed 115 feet of the old UU-survey. 5/19/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Matt Truitt, and Nick Meyers
Rod led this evening
trip into the Historic Section to the CW-survey near Rome. They surveyed 240 feet,
most of it in dead-end domes. Rene
Rogers, Matt Reece & Bev Shade
Rene led the trip into
the southern part of the Historic Section to survey the southbound lead left on
the 16th. They surveyed 133 feet of crawls with lots of gypsum snow but the lead
died. 5/29/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Steve & Sammi Langendorf
Rod led this trip
into the Club Room Section near the Pyramid Room and continued the PA survey he
had started on an earlier trip. They surveyed 709 feet of mostly virgin cave,
including an upper-level crawl that bypasses the Frostline, Hobson's Choice, and
the Roadblock. They named this new crawl "Hobson's Bypass". 6/4/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers, Steve & Sammi Langendorf
The foursome
headed into the western side of the Historic Section to push leads off of the
Candlelight Tour. They surveyed 548 feet of nice cave above the tour route at
P6. They had some airflow and left many leads. Wind
Cave Weekend 6/10/2000 Mike
Wiles, Myk Coughlin & Matt Truitt
Mike led this bunch
out to the Silent Expressway for a day of surveying. They poked into many small
leads along the "No Thru Streets" and the "Off Ramp" and surveyed
372 feet. Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Hazel Barton
Marc and the others
headed out into the North Section to clean up the remaining leads left on the
May trip. They surveyed two leads for a total of 441 feet. Evan
Anderson, Tonya Bouchard, Pat Roberson & Micah Ball
Half-Mile Hall was the destination for this crew. They surveyed 1,012 feet, much
of it in walking virgin passages, in the Mystic Hall and Robin's Nest areas. They
left many good leads to return to. Amy
Johnson, Christa Schneider, Jeff Goben & Christy Harrison
Amy led this trip into the eastern side of the Half-Mile Hall section to push
leads in the Snowball Draw area. They surveyed 244 feet and left plenty to do. Carl
Bern, Mike Doe & Bud Snedacor
Carl led the trio into
the eastern side of the Half-Mile Hall to push leads in the Snowball Draw area.
They surveyed 98 feet in one lead and left several more. Jim
Wilson, Leo Thompson, Greg Glazner & Eric Dutton
Jim
and crew returned to the area in the Historic Section near the Spillway that they
have been working on for several trips. They surveyed 434 feet of nice new cave
and left plenty of good leads to return to. 6/13/2000 Marc
Ohms & Michelle Karle
Marc led Michelle down to What
the Hell to obtain the monthly water level and samples. The lake was up .25"
since last month. This is probably representing the large snowstorm of April. 6/19/2000 Marc
Ohms, Rene Rogers & Sammi Langendorf
Marc and crew
returned to their leads above the Candlelight Tour. They surveyed 385 feet into
an upper level lead and discovered a large room they named the "Big Buddha
Room" after the large (10' wide by 6' high) Buddha (sediment cone)
located below a dome. July/August
2000 During
July and August of 2000, 10 survey trips were taken to the Historic and Club Room
sections of Wind Cave, one survey trip was taken to Coyote Cave, and a new small
cave was discovered while ridgewalking. Cavers surveyed and inventoried a total
of 2,378 feet, or 0.45 miles of passage in Wind Cave, with an average survey length
of 237 feet. Of this total, Park personnel surveyed 1,595 feet, the local South
Dakota cavers surveyed 610 feet, and Wind Cave Weekend cavers surveyed 173 feet.
