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January/February
2001
During
January and February 9,843 feet of new cave was added to the length of Wind Cave.
This brings the length to 96.13 miles long, maintaining the cave's position as
the seventh-longest cave in the world and the fifth longest in the US. The 100th
mile is getting closer! 1/03/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Chris Ingebretsen, and Ari Jahalla
The first trip of the New Year
saw this trio surveying in the Historic Section in the area of the Chamber of
Lost Souls area. They surveyed 243 feet on this evening trip. 1/05/2001 Marc
Ohms and Matt Reece
Marc and Matt visited Elk Antler Cave, a small cave in
the park, to survey the cave. The entrance consisted of a 22-foot vertical pit
that required rope. At the bottom of the pit, a crawl leads to the north for 35
feet to a constriction too tight to continue. The floor of the cave consists of
pinecone parts, needles, and cactus spines. They then checked out a nearby, cliff-side
entrance that required a rappel to enter. As all too typical in the Black Hills,
the hole went about 4 feet. 1/10/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms, and Matt Reece
Marc and crew surveyed 231 feet, mopping up
four leads along the Bishop Fowler's Loop in the Historic Section. Rod
Horrocks and Chris Ingebretsen
Rod and Chris surveyed leads along the Overland
Trail in the Historic Section on this evening trip. They mopped up several side
leads for 193 feet. Steve
Baldwin, Steve and Sammi Langendorf
Sammi and the Steves went into the Historic
Section for a bit of after dinner caving. They surveyed 260 feet along the Overland
Trail. 1/13/2001-
Wind Cave Weekend Amy
Johnson, Christa Schneider, Jeff Goben, and Dan Wray
Amy led this bunch out
to the Club Room Section to survey leads in the YK survey. They surveyed a total
of 220 feet. Marc
and Rene Ohms, Matt Reece, and Nick Myers
Marc led this crew into the Club
Room Section to survey leads in lower level cave, northwest of the Garden Gate.
They surveyed 406 feet, mopping up several leads. Tom
Dotter, Karla Whittenburg, Carrie Finn, and Majorie Johnson
Tom led the female
contingency into the Club Room Section to survey leads south of the Road Block.
Tom could not fit past a constriction leading to their original destination but
managed to find going cave nonetheless. They surveyed 392 feet in an area they
want to return to. Cyndi
Mosch, Mike Goar, Jim Lawton, and Polly Hansel
Cyndi led the others into the
Club Room Section to survey leads near Christmas Tree Park. They resurveyed 327
feet of an old BB survey to correct errors and obtain a better sketch, and surveyed
178 feet of new passage.
Evan Anderson, Steph Haderlie, Pat Roberson,
and Steve Lester
Evan led this crew to the Half-Mile Hall Section to survey
in the Bucking Horse Canyon area. They named the Deep Sea Transvestite and Stephs
Tentacle. They surveyed an amazing 1,680 feet! Dennis
Laird, Tim Moreland, Dave Lester, and Eric Dutton
This foursome ventured into
the recently discovered Kneebone area of the Historic Section. They surveyed 685
feet in one lead and left many more leads to return to. James
Wilson, Skip Withrow, Barbara Smith, and Greg Glazner
This crew also headed
into the Kneebone area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 632 and left numerous
leads. Rod Horrocks,
Jay Kennedy, and Clarence Williams
Rod led this trip into the Historic Section
to relocate stations along the C-survey (tour route) and record LRUD information.
They also resurveyed 147 feet of the old ES survey and surveyed 302 feet of new
cave. 1/20/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms, Kelly Mathis, and Charlie Knight
Marc drug this crew to the
southern Club Room Section, to continue surveying leads in the area. They surveyed
520 feet, mopping up several leads. Rod
Horrocks, Chris Ingelbretsen, and Ari Juhala
Rod led this team into the Club
Room Section to survey leads in the Hobsons Bypass and Loose Cannon run areas.
They finished the Hobsons Bypass area and surveyed a total of 252 feet. 1/23/2001 Marc
Ohms and Dan Austin
Marc led the monthly trip down to What the Hell to obtain
a water sample and gage the lake level. It was down 0.78' since the last trip
in December. 1/25/2001 Rod
Horrocks and John Scheltens
Rod and John surveyed 125 feet of small virgin
crawls in the New Beginnings Room area in the Historic Section during this evening
trip. 1/27/2001 Marc
Ohms, Mike Wiles, and Joe Oliphant
Marc led this crew out to the Southern
Comfort Section to the Northwest Territory area. They surveyed two leads for a
total of 192 feet. Rene
Ohms, Tina Oliphant, and John Citta
Rene led this trio out to the Southern
Comfort Section to the area of Northwest Territory. They surveyed 286 feet in
one lead that consisted entirely of crawls. Rod
Horrocks, Andy Belski, Mitch Price, and Doug Warner
Rod led this foursome
out to the northwestern edge of the Half-Mile Hall Section, to the Rainbow Room
area. They surveyed 380 feet, wrapping up several leads. On the way in Rod slipped
on a climb and injured his rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He completed the
trip but was laid up for several weeks following the incident. Matt
Reece and Ben Miller
Matt and Ben traveled along the Candlelight Tour in the
Historic Section and surveyed 305 feet before Ben lost the mylar tags down a pit.
