Wind Cave Trip Reports

Wind Cave is mostly explored by cavers who are members of various caving clubs or grottos affiliated with the National Speleological Society. Each off-trail trip into the cave chronicles the explorers discoveries in Wind Cave.

By selecting one of the years listed below, you can follow the exploration of Wind Cave as cavers discover more of the passageways hidden beneath the prairie world of Wind Cave National Park.

 
Wind Cave Happenings, January-April 2012
By Rod Horrocks 10/24/2012
From January through April of 2012, 46 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 22 trips to the Historic Section, 7 trips to the Colorado Grotto Section, 5 trips to the Lakes Section, 4 trips to the North Section, 2 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section, and 1 trip each to the Southern Comfort and Club Room Sections. During 28 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 4,668 feet or 0.88 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 168 feet per trip. During 15 resurvey trips, 3,510 feet or 0.66 miles of problem surveys were also resurveyed, with an average survey length of 234 feet per trip. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 137.86 to 138.74 miles.
Matthew Chuvarsky, Kenny Slocum, Lindsay Heinrich, & Owen Murnane 1/7/2012
Matthew led a survey trip to the KC survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. They surveyed a grabby crawlway for 84 feet and left a lead for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Brian Grindling, & Spencer Madden 1/9/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the PZ survey in the Club Room Section where he resurveyed 128 feet and fixed a bad loop closure problem.

Rod Horrocks and Don Anderson 1/10/2012
Rod led a resurvey trip to the IZ survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 90 feet of the IZ before tying into the Chert Room on the Fairgrounds Tour Route. They then surveyed some side passages for 77 feet.

Marc Ohms, Kenny Slocum, & Adam Weaver 1/11/2012
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to download Hobo dataloggers, read staff gages, and replace Dr. Andreas Pflitsch's datalogger.

Marc Ohms 1/12/2012
Marc went on a work trip to the Wild Caving Tour and Room Draculum drip collector sites in the Historic Section to replace batteries and download dataloggers.

Wind Cave Weekend1/14/2012
Rod Horrocks and Ken Geu
Rod led a resurvey trip to the IZ survey in the Historic Section to train Ken Geu to sketch. They resurveyed 163 feet (from IZ11-19) and then 194 feet of side passages. Rod discovered the first crinoid stems found in the bedrock in Wind Cave, which they photo-documented.

Marc Ohms and Adam Weaver 1/25/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NX survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 393 feet of the NX survey and surveyed a few domes for an additional 170 feet.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, Randy Macan, & James Lawton 2/4/2012
Marc led a survey trip to the Key Room and the KY survey in the North Section. They surveyed lots of Upper Middle Level crawls and one walking passage for 546 feet.

Rod Horrocks and Everett Brill 2/10/2012
Rod led a work trip to the W.C.T.U. Hall in the Historic Section to start Everett on his Senior Geology Project for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Everett's project was the first SDSM&T Senior Geology Project in Wind Cave since the late 1950's. Everett characterized the cobbles found underneath Silent Lake.

Wind Cave Weekend2/11/2012
MaryBeth Wells, Tyler Devine, Ian McMillan, & Larry Schaffer
MaryBeth led a survey trip to the Figure Eight Room survey in the Half Mile Hall Section. They surveyed 335 feet and left a couple of leads for a future trip.

Timothy Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Noah Bartlett
Tim led a survey trip to the GR survey in the North Section. They surveyed some crawlways for 220 feet, leaving some dome leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, Ian McMillan, & Liz Kelly 2/12/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the JF survey in the Lakes Section. They resurveyed 614 feet.

Marc Ohms, Kenny Slocum, & Adam Weaver 2/15/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the JF survey in the Lakes Section. They resurveyed 703 feet.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, Kelly Mathis, & Lee-Gray Boze, David Yim, & Ken Steinken 2/15/2012
Marc led a work trip to the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section to conduct a Cave Search and Rescue training exercise. They practiced vertical raises and lowers in Rome.

Rod Horrocks and Everett Brill 2/17/2012
Rod led a work trip back to Cobblestone Crawl in the Historic Section so Everett could map those cobble deposits for his Senior Geology Project.

Rod Horrocks and Kenny Slocum 2/18/2012
Rod led a survey trip to W.C.T.U. Hall in the Historic Section to survey the Cobble Maze area found by Rod and Everett Brill on 2/10/12. They surveyed 122 feet and connected to the Wild Cave Tour near RS10A, leaving a tight lead for a future trip.

Marc Ohms and MaryBeth Wells 2/22/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the UE survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 182 feet.

Marc Ohms, Kim Thorne, Alan Tuschen, Wayne Moser, David Sheets, & Tray Spar 3/2/2012
Marc led a work trip to the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section to introduce some National Guard personnel to caving and to prepare for an upcoming cave Search and Rescue practice.

Rene Ohms, Alex Raber, Arcia Hento, Robert Jackson, Dale Gadbois, & Erik Haivala 3/2/2012
Red led a second work trip to the Wild Cave Tour Route to introduce some National Guard personnel to caving and to prepare for a joint Cave Search and Rescue practice.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Kenny Slocum, & Lindsay Heinrich 3/3/2012
Matthew led a survey trip to the KC survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. The tight crawlway they were surveying kept going after appearing to end a couple of times and eventually connected to the AD survey. The surveyed 172 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Kenny Slocum, & Matthew Chruvsky 3/6/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the LF survey in the Historic Section. After finishing the lead in the Cobble Maze area left from their previous trip, they went to the Monte Cristos Palace area off of the Fairgrounds Tour Route and started surveying side leads. They surveyed 183 feet and left a couple of fissure leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks and Everett Brill 3/8/2012
Rod led a work trip back to Cobble Hall area off of the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section so Everett could map and characterize those cobble deposits for his Senior Geology Project.

Wind Cave Weekend 3/10/2012
Matthew Chuvarsky, Lindsay Heinrich, Kenny Slocum, & Seth Goodspeed
Matthew led a resurvey trip to the AD survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. They resurveyed 129 feet and added 45 feet of new survey.

Roger Harris, Dave Schmitz, Kevin Manley, & Robyn Bathurst
Roger led a resurvey trip to the UQ survey in the Historic Section. He resurveyed 73 feet and added 126 feet of new survey. He left several leads for a return trip.

Rod Horrocks, Adam Johnson, & Aaron Mullins 3/13/2012
Rod led some Wyoming cavers on a survey trip to the NM survey in the Historic Section. They started by mopping up several leads just off of the Natural Entrance Tour Route that Rod had been passing for the previous 13 years. They mapped 123 feet in this area before they moved down the MN survey, surveying side passages as they went until they got to their main target, some leads at NM10. These opened into a wide, low crawl where Rod had a large boulder roll on him as he crawled across it. Because he had dreamed that exact scenario two days previous, they named the area Dreamscape. They surveyed a total of 424 feet for the day and left several leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Andrew Wells 3/14/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the UX survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 58 feet before they realized that the remainder of the UX survey was redundant survey, so Marc called the trip and later deleted that portion of the survey from the Wind Cave survey.

Rod Horrocks and Everett Brill 3/15/2012
Rod led a work trip to the EJ survey area off of the Juice Room in the Historic Section so Everett could map and characterize those cobble deposits for his Senior Geology Project.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Kenny Slocum, & Owen Murnane 3/20/2012
Matthew led a survey trip to the AD survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. They surveyed 144 feet and left some leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Kenny Slocum, & Mary Laycock 3/21/2012
Rod led a resurvey trip to the Attic in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 279 feet.

MaryBeth Wells, Randy Macan, Woody Woodward, & Evan Anderson 3/24/12
MaryBeth led a survey trip to the ZZ survey in the Half Mile Hall Section. They found a going lead and surveyed 390 feet, leaving several leads for a return trip.

Marc Ohms and MaryBeth Wells 3/28/2012
Marc led a work trip thru the Snake Pit Entrance to work on the cave search and rescue preplan from that entrance to the Chimera Room.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Everett Brill 3/29/2012
Marc led a work trip to Room Draculum in the Historic Section so Everett could map and characterize those cobble deposits for his Senior Geology Project. Marc downloaded the datalogger and changed the battery at the drip site while there and then resurveyed 117 feet and added 71 feet of new survey along the NP survey.

Marc Ohms and MaryBeth Wells 4/3/2012
Marc led a work trip to the Wild Cave Tour drip site in the Historic Section to change batteries and download the datalogger.

Carl Bern, Pete Johnson, & Michael Behm 4/7/2012
Carl led a survey trip to the LTE survey in the Southern Comfort Section. After placing a charcoal dye packet at the Pile Up water collector, they surveyed a complex area north of the Other Side breakdown. They surveyed 288 feet and left leads for a future trip.

Wind Cave Weekend 4/14/2012
Dave Lambert, Matthew Luckwitz, Amy Bern, & Kevin Manley
Dave led a survey trip to the UI survey and the Back Scratch Fever area in the North Section. They surveyed some breezy crawlways for 213 feet and left a lead for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, Kelly Mathis, Dan Austin, Seth Goodspeed, & National Guard 4/16/2012
Marc led a work trip to the Wild Caving Tour Route to conduct a Cave Search and Rescue training for the National Guard personnel. Starting at the Ripple Marks, they practiced a litter carry out to W.C.T.U. Hall.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Jason Knight, & Lee Davis 4/17/2012
Matthew led a survey trip to the XH survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. They named Hard Track Crawl while surveying 378 feet.

Marc Ohms, Lee Davis, & Jason Knight 4/18/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the JB survey in the Lakes Section. They resurveyed 330 feet and placed a charcoal dye detector in What the Hell Lake.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Tiffiny Durham, Sammi Langendorf, & Dean Faust 4/23/2012
Matt led a survey trip to the XU survey in the Colorado Grotto Section where he surveyed 120 feet in a bedding plane maze.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, & Kelly Mathis /29/2012
On his birthday, Marc led a resurvey trip to the JB survey in the Lakes Section where he resurveyed 82 feet and added 314 feet of new survey.

Wind Cave Happenings, May-August 2012
By Rod Horrocks 10/30/2012
From May through August of 2012, 56 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 43 trips to the Historic Section, 7 trips to the Club Room Section, 3 trips to the Lakes Section, 2 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section, and 1 trip to the North Section. During 16 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 3,624 feet or 0.69 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 226 feet per trip. During 18 resurvey trips, 1,811 feet or 0.34 miles of problem surveys were also resurveyed, with an average survey length of 100 feet per trip. In addition, 10 training trips were taken on the Wild Cave Tour Route, six recreation and orientation trips were taken on the Bishop Fowler Loop, and one recreation trip was taken on the Club Room Route. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 138.19 to 138.88 miles.
Rod Horrocks, Krista Bartell, Kele Tharkail & Kelly McKinley 5/9/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the NM survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed in a very complex area, surveying 213 feet while leaving additional mop-up for a future trip.

Mike Laycock, Maribeth Kambitsch, Adam Gericke, & Amanda Hagarty 5/15/2012
Mike led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 5/16/2012
Marc led a work trip to What the Hell Lake in the Lakes Section to obtain background water samples prior to application of pesticide to exotic weeds on the surface. They also resurveyed 281 feet of the LA survey.

Marc Ohms 5/25/2012
Marc went on a work trip to the Wild Caving Tour drip site in the Historic Section to download the datalogger and change batteries.

Roger Harris & Adam Weaver 5/29/2012
Roger led a resurvey trip to Lacework Canyon and the UQ survey in the Historic Section. This duo was able to resurvey 219 feet of the old UQ and survey an additional 288 feet of side passages. They left multiple leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 6/5/2012
Marc led a work trip to Room Draculum in the Historic Section to download the datalogger and change batteries.

Jeri Frederick, Blythe Carter, & Brie Covert 6/5/2012
Jeri led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Jeri Frederick & Maribeth Kambitsch 6/6/2012
Jeri led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Blythe Carter 6/7/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NM and WO surveys in the Historic Section. They fixed three loops by resurveying 72 feet.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Blythe Carter 6/7/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the BFL25 survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 132 feet.

Jeff Goben, Barb Smith, Rick Speaect, & John McLean 6/9/2012
Jeff led a survey trip to the CI survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 337 feet.

April Frankfort & Blythe Carder 6/9/2012
April led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Mike Laycock, Megan Saafeld, Clayton Calder Jason Olson, & Christy Bollinger 6/9/2012
Mike led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

MaryBeth Wells, Rene Ohms, Chris Pelzarski, & Aaron Stover 6/17/2012
MaryBeth led a survey trip to the DQ survey in the Half Mile Hall Section. They named the Missile Silo while surveying 172 feet.

MaryBeth Wells & Marc Ohms 6/19/2012
MaryBeth led a resurvey trip to the P* survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 88 feet and found three leads for a future trip.

Tiffiny Durham, Christy Bollinger, & Jason Olson 6/19/2012
Tiffiny led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Jason Olson 6/21/2012
Marc led a survey trip to the NP survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 97 feet in a high upper level dome passage.

MaryBeth Wells, Jerry Wingenter, Chris Pelzarski, Robbie Freidel, & Landon ? 6/21/2012
MaryBeth led a recreation trip on the Bishop Fowlers Loop in the Historic Section.

Jeri Frederick, Kim Acker, Owen Mrunane, Justin Robinson, Amanda Hagerty, & Nate Northington 6/21/2012
Jeri led an orientation trip on the Bishop Fowlers Loop in the Historic Section.

Lucas Wassner & Jason Olson 6/24/2012
Lucas led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

MaryBeth Wells, Marc Ohms, & Anna Drietz 6/26/2012
MaryBeth led a survey trip to the WXB survey on the Long Loop in the Historic Section. They surveyed 136 feet and left one lead for a future trip.

Lucas Wassner & Clayton Calder 6/27/2012
Lucas led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Rod Horrocks, Kristin Levy, & Garrett Jorgenson 6/29/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the NYY survey in the Historic Section. They found two small mammal skeletons while surveying side leads off of the NYY. They surveyed 426 feet and left several leads for a future trip.

MaryBeth Wells & Marc Ohms 7/3/2012
MaryBeth led a resurvey trip to the AT84 survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 23 feet, finding a serious blunder in the old survey.

Marc Ohms, Kim Acker, MaryBeth Wells, & Lucas Wassner 7/6/2012
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to download dataloggers and take gage readings of the lakes.

Kali Leitheiser & Christy Bollinger 7/8/2012
Kali led a trip leader training trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Rod Horrocks, Jeri Frederick, & Clayton Calder 7/9/2012
Rod led a resurvey trip to the New Beginnings Room and the L' survey in the Historic Section. They discovered a long board and a pile of rotten wood stashed when the nearby stairs were dismantled decades ago. They resurveyed 44 feet and added 134 feet of new survey, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 7/10/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CQ survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 98 feet and found a shot that was 8-feet shorter than originally recorded.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, Kim Acker, & Jason Olson 7/12/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the PZ survey in the Club Room Section. They resurveyed 111 feet and discovered two PZ1 stations that were tied into from different surveys, which had created large loop closure errors.

Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 7/19/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the QC survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 65 feet and found a blunder that fixed six bad loops.

Rod Horrocks, MaryBeth Wells, &. Jonnathan Vernner 7/24/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the Bishop Fowlers Loop and the MG survey in the Historic Section. They discovered several domes while mopping up 272 feet of survey. They left numerous dome climbs for a future trip.

Art Palmer, Peg Palmer & MaryBeth Wells 7/24/2012
Art led a research trip to Selenite Avenue area in the Half Mile Hall Section to photograph interesting geologic features and to collect calcite wall crust samples.

Jeri Frederick, Emilie Palo, Jonathan Gonglach, Meesuka Morelus, Don Frankfort, & Ellery Watson 7/25/2012
Jeri led a recreation trip on the Bishop Fowlers Loop in the Historic Section.

Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 7/26/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CW survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 176 feet and found four blunders that fixed some bad loops.

Tim Moreland, Robert Lundy, & Cameron McWilliams 7/28/2012
Tim led a survey trip to the MT survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 239 feet in some delicate areas.

Jeri Frederick, Adam Gericke, Blythe Carter, Clayton Calder, Megan Saalfed, & Jon Gonglach 7/28/2012
Jeri led an orientation trip on the Club Room Route in the Club Room Section.

Art & Peg Palmer 7/30/2012
Art led a research trip to Boxwork Chimney in the Club Room Section to conduct a level survey back towards the Garden of Eden.

Rod Horrocks, Clayton Calder, & Meesuka Morelus 8/1/2012
Rod led an evening survey trip to the New Beginnings Room area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 32 feet and added 92 feet of new survey.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/2/2012
Art led a research trip to the Pyramid Room in the Club Room Section to photograph interesting geologic features and to collect calcite wall crust samples.

Roger Harris, Garrett Jorgensen & Jen Foote 8/4/2012
Roger led a resurvey trip to Lacework Canyon and the UQ survey in the Historic Section. They unexpectedly connected to a side passage off of Browns Canyon that was marked as too tight. They resurveyed 102 feet and added an additional 460 feet of new survey, leaving leads for a future trip.

Art Palmer, Peg Palmer & Jim Paces 8/4/2012
Art led a research trip to What the Hell Lake in the Lakes Section to photograph interesting geologic features and to collect calcite wall crust samples.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/6/2012
Art led a research trip to Omnibus Hall in the Club Room Section to photograph interesting geologic features and to collect calcite wall crust samples for dating.

Tiffiny Durhan, Emilee Palo, & Nate Northington 8/8/2012
Tiffiny led an orientation trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Wind Cave Weekend /11/2012
Tim Moreland, Skip Withrow, & Howard Bartlett
Tim led a survey trip to the MT survey in the Club Room Section. They named the Great Mudcrack, while surveying 542 feet.

Marc Ohms & Kim Acker 8/13/2012
Marc led a work trip to the drip sites on the Wild Cave Tour Route and Room Draculum in the Historic Section to download the dataloggers and change batteries.

Rod Horrocks, Kim Acker, & Megan Saalfed 8/14/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the Attic in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 67 feet while adding 79 feet of new survey. They left a dome lead for a future trip, which they think will connect to the Racetrack.

Marc Ohms 8/17/2012
Marc went on a resurvey trip to the C36 survey in the Historic Section to look for a blunder in a loop. He resurveyed 27 feet that fixed four bad loops.

Marc Ohms & Clayton Calder 8/21/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CW survey in the Historic Section. They found several blunders while resurveying 105 feet.

Jeri Frederick, Rene Ohms, William Smith, Tiffiny Durham, Aaron Stover, & Kate Hermanns 8/24/2012
Jeri led an orientation trip on the Bishop Fowlers Loop in the Historic Section.

Sandy Kramer & Mary Laycock 8/26/2012
Sandy led a survey trip to the C33 survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 80 feet and left some leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Sandy Kramer, & Jonathan Vernner 8/27/2012
Rod led an evening resurvey trip to the BF survey off of the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 72 feet and added 31 feet of new survey.

Kim Acker, Jim Harmon, Lindy Baubach, & Roger Brown 8/27/2012
Kim led a recreation trip on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section.

Sandy Kramer & Mary Laycock 8/28/2012
Sandy led an evening survey trip back to the C33 survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 26 feet and left leads for a future trip.

Kim Acker, Jonathan Vernner, Brie Covert, & Kali Leitheiser 8/28/2012
Kim led a recreation trip on the Bishop Fowlers Loop in the Historic Section.

Rod Horrocks, Jonathan Vernner, & Roger Brown 8/29/2012
Rod led an evening resurvey trip back to the BF survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 97 feet.

Marc Ohms & Kim Acker 8/30/2012
Marc led a work trip to the Chimera Room in the North Section to stock the rescue cache with water.

Wind Cave Happenings, September-December 2012
By Rod Horrocks 6/4/2013
From September through December of 2012, 32 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 17 trips to the Historic Section, 5 trips to the Club Room Section, 4 trips to the Lakes Section, 2 trips to the North Section, 2 trip to the Half Mile Hall Section, and 2 trips to the Colorado Grotto Section. During 25 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 5,177 feet or 0.98 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 358 feet per trip. During 15 resurvey trips, 3,775 feet or 0.71 miles of problem surveys were resurveyed, with an average survey length of 251 feet per trip. The new survey increased the length of the Wind Cave survey from 138.88 to 139.86 miles.
Marc Ohms, Kevin Manley, Derek Bristol, & Adam Weaver 9/1/2012
Following a trip leader training class, Marc led a survey trip to the OE survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 259 feet in a couple of leads.

Derek Bristol, Kevin Manley, & Adam Weaver 9/2/2012
Derek led a survey trip to survey leads to the west of the Chimera Room in the North Section. They named an area with spectacular frostwork the Blizzard of Awes while surveying 710 feet. They found one long canyon passage that reconnected to know cave but wasn't shown as a lead at either end on the map.

Marc Ohms, Clayton Calder, & Kali Leitheiser 9/4/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the JC survey in the Lakes Section. They resurveyed 539 feet and left several leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks and Johnathan Venner 9/4/2012
Rod led a resurvey trip to the BF survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 152 and named the main passage Sugar Run after all of the druzy quartz crystals covering everything.

Rod Horrocks, Clayton Calder, Kali Leitheiser, & Tiffiny Durham 9/12/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the AT survey in the Historic Section. They named a round room the Grain Bin. They pushed a crawl and then a passage on the edge of the cave for a couple of shots before leaving that tight lead for some very tiny future cavers. They surveyed 142 feet of new survey in addition to completing 23 feet of resurvey.

Rod Horrocks, Jonathan Venner, Mathias Oppolzer, & Clayton Calder 9/17/2012
Rod led a resurvey trip to the BF survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 130 feet and adding 367 feet of new survey in the Sugar Run area. Pushing a bellycrawl, they found a large walking passage they named the Teaser, after it ended after a few shots. They also found an Alvin and Roy McDonald signature dated 9/23/1893, which is not long before Alvin's death. Surveying through a constriction that had been dug open by Alvin just beyond the signatures, they surveyed up to a couple of holes ringed with moonmilk that were located on the edge of the cave at that level. They could see into a larger room beyond the impassable holes.