The new survey raised the official length of Wind Cave from 91.05 miles to 91.5
miles, maintaining the cave's position as the seventh-longest cave in the world
and the fifth longest in the US. 7/2/2000 Tom
Dotter, Karl Mayne, Karla Whittenburg, & Kim McVey
Tom led a return trip to a breakdown area he has been pushing in the Club Room
Section near the Railroad Junction. They mapped 173 feet and named one tight passage
the Ferret Loop. They left some mop up for their next trip. 7/21/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Ed Schenk, Belinda Fox, & Todd Brink
Rod
led a 4-hour evening trip to the Fairgrounds area to map some large unsurveyed
cave. They surveyed 418 feet, with an average shot length of 13 feet. They named
the main 30' x 50' room, Exposition Hall. A small T-shaped passage continuing
out the north end of the hall was named the Editors Sanctum, after some 19th century
pencil graffiti found on the ceiling. 8/1/2000 Marc
Ohms & Ed Shenck
Marc led a three-hour trip to the
new lake, What the Hell, to check on the water level. They found the lake down
0.2 feet from last month. 8/6/2000 Steve
and Sammi Langendorf & Myk Coughlin
Steve led a return
trip to the Yahoo area in the Historic Section to check some of the five remaining
leads in that area. They surveyed 132 feet during the four-hour survey trip, closing
a couple of loops, including another tie-in to the PMC survey. 8/9/2000 Rene
Rogers & Dawn Mosher
Rene led a two-hour survey trip
to the Temple area in the Historic Section. After not being able to find any stations
to start at, they abandoned the survey. 8/11/2000 Marc
Ohms, Joel Despain, & Merrilee Proffitt
Marc led a
day trip to mop up the remaining leads in the Phantom Lake area in the Historic
Section. They surveyed 134 feet in two leads, but were unable to map the third
because Phantom Lake had mysteriously risen five feet, the first recorded lake
level rise since the lakes discovery. 8/13/2000 Steve
& Sammi Langendorf, & Scott & Liz Hartman
Steve
led a second return trip to the Yahoo area to continue pushing the three remaining
leads. They surveyed 107 feet in two overlying leads that were heading east off
of YH17, towards the Overland Trail. They left a western heading lead when they
realized there was enough cave there for another entire trip. 8/14/2000 Rene
Rogers, Joel Despain, & Merrilee Proffitt
Rene led
a 14-hour push trip to the park's second longest cave, Coyote Cave. Starting at
station C46, they surveyed 1,055 feet in a virgin maze of mostly dip-oriented
crawls that ended with down-trending digs. Between the Vice and the Bison Bone
Borehole, they found evidence of flooding since their last trip in May of 1999.
During the survey, they found lots of air and biological activity, and most interestingly,
bats deep in the cave. The maze eventually reconnected to the D survey. The current
length of the cave is 4,250 feet with numerous blowing leads left. 8/19/2000 Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc led a ridgewalking trip to
the Fossil Ridge area in the park. They found a small cave with 31 feet of passage
that opened into a small dome room. They named the cave Fossil Ridge Cave. This
is the 13th cave in the park. 8/22/2000 Rod
Horrocks & Ed Schenk
Rod led a 11-hour trip to the
Omnibus Hall area in the Historic Section to push numerous virgin domes in the
ceiling of that room. The first three domes quickly ended in paleofill. The fourth
was blocked by pristine butterscotch-colored flowstone and formations. After another
paleofilled dome that spiraled upwards, they found a tight horizontal tube off
another dome that led to a virgin room that overlooked the eastern side of Omnibus
Hall. The only side passage off this balcony led to yet another paleofilled dome.
From the bottom of the balcony, they surveyed a small maze that reconnected through
a pit back up to Omnibus Hall. Although they surveyed a total of 584 feet, only
243 feet was in virgin cave. 8/23/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Matt & Jennifer Harris
Rod led an evening
survey trip for two visiting cavers that were on their honeymoon. They decided
to push leads along the Wild Caving Route in the Newspaper Room area of the Historic
Section. The first lead they checked made a big loop, eventually connecting with
the JD24 survey. The passage had Alvin McDonald era string in it, but showed very
little other traffic. They named the passage Honeymoon Run. They surveyed 371
feet, with an average shot length of 13 feet and left two tight leads for a later
trip. 8/24/2000 Rod
Horrocks, Pat McDonald, & Chris Kuvlesky
Rod led an
evening survey training trip to continue pushing leads in the Honeymoon Run area
in the Historic Section. They tied the AL survey in the Historic Section with
the AD survey in the Colorado Grotto Section before calling it quits. They surveyed
180 feet, with an average shot length of nine feet. 8/31/2000 Rene
Rogers, Marc Ohms, & Ed Schenck
Marc led an evening
survey trip to the Wall Street area in the Historic Section to push some leads
left from an earlier trip. After a dead-end dome, their second lead led to a virgin
area with huge popcorn, including some button popcorn. Ed named the area Cracker
Jack Surprise. They surveyed 279 feet, leaving some going leads with air.