2/03/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms, Matt Reece, and Ben Miller
Marc led the foursome into the southern
part of the Club Room Section to continue surveying leads in that area. They surveyed
390 feet. 2/10/2001-
Wind Cave Weekend Amy
Johnson, Greg Springer, and Derek Wolfe
Amy led the crew into the Half-Mile
Hall Section to the area of Snowball Draw. They surveyed 313 feet of crawls with
profuse gypsum, moonmilk, and frostwork. Jim
Wilson, Clarence Williams, Jay Kennedy, and Mike Kienker
Jim and crew surveyed
368 feet in the Historic Section and noted numerous historic artifacts. Dennis
Laird, Greg Glazner, Bruce Albright, and Stuart Marlet
This foursome headed
to the Kneebone area in the Historic Section to continue pushing leads in this
new area. They named the Metacarpel Room, the Black Lung Room, Haggis Hall, and
the Carpel Tunnel. They surveyed 544 feet and left more leads. 2/15/2001 Steve
Baldwin, and Steve and Sammi Langendorf
This Custer trio returned to leads
in the Historic Section along the Overland Trail that they started a few weeks
ago. They tied into a former survey and resurveyed a passage that had known problems,
surveying a total of 152 feet. 2/18/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms
This couple headed north in the Historic Section to continue
pushing leads in the nasty area they call Hades. They surveyed 304 feet of low
crawls. They discovered a 15-foot pit that will require vertical gear to drop.
The pit is north of any known cave in the area.
2/20/2001 Rod
Horrocks and Chris Ingebretsen
Spending a couple hours in the Chert Room area
in the Historic Section teaching, Rod taught Chris to sketch. They surveyed 62
feet in the process. 2/24/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms, Matt Reece, John Keefner, and Dan Durben
This bunch headed
into the Historic Section to an area west of the Misplaced Pit. They split into
two groups, Rene lead Dan and John and started the resurvey of the NN survey.
Marc and Matt surveyed leads off of the NN behind the resurvey crew. One lead
headed south into a nice room they named Brittany's Boudoir. Rene's crew resurveyed
190 feet and the other surveyed 320 feet. 2/28/2001 Marc
Ohms, Matt Reece, and Ben Miller
The monthly gaging of What the Hell saw a
drop of 0.5'. At this rate the now sumped route to the Lakes, could be open this
summer. Steve
Baldwin, John Scheltens, and Chris Ingebretsen
This trio headed into the Historic
Section to check for leads off of the TT survey. They found nothing that went. March/April
2001 March
and April saw a flurry of activity in the cave. The survey total for the two months
was 10,428 feet (1.97 miles)! This brings the total survey to 98.1 miles. The
100th mile is getting closer.
3/4/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms
This caving duo headed into the north part of the Historic Section
to continue surveying in the nasty M survey. They surveyed 193 feet of low crawls
heading north. They toted in a cable ladder to drop a short pit on the north edge
of the cave that they discovered last trip. It led to a dead-end room. 3/10/2001
- Wind Cave Weekend Randy
Macan, Jake Deeds, Patricia Malone, and Jon Ewert
Randy led this team out
into the Half-Mile Hall Section to survey leads off of the BH survey. They surveyed
425 ft. Jeff Goben,
Christa Schneider, and Kim McVey
Jeff lead this crew out to the northern part
of the Half-Mile Hall Section to survey leads near the pink trail, south of the
Chimera Room. They surveyed five nasty leads for a total of 144 feet. Carl
Bern and Amy Johnson
This couple ventured into the Historic Section to do
a bit of surveying. They surveyed leads off of the BF survey, off of Rome. They
surveyed 172 feet of mop-up. Jim
Wilson, Skip Withrow, Marc and Rene Ohms
Jim led this trip out to the Kneebone
area of the Historic Section. They surveyed 1,110 feet new cave and left plenty
of leads. Rod
Horrocks, Dave Cummings, Dave Weber, and George Corddry
Rod led this trip
into the Historic Section to survey leads off of the SPH survey near Omnibus Hall.