Marc Ohms, Kali Leitheiser, & Mathias Oppolzer 9/24/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CU survey in the Historic Section to look for blunders. They resurveyed 149 feet in various shots.

Marc Ohms, Brian Cowan, Peter Sprouse, & Mathias Oppolzer 9/26/2012
Marc led a survey trip to the JC survey in the Lakes Section. They surveyed 370 feet in a series of short parallel canyons. They found numerous helictite bushes in the process.

Rene Ohms, Chris Pelczarski, & Juan Laden 9/30/2012
Rene led a survey trip to the JF survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed a couple of small leads for 93 feet and named one the Nasal Passage.

Adam Weaver, Andrea Corlett, Greg Rollins, &Jimmie Josephson 9/30/2012
Adam led a recreation trip on the Club Room Route in the Club Room Section for the Caver Classic.

Marc Ohms, Kali Leitheiser, & Mathias Oppolzer 10/2/2012
Marc led a survey trip to the JC survey in the Lakes Section, where they surveyed 285 and resurveyed 52 feet of a problem survey.

Marc Ohms & Dan Austin 10/4/2012
Marc led a work trip to the Room Draculum drip site in the Historic Section to change batteries and download data loggers.

Marc Ohms, Mathias Oppolzer, & Dan Austin 10/4/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CU survey in the Historic Section to look for blunders. They resurveyed 156 feet in various shots.

Marc Ohms, Mathias Oppolzer, & Dan Austin 10/5/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CU survey in the Historic Section to continue looking for additional blunders. They resurveyed 80 feet in various shots.

Marc Ohms, Dan Austin, Kali Leitheiser, & Mathias Oppolzer 10/11/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to work on the resurvey of Half Mile Hall for the new digital quad maps. They resurveyed 665 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Johnathan Venner, & Mike Laycock 10/23/2012
Rod led a resurvey trip to the AU survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 51 feet and added 185 feet of new survey in an area they named the Golden Gate. They left numerous leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Chris Pelczarski, & Rene Ohms 10/27/2012
Marc led a survey trip to the NN and M surveys in Hades area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 120 feet and found a lead headed towards the north edge of the cave that they named Purgatory.

Tim Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Skip Withrow 11/3/2012
Tim led a survey trip to the HU survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 663 feet off of a balcony above the Loose Screw Room and left leads for a future trip.

Dave Lambert, Matthew Luckwitz, Kevin Manley, & Adam Weaver 11/3/2012
Dave led a survey trip to the UI survey in the North Section. They surveyed 351 feet in a passage they named Wilson Way after Jim Wilson, a long-time Wind Cave caver from Colorado that had recently passed away. They used a hand-line to climb down a pit and enter a north-trending passage at the bottom of the pit. They left the south-trending passage as a lead for a future trip.

Jeff Goben, Rick Speaect, John McLean, & Barbara Smith 11/3/2012
Jeff led a survey trip to the XX and GW surveys in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 408 feet.

Marc Ohms, Mathias Oppolzer, & Miranda Challeen 11/5/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the CU survey in the Historic Section to continue looking for blunders. They resurveyed 108 feet in various shots.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, Greg Kouns, Mathias Oppolzer ,and Owen Murnane 1/15/2012
Marc led a work trip to Rome to practice vertical search and rescue skills.

Rod Horrocks, Ken Geu, Duff McCafferty & Mathias Oppolzer 11/17/2012
Rod led a survey trip to the MY survey off the Attic in the Historic Section. They surveyed 645 feet and named a large round room the Great Flush. By moving a rock along the Candlelight Tour Route in the Chamber de Norcutt they rediscovered an area that had been lost since the 1890's, which they named Tobacco Flats and the Lost Fissure. They left several leads in the area for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Miranda Challeen, & Mathias Oppolzer 11/19/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to the AD survey in the Colorado Grotto Section where they resurveyed 399 feet. They left numerous leads for a future trip.

Rene Ohms, Chris Pelczarski, Jess Reese, & Mark Rogers, Johnathan Venner 11/23/2012
Rene led a recreation trip to the Club Room in the Club Room Section for the Paha Sapa Grotto.

Rod Horrocks, Miranda Challeen, & Mathias Oppolzer 12/1/2012
Rod led a survey trip back to the Tobacco Flats area off the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They surveyed 223 feet and started the IS survey designation in a fissure lead that eventually reconnected back to the Chamber de Norcutt. They left some leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Miranda Challeen, & Lindsay Carder 12/10/2012
Marc led a work trip along the Wild Cave Tour Route to fix and replace flagging along the Yellow and Black Trail.

Marc Ohms, Dan Austin, & Matthew Churvarsky 12/13/2012
Marc led a resurvey trip to continue working on the resurvey of Half Mile Hall. They resurveyed 774 feet, primarily in the Figure Eight Room area.

Rod Horrocks & Miranda Challeen 12/18/2012
Rod led a work trip to take pictures in various rooms off of the Fairgrounds Tour Route, including the Lucky Strike Room, Two Cent Stope, Phototrophic Passage, Monday Morning Room, and Mound Builders Rest.

Marc Ohms & Hilary Fischer 12/19/2012
Marc led a work trip to the lakes in the Lakes Section to download data loggers and record staff gage readings. They found that What the Hell and Calcite Lakes were both down since the July visit.

Roger Harris & Garrett Jorgensen 12/28/2012
Roger led a resurvey trip to Lacework Canyon and the UQ survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 156 feet and added 356 feet of new survey. They named a new room Lacework Annex.

Matthew Churvarsky, Jonathan Venner, & Bruce Venner 12/29/2012
Matthew led a resurvey trip to the XF survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. They resurveyed 341 feet and left leads for a future trip.
Wind Cave Happenings, January-March 2011
By Rod Horrocks 6/3/2011
From January through March of 2011, 28 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 16 trips to the Historic Section, 7 trips to the Club Room Section, 3 trips to the North Section, 1 trip to the Lakes Section, and 1 trip to the Half Mile Hall Section. During 16 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 3,922 feet or 0.74 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 245 feet per trip. During 8 resurvey trips, 1,719 feet or 0.32 miles of problem surveys were also resurveyed, with an average survey length of 214 feet per trip. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 135.39 to 136.13 miles.
Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 1/6/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the L' survey in the Cathedral Room in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 80 feet.

Marc Ohms, Lee-Gray Boze, & Matthew Chuvarsky 1/7/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P' survey in the Monument Hall area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 236 feet and noticed a few leads for a future trip.

Wind Cave Weekend 1/8/2011
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Peter Johnson
Jim led a survey trip to the Yukon Trail area in the Club Room Section. They named an area the Land of the Midnight Sun while surveying several strenuous fissures for 778 feet. They left some leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip to the AT survey in the Golden Rope Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 506 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.

Andrea Croskrey, Jen Foote, & Phil Thommes
Andrea led a survey trip back to some leads on the JX survey near the boundary of the Club Room and the Half Mile Hall Sections. They finished their leads from a previous trip with 287 feet of new survey.

Mary Laycock, Sam Frankfort, April Oesterling, Erin Cubbon, Erin Niedringhaus 1/15/11
Mary led an orientation trip to the Wild Cave Tour Route.

Marc Ohms and Kelly Mathis 1/20/2011
Marc led a work trip to the drip sites on the Wild Cave Tour and in Room Draculum in the Historic Section. They downloaded dataloggers and changed batteries.

Wind Cave Weekend 1/22/2011
Dave Lambert, Derek Bristol, & Kevin Manley
Dave led a survey trip to the Boob Room area in the North Section to check leads along the KY and KYC surveys. The first lead they checked went to a moderate sized room with many leads. They surveyed 404 feet and left numerous leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Dean Faust, & Matthew Chuvarsky
Rod led a survey trip to the LK survey in the Historic Section to finish some leads left from a trip he had led back in 2003. They started by pushing leads off of the Phototrophic Passage in the morning. In the afternoon, they moved on to the Racetrack, where they found an area that reconnected to a lead they had surveyed that morning and they thought they had finished. Apparently, when Dean had set the terminal point at the end of a bellycrawl, he hadn't bothered to look up, or he would have seen going cave and the passage they eventually connected from. It was a great learning experience about the nature of Wind Cave. They surveyed 531 feet for the day and left many leads for future trips.

Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 2/3/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the Council Chamber on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 68 feet of a bad loop.

Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 2/4/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P' survey in the Monument Hall area of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 190 feet while resurveying the north half of that old survey. They also added 56 feet of new survey to the caves length.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Erin Cubbon, Jordan Sjogrun, & Ted Firkins 2/8/2011
Matthew led an Orientation trip the Club Room for park staff.

Wind Cave Weekend 2/12/2011
Dave Lambert, Andrea Croskrey, Matthew Luckwitz, & Kavin Manley
Dave led a trip back to his discovery from the previous month in the North Section. Continuing their UI survey, they mapped an additional 507 feet and left numerous leads in this new area.

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, & Pete Johnson
Jim led a survey trip back to the YS survey and the Yukon Trail in the Club Room Section to continue pushing leads from his last trip. They surveyed an additional 373 feet, most of it in a lead they had missed on the last trip.

Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 2/23/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Rescue Pit area in the Club Room Section to prepare for a search and rescue practice the following week.

Marc Ohms, Lee-Gray Boze, John Punches, & Anmar Mirza 3/2/2011
Marc led a work trip to the yellow trail in the North Section to finish the preplan for search and rescue operations along that route.

Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, John Punches, & Anmar Mirza 3/4/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Rescue Pit area in the Club Room Section to prepare for a search and rescue practice there the following week.
Marc Ohms, Lee-Gray Boze, Rene Ohms, Kelly Mathis, MaryBeth Wells, Erin Cubbon, Anmar Mirza, John Punches, Larry Shaffer, Dan Austin, Marty Reames, & Andrew Blackstock 3/6/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Rescue Pit in the Club Room Section to practice vertical raises and rigging.

Rod Horrocks, MaryBeth Wells, & Erin Cubbon 3/7/2011
Rod led a resurvey trip to the BL survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed the whole loop from BL1-11, resurveying 351 feet and at the same time adding an additional 152 feet of new survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 3/12/2011
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Roger Harris, & Sam Squillace
Jim led a trip back to the Yukon Trail in the Club Room Section to continue pushing leads along the YS survey. They surveyed 328 feet in a series of fissures that proved to be very strenuous.

Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, Lee-Gray Boze, & MaryBeth Wells 3/17/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P' survey in the Monument Hall area of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 351 feet and added 75 feet of new survey. They left a couple of leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, April Oesterling, & Matthew Chuvarsky 3/18/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Lakes Section to download data loggers and record lake levels from the staff gages. They found that What the Hell was down 0.16' while Calcite Lake was up 0.08'.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Erin Niedringhaus, Ted Firkins, & Erin Cubbon 3/20/2011
Matthew led a work trip on the Red & White Trail in the Club Room Section to shoot video for a podcast.

Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Erin Cubbon 3/21/2011
Marc led a work trip to the drip sites on the Wild Cave Tour and in Room Draculum in the Historic Section. They downloaded dataloggers and changed batteries.

Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 3/22/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P9 survey on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section to correct a blunder. They resurveyed 59 feet.

Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, Lee-Gray Boze, & MaryBeth Wells 3/28/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P survey on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 384 feet.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Erin Cubbon, & Ted Firkins 3/30/2011
Matthew led a work trip to Capitol Hall in the Historic Section to photograph an Alvin McDonald signature. They were unable to find the signature they were looking for.

Wind Cave Happenings, April-August 2011
By Rod Horrocks 12/16/2011

From April through August of 2011, 32 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 16 trips to the Historic Section, 13 trips to the Lakes Section, and 1 trip each to the Half Mile Hall, Club Room, and Colorado Grotto Sections. The 32 caving trips also included 17 work trips for the purpose of research, resurvey, or hydrologic monitoring. During 15 survey trips, cavers surveyed a total of 3,897 feet or 0.73 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 243 feet per trip. During 1 resurvey trip, 117 feet of problem survey was resurveyed. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 136.13 to 136.86 miles.
Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 4/14/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the AP' survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 117 feet and found a few leads for a future survey.

Marc Ohms, Matthew Chuvarsky, & MaryBeth Wells 4/25/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to get a water sample, place a dye bug, and get staff gage readings of the lake levels.

Rod Horrocks & Josh Nelson 5/16/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Attic in the Historic Section to survey some side leads off of the AT survey. They mopped up several short crawls for 270 feet, leaving a few leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks & Allen Takahashi 5/26/2011
Under a Special Use Permit, Rod led a researcher to the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section to look for potential places to set up a very low frequency receiver for a week-long experiment.

Rod Horrocks, Roger Harris, & Ken Geu 5/28/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Golden Rope Room and the Attic in the Historic Section to map unsurveyed leads. After mopping up 172 feet in the Golden Rope Room area, they went up to the Attic to push a side lead off of AT17. This quickly dropped into a virgin fissure that led to 460 feet of additional survey that eventually popped out in the floor of the Attic near station AT11. They left a few leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Michael Johnston, & Andrew Wallace 6/8/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to obtain a water sample for Dr. Hazel Barton's microbial work and to read the staff gages.

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Tim Moreland, & Srdjan Pasjic 6/11/2011
Jim led a survey trip to the Yukon Trail area in the Club Room section to survey leads off of the YT survey. They surveyed 185 feet and found a promising lead for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Blythe Carter, JoAnn Miller, & Kali Armstrong 6/16/2011
Marc led a work trip along the Pink/Black trail in the Colorado Grotto Section to conduct a rescue pre-plan along that off-trail route.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jerri Keiser Frederick 6/20/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Pendent Room area on the UU survey in the Historic Section to survey leads. They found a 30-foot deep pit and several going leads while surveying 205 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jerri Keiser Frederick 6/27/2011
Rod led a survey trip back to the Pendent Room area on the UU survey in the Historic Section to push the leads left from their last trip. After surveying a balcony that overlooks Rome on the Wild Cave Tour, they decided to name the balcony Palitine Hill, after the hill that overlooks the city of Rome. They surveyed 413 feet for the day and left a large lead for their next trip.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jerri Keiser Frederick 7/11/2011
Rod led a survey trip back to the Pendent Room area on the UU survey in the Historic Section to push the leads left from their last trip. After tying into Rome in the Historic Section they pushed some leads that eventually connected down into the Roman Catacombs area. They mopped up 242 feet and left a few small leads for a future trip.

Art & Peg Palmer 7/12/2011
Art led a leveling survey from the Hornets Nest in the Club Room Section down to the base of the Boxwork Chimney as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller, Josh Nelson, & Toni Gould 7/12/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the JD survey in the Historic Section to push leads. They surveyed 166 feet in one lead and left a few leads for a return trip.

Art & Peg Palmer, Phyllis Boneau, Scott Christenson, Adam Lipkin, & Carol Lucero 7/14/2011
Art led a geologic tour to the Palette Room area in the Half Mile Hall Section for one of the Black Hills NSS Pre-Convention camp trips.

Art & Peg Palmer, Drew Crane, Walt Vennum, Kevin Strong, & Shelly Arreguin 7/15/2011
Art led a geologic tour to the Lakes Section for one of the Black Hills NSS Pre-Convention camp trips.

Rod Horrocks & Oscar Calhoun 7/15/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Attic in the Historic Section to push leads off of the AT survey. They mopped up several side leads for 236 feet and left a dome climb for a later trip.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Angela Morgan, & Phyllis Boneau 7/15/2011
Jason led a survey trip to the north edge of the Historic Section to push leads under an area he had previously surveyed and named Central Air. They surveyed 56 feet.

Art & Peg Palmer 7/25/2011
Art led a leveling survey from Buffalo Gap to Base Camp I in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Art & Peg Palmer 7/27/2011
Art led a leveling survey from Base Camp I to What the Hell in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller & Lucas Wassner 7/28/2011
Marc led a survey trip back to the JD survey in the Historic Section to continue pushing the leads from their last trip. They surveyed 142 feet and left a few more leads for a future trip.

Art & Peg Palmer 7/29/2011
Art led a research trip to photograph and collect calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Art & Peg Palmer, Jim Paces, John Stamm, & Jeri Frederick 7/31/2011
Art led a research trip to observe calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Marc Ohms and JoAnn Miller 8/3/2011
Marc led a survey trip to Way Back Room area in the Historic Section to survey leads off of the NY survey. They named the Dead Mans Bakery while surveying 249 feet. They left leads for a future trip.

Art & Peg Palmer, Jeff Hughes, & Jennifer Back 8/3/2011
Art led a research trip to observe calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Jeri Keiser-Frederick, & Toni Gould 8/8/2011
Rod led a survey trip to Lonely Palace area in the Historic Section to push leads off of the LP survey. They surveyed 200 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/14/2011
Art led a research trip to map calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Art & Peg Palmer, Josh Nelson, & Toni Gould 8/16/2011
Art led a leveling survey from What the Hell to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Marc Ohms, Kali Armstrong, JoAnn Miller, & Kim Acker 8/18/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to obtain water samples, replace a dye bug, and take staff gage readings of the lake levels.

Art & Peg Palmer, Josh Nelson, & Toni Gould 8/18/2011
Art led a research trip to photograph and collect calcite wall crusts and floor deposits between What the Hell and Calcite Lakes in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.

Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller, & Kali Armstrong 8/25/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the Way Back Room in the Historic Section to push leads off of the NM survey. They mopped up 222 feet and left leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Jeri Keiser-Frederick, & Toni Gould 8/29/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the north end of the Attic in the Historic Section to push leads off of the MY survey. Pushing into a previously un-entered bellycrawl, they found two cave levels separated by three feet of rock in some sandy Upper Middle Level cave. They surveyed 212 feet in the area, which they named the White Cliffs of Dover. After mopping up a few side leads off of the MY survey, they surveyed up into a high fissure that led to an extensive upper level area for an additional 220 feet. They ended the day with 635 feet of total survey and several good leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller & Kim Acker 8/31/2011
Marc led a survey to some leads off of the Y survey in the Historic Section. They mopped up all the leads for 216 feet, leaving no known leads in the area.

Wind Cave Happenings September - December 2011
By Rod Horrocks 10/25/2012
From September through December of 2011, 33 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 17 trips to the Historic Section, 7 trips to the Club Room Section, 5 trips to the Lakes Section, 2 trips to the North Section, and 1 trip each to the Southern Comfort and Colorado Grotto Sections. The 33 caving trips also included 12 work trips for the purpose of research or hydrologic monitoring. During 18 survey trips, cavers surveyed a total of 5,307 feet or 1.00 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 294 feet per trip. During 4 resurvey trips, 614 feet of problem survey was also resurveyed. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 136.86 to 137.86 miles.

Marc Ohms, Kali Armstrong, & JoAnn Miller 8/3/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the NY survey in the Way Back Room area in the Historic Section. They named the Dead Mans Bakery while surveying 249 feet. They left leads for a future trip.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/3/2011
Art led a research trip to the Calcite Jungle area in the Club Room Section to sample some calcite crust in the Garden Gate area for the USGS paleo climatic study they are participating in.


Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jeri Kizer-Frederick 8/8/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Lonely Place (LP survey) off of the Attic in the Historic Section. They surveyed 200 feet and connected to the High Hopes area through a tight constriction that Josh was able to squeeze through.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/14/2011
Art led a research trip to What the Hell Lake in the Lakes Section to sample calcite wall crusts for age dating for the USGS paleo climatic study.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/16/2011
Art led a research trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to complete a tripod survey from What the Hell to Calcite Lake for his age dating for the USGS paleo climatic study.

Marc Ohms, Kali Armstrong, Kim Aker, & JoAnn Miller 8/18/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to collect water samples and read staff gages to document lakes levels.

Art & Peg Palmer 8/18/2011
Art led a research trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to complete a tripod survey from What the Hell to Calcite Lake for his age dating project for the USGS paleo climatic study.

Marc Ohms, Kali Armstrong, & JoAnn Miller 8/25/2011
Marc led a survey trip back to the NY survey in the Way Back Room area in the Historic Section. They mopped up 222 feet and left more to do on a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jeri Keiser-Frederick 8/29/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the MY survey in the Historic Section to push leads off the north end of the Attic. Starting at AT15D, they surveyed into a bellycrawl that went into a previously unentered area that they named the White Cliffs of Dover. They then went to MY9 and shot into a high fissure that went up into the upper level with lots of leads. They surveyed a couple of them for a day's total of 643 feet, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Kim Aker, & JoAnn Miller 8/31/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the Y survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed three leads for 216 feet, completing the area.

Jeri Kizer-Frederick, Rex Kroemer, Rino Lippold, Margaret Harrison, Colin Daniel, & Aaron Mullins 8/31/2011
Jeri led a Bishop Fowler loop recreation trip.

Andrea Croskrey, Josh Pirman, Jessica Snyder, Adam Johnson, & Dan Johnson 9/3/2011
Andrea led a Club Room loop recreation trip.

Andrea Croskrey, Dave Levy, Kristen Levy, Derek Bristol, & Amy Bern 9/4/2011
Andrea led a Club Room loop recreation trip.


Jeff Goben, Barb Smith, & John McLean 9/4/2011
Jeff led a survey trip to the Winding Stair area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 233 feet and left some leads.

Rod Horrocks, Sandy Kramer, Dennis Maynard, & Scott Falkingham 9/8/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Council Chamber in the Historic Section to survey side leads heading north. They named a passage the Crusty Crawl while surveying 162 feet. They left several leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Andy Armstrong, Bonny Armstrong, Derek Bristol, MaryBeth Wells, Steve Langendorf, Lee-Gray Boze, Kelly Mathis, Pete Johnson, Kevin Manley, & Carl Bern 9/14/2011
During the NCRC course being held at Wind Cave National Park, Marc led a cave search and rescue horizontal litter movement exercise on the Wild Caving Tour route in the Historic Section.