September/October 2000
During September and October
of 2000, 6,642 feet of new cave was added to the length of Wind Cave. This brings
the length to 92.93 miles long, maintaining the cave's position as the seventh-longest
cave in the world and the fifth longest in the US. Black
Hills Caver Classic/ Rocky Mountain Regional- 9/2-3/00 Amy
Johnson, Tara Rose, Jay Kennedy, Fred Braun, and Stan Kapperman
Amy led this
crew along the Wild Caving Tour on a recreational trip for the Classic/ Regional. Jamie
and Ron Sherer, Steve Turner, Debbie Slinkard, and Wade Clements
Jamie led
this bunch along the Bishop Fowler's Loop in the Historic Section on a recreational
trip for the Classic/ Regional. Carl
Bern, Earl Petersen, Bruce Daily, and John Lyon
Carl led this recreational
trip along Club Room Loop for the Classic/Regional. Jim
Wilson, Dennis Maynard, and Darryl Poe
Jim led this recreational adventure
along the Club Room Loop for the Regional/Classic. Hazel
Barton, Jim Olsen, Brian Wolfe, Barbara Smith, Todd Gleaver, and Jim Bowen
Hazel led this recreational trip along the Club Room Loop for the Classic/Regional. Rod
Horrocks, Derek Wolfe, & Jim Lawton
Rod led an 8-hour trip to push leads
in the Crumbling Bridge Hall area in the Club Room Section. The first lead spiraled
up into a virgin dome with five radiating tubes heading off in different directions.
After a 100 feet of survey, they headed to the only side lead on Hobson's Bypass.
This phreatic tube connected several paleofilled domes before eventually reconnecting
to PA50. The group then went to a pit Rod found along the east wall of the AA
Route. This led to a passage with several 50-foot deep pits that connect with
the Multipurpose Room. The passage was named Spar Heights after some spectacular
clear 1 ¼" nailhead spar clusters. Surveying south around the largest
pit, they pushed through a nasty vertical slot and entered a walking passage with
numerous side leads that they named Loose Cannon Run. They surveyed a total of
467 feet and left six good leads for a return trip. Jamie
Sherer, Steve Turner, Debbie Slinkard, & Wade Clements
After leading a
Bishop Fowler's Loop Jamie led a short trip to continue pushing the Jamie's Dead
End passage in the Historic Section. They surveyed 30 feet before running out
of time. Jamie
and Ron Sherer, & Pete Graham
Jamie returned to the leads she started
the day before and surveyed another 122 feet. The highly traveled passages in
this area seem to indicate there is an easier way into this area than the way
it was found. Evan
Anderson, Mike, Matt, and Veronica Schmidt
Evan led this group along the Wild
Caving Tour route for a recreational trip for the Classic/Regional. Carl
Bern, Derek Wolfe, Jeff Goben, & Christa Schneider
Derek led Carl back
to the tight lead he had found on Rod Horrocks trip on 9/2 in Spar Heights in
the Club Room Section. Although, the passage eventually reconnected to the AA
Route, a small hole they named Frostbite Hole led down to a decorated area they
named Frost Hall. They surveyed a total of 382 feet of new cave. Marc
Ohms & Rene Rogers
Marc and Rene went back to their lower level leads
off of Wall Street in the Historic Section. This series of virgin crawls proved
to be the lowest passages this far north in the cave. The wind in this area was
causing Rene's hair to sway in the breeze. They were able to survey 367 feet of
cave, leaving many going leads headed towards the north boundary of the cave.
9/9-10/00 Wind
Cave Weekend The
September Wind Cave Weekend was canceled due to construction work being done in
the VIP Center following a flood due to a water pipe bursting. 9/05/00 Rod
Horrocks, Mary Laycock, and Michael Little
Rod led Mike and Mary on an evening
trip into the Historic Section to continue surveying leads off of the Overland
Trail. They surveyed 126 feet before Michael felt ill and the team was forced
to leave the cave. 9/12/00 Marc
Ohms and Rene Rogers
This duo headed back to their lower leads in the north
part of the Historic Section. They surveyed 217 feet of low crawls with air heading
towards the north boundary of the cave. They surveyed through a low maze of crawls
that also goes west and south. 9/13/00 Marc
Ohms and Rod Horrocks
Marc and Rod went to Colombian Hall in the Historic
Section to resurvey part of an old survey that had few inclinations. They resurveyed
120 feet of the former UF survey. This is part of an on-going effort to upgrade
the quality of the Wind Cave survey data.