After mopping up a dome and then better defining the northeast corner of the room,
for a total of 100 feet of survey, they went up into the Mind Boggler area to
finish the remaining leads in that area. Surveying 189 feet, they surveyed a total
of 289 feet. Sandy
Kramer and Kathy Petty
In the morning these two ladies did the Caving Tour
in order to familiarize themselves with the route for the upcoming Restoration
Camp. After that they headed into the Historic Section, along the Bishop Fowler's
Loop to survey leads. They surveyed 76 feet. 3/14/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Dave Shurtz, Ryan Shurtz, and Jordan Shurtz
Rod led the visiting
Utah crew into the Historic Section to survey leads off of the Fairgrounds. They
surveyed a room with multiple dead-end side leads that they named the Ever Ending
Room. They then surveyed up into a 60-foot high spiraling dome that appears to
have been completely excavated. They found a 1935 check for two cents tacked to
the top of the dome, which they named the Two-Cent Stope. They surveyed 519 feet,
including 124 feet of resurvey. 3/15/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Dave Shurtz, Ryan Shurtz, and Jordan Shurtz
Rod led the visiting
Utah crew into the Historic Section to survey leads off of the New Beginnings
Room. The first dome they checked led into a rift area they named the Arcane Rift.
This then opened into a 370-foot long passage they named "Terra-Cotta Trail",
after the brownish orange floors. The passage headed north, 50 feet above the
paved tour route. They left plenty of leads in this area and surveyed a total
of 626 feet. 3/17/2001 Matt
Reece and Dan Durban
Matt and Dan traveled into the Historic Section to survey
leads off of the Overland Trail. They surveyed 204 feet including one passage
with some great popcorn that they named the "Popcorn Machine". 3/24/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms and Matt Reece
The crew headed into the North Section to survey
leads off of the Key Room. They started by surveying a large room south of the
Key Room that had not been previously surveyed. A lead off of this room lead to
an additional 400 feet of well-decorated cave with all sorts of dripstone including
cave pearls. They surveyed a total of 503 feet and left several leads. 3/24/2001 Ed
LaRock, Mike Behn, Larry Richards, and John Piatt
Ed led this bunch into the
Club Room Section to survey leads off of the MK survey. They surveyed 284 feet. 3/26/2001 Matt
Reece, Ben Miller, and Bob Leach
Matt led this trio into the Historic Section
to survey leads off of the SA survey. They surveyed 225 feet. 3/29/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Steve Baldwin, and Nick Myers
Rod led this group into the Historic
Section on an evening trip to survey leads off of the New Beginnings Room. They
mopped up 158 feet before locating a bellycrawl that led up a dome with air. After
140 feet of survey, they emerged from underneath a boulder in the Mammoth Galleries.
They surveyed a total of 298. 3/31/2001 Marc
and Rene Ohms and Matt Reece
The trio returned to the Key Room area in the
North Section for more survey. They added another 411 feet of survey to the cave.
The most exciting thing they discovered was a dome with airflow and roots hanging
from its ceiling. 4/10/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Nick Myers, Belinda Fox, and Tom Kindling
Rod led this evening trip
into the New Beginnings Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 247 feet
of very small passages. Their average shot was eight feet long. Numerous other
small leads remain in this area. 4/11/2001 Marc
Ohms and Matt Reece
Marc and Matt traveled to What the Hell in the Lakes section
for the monthly visit to obtain water samples and a gage reading. The lake was
down .04 ft since last month. 4/14/2001
- Wind Cave Weekend Carl
Bern, Jeff Goben, and Greg Springer
Carl and crew headed out into the North
Section of the cave to survey leads north of Snowball Draw. They surveyed 673
feet and left several going leads. Evan
Anderson, Tonya Potts, and Paul Mozal
Evan led this bunch into the Half-Mile
Hall Section to continue surveying leads in the Mystic Hall and Bucking Horse
Canyon areas. They surveyed 1,020 feet. Patrick
Roberson, Curtis Pattillo, Pete Tschennan, and Mica Ball
This foursome traveled
into the Half-Mile Hall Section to survey leads off of the BX, BW, and CY surveys.
They surveyed 590 feet and noted many unsurveyed leads along the BW. Karla
Whittenburg, Tom Dotter, Marjori Johnson, and Kim McVey
This foursome traveled
into the Club Room Section to survey leads off of the AA survey. They surveyed
266 feet and left several going leads. Dennis
Laird, Rene and Marc Ohms, and Eric Dutton
Dennis led this group into the
Kneebone area of the Historic Section. They surveyed leads noted on a previous
trip and racked up 1,145 feet of new cave. They left many leads including some
that were walking sized. Skip
Withrow, Jim Wilson, and Barbara Smith
Skip led the team into the Kneebone
area of the Historic Section to survey leads found on an earlier trip. They surveyed
762 feet and left more leads. They discovered an area decorated with all sorts
of dripstone formations. 4/21/2001 Sandy
Kramer and Kathy Petty
These two traveled along the Caving Tour to re-familiarize
themselves with the route for the upcoming Restoration Camp. 4/26/2001 Rod
Horrocks and Steve Baldwin
Rod and Steve ventured into the Drip Drop Room
area in the Historic Section for an evening survey. They surveyed 246 feet off
of the CW survey, closing several loops. May/June
2001 During
May and June of 2001, 13 survey and 2 resurvey trips were taken into the Historic,
Club Room, Half Mile Hall, North, Lakes, and Colorado Grotto sections of Wind
Cave. During those trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 6,428 feet,
or 1.22 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length
of 494 feet per trip. In addition, they resurveyed a total of 595 feet of old
problem surveys. The new survey raised the official length of Wind Cave from 98.1
miles to 99.32 miles, maintaining the cave's position as the seventh-longest cave
in the world and the fifth longest in the US. 5/9/2001 Rod
Horrocks, John Scheltens, Steve Baldwin, and Randy Schriber
Rod led an evening
trip to push some dome leads in the Fairgrounds area in the Historic Section.