Rene Ohms, Marc Ohms, Anmar Mirza, Leanne Hughes, Andrew Blackstock, Mike Wiles, Dan Austin, Larry Shaffer, Calius Lawrence, Shawn Thomas, Stephen Bishop, Dave Schmitz, & Rick Mossman 9/14-16/2011
During the NCRC course, Rene and Marc led three cave search and rescue training trips to the Rome area on the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section. They worked on artificial anchors, fixed leg multi-point anchors, SKED packaging, vertical raises and lowers, crack and crevice rescue, and cave rescue scenarios.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Skip Withrow, & Srdjan Pasic 9/24/2011
Jim led a survey trip to the YT survey and the White Pass area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed numerous crawls for 567 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms & JoAnn Miller 10/10/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the AJ survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed two leads for 99 feet.

Marc Ohm & MaryBeth Wells 10/19/2011
Marc led a monitoring trip to Phantom Lake in the Historic Section to see if any water is present in that lake. They found it dry.

Marc Ohms and MaryBeth Wells 10/27/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Chimera Room in the North Section to continue work on a search and rescue preplan along the pink flagged trail.

Rod Horrocks and Oscar Calhoun 11/2/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the St. Dominiques Chamber on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. After mopping up a couple leads at L35J, they went to the Council Chamber to continue the survey of Crusty Crawl, which "ended" in an 8"-high bellycrawl that continues, but was too tight for the surveyors. They surveyed 210 feet for the day, completing that survey.

Marc Ohms and MaryBeth Wells 11/2/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Club Room Section to remove the orange flagged route from the Club Room Loop, a section of that loop that has actually been closed since 200_.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Skip Withrow, & Howard Bartlett 11/12/2011
Jim led a survey trip back to the YT survey in the Club Room Section. They pushed some Upper Level crawls that reconnected to the Club Room. They then finished all of the leads in the White Pass area, for a total of 415 feet of survey for the day.

Rod Horrocks, Oscar Calhoun, Chris Pelczarski, & Ken Steinken 11/17/2011
Rod led a resurvey trip to the NFP survey in the Historic Section to resurvey the NFP and push leads off of Fairy Palace. They found that the NFP survey was actually a resurvey of an even earlier FP survey, and which was marked with eyebolts in the walls. They resurveyed the main route for 112 feet and then pushed some decorated crawls off of Fairy Palace for another 87 feet.

Dave Lambert, Amy Bern, & Matthew Luckwitz 11/19/2011
Dave led a survey trip back to the UI survey in the North Section to push a side lead left from their last trip, which they named Bat Scratch Fever. From there, they mapped up a dome and into a long Upper Middle Level tube that allowed one 50-foot shot before it ended at a 22-foot deep pit. They surveyed 378 feet and left several pit leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Oscar Calhoun, Marcus Smith, & Chelsea ? 12/1/2011
Rod led a resurvey trip to the NCP survey in the Historic Section. They named a room Ymirs Beard, while resurveying 92 feet and adding 126 feet of new survey. They left several leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Oscar Calhoun, & Ken Geu 12/3/2011
Rod led a survey trip back to the NFP survey in the Historic Section. Surveying down a pit at NFP2B, they named a lower pancake style room, Gastro Flats, after the numerous large gastropods they found strewn throughout the area. They then jumped ahead to Fairy Palace and carefully crossed the flowstone flow to survey the leads on the far side. Completing those leads, they climbed up to the Upper Fairy Palace area and surveyed several side leads off the main room. They found numerous pockets of helictites, which had been rumored to exist, but had never been photo-documented in Wind Cave before. They surveyed 432 feet for the day and left leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Kenny Slocum, Lindsay Heinrich, & Matthew Churvsky 12/19/2011
Rod led an evening resurvey trip back to the NFP survey in the Historic Section to resurvey the pit out of the main Fairy Palace room. They used the NR designation to resurvey NFP8-10 for 58 feet and then they surveyed several crawls, one previously unentered that radiated off of that survey for a total of 94 feet, leaving a few leads for a later trip.

Matthew Chuvarsky, Rod Horrocks, & Seth Goodspeed 12/22/2011
Matthew led a resurvey trip to the KC survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. They resurveyed 352 feet and noted 29 small side leads for future trips.
Wind Cave Happenings, January-June 2010
By Rod Horrocks 6/7/2010
From January through June of 2010, 21 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 12 trips to the Historic Section, 3 trips to the North Section, 2 trips to the Club Room Section, 2 trips to the Lakes Section, and 2 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section. During 14 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 4,175 feet or 0.79 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 298 feet per trip. During 2 resurvey trips, 314 feet of problem surveys was also resurveyed, with an average length of 157 feet per trip. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 133.24 to 134.03 miles.
Wind Cave Weekend I 1/9/2010
Dave Lambert, Matthew Luckwitz, & Derek Bristol
Dave led a survey trip to the SD survey in the North Section. They surveyed 472 feet while wrapping up several leads and left one lead for a later trip.

Marc Ohms and Jason Walz 1/15/2010
Marc led a resurvey trip to the Capitol Hall climb in the Historic Section. The resurveyed 178 feet of the C* survey, tying into the Bishop Fowlers Loop.

Rod Horrocks, Matthew Chuvarsky, & Josh Nelson 1/20/10
Rod led a resurvey trip to the WB and AW surveys in the Historic Section. They named a large unnamed room along the AW survey Barnacle Heights while resurveying 136 feet and adding 110 feet of new survey to those two surveys.

Wind Cave Weekend II 1/23/2010
Jason Walz, Matthew Chuvarsky, Julie Rice, & Kelly Brownson
Jason led a survey trip to the north edge of the Historic Section to continue surveying side leads. They named the Duty Belt and the Keeper while surveying 206 feet. They left leads to return to.

Marc Ohms, Andy Long & Joel Petersen 2/3/2010
Marc led a work trip to the Wild Cave Tour Route and Room Draculum in the Historic Section to install rain gauges drip loggers with some USGS folks.

Wind Cave Weekend I 2/13/2010
Dave Lambert, Andrew Blackstock, Dan Mottinger, & Noah Walcutt
Dave led a survey trip to the Boob Room area and the KYL survey in the North Section to push leads. They wrapped up several for 342 feet of survey, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Skip Withrow, & Geoff Chilcot
Jim led a survey trip to the Hornets Nest area in the Club Room Section to push leads. They surveyed some tight previously unentered leads for 157 feet.

Jason Walz 2/17/2010
Jason worked on a resketch of the Bishop Fowlers Loop in the Historic Section for a new map of that route.

Wind Cave Weekend II 2/27/2010
Rod Horrocks, Roger Harris, Ken Geu, & Janice Tucker
Rod led a survey trip to the PRC survey in the Historic Section to push the eastern edge of Wind Cave. They named the area the Peoples Republic of China and pushed everything that was enterable. After surveying 97 feet, they moved on to the AT survey and surveyed a lower level crawl to a large unnamed room they named the Dagger Room. They discovered a 19th century script specimen label written in pencil that was very interesting. They then finished surveying a room that they named the Sewing Room and then mapped several side passages. They surveyed an additional 613 feet in a couple of areas, leaving leads to return to on their next trip.

Jason Walz, Dean Faust, Nick Smith, & Matthew Chuvarsky
Jason led a survey trip to the Masters Room in the Half Mile Hall Section. They surveyed 455 feet and left several climbing leads.

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, and Tami Motif 3/9/2010
Marc led a work trip to the Lakes Section to record lake levels and collect water samples for Dr. Hazel Barton's microbiology project.

Wind Cave Weekend I 3/13/2010
Andrea Croskrey, Derek Bristol, & Mary Klaus
Andrea led a survey trip to the Cactus Patch area in the Half Mile Hall Section to push a series of nine previously identified leads. They surveyed 344 feet and completed all of their leads.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, & Geoff Chilcott
Jim led a survey trip back to the Hornets Nest area in the Club Room Section to continue pushing leads. They found that the connection passage was too tight, but they were able to survey 223 feet in a few leads.

Jason Walz and Tami Motif 3/24/2010
Jason led a work trip to complete the sketch of the Bishop Fowlers Loop.

Wind Cave Weekend II 3/27/2010
Rod Horrocks, Mike Hartwig, Carolyn Zalewske, & Tera Bouchard
Rod led a survey training trip to the AT and LK surveys in the vicinity of the Golden Rope Room in the Historic Section. They named a nice canyon area they found the Blue Light District while surveying 419 feet.

Jason Walz and Tami Motif
Jason led a survey trip to the Wind Tunnel area in the Historic Section. They named a low room the Pancake Matrix while surveying 213 feet.

Marc Ohms & Jason Walz 5/3/2010
Marc led a work trip to the Lakes Section to record lake levels and grab Dr. Andreas Pflitsch's data loggers.

Wind Cave Weekend I 5/8/2010
Dave Lambert, Matthew Luckwitz, & Eric Blood
Dave led a survey trip back to the Boob Room area in the North Section to continue pushing the leads left from their last trip. They surveyed 254 feet.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Adam Weaver, & Matthew Pence
Jason led a survey trip to the Way Back Room in the Historic Section. They named a room Janice Palace while surveying 156 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend II 5/24/2010
Jason Walz, Tami Motif, & Adam Weaver
Jason led a survey trip back to the Way Back Room in the Historic Section. They named an area of crawls Central Air while surveying 124 feet.

Marc Ohms & Andy Long 5/27/2010
Marc led a work trip to the Wild Cave Tour and Room Draculum in the Historic Section to download dataloggers. The cave was dripping an impressive amount of water after the 100-year rain event.
Wind Cave Happenings, January/February 2009
By Rod Horrocks 2/19/2010

During January and February of 2009, 16 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 7 trips to the Historic Section, 3 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section, 2 trips to the Southern Comfort Section, 2 trips to the Lakes Section, and 2 trips to the Club Room Section. During 14 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 6,090 feet or 1.15 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 468 feet per trip, if the camp trip is not factored in. During 2 of those survey trips, 225 feet of problem survey was also resurveyed. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 130.14 to 131.29 miles.
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Scott Ceasar 1/7/2009
Marc led a lakes trip to download a datalogger from Calcite Lake

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, Dan Austin, & Tami Motif 1/13/2009
Marc led a lakes trip to retrieve a nonfunctioning datalogger from Calcite Lake.

Wind Cave Weekend I 1/10-11/2009
Rod Horrocks, Ken Gue, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip back to Browns Canyon in the Historic Section to continue surveying side leads off of the TT survey. They found some beautiful examples of horn coral fossils that had been partially dissolved out of the walls while surveying 711 feet of passage. These were the first positively identified examples of horn corals identified from the cave that Rod was aware of. They left numerous leads for a future survey trip.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Skip Withrow
Jim led a survey trip to the Nudist Colony and Egg Hatchery areas in the Club Room Section. They surveyed a couple of small leads off the Nudist Colony for 101 feet and then picked up 301 feet off the Egg Hatchery survey (EH), where they found a 4' x 7' pool of water.

Marc Ohms and Rene Ohms
Marc led a survey trip to the Misplaced Pit/Hades area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 470 feet and left numerous leads for a future trip.

Jason Walz & Tami Motif
Jason led a survey trip to the Disappointment Chamber area on the north edge of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 77 feet of the NWT survey and added 100 feet of new survey, leaving several small leads to return to.

Jason Walz & Tami Motif 1/15/2009
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Way Back Room in the Historic Section. They found several historic Alvin McDonald signatures while resurveying 274 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend II 1/24-25/2009
Carl Bern, Ben Tobin, Andrew & Evan Blackstock
Carl led his second four-day camp trip to Camp Cosmos in the Southern Comfort Section. On the first evening they surveyed 128 feet in a couple of leads near Pervert Alley. On their first full day of survey they went past the Skinner and pushed around the Gas Chamber area. They found a previously overlooked lead on a ledge that opened into significant new cave. They mapped 411 feet for the day. On the second full day of survey, they returned to their going leads past the tight spot, which they named the Cram Hole. This time their survey opened into a tall canyon which quickly constricted. With some passage modification at a point they named the Flip Turn, they were able to squeeze beyond into big passages heading in multiple directions. They left one passage heading south that was completely covered with white flowstone and could only be explored using clean caving techniques. The canyons in this area were floored with piles of cave rafts several inches deep. Eventually, the team came to a couple of deep pools of water and the end of the passage. They named the area the Deep End. This area is now the southernmost point in Wind Cave. Since it went off of the Toon Town Quadrangle, we have established a new quad and named it the Deep End Quadrangle to accommodate that extension. The group then surveyed some additional fissures that headed north, for a day's total of 846 feet. This four-day camp surveyed a total of 1,385 feet, an amount that would have taken six normal day trips to survey due to the long travel times to the Southern Comfort area.

Andrea Croskrey, Amy Bern, Nick Wagner, & Mariana Vieira
Andrea led a survey trip to the KP survey in the Mystic Hall area in the Half Mile Hall Section. They named two areas, the "Left an Impression" and "Puppy Chow", while surveying 305 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Jeremy & Tera Bouchard
Rod led a survey training trip to Browns Canyon in the Historic Section. They surveyed leads radiating off of two rooms, which they named the Colonial House and the Carbide Chamber. They surveyed 289 feet and left several leads for another trip.

Wind Cave Weekend I 2/14-15/2009
Jason Walz, Dan Austin, & Merrel Hoveskeland
Jason led a survey trip to the Master Room in the Half Mile Hall Section to push leads to the south. They surveyed 767 feet for the day and named a small terminal room at the end of the Candy Causeway, the "Heart Shaped Box".

Rod Horrocks and Matthew Chuvarsky 2/18/2009
Rod led a resurvey trip to Browns Canyon in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 148 feet of the TT survey and then tied into the adjacent EV survey for 53 feet of new survey.

Wind Cave Weekend II 2/28-29/2009
Rod Horrocks, Ken Gue, & Roger Harris
Rod led a survey trip to an area off of the Candlelight Tour in the Historic Section. They surveyed numerous short side passages in a mazy area off of the AT84 survey, for a total of 655 feet of survey for the day.

Carl Bern, Amy Bern, & Andrea Croskrey
Carl led a survey trip to the Other Side area in the Southern Comfort Section. They surveyed 516 feet in a couple of previously scooped passages, leaving one passage still going.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, & Skip Withrow
Jim led a survey trip to the YC survey in the Club Room Section. They found that the area had been thoroughly pushed and were only able to survey 163 feet in three leads.

Christa Schneider, Dave Lambert, & Mary Klaus
Christa led a survey trip to the White Socks Only area in the Half Mile Hall Section. Because they took old leads with them, that it turned out had already been surveyed, they surveyed 0 feet on this trip.

Wind Cave Happenings, May-August 2009
By Rod Horrocks 2/24/2010

From May through August of 2009, 26 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 20 trips to the Historic Section, 4 trips to the Lake Section, and 2 trips to the Club Room Section. During 5 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 1,211 feet or 0.23 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 242 feet per trip. During 5 resurvey trips, 1,075 feet of problem surveys was also resurveyed, with an average of 215 feet per trip. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 131.83 to 132.06 miles.
Chris Amidon, Jeri Kizer-Frederick, Tami Wright, Scott Babinowich, & Apirl Oesterling 5/2/2009
Chris led an orientation trip for some of the park's Interpretive staff to the Club Room.

May Wind Cave Weekend I 5/10/2009
Chris Amidon, Scott Babinowich, & Jeri Kizer-Frederick
Chris led a survey trip to the Upper Specimen Route in the Historic Section. They surveyed 78 feet on Teri's first survey trip to Wind Cave in 28 years. They named a nasty crawl; "Cave Fear" after the crew mutinied so they could go outside and enjoy the sunny day.

Jason Walz, David Lambert, & Chris Amidon
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Boxwork Chimney area in the Club Room Section. They resurveyed 373 feet for the day.

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Andy Long 5/15/2009
Marc led a work trip to Room Draculum in the Historic Section to set up a container at the drip collector.

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Andy Long 5/22/2009
Marc led a work trip back to Room Draculum in the Historic Section to collect a water sample from the drip collector.

May Wind Cave Weekend II 5/23-24/2009
Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Ted Firkins, & Nick Smith
Jason led a survey trip to the Disappointment Chamber (NWT survey) in the Historic Section. They surveyed 190 feet of side passages off of that room.

Rod Horrocks, Ken Hyde, Jeri Kizer-Frederick, & Scott Babinowich 6/2/2010
Rod led an evening survey trip to the Dragon Room in the Historic Section to continue pushing side leads off that room. They surveyed 158 feet and left numerous leads for a later trip.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Ken Hyde, Kali Leitheiser, Charlie Baker, & Jen Spinelli 6/3/2009
Jason led an orientation trip for some of the park staff to the Club Room.

June Wind Cave Weekend I 6/13-14/2009
Jim Wilson, Pat Malone, Srdjan Pasjic, & Tim Moreland
Jim led a survey trip to the ACA survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 332 feet for the day.

Jason Walz, Peter Sprouse, & Saj Zappitello 6/23/2009
Jason led a microbiotic inventory trip for the contractors looking for biota in Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section.

Marc Ohms, Dan Austin, Peter Sprouse, & Saj Zappitello 6/25/2009
Marc led another microbiotic inventory trip to the lakes.

Dan Austin, Lydia Poppin, Laura Magee, Joseph Hollenbeck, Garrett Radke, & Deric Roach 7/10/2009
Dan led an orientation trip to the Club Room for park staff from both Jewel and Wind Caves.

July Wind Cave Weekend I 7/11-12/2009
Andy Armstrong, Dave Bunnell, Mike Hopkins, Barry Schuman, & Nick Smith
Andy led a photography trip to What the Hell lake and up the Winding Stairs to the Club Room.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Chris Vincent, Malik Stewart, & Marcus Smith 7/12/2009
Jason led a recreation trip to the Club Room.

Jason Walz, Dave Bunnell, Jeff Sugrue, & Merrell Hoveskland 7/13/2009
Jason led a photography work trip to the Fairy Palace and Chamber Pot areas in the Historic Section.

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Andy Long 7/16/2009
Marc led a trip to Calcite Lake to place a dye bug and to download a datalogger. The group then went to the drip collectors on the Wild Cave Tour Route and in Room Draculum in the Historic Section.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Scott Babinowich, Jeri Kiser-Frederick, Eric and Noelle Grunwald 8/5/2009
Jason led an orientation trip for some of the park's staff to the Bishop Fowlers Route.

Mary Laycock, Jeri Kizer-Frederick, Scott Babinowich, Deric Roach, Garrett Radke, & Wendell Gehman 8/7/2009
Mary led an orientation trip for some of the park's staff to the Bishop Fowlers Route.

August Wind Cave Weekend I 8/8-9/2009
Rod Horrocks, Ken Geu, Scott Babinowich, & Garrett Radke
Rod led a survey trip back to the Dragon Room in the Historic Section to continue pushing side leads. They found an upper level passage that had a July 17, 1893 Alvin McDonald signature in it. This is the latest signature currently known for Alvin before he died. They named this passage Shirk Street and surveyed a total of 453 feet for the day, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Scott Babinowich, Jeri Kiser-Frederick, Jen Spinelli, Cathy Mazero, Haley Meginnes, & Whitney Reary 8/9/2009
Scott led an orientation trip for some of the park's staff to the Bishop Fowlers Route.

Scott Babinowich, Jeri Kiser-Frederick, Nick VanAsma, Kali Leitheiser, Max Jackl, &Mikenzi Molitor 8/13/2009
Scott led an orientation trip for some of the park's staff to the Bishop Fowlers Route.

Jason Walz, Marc Ohms, and Jeri Kiser-Frederick 8/19/2010
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Guides Discovery (ND survey) in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 135 feet.

August Wind Cave Weekend II 8/22-23/2009
Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Jane & Richard Walz
Jason led a resurvey trip to the IZ survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 151 feet.

Jason Walz, Scott Babinowich, Sue Sawsak, & Max Cook 8/25/2010
Jason led a couple of Timpanogos Grotto cavers on a resurvey trip to Billys Room (ND survey) in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 149 feet.

Jeri Kiser-Frederick, April Oesterling, Tammy Wright, Scott Babinowich, Jill Jaworski, & Frank Platt 8/25/2009
Jeri led an orientation trip for some of the park's staff to the Bishop Fowlers Route.

Jason Walz, Marc Ohms & Dan Swanson 8/28/2010
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Way Back Room (NM survey) in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 267 feet.

Wind Cave Happenings, Sept-December 2009
By Rod Horrocks 3/4/2010

From September through December of 2009, 19 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 10 trips to the Historic Section, 5 trips to the Club Room Section, 3 trips to the North Section, and 1 trip to the Lakes Section. During 14 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 4,455 feet or 0.84 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 318 feet per trip. During 4 resurvey trips, 1,096 feet of problem surveys was also resurveyed, with an average length of 274 feet per trip. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 132.06 to 132.9 miles.
Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Mikenzi Militor, & Frank Platt 9/1/2009
Jason led an evening survey trip to the NM survey in the Misplaced Pit area in the Historic Section. They survey a single lead for 52 feet, connecting into the bottom of the Colonade Room.

September Wind Cave Weekend I 9/12-13/2009
Dave Lambert, Andrea Croskrey, Nicky Wagner, & Matthew Luckwitz
Dave led a survey trip to the SI survey near the Chimera Room in the North Section to continue pushing leads in that area. They mopped up several leads for a total of 252 feet.

Sandy Krammer & Pat Jablonsky
Pat led a survey trip to the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section to push leads. They surveyed three leads for 152 feet. They left one lead that was under 8" high and another that was filled with trail construction debris.

Rod Horrocks, Garrette Radke, & Whitney Reary 9/30/2009
Rod led a resurvey trip to the southern edge of the Historic Section to resurvey the 1973 AV survey. They named two rooms Frontiers Edge and Dragons Hollow while resurveying 456 feet.