9/17/00 Marc
Ohms and Rene Rogers
Once again, this pair headed to their leads in the northern
parts of the Historic Section. They pushed through a small nasty tight lead and
surveyed 278 feet of additional crawls. This passage is now further north than
anything else in the area and over 70 feet deeper. They left several leads with
air. 9/20/00 Rod
Horrocks, Steve Baldwin, and Steve and Sammi Langendorf
This bunch went on
an evening survey trip to the Yahoo area in the Historic Section, with the intention
of completing the three remaining leads. They surveyed 122 feet in one of the
leads, bringing the total survey in the area to 1,350 feet. Abandoning the area,
they went to the Bottomless Pit in Whitney Avenue and surveyed 191 feet in a passage
they named Vandals Gallery. 9/20/00 Marc
Ohms and Rene Rogers
Marc and Rene went down to What the Hell in the Lakes
Section to obtain the monthly lake level reading. The lake was down 0.4 feet since
last month. While there, they surveyed 225 feet of mop-up survey along the JE
survey.
10/07/00 Marc
and Rene Ohms
The newly married couple headed into the eastern edge of the
Historic Section to continue pushing leads along the MY survey. They surveyed
208 feet of upper level cave and left several going leads. 10/14/00-
Wind Cave Weekend Jim
Wilson, Greg Glazner, Skip Withrow, and Barbara Smith
Jim led his group to
an area off of the AI survey in the Historic Section where he has been working
for several months. They surveyed 764 feet of virgin cave and left plenty of leads
for more trips. Evan
Anderson, Stephanie Haderlie, Christy Harrison, and Steve Lester
Evan led
this bunch out to the Half-Mile Hall Section to push leads they found a few months
ago. They surveyed 1,026 feet of big cave off of several leads along the KQ survey
near Half-Mile Hall and the Figure Eight Room. Carl
Bern, Amy Johnson, Christa Schneider, and Jeff Goben
Carl led this group out
to the east side of the Half-Mile Hall Section to continue surveying leads he
found this summer. They surveyed 445 feet of sandy crawls in the Snowball Hall
area. Rod Horrocks,
Derek Wolfe, and Jonathan Brinson
Rod led this trip into the eastern side
of the Club Room Section to continue surveying the leads in the Loose Cannon Run
they had found on 9/2/00. They discovered going caving in the first lead they
checked and surveyed 1,104 feet. They named the mazey area the Thousand-Foot Maze,
since it was their first 1,000-foot survey day in Wind Cave. They left many leads
for additional trips. 10/22/00 Marc
and Rene Ohms, Matt Reece, and Gretchen Schenk
Marc led this crew on a short
survey trip to the north end of the Candlelight Tour to do some mop-up survey
off of the P survey. They surveyed 242 feet of passage and left a few leads. 10/28/00 Marc
and Rene Ohms, and Matt Reece
Rene led this trip into the Colorado Grotto
Section to leads that she and Marc found in May. Due to poor sketching and sparse
station labeling it was difficult to determine what in this maze had been surveyed.