They found a coded Alvin McDonald signature (Z.U.Q.) and several domes explored
by Roy McDonald in the mid 1890's. They surveyed 333 feet. 5/11/2001 Tom
Dotter, Karla Whittneburg, Tracy Copp, and Marjori Johnson
Tom led a sketchers
training trip to a fairly large room on the LSD survey along the Red and White
trail in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 200 feet in several small leads
off this room and left numerous leads for a return trip. 5/12/2001 John
Scheltens, Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, and Dave Worthington
John led a day trip
to the AA Route in the Club Room Section, where he found an unsurveyed passage
off of AA13. They found a nice frostwork lined room and mapped a total of 471
feet. 5/11/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Bonnie Curnock, Jamie Sherer, and Cheryl Yearwood
Rod led three
Wind Cave Restoration Camp participants on a short evening trip to the Coliseum
area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 150 feet on this training trip, leaving
a couple of unsurveyed passages for a later trip. 5/12/2001 Randy
Macan, Paul Mozal, and Carrie Finn
Randy led a trip to the south end of the
Half-Mile Hall area. They surveyed 235 feet within a small hole in the line plot
and then mopped up several passages in a confusing area. They surveyed a total
of 587 feet. Evan
Anderson, Suzette Kane, Jim Olsen, and Hazel Barton
Evan led this trip out
to the north end of Half-Mile Hall to check a pit that Hazel had found. After
200 feet of survey, they started checking the KK survey to the south. They found
a complex vertical maze before quitting for the day with 659 feet of survey. They
left numerous leads in the maze for a return trip. 5/25/2001 Marc
Ohms and Rod Horrocks
Marc and Rod traveled down to What the Hell lake for
the monthly water level gaging. The lake level was down 0.36 feet since last month.
The lake is continuing to drop which means we may have access to the main lakes
before too long? Evan
Anderson, Paul Burger, and Steve Lester
Evan led this trip out to the Bucking
Horse Canyon area in the Half-Mile Hall Section. They mopped up numerous leads
for 938 feet of survey. 5/29/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Dave, Ryan, and Jordan Shurtz
Rod led some returning Utah cavers
on a day trip back to their Terra-Cotta Trail discovery they made a few months
before in the Historic Section. They named an upper level passage the Tannis Passage
and an interesting room the Map Room. The room's name referred to the flat chert
ceiling that was covered with outstanding dendrites that resembled a line plot
of Wind Cave. Surveying a tube that continued straight west out of the room, they
mapped the only passage in the whole area to deviate from the general NW-SE trend.
They stopped the survey at the top of a 30-foot pit that they named the Well of
Souls. With 851 feet of survey for the day, this brought the total survey in this
new area to 1,615 feet. 5/30/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Dave, Ryan, and Jordan Shurtz
Rod led the visiting Utah cavers on
a second trip, this one to the Base Camp area that straddles the Lakes and Club
Room Sections. They found some nice unsurveyed canyons with helictite bushes.
After closing several loops, they started surveying each side passage along the
JA survey that led to Shelobs Lair. They stopped at a very tight bellycrawl after
761 feet of survey. Marc
& Rene Ohms, and Tom Kindling
Marc led an evening trip into the Candlelight
Tour area in the Historic Section. They surveyed the first lead they found along
the AT survey, surveying 157 feet. They left a few leads and noticed some bad
loop closure problems in the area. 6/9/2001 Jim
Wilson, Skip Withrow, Barbara Smith, and Derek Wolfe
Jim led a day trip back
to his extensive Kneebone Room discovery, north of the Spillway in the Historic
Section. They mopped up numerous leads off the TA and TE surveys. They finished
with 414 feet of new survey.
6/21/2001 Marc Ohms,
Noah Daniels, and Stephen Smith
Marc led this resurvey trip to the Mammoth
Gallery area in the Historic Section. They were able to resurvey 81 feet and fix
a bad loop. 6/22/2001 Marc
Ohms, Noah Daniels, and Stephen Smith
Marc led a work trip to resurvey part
of the main pink and black trail in the Colorado Grotto Section. They resurveyed
514 feet of the KC survey, from Independence Hall to the Xerox Room.
6/23/2001 Marc Ohms,
Noah Daniels, and Stephen Smith
Marc led a day trip to an area south of the
Key Room in the North Section. They surveyed several virgin loops for a total
of 614 feet of crawling and stoop-walking passage.