October Wind Cave Weekend I 10/9-10/2009
Rick Speaect, Jeff Goben, & Gregory Englert
Rick led a survey trip to the CI survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 284 feet for the day and left several leads to return to on a later trip.

October Wind Cave Weekend II 10/24-25/2009
Jim Wilson, Dave Lambert, & Tim Moreland
Jim led a survey trip to the HU survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed several side leads between HU1-3 for 366 feet. They left a climbing lead for later.

Jason Walz, Nick Smith, & Charlie Baker
Jason led a survey trip to the NWT survey on the north edge of the Historic Section. They pushed some leads underneath the NWT survey for a total of 202 feet. After removing a can of spent Scottish carbide, they named the squeeze, the Scottish Carbide Squeeze. They also named the Midget Catacombs.

Marc Ohms & Jason Walz 10/29/2009
Marc led a lakes monitoring trip to What the Hell and Calcite Lakes.

Jason Walz, Marc Ohms, & Tami Motif 11/12/2009
Jason led a resurvey trip to the JD survey on the southern edge of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 302 feet, leaving several side leads for a later trip.

November Wind Cave Weekend I 11/14-15/2009
Dave Lambert, Matthew Luckwitz, & Rick Speaect
Dave led a survey trip to the SJ and SD surveys west of the Chimera Room in the North Section to continue pushing leads along those surveys. Their last lead they checked turned out to be the best find of the day, as it led to a small room with a couple of pit leads. They surveyed 368 feet for the day.

Rod Horrocks & Sandy Krammer
Rod led a survey trip back to the AV survey in the Historic Section to push side leads. They mopped up several leads and loops for 303 feet.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Carter Hall, & Dean Faust
Jaon led a photography/survey trip to the LSU survey in the Club Room Section. They got some great photographs of the fantastically decorated Dripstone Delight area and surveyed 134 feet. Because the LSU crawl goes through a forest of 2-3 foot long stalactites and sodastraws, they recommend that route not be used.

Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, & Whitney Reary 11/24/2009
Rod led a survey trip back to the AV survey in the Historic Section to continue pushing side leads. They resurveyed 61 feet of the AV, completing the resurvey of that old survey and then added an additional 201 feet of new survey.

November Wind Cave Weekend II 11/28-29/2009
Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, & Sara Booth
Marc led a survey trip to the NM survey in the Misplaced Pit area in the Historic Section to continue pushing that area. They surveyed 413 feet for the day and left a few leads for a later trip.

Jason Walz, Marc Ohms, Tami Motif, & Sara Booth 11/24/2009
Jason led a resurvey trip back to the Misplaced Pit area in the Historic Section to resurvey the NM survey. They resurveyed 277 feet and added 140 feet of new survey to the length of the Wind Cave survey. They left a high lead at NM27 for a later trip.

December Wind Cave Weekend I 12/12-13/2009
Rod Horrocks, Roger Harris, Ken Geu, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip back to the AV survey on the southern edge of the Historic Section to continue pushing side leads. They surveyed a dome on the edge of the cave that had air pouring down through a breakdown choke. They surveyed 480 feet in side passages off of Dragons Hollow before moving on to the Beyond the City area, where they surveyed an additional 345 feet, including a few shots into a crawl that went off the edge of the map. With 825 feet of survey, they decided to call it a day, leaving a few small leads for a return trip.

Dave Lambert, Jeff Goben, & Kevin Manley
Dave led a survey trip to the Club Room Section. They found some middle level cave at the bottom of a pit lead that led to some low and really wide passages. They surveyed 315 feet for the day, leaving a couple of leads in the area.

Larry Shaffer, Sara Booth, & Merrell Hoveskeland
Larry led a survey trip to the Hotel South Dakota in the North Section. They found a long-sleeve shirt left by a previous survey party, which they removed from the cave. They mopped up a few leads for 285 feet.

Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Mary Laycock, & Ted Firkins
Jason led a survey trip to the LSD survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 153 feet for the day, leaving one two-shot lead for a later trip.
Wind Cave Happenings, January/February 2008
By Rod Horrocks 4/9/2008
During January and February of 2008, 13 trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 5 trips to the Historic Section, 3 trips to the Club Room Section, 2 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section, 1 trip to the North Section, 1 trip to the Lakes Section, and 1 trip to the Southern Comfort Section. During 10 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 4,277 feet or 0.81 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 427 feet per trip. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 126.59 to 127.40 miles. In addition to the 10 survey trips, 1 lake monitoring trip and 2 resurvey trips where taken, where 272 feet of problem survey was resurveyed.

Jason Walz & Hy-ung Lee 1/9/2008
Jason led a survey trip to the Natural Entrance Tour Route in the Historic Section to survey a cut-around along the tour route where some cables for the new cave lighting system were to be placed. They surveyed 52 feet.


Wind Cave Weekend I
1/12-13/2008

Rod Horrocks, Ken Geu, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip to the IJ survey in the Historic Section to continue pushing leads left from a previous trip. They were able to survey 360 feet, when Duff dropped the laser Disto down a 40-foot deep unclimbable pit, which they subsequently named Disto Pit. Noticing on the lineplot that they were 40 feet above the TT survey off of Browns Canyon, the group took the long route down to the TT, where they found the Disto laying in a pocket at floor level. Since the Disto still worked, they continued surveying leads off of the TT survey. They mapped another 222 feet before calling it a day, giving them a total of 582 feet of survey for the day. They left several leads in both areas.


Jim Wilson, Howard Bartlett, Tim Moreland, & Skip Withrow
Jim led a survey trip to the PC survey in the Club Room Section. However, they got distracted by an unmarked virgin lead they found just after the Woodpile. They spent the day surveying some miserable crawls before popping out into good going passage at the end of the day. Before heading home, they climbed down a fissure to the lower level, where they found a SCB survey station underneath the unobvious lead in the ceiling that they had just climbed out of. They left some great leads in the new area for a future trip. They surveyed 530 feet for the day’s effort.

Carl Bern, Larry Shaffer, & Andrew Blackstock
Carl led a trip to the Cosmos area in the Southern Comfort Section to look for a potential camp site. They found a candidate area and were able to map 132 feet before calling it a day.

Jason Walz, Hy-ung Lee, & Jill Jaworski
Jason led a resurvey trip to the NWT survey on the northern edge of the Historic Section. While resurveying 74 feet, they named two places, one the Fitness Room and the other Super Junction. They left several leads for a future trip.

Wind Cave Weekend II
1/26-27/2008

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, & Bonny Armstrong
Marc led a survey trip to the KQ survey in the Half Mile Hall Section. They surveyed the Snow Room, which has some of the most spectacular frostwork in the whole cave. They surveyed 471 feet and finished the known leads off of the first section of the KQ survey.

Jason Walz
Jason led a survey trip to the Rescue Pit area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed leads off of the RT and RP surveys, where they surveyed 374 feet.

Amy Bern, David Lambert, & Keith Kuhlman
Amy led a survey trip to the Ghostriders Gulch area in the North Section. They found a lead not on the map and spent the day surveying 215 feet in it. They left lots of leads for a return trip.

Wind Cave Weekend
2/9-10/2008

Jim Wilson, Howard Bartlett, Tim Moreland, & Skip Withrow
Jim led a survey trip back to the virgin area he found on his last trip in the Club Room Section. They accessed the area, which was located between the Lower Level and the Middle Level, by climbing up a fissure from the SCB survey. Then named the whole area the Fourteeners and the fissure pit connection the Coulair. They finished all of the leads in the area, surveying 837 feet for the day.

Rod Horrocks, Roger Harris, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip in the Historic Section to finish the leads on the TD survey and then to look for leads along the WB survey, which had not seen any trips in 20 years. They found a fourth paleofilled dome that had been excavated in the early 1930’s, which they named Rubble Stope. After surveying 239 feet in the area, they moved to the WB survey, where they found a fissure that dropped into going passage and an extensive virgin area with lots of deep fissures. They named the largest room they found the Box Cutter Room, the second the Tiller Room, and the whole area Fissure Kingdom. They surveyed 801 feet for the day and left lots of leads for a return trip.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, & Jason Walz
Marc led a survey trip back to the KQ survey in the Half Mile Hall Section to continue pushing leads. They took pictures of the Snow Room and surveyed 555 feet for the day.


Jason Walz & Cassie Nelson 2/15/2008
Jason led a resurvey trip to the NWT survey along the north edge of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 198 feet.

Jason Walz, Rene Ohms, Andy Armstrong, Ken Buhler, Charles Michael Ray, & Joel Rische 2/26/2008
Jason led a work trip to the Lakes Section to dump Flourscene dye in What the Hell and to monitor the level of the lakes. He took along the State Hydrology Engineer and a PBS reporter and cameraman that wanted to do a story on the water issues in the park.

Wind Cave Happenings, March/April 2008
By Rod Horrocks 5/29/2008
During March and April of 2008, 17 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 8 trips to the Historic Section, 2 trips to the Club Room Section, 2 trip to the North Section, 2 trips to the Southern Comfort Section, 2 trips to the Half Mile Hall Section, and 1 trip to the Lakes Section. During 11 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 3,940 feet or 0.74 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 394 feet per trip. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 127.4 to 128.14 miles. In addition to the 11 survey trips, there were 6 work trips, including: 2 Cosmos Camp set up trips, 1 drip collector repair trip, 1 lake monitoring trip, and 2 resurvey trips, where 504 feet of problem survey was resurveyed.
Wind Cave Weekend I
3/8-9/2008

Rod Horrocks & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip to the TD and WB surveys in the Historic Section. They surveyed a couple of historic areas near the Frostworks Ledge that had never been surveyed, but had been named Jack Frosts Grotto and Blackmers Slide (named by Alvin McDonald in 1893). Declaring the TD survey finished, they jumped down to the WB survey underneath the Fairgrounds Tour Route, where they surveyed a room they named Avens Court and then a side passage they named Mud Peel Flats. They surveyed 506’ feet for the day, leaving several leads for a future survey.

Tim Moreland, Jim Wilson, & Dave Lambert
Tim led a survey trip to the Loose Screw Room in the Club Room Section to push leads. They named a room the Tennessee Room after the new survey designation they were using, the TN survey. They surveyed 304 feet for the day.

Sandy Kramer, Greg Glazner, & Pat Jablonsky
Sandy led a survey trip to the IZ survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 185 feet.

Carl Bern, Larry Shaffer, Evan Blackstock, & Andrew Blackstock
Carl led a work trip to the Cosmos Camp in the Southern Comfort Section to install a water collector at Route 66 for his upcoming camp trip. They installed the water collector and partially stocked the camp.

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Marie Curtin 3/12/08
Marc led a work trip to Room Draculum in the Historic Section to reset the water collector.

Marc Ohms & Jason Walz 3/14/08
Marc led a work trip to the Half Mile Hall water collector to replace all of the old equipment.

Chris Amidon, Neal Hines, Tim Deady, & Eric Amidon 3/20/08
Chris led a resurvey trip to the NQ survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 304 feet and found numerous leads for a future trip.

Chris Amidon, Neal Hines, Tim Deady, & Eric Amidon 3/21/08
Chris led a resurvey trip to finish the NQ survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 200 feet and added 95 feet of new survey in a very mazy area.


Wind Cave Weekend II
3/22-23/2008

Rod Horrocks, William Harris, & Jeremy Cook
Rod led a survey trip to the WB survey in the Historic Section. They found a 55-foot deep fissure that had some great fossils in it. They named it the Filimental Fissure. They then began mopping up side leads off of the WK survey, eventually surveying 459 feet for the day. They left numerous leads to return to on a later trip.


Chris Amidon, Neal Hines, & Eric Amidon
Chris led a survey trip to the KY survey in the North Section via the Happy Route. He found that he cut his travel time in half after his last route finding trip to the area. They named the Hazard-Z-Dome and the Happy Zipper while surveying 345 feet. They left some leads for a future trip.

Amy Bern, Andrea Croskrey, & Dave Lambert
Amy led a survey trip to the Foggy Mountain Room in the North Section to push leads. They surveyed 294 feet and left leads for a future trip.

Carl Bern, Andy Armstrong, & Jason Walz
Carl led a work trip to the Cosmos Camp in the Southern Comfort Section to complete the stocking of the new camp. They had to rebuild and strengthen the water collector, which had partially collapsed. They also flagged off the camp in preparation for the upcoming June camp.

Marc Ohms, Jason Walz 3/26/08
Marc led a work trip to the Lakes to retrieve the dye bugs placed in Rebel River and Calcite Lake the month before. They found that the Rebel River was bright green and Calcite Lake was slightly green, confirming the suspected connection between What the Hell, Rebel River, and Calcite Lake.


Jason Walz, Roger Harris, & Cassie Nelson
Jason led a survey trip to the BB survey in the Club Room Section to push a tight fissure lead. Because Jason got stuck in the slot for awhile, they only ended up surveying 84 feet for the day.


Wind Cave Weekend I
4/12-13/2008

Rod Horrocks, Roger Harris, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip back to the Fissure Kingdom area in the Historic Section. They surveyed down a virgin bellycrawl until it got too tight for most of the group. Turning their attention to some virgin leads off of the Boxcutter and Tiller Rooms, they surveyed down some fissures until they belled out in the ceiling of the Candlelight Tour Route. They left survey stations at the bottom lip of these fissures where the opened into the ceiling of the Candlelight Tour. Returning to Fissure Kingdom, they discovered seven gastropods, identifying that area as the second best gastropod area known in the cave. They then surveyed into several more fissures off of that room which also connected into the Candlelight Tour Route. They left tags that could be tied into from below. The surveyors then took the long route down to the Candlelight Tour, where they connected all of the fissures into the lower surveys with their Disto laser. Rod had always wondered about the fissures that couldn’t be climbed too that are in the ceiling of the Candlelight Tour. He now knew where they went. The group had a blast while surveying 725 feet for the day and leaving some leads for a future trip.

Wind Cave Weekend II 4/26-27/2008
Jason Walz, Andy Armstrong, & Merrell Hoveskeland
Jason led a survey trip to the Master Room in the Half Mile Hall Section to push leads. They surveyed some virgin passages above the Master Room and closed some walking sized cut-a-rounds and loops near the room for a total of 668 feet. They left some tight leads for someone else to push.
January/February 2007
During January and February of 2007, eleven survey trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave, including five trips to the Historic Section, four trips to the Club Room Section, and two trips to the Half Mile Hall Section. During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 4,297 feet or 0.81 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 390 feet per trip. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 122.75 to 123.56 miles. In addition to the survey trips, six work trips were taken; including one resurvey trip where 143 feet of problem survey was resurveyed, one lake level monitoring trip, one rescue cache trip, and three 360 photo project trips.
01/08/2007
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to download a HOBO data logger in the lake.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/13/2007
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, Nick Smith & Jesse Mann
Jason led a survey trip to the Selenite Avenue area in the Half Mile Hall Section. They mopped up numerous leads along the southern edge of the cave for an impressive 1,047 feet of survey.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Ryan Butler, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led a trip back to the MP and HC surveys in the Club Room Section to continue pushing that area. They surveyed 421 feet and left numerous leads.

Rod Horrocks & Ken Geu
Rod led a trip to the Mock October Room area in the Historic Section in an attempt to finish that area. Going out to the Stop & Go Tube, they started with bellycrawl leads left from a previous trip. A slot underneath a breakdown block led down into an extensive maze that they named the Walking Stick Maze, after a historical artifact they found. They surveyed 379 feet in this well-traveled area, connected to the E survey, and left numerous leads for a future trip.

01/16/2007
Jason Walz & Nick Smith
Jason led a survey trip to the Graveyard area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 179 feet, completing that area.

01/24/2007
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a work trip to the Chimera Room in the North Section to establish a rescue cache at that location.

02/06/2007
Jason Walz, Nick Smith, & Sarah Booth
Jason led a survey trip to the Club Room to push leads off of the VI survey. They surveyed 332 feet and left some leads.

Jason Walz, Rod Horrocks & Marc Ohms
Jason led a work trip to the Minnehaha Junction in the Historic Section to work on the 360 photo project.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/10/2007
Jason Walz, Nick Smith, & Cheryl Mayer
Jason led a survey trip to the Selenite Avenue area in the Half Hall Mile Section. They tied into lower levels while attempting to push the edge of the cave. They surveyed 575 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Ken Geu, Roger Harris, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip back to the Walking Stick Maze in the Historic Section to survey the leads left from the previous month. They surveyed numerous loops in this confusing area, and found a small slot in a ceiling that led to an upper level area they named the Brown Sky Room. They left several leads for another trip while surveying 494 feet.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Greg Glazner
Jim led a survey trip back to the HC survey in the Club Room Section to continue pushing that area. They named a room the Wal-Mart Room while surveying 415 feet.

Jeff Goben, Barb Smith, Mary Klaus, & David Lambert
Jeff led a survey trip to the BB survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed a lead for 246 feet and left several others for a future trip.

02/14/2007
Jason Walz, Marc Ohms, & Autumn Ela
Jason led a work trip to the Muddle Room in the Historic Section to work on the 360 photo project.

02/20/2007
Jason Walz, Nick Smith, & Tom Diemer
Jason led a survey trip to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section to push leads along the NF survey. They named a room Carbonate City while surveying 209 feet. They completed the leads in that immediate area.

02/26/2007
Jason Walz, Ron Rossknecht, & Trevor Rossknecht
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Wind Tunnel area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 143 feet and named a room the Pocket Turns Room.

02/28/2007
Jason Walz, Rod Horrocks, & Marc Ohms
Jason led a work trip to the BePaDoBeDe Room in the Historic Section to work on the 360 photo project.
January/February 2006
During January and February of 2006, 22 survey trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave, including 15 trips to the Historic Section, 5 trips to the Club Room Section, 1 trip to the Southern Comfort Section, and 1 trip to the North Section. During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 7,650 feet or 1.45 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 431 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 118.38 to 119.83 miles. On February 13, the Wind Cave survey passed Hoelloch Cave of Switzerland to become the fourth longest cave in the world. In addition to the survey trips, 8 work trips were taken; including 6 resurvey trips, where 1,850 feet of problem surveys were resurveyed.
01/03/2006
Larry Shaffer, Andy & Bonny Armstrong, & Kelly Brownson
Larry led an evening trip back to the Ghost Town area on the western edge of the Historic Section. They surveyed 166 feet of previously scooped passage and left several leads for a future trip.

01/06/2006
Rod Horrocks & Derek Marohn
Rod led a trip back to the Geode Hall area in the Historic Section to resurvey the main BI survey and mop up any associated side leads. They named the vertical connection between Geode Hall and the upper BI survey, Engine House No. 6. They resurveyed 160 feet and added 221 feet of new survey for the day. They left a good climbing lead for a later trip.

01/11/2006
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a work trip to the Mammoth Galleries, Buffalo Gap, and the Nudist Colony to replace Dr. John Moore’s Petri dishes for his biological experiments.

01/11/2006
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NL survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 262 feet and left a few leads for someone else.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/14/2006
Jason Walz, Andrea Croskrey, Johanna Kovarik, & Ben Tobin
Jason led a survey trip to the DK and DJ surveys in the lower level of the Club Room Section. They surveyed 506 feet and named Snowshoe Road and Chilkoot Pass.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Dan Wray, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led a trip to the MP survey in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 675 feet and left lots of leads in the Multipurpose Room area.

Marc Ohms, Duff McCafferty, Sara Booth, & Ken Geu
Marc led a trip to resurvey the B* survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 400 feet and added 200 feet of new survey to the area.

01/17/2006
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin, John Scheltens, & Derek Marohn
Rod led an evening trip to the Silent Lake area in the Historic Section to survey leads off of the upper BI survey. They surveyed some tight connections between the UU and BI surveys before finding a squeeze that led to a new room above Engine House No. 6. They surveyed 113 feet.

01/19/2006
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Derek Marohn
Marc led a resurvey trip in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 157 feet of the NV survey.

01/23/2006
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a trip back to the NV survey in the Historic Section to continue the resurvey project. They resurveyed 230 more feet, finishing the NV.

01/25/2006
Rod Horrocks & Derek Marohn
Rod led a trip to resurvey the UEA survey in the Historic Section. They found a two-foot long fossil burrow while resurveying 275 feet. They also added 155 feet of new survey.

02/03/2006
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NZA survey in the Historic Section. They found some flexible boxwork while resurveying 200 feet.

02/07/2006
Rod Horrocks, Alexis Brooks, & Derek Marohn
Rod led a trip to survey leads off of the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They surveyed several side leads between P6-7 for 383 feet. They left some climbing leads for a later trip.

02/07/2006
Larry Shaffer, Andy & Bonny Armstrong, & Sara Booth
Larry led a trip back to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section to continue surveying their leads. They named the Zerba Room while surveying 244 feet. They left a few leads for a future trip.

02/07/2006
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a trip to the HX survey in the Historic Section. They found a really nice formation area while surveying 275 feet. They only left a few miserable leads.

02/07/2006
Jason Walz, Andre Baumeister, & Eric Grunwald
Jason led a trip to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section to survey side leads. They surveyed 101 feet and named one room, Der Biergarten.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/11/2006
Carl Bern, Derek Wolfe, & Larry Schaffer
Carl led a survey trip past the Skinner in the Southern Comfort Section. They found the largest discovery on the edge of the cave since Pizza Hut was discovered in 1999 by Marc Ohms. They named the Gas Chamber while surveying 809 feet of new passage.

Marc & Rene Ohms, & Andy & Bonny Armstrong
Marc led a trip south of the Key Room in the North Section to survey leads. They discovered a beautifully decorated area off of the PB survey that they named Stalactites Galore while surveying 802 feet.

Amy Bern, Sara Booth, & Jason Walz
Amy led a trip to the Club Room to survey leads in a pit along the CP survey. They named the Bern Tunnel, Beil Tunnel, and Boglis Doghouse due to the fact that the Wind Cave survey passed Hoelloch Cave of Switzerland that day to become the fourth longest cave in the world. They surveyed 501 feet.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Skip Withrow
Jim led a trip back to the Multipurpose Room in the Club Room Section to continue surveying leads. They discovered an obscure hole that led to 450 feet of virgin passage. They surveyed 620 feet for the day.