They managed to find and survey 325 feet of passage. November/December
2000 During November
and December of 2000, 21 survey trips were taken to the Historic, Club Room, Lakes,
Half Mile Hall, and Colorado Grotto sections of Wind Cave. During those trips,
cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 7,105 feet, or 1.34 miles of passage,
with an average survey length of 337 feet. In addition, they resurveyed a total
of 1,252 feet of old surveys. The new survey raised the official length of Wind
Cave from 92.93 miles to 94.27 miles, maintaining the cave's position as the seventh-longest
cave in the world and the fifth longest in the US. 11/1/00
Rod Horrocks, Matt Reece, & Ari Juhala
Rod led an afternoon training trip
to resurvey the old UGA survey, which they named the Golden Way after Rod lost
his wedding band. After fixing some loop closure errors in the Chamber of Lost
Souls and resurveying 71 feet, they added 80 feet to the caves length by mapping
a room and short side passage at the end of the old UGA survey. They also found
a 15-foot deep pit lead for their next trip. 11/4/00 Rod
Horrocks, Matt Reece, & Ari Juhala
Rod led an evening trip back to the
pit at the end of the Golden Way. They were able to tie up several short dead-end
side passages at the bottom of the pit before calling it an evening. They only
left one tight floor slot unchecked. They surveyed 156 feet with an average shot
length of 9 feet. 11/3/00 Marc
Ohms, Rod Horrocks, & Matt Reece
Marc led this trip to record the lake
level of What the Hell Lake. It was found that it had dropped 0.7 feet, the largest
drop since the lake started forming in 1996. While in the area, they took the
opportunity to survey and inventory 231 feet of previously scooped passages, closing
a couple of loops in the process. Wind
Cave Weekend (11/11/00) Jim
Wilson, Greg Glazner, Barbara Smith, & Skip Withrow
Jim returned to his
lead off the Elbow Room in the Historic Section, which he had found on 6/10/00.
They surveyed 646 feet of virgin cave, following a windy passage across one of
the biggest holes in the Wind Cave survey. They named two wide spots, the Pelvis
and Clavicle Rooms. The trip was cut short when Barbara slipped between two breakdown
blocks she was bridging over. She suffered some facial cuts and a banged knee,
but was able to get out of the cave under her own power. Evan
Anderson, Derek Wolfe, & Shawn Kramer
Evan led this trip to the Bucking
Horse Canyon area in the Half Mile Hall section. While surveying a bellycrawl,
Derek fell eight feet when the false floor he was crawling over collapsed. Luckily,
he only suffered minor injuries in what they named Kamakazi Crawl. Surveying into
a nearby virgin walking passage, they named several new areas, including the Campaign
Trail, Battle of the Bulge, and Split Vote. They also named a 20 x 40-foot room
the Ballot Box and a large balcony, the Gore Hole. All the names were in reference
to the on-going Florida presidential election contest. They surveyed 1,203 feet,
leaving numerous great leads in an exciting new area. Cyndi
Mosch, Pete Graham, Randy Macan, & Michael Goar
With a lead pushing rope
in hand, Cyndi led this group to push the remaining leads off the SC survey in
the Club Room Section. Unfortunately, their dome lead ended after one shot. The
only remaining known lead left in the area is a blowing passage blocked by a sediment
cone. On the way out, they surveyed a dome off of the Conn's old BB survey. It
also quickly ended. They surveyed 150 feet for the day.
Tom Dotter,
Kim VcVey, Karla Whittneburg, & Bear Limvere
Tom led one more trip back
to the Ferret Loop area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 150 feet before
deciding that the area is complete. Rich
Wolfert, Dan Wray, & Larry Brooks
This group went on a survey trip to
the Garden of Eden Room on the tour route, but didn't survey anything.
11/12/00 Mike
Goar and Randy Macan
These two ran out to the Club Room to find Randy's wedding
ring, which he had lost in the cave the day before. They eventually found the
ring in his cave pack, where it had fallen off while taking his glove off.