6/25/2001 Rod Horrocks,
Stephen Smith, and Jake Turin
Rod led some visiting cavers on an evening
trip to the Terra-Cotta Trail discovery area in the Historic Section. They were
able to mop up 293 feet in several small leads, leaving several leads for a return
trip. This brought the total survey in this area to 1,907 feet. 6/26/2001 Marc
Ohms, Jake Turin, Noah Daniels, and Stephen Smith
This crew headed down to
What the Hell lake for the monthly gaging of the lake level. It was down 0.18
feet since last month. The lake is continuing to drop but seems to be slowing
down. Jake Turin obtained water samples for his ongoing research of radioactive
isotopes in the cave water. 6/27/2001 Marc
Ohms, Stephen Smith, and Noah Daniels
Marc led this trip out to the X survey
in Club Room Section, to a pool of water discovered in late 1999. The mission
was to grab water samples for Jake Turin's radioactive isotope research. However,
when they got to the pool they found it dry. When discovered a couple of years
before, it was 20-feet long and up to 6-feet deep. July/August
2001 During
July and August of 2001, 15 survey trips were taken into the Historic, Club Room,
Half- Mile Hall, Colorado Grotto, and North Sections of Wind Cave. During those
trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 5,265 feet, or 0.99 miles of
passage, with an average survey length of 351 feet. In addition, the park Cave
Resource Management Staff resurveyed a total of 983 feet of problem surveys. The
new survey raised the official length of Wind Cave from 99.32 miles to 100.31
miles. A major milestone was reached on August 11, when the survey hit the 100-mile
mark. At the same time, the survey passed Fisher Ridge Cave to become the sixth
longest surveyed cave in the world and the fourth longest in the U.S. In addition
to the survey trips, two monitoring trips were led to What the Hell lake and three
recreation trips were taken on the Bishop Fowlers Loop. 7/05/2001 Mary
Laycock, Dawn Mosher, Ben Tobin, Alexis Kumfer, Ajax Dalman, Johny Goebel
Mary led several Interpretation staff members on a recreation trip along the Bishop
Fowler's Loop in the Historic Section. 7/10/2001 Marc
Ohms & Noah Daniels
Marc led a resurvey trip to the Noah's Beard area
off of the Candlelight Tour in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 215 feet
of passage along the AT survey, in hope of tracking down survey blunders. 7/10/2001 Mary
Laycock, Michael Landrum, Stephen Woods, Heather Veerkamp, and Elyse Fields
Mary led several Interpretation staff members on a recreation trip along the Bishop
Fowler's Loop in the Historic Section. 7/12/2001 Marc
Ohms, Noah Daniels, Megan Barkes, and Christine ?
Marc led a resurvey trip
to the Monte Cristo's Palace area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 238
feet, fixing a couple of bad loops. 7/14/2001-
Wind Cave Weekend
Jim Wilson, Stuart Marlatt, & Derek Wolfe
Jim led a trip back to the Kneebone
Room area on the western edge of the Historic Section to continue pushing leads
in this exciting new area. They started checking leads closest to the Kneebone
Room. Unfortunately, most leads reconnected to the TA and TB surveys. They surveyed
710 feet for the day. Carl
and Amy Bern, Christa Schneider, & Kirk Digby
Carl led a trip to the Mule
Creek Junction area in the North Section to continue pushing three unpromising
leads from their last trip. Surveying up through some breakdown, they made an
exciting discovery, finding a large new room which measured 90' x 40'. They named
the room the "Ton 80 Room", which is the highest score one can get in
darts. They surveyed 450 feet for the day, leaving numerous good leads for a return
trip. Tim Moreland,
Yerko Barrera, Greg Glazner, & Pam Mehr
Tim led a trip to the Citadel
area in the Colorado Grotto Section. They mopped up a couple of loops, surveying
234 feet. Tom
Dotter, Karla Whittenburg, Kim McVey, & Tracy Copp
Tom led a trip to the
Nudist Colony area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 305 feet.
7/19/2001 Marc Ohms
and Noah Daniels
Marc and Noah ventured south into the Lakes Section on the
monthly quest for water samples and lake level readings of What the Hell. The
lake was down .07 feet since the previous month. 8/2/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Graham Hogg, Rainer Engler, & Dave Fairfield
Rod led some Canadian
cavers on an evening trip to push some side leads off the Terra-Cotta Trail area
in the Historic Section. After closing a couple of loops, they dropped into a
pit and squeezed underneath a chockstone where they discovered a rift passage
with a pit in the middle. Chimneying as far as possible down the 35-foot deep
pit, they spotted the paved tour trail below. After dropping a Mylar tag onto
the trail, they looped back to the Natural Entrance Tour, where they found the
tag on the trail at Miltons Study. They named the area the Alberta Connection.