Jeff Goben, Rick Speaect, & Christa Schneider
Jeff led a trip just past the Club Room to survey a lead from a previous trip. They surveyed 259 feet and found an additional lead for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Ken Geu, & Dean Faust
Rod led a trip to the No Don’t Stop passage along the north edge of the Historic Section. They surveyed several domes before finding a nice passage they named End of the Road, which abruptly ended in a calcified breakdown choke on the edge of the cave. They surveyed 551 feet and left numerous leads for a future trip.

02/13/2006
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, Linda Stoll, Rick Mossman, & Sabrina Henry
Marc led a trip to the Club Room for various park staff to give them an appreciation for what it would take to rescue someone from the cave, and simply an appreciation of the resource.

02/21/2006
Jason Walz, Bonny Armstrong, & Eric Grunwald
Jason led a trip to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section to continue surveying leads. They named the Berlin Crawl and Skull Crossings while surveying 220 feet of passage. They finished all of the leads from the Zerba Room. This brought the total survey in the Ghost Town area to 2,407 feet.

March/April 2006
During March and April of 2006, 17 survey trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave, including 9 trips to the Historic Section, 4 trips to the Club Room Section, 3 trips to the North Section, and 1 trip to the Southern Comfort Section. During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 4,757 feet or 0.9 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 280 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 119.83 to 120.73 miles. In addition to the survey trips, 2 work trips were taken; including 1 resurvey trip, where 132 feet of problem survey was resurveyed.
03/02/2006
Jason Walz, Dorte Wolfkuhler, & Andre Baumeister
Jason led a resurvey trip to the AQ survey in the Historic Section where they resurveyed 132 feet and named an area, “Bermuda Dreieck” (Bermuda Triangle), after the area in Germany where Dorte lives.

03/07/2006
Jason Walz, Bonny Armstrong, & Andy Armstrong
Jason led an evening trip to a pit along the edge of the Club Room. They named a climb-down the “Crafty Maneuver”, because it reminded them of a similar climb-down in Jewel Cave by the same name. They then rigged a 35-foot pit that Jason had found on an earlier trip along the VII survey and surveyed down, connecting to the Lower Level and the ST survey. If it weren’t for the vertical work, this would be a faster route to the ST survey than down the Boxwork Chimney. They surveyed 67 feet for the trip.

03/07/2006
Larry Shaffer, Sara Booth, & Eric Grenwald
Larry led a trip back to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section to continue pushing that area. They surveyed 189 feet and left a couple of small leads for a future trip.

Wind Cave Weekend 03/11/2006
Larry Shaffer, Mike Wiles, & Derek Wolfe
Larry led a trip to the Delusions of Grandeur area in the Southern Comfort Section. They surveyed a lead not on the map that provided some momentary excitement before it reconnected to known cave. They then surveyed into a dome complex for a days total of 497 feet.

Marc Ohms, Randy Macan, & Rob McFarland
Marc led a trip back to the EX survey in the North Section. They spent most of the day surveying some crawls found at the top of a dome at EX4. They surveyed 522 feet and exited the cave via the Snake Pit Entrance. They wrapped up this area, declaring it finished.

Amy Bern, Jeff Goben, & Andrew Blackstock
Amy led a trip to the Pail of Fill area in the North Section. Entering through the Snake Pit Entrance, they surveyed several nasty leads for 207 feet and extended the length of the webbing on the breakdown climb on the Pink Trail. They then exited the cave via the elevator.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Eric Dutton & Evan Blackstock
Jim led a trip to the Multipurpose Room in the Club Room Section. They surveyed several leads for 595 feet, leaving several others for a future trip.

Jason Walz, Ben Tobin, & Christiane Grebe
Jason led a survey trip to the Lower Level in the Club Room Section. They named a tight fissure Schmale Kluft (Tight Fissure) and surveyed several passages for a total of 305 feet.

Mike Hanson, Dave Springhetti, & Maurita Kaufman
Mike led a photo trip to the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section to continue his stereo pair photo project. He is trying to recreate all the historic stereo photos taken in the cave during the 1890’s.

Rod Horrocks, Ken Geu, & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip to the No Don’t Stop area (NB survey) in the Historic Section in order to push leads along the edge of the cave. They surveyed three nasty leads, one that had air, on the very northeastern edge of the cave, before retreating to the Red Clay Room. There, they found a route down through the breakdown into a small room underneath the Red Clay Room, where they surveyed a hundred feet of new cave. For the day, they surveyed 276 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.

03/21/2006
Jason Walz, Peggy Renwick, & Ben Currens
Jason led a trip to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 159 feet and left good leads for a future trip.

03/24/2006
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a work trip to Calcite and What the Hell Lakes in the Lakes Section to check on water levels. They found that Calcite Lake was down a tenth of an inch.

04/04/2006
Jason Walz, Christian Levers, & Barbara Grunow
Jason led a trip to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section to continue pushing his leads from his last trip. They surveyed 95 feet in some crawlways and left a dome lead for his next trip.

04/04/2006
Jason Walz, Bonny Armstrong, & Eric Grunwald
Jason led an evening trip back to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section. He returned to his lead from earlier in the day and climbed the dome. They found a 20-foot diameter room they named Hotel Fairburn. The only way on was through a small hole that quickly reconnected to the TT’ survey. They surveyed 268 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/08/2006
Bonny Armstrong, Rene Ohms, & Larry Shaffer
Bonny led a trip to the PB survey in the North Section to check leads. They surveyed a passage at PB8 for 26 stations and 410 feet.

Jason Walz, Ian Shanklin, & Cherine Bashara
Jason led a trip to the ZC, LL, & ST surveys in the Lower Level of the Club Room Section. They pushed several leads for 423 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Erik Kurth, Duff McCafferty, & Ken Geu
Rod led a trip back to the NB survey in the Historic Section to continue checking his list of leads. They surveyed several domes and side passages off of the No Don’t Stop passage. In one that is heading towards a blank area, they found a skeleton of what looked like a wood rat. They left that lead and two other small crawls for a smaller survey party. They surveyed 372 feet for the day.

Ben Tobin & Heather Veerkamp
Ben led a trip to the Wall Street area in the Historic Section. They surveyed three short leads for a total of 94 feet. They also left some nasty leads for a future generation.

04/17/2006
Marc Ohms & Branden Johnson
Marc led a work trip to the Club Room to put some items in the rescue cache. He found the cache in good shape.

04/18/2006
Larry Shaffer & Sara Booth
Larry led an evening trip back to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 132 feet in some small leads in the Make Out Room area and left some other leads for a later trip.

04/18/2006
Jason Walz & Eric Grunwald
Jason led a trip back to the Ghost Town area in the Historic Section. They surveyed several small leads for 146 feet, leaving more leads for a future trip. This trip brought the total survey in the Ghost Town area to 3,396 feet.
January and February 2005
During January and February of 2005, 19 survey trips were taken into the off-trail portions of the following sections of Wind Cave: Historic (13 trips), Club Room (3 trips), North (2 trips), and Southern Comfort (1 trip). During these trips, and one lake monitoring trip were some survey was also completed, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 7,683 feet or 1.45 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 399 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 113.65 to 115.10 miles. With the additional survey obtained during the January Wind Cave Weekend, Wind Cave passed Lechuguilla Cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park to become the fifth longest cave in the world. In addition to these survey trips, there were six resurvey trips to the Historic Section where 1,112 feet of problem surveys were resurveyed and one trip to the Lakes to check on the lake levels.
01/04/2005
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, & Matt Busch
Jason led a survey trip to the Historic Section to survey leads off the NK survey. They found an area with hundreds of bat scratches while surveying 150 feet.

Jason Walz, Ben Tobin, & Heather Veerkamp
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Kilroy’s Bridge area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 41 feet.

Ben Tobin, Andrea Croskrey, Ryan Sprouse, & Ben Hutchins
Ben led a survey trip to the Star Cafe area in the Historic Section to push leads. They surveyed several small leads for 120 feet.

01/05/2005
Jason Walz, Heather Veercamp, & Andrea Croskrey
Jason led a resurvey trip to the Wall Street area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 298 feet and found several leads for a later trip.

Ben Tobin, Ben Hutchins, Carrie Musick
Ben led a resurvey trip back to the Kilroy’s Bridge area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 146 feet and found leads for a future trip.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/08/2005
Ben Tobin, Andrea Croskrey, Carrie Musick
Ben led a group of Kentucky cavers back to the Wall Street area in the Historic Section. They named one junction the Chocolate Sprinkle Junction after the wood rat pellets scattered around the area. That lead eventually connected to the bottom of Quicksilver Pit (the NM4 survey). They mapped 460 feet for the day, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a survey trip to the House of the Fallen Snurd area in the North Section. They surveyed several leads in the area for a total of 832 feet. They discovered a small helictite bush of about 10 inches high.

Jason Walz, Ben Hutchins, & Sara Booth
Jason led a survey trip to the Base Camp area in the Club Room Section to continue pushing lower level leads. They surveyed 633 feet, including a 77-foot shot, and left a few leads to return to.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, & Greg Glazner
Jim led a survey trip back to the new area he discovered in December in the Historic Section off of the Elbow Room (the VW survey). He finished up the gnarly area, mapping 394 feet in the process.

Rod Horrocks, Ryan Sprouse, Ben Shouse, and Duff McCafferty
Accompanied by a reporter from the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls named Ben Shouse, Rod led a trip to the E’ survey in the Historic Section to continue pushing leads off of that route. They surveyed 378 feet, essentially finishing up the area in the process.

01/18/2005
Rod Horrocks, Alexis Brooks, Ari Juhala, and Amy Juhala
Rod led a trip to finish resurveying the G survey in the Historic Section. They named a couple of unnamed rooms the Globe Theater and Dusty Bottoms while resurveying 141 feet of the G survey and mapping an additional 233 feet of associated passages.

Jason Walz & Larry Shaffer
Jason led a survey trip to continue pushing leads off of the NK survey in the Historic Section. They found some blast rubble from trail construction activities and an old unused survey designation (Z survey) while mapping 242 feet. They left several leads to return to.

01/26/2005
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a resurvey trip to the NP survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 164 feet while adding 40 feet of new survey.

02/1/2005
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, & Steve Baldwin
Rod led a survey trip to the Garden of Eden area in the Historic Section to continue pushing leads where the trio had left off on their last trip to the area (February of 04). They mapped a parallel passage at GE3 for seven shots, leaving a tight bellycrawl that doubled back over the Garden of Eden. They mapped 148 feet for the evening.

02/01/2005
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, & Vickie Siegel
Jason led a survey trip to the Suburbia area in the Club Room Section where they pushed the western edge of that lower level cave while surveying 630 feet.

02/03/2005
Marc Ohms, Larry Shaffer, & Jason Walz
Marc led a trip to the Lakes in the Lakes Section to check on the level of Calcite Lake. He found that the lake was down 1.1 feet since the December trip. While in the area, they also surveyed 96 feet off of the NO survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/12/2005
Marc Ohms, Rene Ohms, & Larry Shaffer
Marc led a trip back to the House of the Fallen Snurd in the North Section to continue surveying the leads in that area. They discovered a new area where they left numerous leads to return to on a future trip. They surveyed 720 feet.

Jason Walz, Tim Moreland, & Sara Booth
Jason led a trip back to the Base Camp area in the Club Room Section to continue pushing lower level leads. They surveyed 688 feet, leaving leads to return to on a future trip.

Carl Bern, Mike Wiles, & Peggy Renwick
Carl led a trip through the Skinner in the Southern Comfort Section to continue pushing that area. They found a lead on the edge of the cave that blew significantly but was a little too tight. They mapped 221 feet before finding a lead that kept going at the end of the day.

Christa Schneider, Jeff Goben, Beth Carbone, & Rick Speaect
Christa led a trip to the Colorado Grotto Section to push the Mud Flats area near Red Crystal Canyon. They surveyed 239 feet, essentially finishing the area.

Karla Whittenburg, Kim McVey, Tomas Dawson, & Dan Wray
Karla led a trip to the Fireball Hall area in the Historic Section to push leads. They mapped 114 feet.

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, & Howard Bartlet
Jim led a trip to the Elbow Room in the Historic Section to continue pushing that area. They surveyed some previously scooped passages for 475 feet, leaving a few leads to return too.

Rod Horrocks, Eric Kurth, and Dean Faust
Rod led a couple of Paha Sapa Grotto cavers on a survey training trip to the Quicksilver Pit area to wrap up some leads he had left from an evening trip four years previous. They surveyed 242 feet and left a couple of small leads for a future trip.

02/15/2005
Jason Walz & Larry Shaffer
Jason led a trip back to the NK survey in the Historic Section to continue pushing that area. They found some heavily trafficked passages with evidence of historic digging. In one relatively pristine lead, they found a room with a deep fissure pit that went down to lower level cave that is located just north of the Monument Hall area. They surveyed 323 feet for the day, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, Steve Baldwin, & Alexis Brooks
Rod led an evening trip back to the Garden of Eden area in the Historic Section to push the dome leads they found on their first trip in February. They documented an Alvin and Elmer McDonald signature in the previously unsurveyed Cathedral Dome. Surveying a 45-foot shot up another dome in the Garden of Eden, they surveyed the highest point in the whole area outside of Plummer’s Pit. They surveyed a total of 305 feet while leaving a few leads for a future trip.

02/28/2005
Jason Walz & Larry Shaffer
Jason led a resurvey trip to the NP and NF areas in the western part of the Historic Section. They resurveyed the worst loop in the cave and a room located near the Guide’s Discovery, naming it the Land Bridge after a 15-foot long natural bridge in the middle of the room. They resurveyed 322 feet for the day.

March and April 2005
March and April of 2005 saw 6,143 feet (1.16 miles) of new survey added to Wind Cave, raising the total survey from 115.10 to 116.26 miles. There also was 1,103 feet resurveyed due to data problems with the former surveys.
03/01/2005
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, & Chris Dale
Jason Walz led Larry Shaffer and Chris Dale to the NK survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 434 feet of popcorn lined passage. They named one room the Popcorn Ranch and another the Holding Tank.

Rod Horrocks & Alexis Brooks
Rod Horrocks led Alexis Brooks to the CU survey near the Roman Catacombs in the Historic Section. They surveyed 410 feet, in which 210 feet was resurvey to correct loop closure problems.

Rod Horrocks, Dan and Tonia Foster
Later that day Rod Horrocks led another trip with Dan and Tonia Foster to the Apian Way in the Historic Section. They surveyed 90 feet.

03/12/2005 Wind Cave Weekend
Rod Horrocks, Sara Booth, Duff McCafferty, & Eric Kurth
Rod Horrocks led Sara Booth, Duff McCafferty, and Eric Kurth to the Lost Carbide Fissure in the Historic Section. They surveyed 277 feet off of the ZF and CT’ surveys and named one moonmilk lined passage the Moondrift Crawl.

Marc and Rene Ohms, & Larry Shaffer
Marc Ohms led Rene Ohms and Larry Shaffer back to the EX survey near the House of the Fallen Snurd in the North Section. They surveyed 925 feet and lefts plenty of leads to return to.

Jason Walz, Peggy Renwick, & Chris Amidon
Jason Walz led Peggy Renwick and Chris Amidon to the area of Petey’s Puddle in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 561 feet off of the CC survey and named one thinly false-floored passage the Catwalk.

03/15/2005
Rod Horrocks & Alexis Brooks
Rod Horrocks led Alexis Brooks to the Roman Catacombs in the Historic Section. They surveyed 273 feet off of the CU survey and found a crawl lined with cobbles that connected to the Garden of Eden Tour Route.

03/16/2005
Marc Ohms & Jashon Walz
Marc Ohms led Jason Walz to Room Draculum in the Historic Section to finish resurveying the NP survey from there to the Cataract Room for a total of 367 feet.

03/17/2005
March Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc Ohms led Jason Walz in through the Snake Pit entrance to the Chimera Room and then out of the cave via the pink trail to the elevator. They flagged the route from the Snake Pit to the Chimera Room with pink flagging. They discovered mountain lion scat in the Snake Pit Entrance.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/09/2005
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Dan Bryce, & Skip Withrow
Jim Wilson led Tim Moreland, Dan Bryce, and Skip Withrow to the Lackagluten Room in the Historic Section. They surveyed 510 feet off of the PV survey and named a passage that went up for a ways, mostly in paleofill, the Jenga Tower.

Mike Hanson, Cory Wagner, & Dave Springhetti
Mike Hanson led Cory Wagner and Dave Springhetti along the Candlelight Tour to continue working on retaking of old stereo photographs.

Rod Horrocks, Sara Booth, Eric Kurth, & Duff McCafferty
Rod Horrocks led Sara Booth, Eric Kurth, and Duff McCafferty to the Chamber de Norcutt in the Historic Section. They surveyed 715 feet off of the IU survey and named passages the Looking Glass Fissure, Mirror Fissure, and The Big Fish.

Larry Shaffer, Rene Ohms, & Dean Faust
Larry Shaffer led Rene Ohms and Dean Faust into the Snake Pit Entrance to the WT survey in the North Section. They surveyed 480 feet. Dean states from his experience that 6’4” is the tallest you can be to make it through the Snake Pit.

Amy Bern, Barbara Smith, Marty Morey, & Richard Dieter
Amy Bern led Barbara Smith, Marty Morey, and Richard Dieter in through the Snake Pit Entrance to the Pail-of-Fill in the North Section. They surveyed 206 feet off of the LQ survey.

Jason Walz, Dan and Sean Foster, & Peggy Renwick
Jason Walz led Dan and Sean Foster and Peggy Renwick to the Petey’s Puddle area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 741 feet off of the DA, CC, DE, and LL surveys.

04/14/2005
Peggy Renwick, Marc Ohms, & Jason Walz
Peggy Renwick led Marc Ohms and Jason Walz to the Basement in the Historic Section to resurvey the A and UX surveys. They resurveyed 362 feet replacing both surveys with the continuation of the NF survey.

04/19/2005
Jason Walz, Larry Shaffer, Sara Booth, & Chris Dale
Jason Walz led Larry Shaffer, Sara Booth, and Chris Dale to the Basement in the Historic Section. They surveyed 586 feet and left many leads.

Rod Horrocks & Alexis Brooks
Rod Horrocks led Alexis Brooks to the RSV Trail in the Historic Section where they surveyed 145 feet.

04/26/2005
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc Ohms led Jason Walz to the Juice Room in the Historic Section to resurvey the numerous tie-ins throughout the room. They resurveyed 164 feet and removed some redundant survey.

May and June 2005
During May and June of 2005, 13 survey trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave, including ten trips to the Historic and three trips to the North Sections. During these trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 3,051 feet or 0.57 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 234 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 116.26 to 116.83 miles. In addition to these survey trips, there were two works trips; one research trip and one resurvey trip to the Historic Section, where 104 feet of problem survey was resurveyed.
05/02/2005
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a trip to lower level cave in the Club Room Section to collect a sample of the “pink stuff on moonmilk” found by Jason Walz. The sample is being examined for DNA by Dr. John Moore at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

05/03/2005
Chris Amidon & Ajax (B. Dalman)
Chris led a survey trip back to the QC survey in the Historic Section to finish a lead from an earlier trip. They named several things, including Something Crunchy, Doorway to Delights, and Just Say No to Crack; while surveying 282 feet.

05/03/2005
Larry Shaffer, Jason Walz, & Sara Booth
Larry led a survey trip to continue the NF survey in the Historic Section. While surveying, Jason rediscovered a lead that went into a large blank area on the map between the Historic and North Sections. The strange thing, is that the passage had survey in it but the survey is not used nor does the park have any record of it. They named one sandy-floored room along this route the Make-out Room. They surveyed 535 feet and left numerous leads for another trip.

Wind Cave Weekend 05/14/2005
Tim Moreland, Rick Speaect, & Mary Klaus
Tim led a survey trip to the GR survey in the North Section to push leads. They surveyed a couple of leads for 227 feet.

Sandy Kramer & Mary Laycock
Sandy led a trip to check side leads along the Natural Entrance Tour Route. They surveyed 140 feet of gnarly tight cave.

Rod Horrocks, Duff McCafferty, & Melissa Johnston
Rod led a survey trip to the old BG survey in the Historic Section. After not being able to find any of the old stations, they resurveyed 104 feet of the BG and then 240 feet of side passages off of those new stations, leaving many leads for a future trip.

05/17/2005
Rod Horrocks, Ajax (B. Dalman), & Vickie Siegel
Rod led a survey trip back to the BG area in the Historic Section to survey some of the side leads they found on their last trip. They mapped 350 feet in an incredibly complex area made up of four interconnected parallel fissures. They left numerous leads for a future trip.

06/07/2005
Larry Shaffer, Vickie Siegel, & Ajax (B. Dalman)
Larry led a survey trip to some leads off of the PK survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed in a swiss-cheese type of maze, finishing with 185 feet of survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/11/2005
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led a trip in the Historic Section to attempt to push the UK survey, due to the lack of side leads in that area. They surveyed a few small leads for 231 feet, leaving one tight fissure lead for the next generation.

Marc & Rene Ohms
After getting rained out of a Snake Pit Entrance trip, Marc led a survey trip to the NP survey area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 426 feet and left several leads for a future trip.

Rod Horrocks, Melissa & Misty Johnston
Not being able to print a line plot (due to computer problems); Rod led a trip to an area he knew well enough not to need one, Room Draculum in the Historic Section. They pushed the north and west walls of the room, finding some pretty formations and then a small area underneath a calcified, sediment-covered breakdown block. They surveyed 100 feet and left a good pit lead along the west wall for a later trip.

Sandy Kramer & Pat Jablonsky
Sandy led a trip to check leads off of the Rookery along the Natural Entrance Tour Route. They checked several leads but didn’t survey anything.