11/13/00 Rod Horrocks
& Matt Reece
These two resurveyed the UG route between Columbian Hall
and the Chamber of Lost Souls in the Historic Section. They found a 20-foot deep
pit and a nearby dome lead to survey on a later trip. For the trip, they resurveyed
247 feet and surveyed 73 feet of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average
overall shot length of 15 feet. 11/26/00 Marc
& Rene Ohms, & Matt Reece
Marc led this trip to push the southern
end of the Colorado Grotto Section. They surveyed 178 feet in a canyon that connected
to Monolith Hall. 11/28/00 Rod
Horrocks, Jay Kennedy, & Chris Ingebretsen
Rod led this evening trip back
to the area they had started surveying during an ABC World News Tonight story
shot on 10/31. Starting in the Council Chamber in the Historic Section, they surveyed
a maze of middle-level passages between this chamber and the UN survey. After
finding a Halloween newspaper (10/31/1897), they named the fissure passage, Spook
Alley. They surveyed 355 feet with an average shot length of 12 feet. 11/18/00 John
Scheltens, Ed LaRock, & Mike Behn
John led this trip to continue pushing
lead in the Wakantanka area in the Club Room Section. They ended up surveying
345 feet in a long passage off the MK survey that ended at a couple of deep, but
unclimable pits into a lower and already surveyed room. Wind
Cave Weekend (12/2/00) Jim
Wilson, Eric Dutton, Tim Moreland, & Yerko Barrera
Jim returned to the
start of his survey off the Elbow Room in the Historic Section and started mopping
up unfinished side leads. They completed everything up to the start of their big
discovery, the Kneebone Room. They surveyed 445 feet during the day. Tom
Dotter, Karla Whittenburg, Kim McVey, & Jay Kennedy
Tom led this trip
to push a shallow pit in the Pyramid Room in the Club Room Section. They surveyed
220 feet. Rich
Wolfert, Cyndi Mosch, Mike Gore, and Dan Hanson
Rich led this group back
to the Garden of Eden area in the Historic Section to survey passage they had
seen on his 11/11 trip. They surveyed 205 feet of previously unsurveyed passage,
and 252 of resurvey, where there were no existing survey stations. 12/6/00 Rod
Horrocks, Chris Ingrebretsen, & Ari Juhala
Rod led this evening trip back
to the Spook Alley area to continue surveying the leads found on 11/28/00. After
closing three loops, they pushed two crawls and then a pit that each opened into
separate areas with extensive inter-connected rooms. They were able to partially
survey one of the three areas that lies directly over Spook Alley before calling
it a night. They surveyed 427 feet with an average shot length of 16 feet. 12/8/00 Rod
Horrock & Chris Ingrebretsen
Rod led this resurvey trip to finish the
resurvey of the UG survey in the Chamber of Lost Souls area in the Historic Section.
They resurveyed 290 feet before finding a good-sized room to survey at NM5. The
last lead they checked off of this room, led to a low-ceilinged area with passages
radiating off in all directions and multiple pits in the floor. They named this
area, Nave Junction. With leads going everywhere, they called it an afternoon,
after adding 262 feet of unsurveyed cave to the 290 feet of resurvey completed
earlier. 12/9/00 Rod
Horrocks & Chris Ingrebretsen
Returning to Nave Junction, the lead discovered
the day before, they surveyed a series of crawls they named Betternpokneye, since
the crawls were certainly "better than a poke in the eye". At the end
of one of those crawls, they surveyed up into an upper middle-level room that
was 30-feet in diameter. They named it the Colonade Room, since it had four pillars
around its outer walls. They finished the trip by surveying down some of the pits
at Nave Junction, where they found a thin film of mud on everything, including
the popcorn. Apparently, water had historically ponded in the area. They surveyed
622 feet for the day, with an average shot length of 11 feet, and left 12 leads
for a future trip. 12/12/00 Rod
Horrocks, Michelle Karle, & Ari Juhala
Rod led this evening trip to push
south trending leads off of Spook Alley in the Historic Section. They named a
25-foot diameter room the Comets Coma and a larger, 30 x 45 foot diameter room,
that had deep deposits of fine white silt on the floor, the Stardust Chamber.
They surveyed 331 feet, with an average shot length of 23 feet, and left 11 leads
for a future trip. 12/16/00 Rod
Horrocks, Steve Baldwin, & Steve Langendorf
Rod led an evening trip to
continue pushing leads off the Stardust Chamber in the Historic Section. They
pushed one fissure in the ceiling that connected to the Bachelor Quarters after
100 feet of passage. They surveyed a total of 473 feet, with an average shot length
of 17 feet, and left 14 leads for a later trip. 12/18/00 Rod
Horrocks & Michelle Karle
Rod led a three-hour afternoon trip in the Historic
Section to resurvey two sections of the Bachelor Quarters that had no recoverable
stations. They resurveyed 138 feet and then tied several hanging loops into the
new stations, which added 170 feet of previously unsurveyed passage to the caves
length, with an average overall shot length of 22 feet.