They surveyed 101 feet for the evening. 8/3/2001
Rod Horrocks, Graham Hogg, Rainer Engler, & Dave Fairfield
Rod led the
Canadian cavers on another evening trip, this time to the Omnibus Hall area in
the Historic Section. Finding an unsurveyed dome that Herb and Jan Conn had named
the Bleeding Liver in 1963, they surveyed 44 feet before this beautifully decorated
area ended. Abandoning that area, they buzzed out to the Buffalo Gap area in the
Club Room Section and started the survey of a 28-foot deep pit. At the point that
the pit connected with the Nudist Colony, they found a flat-floored crawl that
headed southwest. After surveying past several small leads, they quit their survey
at a three-way junction. They surveyed 248 feet for the night.
8/4/2001 Rod Horrocks,
Graham Hogg, Rainer Engler, & Dave Fairfield
Rod led the Canadian cavers
on a day trip back to the discoveries where they had quit the night before. After
surveying some virgin crawls and rifts, they surveyed up through a rib-cage-compressing
squeeze between some breakdown blocks, and into the bottom of a canyon. After
connecting with the LS and RP surveys, they returned to the Nudist Colony to survey
additional side passages. They surveyed 507 feet for the day. Marc
and Rene Ohms, & Ben Miller
Marc led a trip to continue pushing the Hades
area on the north edge of the Historic Section. They surveyed 216 feet, finding
some flowstone and a good blowing lead heading north off the map. They also found
fresh packrat droppings. To date over 2000 feet has been surveyed in this area.
However, nothing is over 2 feet high!
8/7/2001 Rod Horrocks,
Doug Fowler, & Diana Ludwig
Rod led a resurvey trip to the Bachelor Quarters
area in the Historic Section. They discovered a few unsurveyed leads and resurveyed
323 feet of the BQ survey. Rene
Ohms, Heather Lacey, Brian Fagman, David Steitl, Josh Armstrong
Rene led four
staff members from Jewel Cave on a recreation trip along Bishop Fowler's Loop
in the Historic Section. 8/11/2001
- Wind Cave Weekend and the 100 Milestone!! Patrick
Roberson, Derek Wolfe, Evan Anderson, & Stephanie Haderlie
Pat led a trip
to the BX survey area in the Half-Mile Hall Section. They spent the day mopping
up narrow, walking fissures that had lots of air. They mapped 929 feet for the
day. Tom Dotter,
Karla Whittenburg, & Kim McVey
Tom led a trip to the Nudist Colony area
in the Club Room Section. They pushed several leads, surveying 222 feet. Dave
Lester, Tim Moreland, & Marjori Johnson
Dave led a trip into the Colorado
Grotto Section. They surveyed a fissure below STP Speedway, which dropped into
some good lower level cave, for total of 262 feet.
Marc and Rene Ohms
Marc led a trip to push a lead he had known about for a
couple of years in the Minnihaha Falls area in the Historic Section. They surveyed
187 feet, finishing the lead. 8/11/2001 Rod
Horrocks, John Scheltens, Mike Hanson, & Steve Baldwin
John led a short
trip to the Bachelor Quarters area in the Historic Section to push the leads Rod
had found on 8/7/2001. They discovered a previously unrecorded Alvin McDonald signature
and surveyed 478 feet. 8/15/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Heather Veerkamp, Ben Tobin, & Jonny Goebel
Rod led some Wind
Cave interpreters on an evening survey training trip to the Coliseum area in the
Historic Section. They were surveying a "boneyard" area when Rod found
a crawl that led to a 40' x 70' room, which they named the Lucky Strike Room.
They found some evidence that someone else had been before, finding a Lucky Strike
cigarette pack (probably dating to the CCC Crew from the 1930's). They surveyed
295 feet for the night and left some leads for a return trip. 8/21/2001 Rod
Horrocks, Ajax Dalman, Michael Landrum, & Alexis Kumfer
Rod led some Wind
Cave interpreters on an evening survey training trip to the Fairy Palace area
in the Historic Section. They surveyed down a pit they named Quicksilver Pit,
after the silver-colored beaded drops of water on the walls. They surveyed 121
feet in this very mazey area, leaving numerous leads for a return trip. 8/23/2001 Noah
Daniels, Jason Tinant, and Kerry Leguex
Noah led a trip down into the Lakes
Section for the monthly trip to collect a water sample and level reading of What
the Hell lake. The lake level was down .05 feet since last month. 8/31/2001 Marc
Ohms and Noah Daniels
Marc led a resurvey trip into the Noah's Beard area
in the Historic Section to continue tracking down loop closure problems. They
resurveyed 207 feet. September/October
2001 September
and October saw a low level of activity in the cave. The survey total for the
two months was 1,675 feet. 9/2001/2001
Marc and Rene Ohms
Marc and Rene went on a short trip into the Historic section
to mop-up leads along the AT survey. They surveyed 330 feet.