06/21/2005
Marc Ohms, Andy & Bonny Armstrong, Jenny Whitby
Marc led a survey trip back to the leads he left from the 6/11/2005 trip to the NP survey in the Historic Section. They mopped up 139 feet and left a few leads for another trip.

06/21/2005
Larry Shaffer, Gary Whitby, & Darren Dowler
Larry led a trip to the Santa’s Frosted Forest area via the Snake Pit Entrance. They checked all of the leads in the first two rooms while surveying a total of 196 feet.
January and February 2004
During January and February of 2004, 15 survey trips and one lake monitoring trip were taken into the Historic, North, Half Mile Hall, Club Room, Southern Comfort, Colorado Grotto, and Lakes Sections of Wind Cave. During the survey trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 4,084 feet, or 0.77 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 280 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 109.56 to 110.33 miles. With this additional survey, Wind Cave remains the 4th longest cave in the US and the 6th longest cave in the world.
01/06/2004
Steve Baldwin, Rod Horrocks, & John Scheltens
Steve led this evening trip to the eastern edge of the cave to push leads off the US survey in the Historic Section. They mopped up 137 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/10/2004
Amy Bern, Andy & Joanna Poczobutt
Amy led a trip to push leads off the KN survey in the North Section. They surveyed 308 feet in a couple of leads, leaving a few leads to return to on a future trip.

Christa Schneider, Karla Whittenburg, & Teresa Nowak
Christa led this trip to the Colorado Grotto Section. They surveyed one passage into a blank area of the map, but were stopped by a tight squeeze. They surveyed 227 feet, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Carl Bern, Jeff Goben, & Derek Wolfe
Carl led this trip to push leads off the Skinner in the Southern Comfort Section. While recovering a tape that they had previously dropped down a narrow slot, they rediscovered a lead they had forgotten about. While surveying this, they found a small room with many leads for their next trip. They surveyed 271 feet in this new area.

Randy Macan, Mark Rosbrook, Bruce White, & James Lawton
Randy led a trip to the BX survey off the green trail in the Half Mile Hall Section. They finished surveying one room and mopped up several fissures for 580 feet of survey.

Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty, & Pat Jablonsky
Sandy led this trip to finish mopping up leads off the Model Room on the Natural Entrance Tour Route. They mapped 48 feet.

Rod Horrocks & Jay Kennedy
Rod led this trip to push the Cataract Balcony area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 350 feet, naming a passage RSV Trail, since they both had hacking coughs and Jay had recently been exposed to RSV on the Indian Reservation. They left some leads to return to.

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Greg Glazner, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led this trip back to the Puzzlement Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 700 feet, leaving many leads to return to in this complex area.

02/03/2004
Rod Horrocks, Bjoern Zindler, & Alexis Brooks
Rod led an afternoon trip to resurvey a passage that had no recoverable stations or any sketch in the Cataract Balcony area in the Historic Section. In the process, they closed several loops and mopped up a few leads, resurveying a total of 116 feet and adding 151 feet of new survey. They left a few leads for their next trip to the area.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/14/2004
Jim Wilson, Peter Knoll, & Tim Moreland
Jim led a trip back to the Puzzlement Room area in the Historic Section to continue pushing numerous leads left from his previous trip. They were able to survey 222 feet in some pretty gnarly passage.

Derek Wolfe, Dan Mottinger, & Donna Swigert
Leading his first trip in Wind Cave, Derek took some cavers on their first Wind Cave trip to the Loose Cannon Run area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 384 feet and named one room the Foul Spark Plug.

Marc & Rene Ohms
Marc led a trip to the Cakewalk area in the Historic Section to push the eastern edge of the cave. They surveyed 300 feet in several small leads and left several leads for a future trip.

Tom Dotter, Carey Hunter, & Kim McVey
Tom led a trip to push leads off the UQ survey in the Historic Section, but were forced to abandoned the trip when part of the group couldn’t fit through a tight squeeze.

Rod Horrocks & Jay Kennedy
Rod led a trip to mop up leads in the Mock October Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed three leads for 69 feet, but had to abandon the trip when Jay started feeling poorly.

02/17/2004
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, Steve Baldwin, & Vickie Siegel
Rod led an evening trip to the eastern edge of the Garden of Eden area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 287 feet while surveying a dome and a loop. They found some spectacular Van Gogh weathering and left several leads to return to.

02/18/2004
Marc Ohms, John Keefner, & Bjoern Zindler
Marc Ohms led a trip to What the Hell in the Lakes Section to check on the lake level. He found that the lake level had dropped .02 of a foot during the previous three months.

March and April 2004
During March and April of 2004, 13 survey trips and one photography trip were taken into the Historic, Colorado Grotto, North, Half Mile Hall, and Southern Comfort Sections of Wind Cave. During these survey trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 3,244.69 feet, or 0.61 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 249 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 110.33 to 110.94 miles.
03/04/2004
Rod Horrocks & Alexis Brooks
Rod led this trip to the Roman Candle Room area in the Historic Section to re-survey some bad loops and mop up several leads. They surveyed a total of 188.7 feet in the leads.

03/11/2004
Rod Horrocks, Jay Kennedy, & Alexis Brooks
Rod led this group back to the Roman Candle Room area to finish the remaining leads and to correct some loop closures off of the CW survey. A total of 198 feet was surveyed in the leads, bringing the total survey in this area to 3,333 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend 03/13/2004
Christa Schneider, Beth Duda, & Jeff Goben
Christa led a trip to the Independence Hall area in the Colorado Grotto Section. They mopped up a few leads and left several for their next trip. They surveyed 229 feet.

Amy Bern, Joe Fass, Rick Brinkman, & Barbara Smith
Amy led a trip to the North Section, mopping up leads left on the LH survey in January. All known leads in this area are now surveyed. They surveyed 314.35 feet.

Randy Macan, Robert Watson, & McFarland
Randy led this trip to the Wind Gate area in the Half Mile Hall Section, surveying a total of 514.1 feet. The group found gypsum flowers off of the Green Trail. A sharpie pen was dropped and is waiting to be found by the next survey team. They left lots of leads to return to along the Green Trail.

Derek Wolfe, Carl Bern, Andy Poczobutt, & Mike Wiles
Derek led a trip into the Southern Comfort Section. This self-proclaimed uneventful trip surveyed a total of 276.15 feet after a 4.5 hour journey to their first station. The majority of the survey was through tight breakdown and paleo-fill passageways.

Tracy Copp, Karla Whittenburg, & Kim McVey
Tracy led a trip following the Candlelight Tour to the PGB survey in the Historic Section. They found many fragile areas with gypsum splatters on the floor as well as gypsum cotton, hair, and needles. One of these gypsum cotton formations, which was approximately 4” wide and 1” long with needles of varying lengths extending in all directions, was named Methuselah’s Beard. They surveyed a total of 254.65 feet.

Jim Wilson, Jess Gribble, & Dave Gribble
Jim led a trip to the Puzzlement Room area in the Historic Section. Jess and Dave were new to surveying, but the group was still able to add 193.1 feet to the cave. Significant amounts of moonmilk and aragonite were found in this area. Unfortunately the majority of the leads didn’t go far; with others that may continue but are too fragile to push. A few leads remain in this area.

Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty, & Pat Jablonsky
Sandy led this trip to the Model Room in the Historic Section. Many of their leads had already been surveyed, although they did find a small pile of bones near a lead off of the Methodist Church. The bones seem to have been from two large rodents? A total of 58.86 feet were surveyed.

Marc & Rene Ohms
Marc led this trip, surveying 450 feet along the DL and AT surveys in the Dreamland area on the east edge of the Historic Section. Leads are few and grim in this area of the cave.

Mary Laycock, Sandy Kramer & Kathy Petty
Mary led a photography trip on the Columbian Hall Route in the Historic Section.

03/17/2004
Rod Horrocks, Jay Kennedy, & Alexis Brooks
Rod led this evening trip through the Post Office Room to Room Draculum and then on to the Mock October Room area in the Historic Section. Heading northwest, they found and named the Stop-And-Go Tube, named so because the passage kept looking as if it was about to end, only to continue time and again. A lot of paleofill and chert were found. This survey mapped 235.38 feet.

04/06/2004
Rod Horrocks, Alexis Brooks & Vickie Siegel
Rod led this evening trip to the Mock October Room area. They mopped up some of the leads they had left on their last trip; this time finding a large manganese deposit they named the Manganese Stop. A total of 128.5 feet were surveyed.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/10/2004
Jim Wilson, Barb Smith and Skip Withrow
Jim led this trip to the Puzzlement Room area in the Historic Section, where they mopped up leftover leads from their previous trip. They found many promising leads off of the AIV survey, which they saved for their next trip. They surveyed a total of 203.9 feet.

May and June 2004
During May and June of 2004, seven survey, three resurvey, and one lake monitoring trips were taken into the Historic, Southern Comfort, and Lakes Sections of Wind Cave. During the survey trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 2,087.24 feet, or 0.39 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 298 feet per survey. This new survey raised the length of Wind Cave from 110.94 to 111.33 miles. During the resurvey trips, a total of 676 feet of problem surveys were redone.
Wind Cave Weekend 05/08/2004
Carl Bern, Andy Poczobutt, & Mike Wiles
Carl led this trip to the Gypsy Road area in the Southern Comfort Section. They found and named the Paper Mill, a room containing an interesting speleogen which resembles boxwork but is flexible. They surveyed 338.4 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Chris Amidon, & Reno Lippold
Rod led this trip to the Twilight Zone area in the Historic Section. They found a 25-foot diameter room that they named Fill-In-the-Blank Room and surveyed a total of 261.30 feet, leaving several leads for a future trip.

Chris Amidon, Ajax ( B.Dalman), & Chris Wonderly
Chris Amidon led this trip to the 5,4,3,2,1 Contact Room area along the E survey in the Historic Section. This survey trip was a learning session, as Ajax and Wonderly were learning to use instruments and Amidon was sketching for the first time. A total of 50.85 feet were surveyed.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/12/2004
Chris Amidon, Sarah Petite, & Ajax (B. Dalman)
Chris led this trip back to the 5,4,3,2,1 Contact Room area in the Historic Section. They found a beautiful dome with wet formations, stalactites, ribbons, soda straws, and flowstone and named it the Ice Rink. Many good leads were left for the next trip. A total of 139.55 feet were surveyed.

Rod Horrocks, Dave Tibbets, Bernice Piper, & Peggy Renwick
Rod led some of the Black Hills Restoration Camp folks to the Back Room in the Historic Section, an area that hasn’t seen any survey for decades. They were able to find virgin cave after crawling down a small pit near H6. A total of 566 feet were surveyed and some good leads were left for a later trip.

06/15/2004
Rod Horrocks, Seth Spoelman, Jason Walz & Kali Pace-Graczyk
Rod led this evening trip to the White Coral Room area in the Historic Section to tie up some leads off of the UQ survey. One lead was left when they ran out of time and had to leave the cave. A total of 370.09 feet were surveyed.

06/15/2004
Chris Amidon, Sarah Petite, Ajax (B. Dalman), & Vickie Siegel
Chris led this trip back to the 5,4,3,2,1 Contact Room area in the Historic Section. They named a tight squeeze the Grade D Crawl after the not-so-good-for-you grade D meat. Another passage was named Charlies First Born after the same rock gave the majority of the team charlie horses. A dome was also named, Booby Trap Dome, because of the large hanging chert blocks, waiting to fall on the top edge of the climb. A total of 361.05 feet were surveyed.

06/16/2004
Marc Ohms, Kali Pace-Graczyk, Jason Walz & Seth Speolman
Marc led this trip through the Fairgrounds Tour to the AX survey in the Historic Section to resurvey some poor data. They resurveyed 137.33 feet.

06/17/2004
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz & Kali Pace-Graczyk
Marc led this trip to the UC survey past the Caving Tour in the Historic Section. They resurveyed UB1-5 to replace poor data. They resurveyed 85.25 feet.

06/18/2004
Marc Ohms, Jason Walz, Seth Spoelman, & Kali Pace-Graczyk
Marc led this trip to Beacon Street in the Historic Section. They resurveyed the NY survey to replace poor data. They resurveyed 454 feet.

06/21/2004
Marc Ohms, Kali Pace-Graczyk, Sarah Petite, & Vickie Siegel
Marc led this trip to check on the lake level of What the Hell. They found that it had dropped 0.03’ since February.
January and February 2003
During January and February of 2003, 18 survey trips were taken into the Historic, North, Half Mile Hall, Southern Comfort, and Colorado Grotto Sections of Wind Cave. During those trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 4,504 feet, or 0.85 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 250 feet per survey. An additional 225 feet from a problem survey was resurveyed. Other off-trail trips included 4 work trips. The new survey raised the official length of Wind Cave from 106.66 to 107.51 miles.
01/01/2003
Rod Horrocks, Laura Baker & Peter Hauser
Rod led this survey training trip to the Room Draculum area in the Historic Section. After mopping up a couple side leads off of the room, they climbed up into the Mock October Room area and mapped several parallel fissures that extend out over the Cataract Room and Room Draculum, with several unclimbable connections to the roofs of those lower rooms. They mapped 258 feet.

01/04/2003
Randy Macan, Patricia Malone, Mike Frazier, & Jim Lawton
Randy led a trip out to the Hard Hat Zone in the Half Mile Hall Section. They surveyed several modest discoveries for 543 feet.

01/08/2003
Marc Ohms & Seth Spoelman
Marc led a work trip to restock the water bottles in the rescue caches at the Club Room and Half Mile Hall caches.

01/23/2003
Marc Ohms, Matt Reece, Barry Oost, and Ryan Brown
Marc led a work trip to restock some supplies at the Club Room rescue cache.

01/10/2003
Rod Horrocks, Barry Oost, & Ryan Brown
Rod led an evening trip to the Mock October Room area in the Historic Section to continue pushing the parallel fissures he found on the 1st. They found several small virgin areas while mapping 157 feet. At the top of one dome above Room Draculum, they found an upper level passage with strange "bathtub rings", marking old pool levels that were higher than the spill over point? The Mock October Room area now has a total survey of 1,305 feet with numerous leads remaining.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/11/2003
Carl Bern, Mike Wiles, & Derek Wolfe
Carl led a trip to the Blind Faith area in the Southern Comfort Section to push their Rio Colorado lead. After donning a Tyvek suit, aqua socks, and clean gloves, Derek crossed the beautifully decorated area and determined that the lead "ended" in a dome that would be dangerous to climb. They surveyed 124 feet in another lead and then found something to survey on their next trip near Silent Struggle.

Kathy Petty, Sandy Kramer, & Bonnie Curnock
Kathy led a trip to the Giants Stone Quarry area along the Natural Entrance Tour Route to mop up some unsurveyed leads off the main trail. They surveyed 121 feet.

Jim Wilson, Marc & Rene Ohms
Jim led a trip back to his Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section. They found a lot of mud and some nice formations while surveying 423 feet.

01/25/2003
Rod Horrocks & Jay Kennedy
Rod led a trip back to the Mock October Room area in the Historic Section. However, after 53 feet of survey, the trip had to be called when Jay felt flu symptoms coming on.

01/29/2003
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, & Steve Baldwin
Rod led an evening survey to the Attic Area in the Historic Section. They surveyed a virgin dome area and then mopped up several scooped side passages for a total of 443 feet.

02/06/2003
Matt Reece, Barry Oost, Ari Juhala, & Bonnie Curnock
Matt led a work trip to check on the level of What the Hell lake. He found that it had dropped .04 inches.

Marc Ohms & Seth Spoelman
Marc led Seth on a work trip to collect some sediment samples for Dr. John Moore along the Bishop Fowlers Loop.

02/07/2003
Rod Horrocks, Seth Spoelman, Josh Hodorff, B.J. Archambeau
Rod led an evening trip to the Amphitheater Room area in the Historic Section to teach a couple potential cavers how to survey. They surveyed one virgin dome and mopped up several small passages for 219 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/08/2003
Amy Bern, Dough Pflugh, & Tracy Copp
Amy led a trip to the Ton 80 Room area in the North Section to mop up the remaining leads. They surveyed 71 feet.

Jim Wilson, Greg Glazner, & Seth Spoelman
Jim led a trip to the Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section. They mapped a complex section of muddy virgin passages for a total of 332 feet. During the survey, Seth found a deep pit with numerous leads that appeared to drop into the lower level. Due to a tight entrance into this discovery, Seth decided to come back the next week with a group of really thin lead pushers.

Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty, & Bonnie Curnock
Sandy led a trip back to the Giants Stone Quarry area along the Natural Entrance Tour Route. They mapped an additional 162 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Jay Kennedy, & Dan Wray
Rod led a trip into the Amphitheater area in the Historic Section. After surveying some balcony passages along the perimeter of the room, their survey passed numerous good leads before finally connecting with the Red Clay Room. Going to the extreme northeast edge of the cave, they then found a virgin bellycrawl that they were able to enter after moving a rock aside. Unfortunately, it ended after a small room and 40 feet of survey. They mapped a total of 499 feet for the day.

Karla Whittenburg, Theresa Nowak, & Jamie Brocklehurst
Karla led a trip to the Dragons Lair area in the Colorado Grotto Section. Although they checked several leads they didn't survey anything.

02/09/2003
Marc & Rene Ohms, & Matt Reece
Marc led this trip out to an area north of the Chimera Room in the North Section. They surveyed a few leads for 350 feet.

02/16/2003
Marc & Rene Ohms & Seth Spoelman
Seth took the group back to his discovery from the previous weekend in the Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed through the tight spot and into a pit that led down to some lower level walking passages. They surveyed 512 feet of virgin cave, leaving some good leads for a future trip.

02/22/2003
Rod Horrocks, Seth Spoelman, John Scheltens, & Steve Baldwin
Rod led an evening trip back to the dome he had found in the Attic in the Historic Section on January 29th. The group had high hopes that the lead would head eastward, out over the lower level cave along the eastern edge of the cave. The lead corkscrewed up for 60-vertical feet, where they found an Alvin McDonald signature in the corrosion residue dated June 30th 1892. They found no evidence that any one had been back since that discovery trip. After surveying some upper level passages, they moved a rock aside in a crawl, and squeezed into an area that John Stabler had first explored off of Lonely Place in 1895. However, they were unable to connect with the Lonely Place survey due to a tight constriction. They surveyed 237 feet for the evening.

02/27/2003
Marc Ohms & Seth Spoelman
Marc led a resurvey trip to the PGB survey off of the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 225 feet.

March and April 2003
March and April did not see a lot of activity in Wind Cave. Nine survey trips surveyed 2,450 feet bringing Wind Cave to over 108 miles in length.
03/05/2003
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin & John Scheltens
Rod led a trip to the Attic in the Historic Section. They surveyed 240 feet off of the AT survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 03/8/2003
Kathy Petty, Bonnie Curnock & Sandy Kramer
Kathy led to the area of the Giants Stone Quarry in the Historic Section. They surveyed 193 feet continuing the OX survey.

Jim Wilson, Seth Spoelman, Stuart Marlat, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led to the Kneebone area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 505 feet cleaning up several leads off of the TX survey.

Tom Dotter, Carey Hunter & Tish Gance
Tom led to the Yukon Trail in the Club Room in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 225 feet in several leads out of the ceiling and left more for next time.

03/11/2003
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin & John Scheltens
Rod led into the Historic Section to the AT survey, where they surveyed 294 feet.

04/08/2003
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin & John Scheltens
Rod led to the Attic in the Historic Section. They surveyed 112 feet off of the AT survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/12/2003
Rod Horrocks, Dan Wray & Tim Moreland
Rod led to the Amphitheater in the Historic Section. They surveyed 461 feet in several leads. They found a nest of black needle-like features hanging ½" down from the ceiling, some of the longer ones had web-like filaments connecting them.

04/15/2003
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin, Alexis Kumfur & John Scheltens
Rod led to the Attic in the Historic Section. They surveyed 220 feet near Plummer's Pit.

04/23/2003
Rod Horrocks, Steve Baldwin & John Scheltens
Rod led to the AT survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 200 feet and discovered a gypsum beard.
January/February 2002
There were eighteen survey trips during January and February. Most of which stayed in the Historic or Club Room sections, but a few ventured in the North and Colorado Grotto sections. A total of 6,356 feet (1.2 miles) of passages were added to the length Wind Cave.
01/02/2002
Rod Horrocks, Dave Fairfield, Aaron Munson, & Shawn Daley
Rod led the visiting Canadian cavers to the Dragon Room area in the Historic Section. Here they surveyed 389 feet and ended in a room Alvin McDonald named "Mound Builders Rest".

01/04/2002
Rod Horrocks, Dave Fairfield, Aaron Munson, & Shawn Daley
Rod led the visiting Canadian cavers to the Buffalo Gap area in the Club Room Section. Here they surveyed 596 feet off of the JF survey.

01/05/2002
John Scheltens, Dave Springhetti, Mike & Greg Hanson
John led this bunch to the bottom of the Boxwork Chimney to the DK survey in the Club Room Section. They attempted to retrieve a lost compass from 1979. They brought a compact TV camera to look into the hole where the compass is but they were unable to retrieve the compass. It remains lost. They surveyed 109 feet while in the area.

Marc Ohms & Noah Daniels
This duo headed east to the edge of the Historic Section. They surveyed 167 feet off of the DL survey and left a small lead with air.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/12/2002
Carl and Amy Bern, Ken Headrick, & Doug Pflugh
Carl led this crew on a survey trip to the FQ survey in the North Section. They surveyed 348 feet of gritty cave and estimated that there is probably two more trips worth of survey in this area.

Tim Moreland, Paul Fowler, & Mike Zawada
Tim led this survey trip to the Monolith Hall area in the Colorado Grotto Section. They surveyed 334 feet of canyon passage.

Jim Wilson, Barb Smith, & Ryan Butler
Jim led this trio into the Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 217 feet, finishing several leads.