12/22/00 Rod Horrocks
& Michelle Karle
Rod led a day trip to push leads off the Fairgrounds
tour route in the Historic Section and to resurvey some stations that were not
recoverable. They surveyed 333 feet of new survey and 254 feet of resurvey, with
an average shot length of 22.4 feet. They left four dome leads and a bellycrawl
for a future trip. Caving
at Wind Cave National Park in 2000
The year 2000 was an exciting
year for exploration in Wind Cave. To begin with, it was the second most productive
survey year in the history of the Wind Cave survey. We feel this is due to three
reasons: first, a revitalization of the Wind Cave Weekends, with an average attendance
of 17 cavers; second, a tremendous increase in surveying by park staff; and third,
a higher average survey footage per trip. In addition, Carl Bern has done a tremendous
job coordinating Wind Cave Weekend activities for Colorado cavers. During
2000, a total of 40,656 feet or 7.7 miles of cave passage was surveyed and inventoried
during 112 survey trips. The only more productive year in Wind Cave history was
during 1991, when the Southern Comfort breakout was going on. The average survey
length of this year's trips was 358 feet, up from the 286 feet average realized
during 1999. The new survey footage rose the Wind Cave length from 86.53 miles
to 94.23 miles. On May 22, when the survey hit 91.16 miles, Wind Cave passed Siebenhengste
of Switzerland to regain the position as seventh longest cave in the world and
the fifth longest in the US. In descending order, the main survey efforts were
in the following sections: Historic (72 trips for 22,232 feet), Club Room (19
trips for 7,901 feet), Half Mile Hall (11 trips for 6,487 feet ), Lakes (4 trips
for 1,090 feet), Colorado Grotto (2 trips for 503 feet), North (2 trips for 1,016
feet), Western Fringe (1 trip for 1,055 feet), and Silent Expressway (1 trip for
372 feet). The ten most active surveyors of the year, in order of number of trips,
were: Marc Ohms, Rod Horrocks, Rene Ohms, Steve Langendorf, Sammi Langendorf,
Nick Myers, Matt Truitt, Matt Reece, Jim Wilson, Amy Johnson and Jeff Goben. Although
there were no major breakouts beyond the known boundaries of the cave, 10 significant
discoveries and numerous smaller discoveries were made during the year. The 10
most significant discoveries by date include:
1) Hoo Pnew: On 1/8/00,
Evan Anderson, Shawn Kramer, Pat Roberson, & Micah Ball surveyed 1,055 feet
in this nice discovery off the Easter Basket in the Western Fringe Section.
2) Yahoo: On 1/12/00, Steve Baldwin, Rod Horrocks, & Steve and Sammi Langendorf
discovered a couple of adjoining rooms off of the Overland Trail in the Historic
Section. They surveyed 1,342 feet in the area over five trips.
3) Crumbling
Bridge Hall: On 3/4/00, Rod Horrocks, Joe Oliphant, Marc Pedersen, & John
Citta found a blowing lead near the Pyramid Room in the Club Room Section that
led to 1,784 feet of survey over two trips. A few leads remain in this area.
4) Root 89: On 3/14/00, Rod Horrocks, Nick Myers, Belinda Fox, & Caity Czaja
discovered the source of the bones in the Chamber of Lost Souls in the Historic
Section. They found a passage that led to a plugged former entrance that is within
eight feet of the bottom of Wind Cave Canyon, just north of the Natural Entrance.
5) Kneebone Room: On 4/8/00, Jim Wilson, Eric Dutton, & Bob Stucklen
discovered a lead off of a pit near the Elbow Room in the Historic Section that
led to one of the largest discoveries of the year. The windy passage marched across
one of the largest holes in the Wind Cave survey lineplot. Thus far 2,128 feet
of passage has been surveyed and numerous great leads remain.
6) Dripstone
Delight: On 5/13/00, John Scheltens, Ed LaRock, & Mike Behn discovered one
of the nicest formation areas in the cave near the Wakantanka area.
7) Hobsons
Bypass: On 5/29/00, Rod Horrocks and Steve and Sammi Langendorf found a windy
passage that bypassed the Frostline, Roadblock, and Hobson's Choice. Because it
is all crawling, it isn't a viable alternative route around those features. A
few leads remain in this area.
8) Hades: On 8/31/00, Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers,
and Ed Schenck, discovered a pit that led to a series of middle-level bellycrawls
near Wall Street in the Historic Section. These crawls are 70 feet lower than
the rest of the cave on the northern edge of that section. Thus far they have
surveyed 1,340 feet of bellycrawls. Many blowing leads remain in this very difficult
area.