9/05/2001 Marc
Ohms and Noah Daniels
Marc and Noah headed into the Historic section to do
a bit of resurvey work along the AT survey. This is in an attempt to track down
a large loop closure problem. They resurveyed 246 feet.
9/08/2001 Wind
Cave Weekend
Tim Moreland, Marjori Johnson, Doug Pflugh, and Terry Sherman
Tim led this bunch into the Colorado Grotto section to the area of the Citadel.
There they surveyed 371 feet off of the XJ survey. Skip
Withrow, Jon Beard, Cheryl Kinsel, and Michael Carter
Skip led this bunch
of visiting Missouri cavers into the Shinbone area in the Historic section to
do some survey. When they arrived at the designation one of the cavers did not
feel well so they turned around and headed out. Jim
Wilson, Bob Heim, Randy Rosebrough, and M. Kleiber
Jim led this group of
visiting Missouri cavers into the Shinbone area in the Historic section. They
surveyed 282 feet, closing many leads.
Rod Horrocks, Stephen Schaefgen, Andreas Pflitsch, and Bastian Schulte
Rod
led this bunch of visiting cavers from Germany into the Historic section near
the Candlelight Tour route. Here they surveyed 221 feet.
9/26/2001 Marc
Ohms and Noah Daniels
Marc and Noah traveled to What the Hell lake in the
Lakes section for the monthly lake level reading and water sampling. The water
level had dropped .4 feet since last month. 10/02/2001
Rod Horrocks, Dixie Hemingway, Melissa Adle, and Jeff Dwyer
Rod led this
trip into the Historic section to survey leads near the Candlelight tour route.
They surveyed 211 feet. 10/12/2001
Stan Allison,
Kelly Mathis, and Mike Wiles
This trio headed out into the far reaches of
the Southern Comfort section to the area beyond the Skinner. They pushed leads
along the LLB survey, the farthest western passage. Nothing went very far at all
and they surveyed 200 feet. 10/13/2001 Wind
Cave Weekend
Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty, and Pat Jablonsky
Sandy led
this group into the Historic section to survey leads near the Natural Entrance.
They surveyed 60 feet and left some leads for a future trip. Mike
Hanson, Dan Wray, Larry Brooks, Todd Hitch, Dave Anderson, and Lottie Hufford
This group continued their efforts to reproduce the old stereo photos of
Wind Cave. They worked in Fairy Palace along the Candlelight Tour and the Fairgrounds.
Wind Cave National Park hosted a celebration for the 100th mile in Wind Cave.
The event was held in Hot Springs and was attended by 120 cavers and past and
present park employees. 10/24/2001
Marc Ohms and
Noah Daniels
Marc and Noah headed south to What the Hell in the Lakes section
for the monthly level reading and water sampling. The water level was down .06
feet since last month. We still need the water to drop another 8 inches before
we can get through to the main lakes. November/December
2001 During
November and December of 2001, 18 survey trips were taken into the Historic, Club
Room, Colorado Grotto, and Lakes Sections of Wind Cave. During those trips, cavers
surveyed and inventoried a total of 4,206 feet, or 0.79 miles of passage, with
an average survey length of 233 feet per survey. In addition, the park Cave Resource
Management Staff resurveyed a total of 606 feet of problem surveys. The new survey
raised the official length of Wind Cave from 100.79 to 101.58 miles. In addition
to the 18 survey trips into Wind Cave, Beaver Creek Shelter was surveyed and two
monitoring trips were led to What the Hell lake in the Lakes Section.
11/10/2001 Wind
Cave Weekend Rene
Ohms, Abby Snow, Ben Miller, & Jay Snow
Rene led a trip to Misplace Pit in
the Historic Section. Their team found some soda straws while mopping of 129 feet
of survey. 11/10/2001
Jim Wilson, Howard Bartlett, Derek Wolfe, & Ryan Butlier
Jim led a trip to
his Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section. They finished numerous leads before
stopping their survey just before some wall to wall gooey mud. They surveyed 531
feet of virgin cave. 11/10/2001
Karla Whittenburg,
Tom Dotter, Marjori Johnson, & Carey Hunter
Karla led a trip to the Nudist
Colony area in the Club Room Section to push some leads left from a previous trip.
They made a connection from the WG survey to the Buffalo Gap area and surveyed
278 feet. 11/10/2001
Rod Horrocks
& Clarence Williams
Rod led a trip to the Candlelight Tour route to clean
up some survey problems. After recording the missing L,R,U,D data for all of the
P survey stations, they began surveying some unsurveyed passages along the tour
route. They mopped up 352 feet. 11/14/2001
Marc Ohms, Noah
Daniels, & Krupa Petal
Marc led a resurvey trip to the Juice Room area in
the Historic Section. They resurveyed 161 feet. Date: 11/15/2001 Marc Ohms, Noah
Daniels, & Krupa Petal Marc led this resurvey trip, this time to the Breezeway
area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 445 feet with 40 feet of new survey.