Rod Horrocks, Nick Myers, & Chuck Iverson
Rod led this survey trip to the Boxwork Chimney area in the Club Room Section. They surveyed 608 feet and left a few leads to return to.

01/17/2002
Rod Horrocks & John Scheltens
This duo ventured into the Historic Section, near the Fairgrounds Tour to survey. They surveyed 164 feet along the AX and AW surveys.

01/18/2002
Marc Ohms, Shawn Larson, & Andy Thorstenson
Marc Ohms led this work trip to What the Hell in the Lakes Section to obtain the monthly water level. What the Hell lake did not fluctuate since December of 2001.

01/20/2002
Marc and Rene Ohms, & Brian Sakofsky
Marc led this survey trip to the Coke Room in the North Section. They surveyed 416 feet off of the KY survey, just north of the Coke Room. They started the IQ survey and left several leads for a return trip.

01/24/2002
Rod Horrocks, Belinda Fox, Nick Myers, & Billie O'Doan
Rod led this bunch to Brown's Canyon in the Historic Section. They surveyed 250 feet along the EV survey.

01/30/2002
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, & Steve Baldwin
Rod led the trio on a survey trip to Brown's Canyon in the Historic Section. They surveyed 260 feet of mop-up along the TT survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/09/2002
Marc Ohms, Brian Sakofsky, & Mike Wiles
Marc led this survey trip to return to the IQ survey near the Coke Room in the North Section. They surveyed 572 feet and left several leads for a return trip.

Tim Moreland, Mike Zawada, Doug Pflugh, & Paul Fowler
Tim led this survey trip to the Monolith Hall area in the Colorado Grotto Section. Here they surveyed 546 feet of mostly high narrow canyons.

Rod Horrocks, Dustin Kindred, & Rob Damuth
Rod led this survey trip to the UEA survey in the Historic Section. They surveyed 472 feet of sandy crawls and named the area the Sand Trap.

Greg Glazner, Jim Wilson, Matt Harwood, & Ryan Butler
Greg led this survey trip into the Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 266 feet of tight crawls.

02/21/2002
Rod Horrocks, Nick Myers, & Belinda Fox
Rod led this survey trip to the Room Draculum area in the Historic Section. Here they surveyed 262 feet and found flagging tape and a notebook believed to be left from the Rachael Cox rescue.

02/23/2002
Rod Horrocks, Dustin Kindred, & Rob Damuth
This trio returned to survey their leads they left in the Sand Trap area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 380 feet of sandy crawls, finishing the area.

March/April 2002
During March and April of 2002, 12 survey trips were taken into the Historic, North, Club Room, Lakes, Southern Comfort, and Half-Mile Hall Sections of Wind Cave. During those trips, cavers surveyed and inventoried a total of 5,586 feet, or 1.05 miles of passage, with an average survey length of 465 feet per survey. The new survey raised the official length of Wind Cave from 102.75 to 103.80 miles. In addition to the 12 survey trips into Wind Cave, two monitoring trips were led to What the Hell lake in the Lakes Section, a couple of recreation trips were taken, and Beaver Creek Cave was surveyed.
03/02/2002
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, & Steve Baldwin
Rod led an evening survey trip to the Dragon and Chert Room areas in the Historic Section. After pushing and surveying a small lead for 37 feet on the southeastern edge of the cave, they surveyed two crawls in a boneyard area in the Chert Room for a total of 120.2 feet.

03/05/2002
Rod Horrocks, Nick Myers, & Belinda Fox
Rod led an evening survey trip back to the Mock October Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed two of the 7 leads out of the room for a total of 349 feet. They found eight additional leads for a future trip.

03/25/2002
Marc & Rene Ohms, Scott & Monica Sievertsen, John ?, & Betsy ?
Marc led a recreation trip along the Club Room Loop. He took several multi-flash photos in the large section of the Club Room.

03/26/2002
Marc Ohms, Scott & Monica Sievertsen
Marc led a monitoring trip to What the Hell Lake in the Lakes Section. They found the lake had only dropped 0.04".

03/27/2002
Marc Ohms
Marc took advantage of the low flow stream levels in Beaver Creek to survey Beaver Creek Cave. The cave's surveyed length is 58 feet with a vertical relief of 22 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend 03/09/2002
Jim Wilson, Marjori Johnson, & Howard Bartlett
Jim led a trip to the Kneebone Room area in the Historic Section to mop up some leads. They surveyed 384 feet, leaving several good leads for a future trip.

Marc & Rene Ohms, Nick Myers, & Billie O'Doan
Marc led a trip to the Coke Room area in the North Section to continue the IQ survey. They found a nice formation area in an upper level passage. They surveyed 310 feet.

Rod Horrocks, Doug Werner, Mark Robin, & Kevin Nimmo
Rod led a day trip to some lower level cave at the bottom of the Boxwork Chimney in the Club Room Section. They found some nice gypsum starbursts while mopping up several canyons off of the MJ survey. They named one area Wiley Coyote Canyon and surveyed 687 feet.

03/13/2002
Rod Horrocks & John Scheltens
Rod led a two-hour evening trip to the Bachelor Quarters area in the Historic Section. They surveyed Alvin McDonald's 1893 route to the Fairgrounds, which he had called the Alpine Way. After surveying that fissure, they surveyed a middle level crawl out of the Council Chamber on the Candlelight Tour Route. They surveyed 215 feet.

03/30/2002
Carl Bern, Mike Wiles, Derek Wolfe, & Doug Pflugh
Carl led a trip to the Playground area in the Southern Comfort Section. They found some 2" gypsum flowers while surveying 314 feet of passage.

04/05/2002
Marc Ohms & Brad Phillips
Marc led Brad and four USFS employees on a recreation trip to the Bishop Fowler loop.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/13/2002
Evan Anderson, Stephanie Haderlie, Christopher Paue, & Derek Wolfe
Evan led a trip to the Elephant Trunk area in the Half-Mile Hall section. They surveyed a number of leads for 1,003 feet of survey.

Rod Horrocks, Dennis Laird, Darren Wells, & Stacy Tostrup
Rod led a trip to the Loose Screw Room area in the Club Room Section. After surveying a balcony over the Loose Screw Room, which they named Tosty Overlook, they surveyed down into a 40-foot deep, keyhole-shaped fissure they named Climbers Delight. Returning to the top of the keyhole fissure, they surveyed into a wide passage with calcified mud-cracked floors that opened into a 30-foot diameter room they named the Lander Room. They then surveyed down a canyon they named Boulder Canyon and into a complex breakdown maze. They surveyed 636 feet for the day and left numerous leads for a future trip.

04/18/2002
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, Steve Baldwin, & Jason Walz
Rod led an evening trip to some leads off the Council Chamber on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They surveyed a passage that entered a 60-foot diameter room that had been partially surveyed before. They named it the Golden Rope Room, referencing a 16" coiled gypsum rope and an 1895 newspaper with the title "Golden Days" on its front page. They surveyed 411 feet.

04/24/2002
Rod Horrocks, John Scheltens, Steve Baldwin, & Jason Walz
Rod led an evening trip to some leads off the Golden Rope Room in the Historic Section. They found an incredibly complex maze that they surveyed through, climbing 60 vertical feet in the process, to the MU survey. They then surveyed some wide side passages that connected into the Attic. They left numerous leads while surveying 545 feet; the most Rod had ever surveyed during an evening trip.

04/25/2002
Marc Ohms & Jason Walz
Marc led a monitoring trip to What the Hell lake in the Lakes Section. They found that for the first time the lake level hadn't changed from the previous month.

04/27/2002
Marc & Rene Ohms, & Jason Walz
Marc led a trip to the Coke Room area in the North Section to continue the IQ survey. They surveyed 612 feet in some typical upper middle level passages.
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!
01/03/2001
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.

01/05/2001
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.

01/10/2001
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.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/13/2002
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.

01/20/2001
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.

01/23/2001
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.

01/25/2001
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.

01/27/2001
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.

02/03/2001
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.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/10/2001
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.

02/15/2001
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.

02/18/2001
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.

02/20/2001
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.

02/24/2001
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.

02/28/2001
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.
03/04/2001
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.

Wind Cave Weekend 03/10/2001
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.

03/14/2001
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.

03/15/2001
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.

03/17/2001
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".

03/24/2001
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.

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.

03/26/2001
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.

03/29/2001
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.

03/31/2001
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.

04/10/2001
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.

04/11/2001
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.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/14/2001
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.

04/21/2001
Sandy Kramer and Kathy Petty
These two traveled along the Caving Tour to re-familiarize themselves with the route for the upcoming Restoration Camp.

04/26/2001
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.
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.
01/05/2000
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.

01/07/2000
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.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/08/2000
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.

01/12/2000
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.

01/19/2000
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.

01/21/2000
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.

01/29/2000
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.

01/21/2000
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.

01/22/2000
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.

01/27/2000
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.

01/29/2000
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.

01/30/2000
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.

02/04/2000
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.

02/08/2000
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.

02/09/2000
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.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/12/2000
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.

02/13/2000
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.

02/16/2000
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.

02/21/2000
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.

02/26/2000
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.
03/02/2000
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.

03/04/2000
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.

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.

03/07/2000
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.

03/08/2000
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 03/11/2000
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.

03/14/2000
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.

03/22/2000
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.

03/25/2000
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.

04/07/2000
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 04/8/2000
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.

04/11/2000
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.

04/16/2000
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.

04/23/2000
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.

04/24/2000
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.
January/February 1999
The start of 1999 saw a productive effort of survey and exploration concentrated in the Colorado Grotto and Historic Zones. There was 3,116.5 feet added to Wind Cave bringing it to 82.95 miles long.
01/01/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rodgers, and Derek Nelson
On the 1st of the year Marc Ohms led Rene Rogers and Derek Nelson into the Colorado Grotto zone to check for leads off of the EM and EMA surveys. They surveyed 154 feet and left low mud floored passage going with airflow.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/09/1999
January 9th was Wind Cave Weekend and several groups attended. However, due to the revolving door freezing shut nobody was able to enter the cave. The groups went to Reed’s Cave instead.
01/23/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, & Paul Burger
On the 23rd of January Marc Ohms led Rene Rogers and Paul Burger back into the Colorado Grotto Zone to continue exploration and survey of the passage found on the 1st (HO survey). They surveyed 500.2 feet of mud-floored passage and left going leads with air. The discoveries included flood debris consisting of small pieces of wood and pine needles, a new lake (Phantom Lake), and a single set of footprints in what was thought to be virgin cave. The lake is 250 feet long, up to 10 feet wide, and up to 8 feet deep.

01/28/1999
Marc Ohms, Steve Baldwin, and Steve Langendorf
On the 28th of January Marc Ohms led Steve Baldwin and Steve Langendorf into the Historic Zone to a lead Steve Baldwin had discovered years ago. No survey was done due to poor route finding.

02/06/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, Steve and Sammi Langendorf
On the 6th of February Marc Ohms led Rene Rogers, Steve and Sammi Langendorf into the Colorado Grotto Zone to check for leads near the City Sewer. They surveyed 625.8 feet in four areas. They left going cave in their newly designated PX survey.

01/11/1999
Marc Ohms and Rene Rogers
The 11th of January saw Marc Ohms and Rene Rogers visit the Lakes to record the water level. Calcite Lake was at 16.90’ up from the last reading in September of 1998 when it was 15.42’. Also on the 11th John Scheltens led Steve and Sammi Langendorf, and Steve Baldwin into the Historic Zone to the area of the Back Room. They surveyed 100.5 feet continuing the NB survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/13/1999
Hazel Barton, Evan Anderson, Mike Clayton, and Emma Porter
Hazel Barton led Evan Anderson, Mike Clayton, and Emma Porter into the Colorado Grotto Zone to an area along the eastern edge of the cave. They surveyed 545 feet mostly in one large room that they named The School Room.

Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, Shane and Mylie Cottingham, and Andy Long
Marc Ohms led Rene Rogers, Shane and Mylie Cottingham, and Andy Long to the Muddle Room to do some mop up survey. They surveyed 177 feet.

Kathy Petty, Sandy Kramer, and Steve and Sammi Langendorf
Kathy Petty led Sandy Kramer, and Steve and Sammi Langendorf into the Historic Area to inventory. They inventoried 17 stations along the OM survey.

02/14/1999
Marc Ohms, Paul Burger, Rene Rogers, and Myk Coughlin
On the 14th of February Marc Ohms led Paul Burger, Rene Rogers, and Myk Coughlin into the Colorado Grotto Zone to continue exploration near the newly discovered Phantom Lake. They surveyed 566 feet and are underneath known cave near the tour route. A passage ended in a rubble fill that appears to be filled from above. The rubble contained hunks of wood with nails and candle stubs. They left one good going lead that had airflow.

02/18/1999
Steve Baldwin, Steve and Sammi Langendorf
On the 18th of February Steve Baldwin led Steve and Sammi Langendorf into the Historic Zone to continue surveying the NB survey. They surveyed 154 feet.

02/28/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, and Steve Langendorf
On the 28th of February Marc Ohms led Rene Rogers, and Steve Langendorf into the Colorado Grotto Zone to finish up the PX survey started on the 6th. They survey 230 feet and returned to the Tour Path. In the Eastern Star Room they surveyed down into the breakdown to see if this is the location off the blocked passage leading to Phantom Lake. They surveyed a little over 60 feet.

March/April 1999
March and April saw a flurry of activity in Wind Cave with 3,389 feet of new survey, bringing the length of Wind Cave to 83.55 miles. The efforts were concentrated in the Colorado Grotto and Historic Sections of the cave.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/13/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, Erik Sikora & Todd Seliga
This crew surveyed 200 feet south of the Cheese Whiz Room in the Colorado Grotto Section. The passage was in the middle level and contained some nice frostwork, corrosion residue, and bat scratches. As time was running out they discovered a parallel canyon but did not have time to survey it.

Jim Wilson, Dan Sadler, Kenny Bagby & Paul O’Brien
This crew headed out to the Club Room area and surveyed 315 feet in 24 station off of the AS survey. They survey some gnarly cave and left a few leads for next time.

03/21/1999
Marc Ohms, Steve & Sammi Langendorf
Returning to the lead left on the 13th, 201 feet were surveyed off of the CC’ survey in the Colorado Grotto Section. It started as a hard-floored crawl and progressed into a nice canyon that soon ended. A small squeeze was found to connect to the CE survey but not surveyed due to its small size.

03/26/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, Todd Seliga & Rod Horrocks
This team of four ventured into the Colorado Grotto Section to the west end of Independence Hall. They surveyed 713 feet of mazy parallel passages, all in the middle level and consisting of hard-floored crawls and stoopways. A few leads were left unchecked.

04/03/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers & Mike Wiles
Returning to leads left from 12/5/98 along the east boundary in the Colorado Grotto Section, the team pushed into numerous miserable leads in an attempt to follow the airflow. This area held promise to break through the eastern boundary but once again slammed shut. The only lead surveyed was one found on the previous trip for total of 240 feet. This passage headed south out of Pizza Hut and opened up briefly before ending in a 20-foot deep pit named the Deep Dish.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/10/1999
Jim Wilson, Eric Dutton, Sherry McClure & Dan Benner
This team went out to an area between the Club Room and Half Mile Hall and corrected a mislabeled survey, found a few survey errors, and found leads to survey on a future trip.

Bruce Albright, Pat Malone & Carl Bern
This crew went into the North Section of the cave and surveyed 399 feet off of the WT survey. They started a WI survey and ran it for 17 stations. They felt air and left a few leads going.

04/17/1999
Marc Ohms, Rene Rogers, Mike Wiles & Paul Burger
Returning to the lead left on 1/23/1999 in the Phantom Lake area in the Colorado Grotto Section, the foursome ran the HO survey north in a muddy canyon. Mud and dripping water abound. The passage degenerated into a tight fissure that only Rogers could fit. She reports the passage continues and has air. They backtracked to a high lead and continued the survey up into the upper passage, which emerged in the Assembly Room! They surveyed a total of 658 feet and left many leads.

Rod Horrocks & Todd Seliga
This duo entered the Historic Zone to mop-up leads along the Historic Tour route. They surveyed 367 feet along the C survey. One of the many passages they surveyed contained nice white stalactites and flowstone.

04/21/1999
Marc Ohms, Rod Horrocks & Jim Pisarowicz
The trio entered the Historic Section to continue to mop-up leads along the tour route. They surveyed 251 feet in three leads along the C survey and left a few leads.

04/22/1999
Marc Ohms & Rod Horrocks
The Cave Management Staff entered the cave along the Wild Cave Tour route to place route flagging. The entire route is now flagged with black and yellow striped flagging. Flagging the route seemed long overdue as this route sees the most traffic and of the least experienced cavers.

04/25/1999
Marc Ohms & Kelly Mathis
The team of two ventured into the Colorado Grotto Section to mop-up a few remaining leads in the Flood Plains (early HO survey) and to retrieve a webbing handline no longer needed. They surveyed 130 feet of low mud-floored crawls in the HO survey. Then surveyed another 87 feet off of the AD survey in some hard-floored crawls. One rather nasty lead was left and a total of 217 feet of new survey was accumulated.
January/February 1998
During January and February of 1998, 1,843.55 feet or 0.34 miles of cave was surveyed and inventoried in Wind Cave on 5 trips, raising the cave from 81.21 miles to 81.56 miles. A total of 104 stations of previously surveyed cave was also inventoried.
01/10/1998
Hazel Barton, Evan Anderson & Sean Kramer
Hazel led a 12 hour trip to the Egg Hatchery area, where they surveyed 800.25 feet in 46 stations (Avg. shot 17.3 feet). The last lead they checked was a small crawl with a rock in it. After pushing the rock aside and squeezing through, they entered a virgin passage that opened to 15 x 20 feet. They also inventoried 21 existing stations along the EHB and EHC surveys.

Myk Coughlin, Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis & Mike Wiles
Myk led a four hour trip to the Spillway area, where they surveyed 136.3 feet in eight stations (Avg. shot 17 feet). They also inventoried 12 stations along the UZ survey, where they discovered a 1951 "Spelunking Tour" ticket and some overlapping survey (between the UZ and the JD surveys).

Jamie Sherer, Kathy Petty, Sandy Kramer & Steve Turner
Jamie led a 10½ hour trip to the Historic Section and inventoried 41 stations along the WC, UK and UJ surveys. While inventorying, they noticed lots of unsurveyed leads along the UJ survey and a couple of pools with heavily dripping.

James Wilson, George Fredricks, Todd Durrum & Steve Lipsher
James led a 14 hour trip to the K survey in the Half Mile Hall area, where they surveyed 165 feet in nine stations (Avg. shot 18.3 feet).

01/13/1998
Donald Davis & Stan Allison
Stan led a trip to Calcite Lake to show Donald some unusual features he found on the wall that resembled folia. Donald felt that they were bedrock features instead, probably fossil stromatolites or something related to them.

01/15/1998
Donald Davis & Stan Allison
Donald entered the Monument Hall area in the Historic Section of the cave to check on some reported helictite bushes that had been vandalized by Alvin McDonald in the 1890s and are located in a parallel passage 1,000 feet east of the other Wind Cave helictite bushes. Donald determined that although they have the same shape as the others, these grow from boxwork fins projecting from nearly vertical surfaces, instead of out of floor crust.

02/14/1998
Sandy Kramer & Jamie Sherer
Sandy led a 11 hour trip to the Historic Section and inventoried 30 stations along the VH, UK and AI surveys. They located some bat scratches and a lot of delicate cave.

Greg Glazner, Jim Wilson & Tim Moreland
Greg led a 12½ hour trip to the Club Room, where they surveyed 266 feet in 20 stations off the PZ survey (Avg. shot 13.3 feet). They found a 20-foot diameter room heavily decorated with frostwork. Jim reportedly scooped extensive passage beyond this room.

Hazel Barton, Evan Anderson & Shawn Kramer
Hazel led a 14½ hour trip to the Club Room section, where they surveyed 476 feet in 41 stations (Avg. shot 11.6- feet). They surveyed some tight, nasty crawls that eventually tied into the EI survey, closing a 500-foot loop.

March/April 1998
During March and April of 1998, 703 feet or 0.13 miles of cave was surveyed and inventoried on 3 trips in Wind Cave, raising the cave from 81.56 miles to 81.69 miles. A total of 94 stations of previously surveyed cave was also inventoried.
03/14/1998
Tim Moreland, Dennis Laird & Andy Christiansen
Tim led a survey trip to the Red Crystal Canyon area of the Colorado Grotto Section, where they surveyed 286.3 feet in 15 stations during a 13 hour trip (Avg. shot 19 feet). They also inventoried 19 stations of the IH survey.

Jamie Sherer & Steve Turner
Jamie led a 11½ hour trip to the Historic Section, where they surveyed 102.1 feet in six stations (Avg. shot 17 feet). They were also able to find a survey blunder in a bad loop. In addition, they inventoried 24 stations along the UK survey.

James Wilson, Dan Sadler, Kenny Bagby & Paul O’Brien
James led a 12½ hour trip to the Club Room, where they surveyed 315 feet in 24 stations off the AS survey (Avg. shot 13.1 feet). They located several leads for a later trip.

Myk Coughlin, Steve & Sammy Langendorf
Myk led a 5½ hour trip to the Club Room area, where they inventoried 51 stations along the IT survey. They noticed several highly-coated helictite bushes in the area
January/February 1997
At the beginning of January, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 79.3 miles. By the end of February, Wind Cave’s length was increased to 79.7 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period as 0.4 miles. A total of 0.2 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.4 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 01/11/1997
Clarence Williams, John Allison, and Greg Glasner
Clarence Williams led John Allison and Greg Glasner to the UZ survey where they inventoried 18 stations.

Sandy Kramer and Kathy Petty
Sandy Kramer and Kathy Petty inventoried 26 stations from AT90-115.

Jim Wilson, Bruce Albright, Dan Wray, and Randy Williams
Jim Wilson led Bruce Albright, Dan Wray and Randy Williams out to the Half-Mile Hall Zone were they surveyed 486 feet in the KOW survey.