9) Loose Cannon Run: On 9/2/00, Rod Horrocks, Derek Wolfe, & Jim
Lawton discovered an extensive area above the Multi Purpose Room in the Club Room
Section. Thus far, 1,354 feet has been surveyed and dozens of leads remain in
this area.
10) Ballot Box: On 11/11/00, Evan Anderson, Derek Wolfe, &
Shawn Kramer made a discovery off the Bucking Horse Canyon area in the Half Mile
Hall Section. They surveyed 1,204 feet on a single trip and left numerous great
leads for future trips. Other
Park Caves:
The survey continued in the significant and extremely difficult,
Coyote Cave. On 8/14/00, Rene Rogers led Joel Despain and Merrilee Proffitt on
a 14-hour survey trip. They surveyed 1,055 feet of crawls. This brought the length
of the cave to 4,250 feet with numerous blowing leads and digs remaining. Two
small caves were surveyed in the park during 2000. Marc Ohms and Rod Horrocks
surveyed Brachiopod Cave to a length of 37 feet. Marc Ohms and Rene Rogers surveyed
Fossil Ridge Cave to a length of 32 feet. Dale Green and Rod Horrocks also found
a small cave with a dig in it that they named Ivy Cave. Lakes:
What the Hell lake, which has blocked access to the main lakes area, started receding
in June, dropping 0.7 feet each month during November and December. If this rate
continues, we may see access to the lakes in the foreseeable future. Cave
Management:
In September, my assistants, Marc Ohms and Rene Rogers were married
and Rene went to work for Mike Wiles at Jewel Cave. In October, Matt Reece joined
our cave management staff as the new seasonal cave management technician. Matt
had previously volunteered as the Jewel Cave Intern for Mike Wiles in 1997 and
he is currently working on his Masters thesis in Karst Geomorphology. During the
year, long-time park superintendent, Jimmy Taylor, retired and was replaced by
Linda Stoll. Linda comes to the park from the Regional Office in Denver. To
guide surface land use management activities within the park, we've created a
Cave Potential Map for Wind Cave. Based on geology and cave surveys, this model
predicts that 98% of the likely maximum extent of Wind Cave lies within the current
boundaries of the Park. That maximum extent is 8 times the size of the current
cave boundaries. This model also predicts a conservative minimum survey length
of 160-180 miles for Wind Cave, that is, if the current boundaries of the cave
are not significantly expanded. If they are expanded to the maximum likely extent,
and with the same density of passage, there could be up to 1,100 miles of passage
in the cave. The
contract for the sewer line replacement project has been mostly completed. Connecting
the pit toilet at the campground into the new system is the only remaining job.
This project removed the old leaking sewer lines above the cave and replaced them
with dual-contained HDPE lines. The inner, primary line is surrounded by an outer,
secondary line, which will capture and contain any leaks that may arise from the
primary line. Visual inspection ports are built into the system, allowing the
park to quickly and easily monitor the line for leaks and fix them before any
underground spillage occurs. We
recently calculated a rough volume for the surveyed portions of Wind Cave. Our
volume estimate is 39,100,000 cubic feet, based on an average passage size for
each of the nine sections (approx. 8'h x 10'w) and a length of 90 miles. In the
1960's Herb Conn conducted a barometric wind study and estimated that the total
volume of the cave was around 2,000,000,000 cubic feet. Based on these two sets
of numbers, the volume of the surveyed cave would represent only about 2% of the
potential volume. A
volunteer recently completed creating a database of all the cave surveyors that
have worked in Wind Cave, in preparation for our special edition 100-mile Wind
Cave map. This map will probably come out in 2003, during our 100-year park anniversary.
As expected, John Scheltens was the most prolific surveyor in Wind Cave, with
155 survey trips. Out of the 822 people that have surveyed in Wind Cave to date,
435 only went on a single survey trip. A total of 83 cavers have gone on more
than 10 trips, 40 have gone on more than 20 trips, and only 10 cavers have gone
on more than 50 trips. We've
recently finished a place name lexicon database for Wind Cave. Data from over
1,445 names have been documented thus far. The data that is being collected includes;
names, date of survey, surveyor's names, section of the cave, nearest station,
and reason for the name. For the entire data set, we are still missing about 25%
of the reasons particular names were chosen. We are hoping that area cavers will
be able to help us complete that information. | 