They found some leads near the edge of the cave to return to on a later trip. 11/16/2001
Rod Horrocks
& Patrick Lynn
Rod led an evening survey-training trip to the leads he had
found during the previous Wind Cave Weekend along the Candlelight Tour Route.
They wrapped up several leads and discovered some nice calcified mud cracks while
surveying 202 feet. Date: 11/16/2001 Marc Ohms, Noah Daniels, & Krupa Petal Marc
led a work trip to check on the level of What the Hell lake. They found the lake
had dropped 0.35". The lake will have to drop another ½ foot to once again allow
access to the Lakes Section. They mopped up 82 feet of unsurveyed passage while
in the area. 11/19/2001
Dawn Cardace,
Jason Kolbe, & Paul Colbert
Dawn led an evening trip to the Ruhr Room in
the Historic Section to survey a dome lead above the Candlelight Tour. They found
a rodent skeleton while surveying 79 feet. 11/20/2001
Dawn Cardace, Jason Kolbe, Paul Colbert, & Sarah Wedge Dawn
returned to the dome lead they started the previous evening and spent the day
pushing that area. They tied into the WE survey and surveyed a total of 214 feet.
11/21/2001 Dawn
Cardace, Mary Laycock, & Jason Kolbe
Dawn led a trip back to the dome lead
out of the Ruhr Room. Surveying in the opposite direction, they surveyed 140 feet
before tying into the tour route near the Bachelor Quarters. 11/28/2001
Rod Horrocks & Chris Ingebretzen
Rod led a trip to the Mind Boggler area
in the Historic Section. They wrapped up the only leads left in that area and
then moved on to a tube in the ceiling of Omnibus Hall. They surveyed up to an
exposed ledge climb into a dome lead and then backtracked to the yellow and black
trail to survey a lead Rod had known about a couple of years. They surveyed up
into a dome room with an eight-foot high, flowstone-covered climb that led into
a 12' x 6-foot lead. They named the area Echo Falls. The duo surveyed a total
of 154 feet for the evening. 12/5/2001
Rod Horrocks
& Chris Ingbretsen
Rod led an evening trip back to Echo Falls in the Historic
Section to climb the lead he had found on his previous trip. Rod did the climb
and then rigged a rope for Chris to use with a hand-held ascender. They found
a beautifully decorated area with six-inch soda straws and flowstone. Connecting
into a room with a decayed wooden ladder, they tied into station BI31 and mopped
up some side stuff. Continuing down the BI survey, they found a large walking
lead that was heading into a blank area on the map. Unfortunately, it abruptly
ended after a couple of stations. They surveyed 250 feet. 12/7/2001
Marc & Rene Ohms,
& Noah Daniels
Marc led an evening trip to the Natural Entrance area in the
Historic Section to push three leads on the LJH survey. They surveyed 210 feet.
12/8/2001 Wind
Cave Weekend
Jim Wilson, Ryan Butler, & Barb Smith
Jim led a trip back to the Kneebone
Room area to push a lead he knew about. They mapped several crawls, with some
tight spots, before finding a room. Checking out a tight bellycrawl with air,
they quit their survey at the top of a deep fissure that would require a handline.
They surveyed 297 feet of cave.
12/8/2001 Carl
and Amy Bern & Tracy White
Carl led a trip to the BBB survey on the western
edge of the Club Room. They mopped up several tight leads for 291 feet of survey.
12/8/2001 Tim
Moreland, Marjorie Johnson, & Doug Pflugh
Tim led a trip to the Monolith
Hall area in the Colorado Grotto Section. They surveyed a high lead from the top
of the hall that paralleled it and reconnected as balconies at several points.
They surveyed 225 feet. 12/8/2001
Tom Dotter, Carey
Hunter, & Tracy Copp
Tom led a trip to the Buffalo Gap area in the Club Room
Section. They mopped up a few leads for 196 feet of survey. 12/8/2001
Karla Whittenburg, & Karl and Kollin Mayne
Karla led a trip to the Buffalo
Gap area in the Club Room Section. They ended the trip after one member go sick.
They were only able to survey 76 feet. 12/12/2001
Marc Ohms & Noah Daniels
Marc led a trip to survey Beaver Creek Shelter.
They surveyed 87 feet under the dripline in this shallow overhanging shelter.
12/15/2001 Rod
Horrocks & Jay Kennedy
Rod led a trip to the Bachelor Quarters area in the
Historic Section. After tying up a side lead off a balcony above the stairs, they
surveyed a crawl that connected the tour route with the Dragon Room. Suspicious
of the lengths of the survey shots in that room; they checked five shots and found
four to be off by several feet each? They then closed several loops, finding several
spectacular 5-6" gypsum beard deposits. The duo surveyed 460 feet. 12/20/2001
Marc Ohms & Noah Daniels
Marc led a work trip to check on the level of What
the Hell lake. They found the lake had dropped 0.08". The lake will have to drop
another ½ foot to once again allow access to the Lakes Section. | 