01/18/1997
Stan Allison, Paul Burger, and Mike Wiles
On January 18, Stan Allison led Paul Burger and Mike Wiles to PB11 where they surveyed 739 feet in the PAB and PBA surveys. The PAB survey was through a heavily popcorn encrusted area. The PBA led to a nice upper level room, 100 feet long, 25 feet wide and 12 feet tall named Hotel South Dakota.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/08/1997
Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, and Shawn Kramer
Evan Anderson led Hazel Barton and Shawn Kramer out to Navidad at the end of the KK58 survey. They re-sketched Navidad and surveyed 410 feet of additional cave in the SHT survey. Some parts of the SHT were lined with 0.25 inches of corrosion residue along the walls. Shawn Kramer was boosted up into a climbing lead that goes several hundred feet of passages, along the edge of known cave. Their next trip will require an etrier so the others can make the climb.

Jim Wilson and Randy Williams
Jim Wilson led Randy Williams out to the Pearly Gates area where they surveyed 380 feet in the PGC survey.

Clarence Williams, Eric Dutton, and Greg Glasner
Clarence Williams led Eric Dutton and Greg Glasner out to the UZ survey where they inventoried 12 stations.

Sandy Kramer and Kathy Petty
Sandy Kramer and Kathy Petty inventoried 6 stations along H8-14.

March/April 1997
At the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 79.7 miles. By the end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 79.7 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this 2 month period was 0.06 miles. A total of 0.2 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.06 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/08/1997
Jim Wilson, Peter Wilson, and Dennis Laird
Jim Wilson led Peter Wilson and Dennis Laird out to the Pearly Gates area along the Candlelight Tour. They surveyed 369 feet in the PGD survey and inventoried 18 stations on the PGB survey.

Sandy Kramer, Hank Van Beek, Kathy Petty, and Jamie Sherer
Sandy Kramer led Hank Van Beek, Kathy Petty and Jamie Sherer out to the AZ survey where they were unsuccessful in locating the DL survey to inventory.

Clarence Williams and Eric Dutton
Clarence Williams and Eric Dutton were also unsuccessful in locating the BF survey which they were attempting to inventory.

03/22/1997
An 8 hour trip leader training session occurred on March 22. The 11 new trip leaders are: Bruce Albright (CO), Hazel Barton (CO), Mark Bergstrom (NOLS), Rich Brame (NOLS), Greg Glazner (CO), Dennis Laird (CO), Stuart Marlatt (CO), Jim Pisarowicz (SD), Jamie Sherer (CO), Dennis Shreves (SD) and Mike Zawada (CO).

04/12/1997
Jamie Sherer, Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty, and Hank Van Beek
Jamie Sherer led Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty and Hank Van Beek to the DL survey that they had attempted to reach in March. They were successful in finding the DL and inventoried 25 stations.

May/June 1997
At the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 79.7 miles. By the end of June, Wind Cave's length was increased to 80.29 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.59 miles. A total of 0.2 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.59 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 05/10/1997
Jamie Sherer, Ron Sherer, Hank Van Beek, and Steve Turner
Jamie Sherer led Ron Sherer, Hank Van Beek and Steve Turner out the NFP15-21 which they inventoried.

Bruce Albright, Emma Rainforth, and Matt Stalzer
Bruce Albright led Emma Rainforth and Matt Stalzer to the Half-Mile Hall area where they surveyed 140 feet in the KK53A-H survey. Their survey was stopped by delicate gypsum beards, cotton and hair that blocked the way on.

Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, and Andy Flurkey
Ed LaRock led Mike Behn and Andy Flurkey to the JD survey where they surveyed 460 feet of cave from JD48-72. In addition they mapped and measured the attitude of a fault or paleo-sink slump block by JD45.

Myk Coughlin, Jan Harms, and Chris Capps
Myk Coughlin led Jan Harms and Chris Capps out to the IT survey where they inventoried stations 1 through 13.

05/20/1997
Abby Wines, Don Frankfort, Collin McConnell, and Deanna Harrell
Abby Wines led Don Frankfort, Coilin McConnell and Deanna Harrell to the AD survey off of the caving tour, where they inventoried stations 1 through 10.

05/23/1997
Abby Wines, Sarah Billig, Kelly Mathis, and Jim Pisarowicz
Abby Wines led Sarah Billig, Kelly Mathis and Jim Pisarowicz to the JD survey where they surveyed 281.6 feet in the JD24A-Y survey.

05/26/1997
Abby Wines, Deanna Harrell, Garnet Goodrich, and Kelly Mathis
Abby Wines led Deanna Harrell, Garnet Goodrich and Kelly Mathis out to PRE15A-E where they surveyed 92.4 feet.

06/08/1997
Abby Wines, Lora Redman, and Joanne Vokoun
Abby Wines led Lora Redman and Joanne Vokoun to AD11-21 where they inventoried 11 stations.

06/09/1997
Abby Wines, Stacy Smyth, Sarah Shreves, and Joanne Vokoun
Abby Wines led Stacy Smyth, Sarah Shreves and Joanne Vokoun to the Ida's Washbasin area off of the Coliseum. They surveyed 217 feet in the IBI-17 survey.

06/13/1997
Abby Wines, Mary Laycock, and Stacy Smyth
Abby Wines led Mary Laycock and Stacy Smyth back to the Ida's Washbasin area where they surveyed 113.9 feet form IB18-24.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/14/1997
Clarence Williams, Eric Dutton, and Lora Redman
Clarence Williams led Eric Dutton and Lora Redman to the UZ survey where they surveyed 233.9 feet from UZ50 to UZ61.

Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, Myk Coughlin, and Sean Kramer
Evan Anderson led Hazel Barton, Myk Coughlin and Sean Kramer to the Navidad area. They rigged a handline on the tricky climb they found in February. Beyond the climb they surveyed 1089 feet in the NAV survey. Highlights of the area include frostwork up to six inches long, thick corrosion residues and a black mineral called Romanichite that had never been documented before in Wind Cave. This mineral is indicative of deep upwelling waters, which could give geologists a better of idea as to how Wind Cave formed. They also found a connection back to known cave which avoided the tricky handline climb.

Jim Wilson and Lio Thompson
Jim Wilson led Leo Thompson to the Pearly Gates area where they surveyed 277 feet in the Wk14A-Q survey.

July/August 1997
At the beginning of July, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 80.29 miles. Due to the summer alpine caving season in Colorado there were no cavers in attendance during the July and August Wind Cave weekends. There were three exploration/inventory trips by rangers and local cavers, but none of them returned with any survey or inventory. In addition there were three Club Room Loops done for both orientation and recreation purposes.
September/October 1997
At the beginning of September, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 80.29 miles. By the end of October, Wind Cave's length was increased to 80.64 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.35 miles. A total of 0.5 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.35 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
09/03/1997
Abby Wines and Jim Pisarowicz
Abby Wines led Jim Pisarowicz out to the Bepadobede Room along the caving tour. They surveyed 141 feet in the SK12A-L. Two leads were left in their survey. One at SK12J is a low crawl through a pool of water leading to what looks like a room. Another lead at SK12B goes northwest.

Wind Cave Weekend 09/13/1997
Sandy Kramer and Kathy Petty
Sandy Kramer led Kathy Petty out to the Rainbow Falls area where they inventoried 33 stations on the NX survey.

Tim Moreland, Steve Smith, and Robert Phillips
Tim Moreland led Steve Smith and Robert Phillips to the JW, WS, GP and PB surveys near the John Wayne Room. They inventoried 66 stations.

Stan Allison, Kelly Mathis, and Mike Wiles
Stan Allison led a trip consisting of Kelly Mathis and Mike Wiles out to Route 66. A total of 373 feet was surveyed in the LLB12-30 designation. Several passages were pushed in the LOL62 area that either ended or became too tight but had airflow. Airflow at LLB11 led to the west through a nasty 300 foot long crawl dubbed the Skinner where a 15 foot by 15 foot walking passage was found going south with leads and air. Due to a lack of time, the group surveyed to the start of the walking passage and then exited the cave leaving exciting opportunities for the next trip.

09/24/1997
September 24 was the monthly hydrology trip to Calcite Lake. During the last month Calcite Lake rose 5 inches and the pool at JF82 was up 2 inches. In the last year Calcite Lake has risen 3 feet and 5 inches. The new pool at JF82 first appeared in July 1996. It is now approximately 150 feet long 3 feet wide and up to 8 feet deep!

Wind Cave Weekend 10/18/1997
Sandy Kramer, Kathy Petty, Cheryl Yearwood,and Jamie Sherer
Sandy Kramer led Kathy Petty, Cheryl Yearwood and Jamie Sherer out to NFP20-29 where they inventoried 10 stations.

Greg Glazner, Sean Durrum, Sherry McClure, and Jim Wilson
Greg Glazner led Sean Durrum, Sherry McClure, and Jim Wilson to the Candle Light Tour area where they surveyed 151.6 feet in the WK8A-G survey. In addition they helped problem solve a bad loop closure in the area by finding that WK19 was tied into BG3 rather then BG8.

Clarence Williams and Jim Neely
Clarence Williams led Jim Neely to the Rome area where they inventoried 21 stations in the BF survey.

10/25/1997
Stan Allison, Myk Coughlin, and Mike Wiles
Stan Allison led Myk Coughlin and Mike Wiles out past the Skinner. As they started surveying south from LLB30 they noticed that the airflow was coming from known cave. They surveyed 700 feet of large walking passage heading southeast leaving one small lead with air coming form known cave. Near LLB29 Myk Coughlin did a climb up into some crawls that had great airflow going towards new cave! After surveying 450 feet of breezy crawls that group popped up into some large walking passages. As they were late into the trip they spent 30 minutes taking a look at approximately 500 feet of cave with beautiful gypsum crusts and flowers as well as thick hydromagnesite. Strong airflow in this area indicates a high probability of finding more cave beyond.

November/December 1997
At the beginning of November, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 80.64 miles. By the end of December, Wind Cave's length was increased to 81.21 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two-month period was 0.57 miles. A total of 0.47 miles of previously surveyed cave were inventoried. In addition, 0.57 miles were inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
11/06/1997
Greg Stock, Merrilee Profitt, Joel Despain, and Stan Allison
Greg Stock, Merrilee Profitt, Joel Despain and Stan Allison made an exploration trip to Coyote Cave. At the very end of the surveyed cave is a squeeze that only Mike Wiles had been through in 1994. Merrilee, Greg and Joel all fit through the squeeze but Stan was too big. After agreeing to meet back in two hours the three on the far side of the squeeze began exploration. After crawling approximately 500 feet they came to a cairn that Mike Wiles had left at the farthest point of this previous exploration. Continuing 100 feet beyond, they emerged into a walking sized passage. Upon finding a bison vertebrae in the passage they decide to name it the Bison Bone Borehole. They saw approximately 500 feet of cave in this area and had to leave several good leads going in order to make it back to Stan in two hours. Previously, Coyote Cave was known to have a quarter mile of cave. These discoveries make for an estimated cave length of a half-mile, basically doubling the length of the cave. In addition to finding the largest passage in the cave, this group left many unexplored passages that could lead to much more cave given the amount of airflow felt in Coyote Cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 11/15/1997
Sandy Kraemer, Jamier Sherer, Cheryl Yearwood, and Rich Wolfert
Sandy Kraemer led a trip consiting of Jamie Sherer, Cheryl Yearwood and Rich Wolfert. They inventoried 23 stations in the Dreamland Area.

Tim Moreland, Dan Wray, and Dave Lester
Tim Moreland led Dan Wray and Dave Lester to the BBF survey in the Club Room Zone where they surveyed 98 feet and inventoried 23 stations.

Ed LaRock, Andy Flurkey and Mike Behn
Ed LaRock lead Andy Flurkey and Mike Behn out to the JD survey area where they surveyed 358 feet of cave in the JDA and JDB surveys.

11/21/1997
Paul Burger, Mike Wiles, Myk Coughlin, and Stan Allison
Paul Burger, Mike Wiles, Myk Coughlin and Stan Allison surveyed 1690 feet in the continuation of the LLB survey in the Southern Comfort Zone. Nice walking cave was found including interesting features such as a large, sediment covered floor, gypsum flowers and manganese layers in ceilings. Several leads were left going in this most remote area of Wind Cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 12/13/1997

Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, and Al Collier
Rich Wolfert led June Golaz and Al Collier to the AD survey where they inventoried 14 stations.

Greg Glazner, Clarence Williams, and Eric Dutton
Greg Glazner, Clarence Williams and Eric Dutton inventored 34 stations along the UK and UJ surveys.

12/18/1997
Steve Baldwin, Jim Pisarowicz, Mary Laycock, Dennis Shreves, Mike Hanson, and John Scheltens
Two groups went out to the Snowdrift Avenue area where 316.4 feet were surveyed in the NB45-53 and NB43A-I surveys. The trip participants were Steve Baldwin, Jim Pisarowicz, Mary Laycock, Dennis Shreves, Mike Hanson and John Scheltens.

12/20/1997
Myk Coughlin, Mike Wiles, and Stan Allison
Myk Coughlin, Mike Wiles and Stan Allison returned to the LLB survey. A hand-line was rigged on the Dangaroos Crossing which is a loose, exposed climb. Beyond this climb, 475 feet of cave was surveyed. No major discoveries were made.

1997 Summary
1.9 miles of cave was surveyed during 1997. Wind Cave's surveyed length went from 79.3 to 81.21 miles. The amount of previously surveyed cave that was inventoried was 1.6 miles. 11,563 stations or 58% of Wind Cave's 19,933 stations are currently inventoried.
January/February 1996
At the beginning of January, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 77.65 miles. By the end of February, Wind Cave's length was increased to 78.0 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.35 miles. A total of 0.4 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.35 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
The January Wind Cave weekend was canceled due to the recent government shutdown.
Wind Cave Weekend 02/10/1996
Rich Wolfort, June Golaz, Emma Rainforth, and Nancy Ortolain
Rich Wolfort led June Golaz, Emma Rainforth and Nancy Ortolani out to the Xerox Room where they inventoried 12 stations in the AD and ADA surveys.

Tim Moreland, Ted Lappin, Vi Schweiker, and Dan Benner
Tim Moreland led Ted Lappin, Vi Schweiker and Dan Benner to the southern end of the Club Room. They surveyed 449.5 feet in the BBF and ZBB surveys. In addition they inventoried 7 previously surveyed stations.

Rene Singer, Sherry McClure,and Todd Durhan
Rene Singer led Sherry McClure and Todd Durham out to the BV and BW surveys where they inventoried 19 stations.

Mike Wiles, Kelly Mathis, and Noan Daniels
Mike Wiles led Kelly Mathis and Noah Daniels out to the BW survey where they inventoried 20 stations.

Jim Wilson, Walt Pickett, Sandy Kraemer, and Skip Withrow
Jim Wilson led Walt Pickett, Sandy Kraemer and Skip Withrow to the Half-Mile Hall Zone where they surveyed 440 feet along the KEG survey.

Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, and Paul Burger
Evan Anderson led Hazel Barton and Paul Burger out to the Lunatic Fringe where they surveyed 238 feet in the WFD26, WFF4 and WFK surveys.

Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, and Robert Phillips
Kevin Smith led Steve Smith and Robert Phillips out near the Elks Room where they inventoried 22 stations in the UY survey.

Mike Hanson, Chad Bowman, and Steve Baldwin
Mike Hanson led Chad Bowman and Steve Baldwin out to the Blue Bayou Avenue where they surveyed 261 feet in the AZB survey.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, and Bruce Albright
Jim Clark led Veronica Stahl and Bruce Albright out to the Dreamland area where they oriented themselves for future trips and pushed leads.

02/24/1996
Myk Coughlin, Mike Wiles, Virgil Armijo, and Noah Daniels
Myk Coughlin led Mike Wiles, Virgil Armijo and Noah Daniels out to the north end of Half-Mile Hall. They surveyed 467 feet in the KK58 survey. Near the end of their survey they found a room that was 40 feet wide, 20 feet high and 170 feet long. It has excellent popcorn and frostwork up to 3 inches thick!

March/April 1996
At the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 78.0 miles. By the end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 78.2 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.2 miles. A total of 0.6 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.2 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/09/1996
Kathy Petty, Sandy Kraemer, Jamie and Ron Sherer
Kathy Petty led Sandy Kraemer, Jamie and Ron Sherer out to the Pub. They inventoried 73 stations in the AQ, NV, NVG, NVF, NVD, and NVE.

Rich Wolfert, Dave Lester, Emma Rainforth, and Bob Stucklen
Rich Wolfert led Dave Lester, Emma Rainforth and Bob Stucklen out to the Xerox Room where they surveyed 345 feet in the EM survey.

Clarence Williams, Jim Wilson, and Skip Withrow
Clarence Williams led Jim Wilson and Skip Withrow out to the KEG survey. As two members of the party could not fit through a tight squeeze they were unable to make their destination.

Jim Clark, Vee Stahl, and Amy Bernard
Jim Clark led Vee Stahl and Amy Bernard out to the Cakewalk where they surveyed 94 feet in the DIB survey. In addition they located a blowing 6 inch lead in the Pink Slug.

04/01/1996
Jim Nepstad and Stan Allison
Jim Nepstad and Stan Allison went out to the Pink Slug to check out the blowing lead found in March. The amount of airflow from this 6 inch hole led them to believe that it had a high potential for leading to more cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/13/1996
Jim Clark, Vee Stahl, Bruce Albright and Jim Nepstad
Jim Clark led Vee Stahl, Bruce Albright and Jim Nepstad back to the Pink Slug. After enlarging the 6 inch hole they followed the air 30 feet farther to where the passage became a 5 inch high bedding plane, with no hope of further exploration.

Robert Phillips, Linda Gentile, Dan Benner, and Steve Smith
Robert Phillips led Linda Gentile, Dan Benner and Steve Smith to the SCB, GW, DS and XX' surveys. They inventoried 36 stations.

Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, and Mark McVey
Evan Anderson led Hazel Barton and Mark McVey out to the KF, KK and KB surveys where they inventoried 18 stations. They also surveyed 465.5 feet in the KRP and KKM surveys.

04/16-17/1996
Twere 3 NOLS trips with 13 students in the Rainbow Falls area. These trips were for the purpose of education.

May/June 1996
At the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 78.2 miles. By the end of June, Wind Cave's length was increased to 78.5 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.3 miles. A total of 0.4 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.3 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 05/11/1996
Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, and Chuck Hoffman
Ed LaRock led Mike Behn and Chuck Hoffman to the JD survey were they surveyed 281 feet. At the end of their survey the cave still continues.

Rich Wolfert, Linda Gentile, Jamie and Ron Sherer
Rich Wolfert led Linda Gentile, Jamie and Ron Sherer out to the City Sewers area where they surveyed 174 feet in the EMA survey.

Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, and Shawn Kramer
Evan Anderson led Hazel Barton and Shawn Kramer to the north end of Half-Mile Hall where they surveyed 561 feet in the SIK and UM surveys. This area had numerous gypsum formations in it.

05/23/1996
Abby Wines, Sarah Billig, Don Frankfort, and Marcy Morgan
Abby Wines led an after work trip consisting of Sarah Billig, Don Frankfort and Marcy Morgan. They inventoried 12 stations along the BI survey.

05/30/1996
Abby Wines, Dawn Cardace, and Dennis Shreves
Abby Wines led Dawn Cardace and Dennis Shreves to the BI survey where they inventoried 10 stations.

06/07/1996
Abby Wines and Mike Bray
On June 7, Abby Wines led Mike Bray to the BI survey where they inventoried 4 stations.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/08/1996
Jim Wilson, Dan Wray, Danny Wray, and Jim McFarlin
Jim Wilson led Dan Wray, Danny Wray and John McFarlin out towards the Half-Mile Hall Zone. The trip was aborted at the Chinese Mushroom due to sickness.

Tim Moreland, Dennis Laird, Leo Thompson, and Bruce Albright
Tim Moreland led Dennis Laird, Leo Thompson and Bruce Albright to the North Zone where they surveyed 406 feet in the KIE survey and inventoried 15 stations along the KY survey.

Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, Scott Sieverton, and Matt Reece
Marc Ohms led Kelly Mathis, Scott Sievertson and Matt Reece to a lower level of the Club Room Zone. They surveyed 203 feet in the ZC survey.

Mike Wiles, Rachel Bosch, Michelle Karle, and Chris Long
Mike Wiles led Rachel Bosch, Michelle Karle and Chris Long to the ZC survey where they inventoried 23 stations of previously surveyed cave.

06/12/1996
Abby Wines, Garnet Goodrich,and Rachel Bosch
Abby Wines led Garnet Goodrich and Rachel Bosch to the BI survey where they inventoried 22 stations.

July/August 1996
At the beginning of July, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 78.5 miles. By the end of August, Wind Cave's length was increased to 78.5 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was .04 miles. A total of .3 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition .04 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
07/12/1996
Abby Wines, Don Frankfort, and Linda Gentile
On July 12, Abby Wines led Don Frankfort and Linda Gentile on an inventory trip to the BG survey. They inventoried 10 stations including an area with beautiful gypsum needles.

Wind Cave Weekend 07/13/1996
Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, Carol Teckenbrock and Josh Kanaplue
The Wind Cave Weekend was July 13. Kevin Smith led Steve Smith, Carol Teckenbrock and Josh Kanaplue to the BD survey where they inventoried 31 stations.

Rich Wolfert, Susan Herpin, Libby Overholt, and Linda Gentile
Rich Wolfert led Susan Herpin, Libby Overholt and Linda Gentile to the BGA survey where they surveyed 64.1 feet.

07/16/1996
Abby Wines, Garnet Goodrich, Rachel Bosch, and Sarah Wedge
Abby Wines led Garnet Goodrich, Rachel Bosch and Sarah Wedge to the BL survey where they surveyed 55 feet.

07/18/1996
Abby Wines, Sarah Billig, and Sarah Wedge
On July 18, Abby Wines led Sarah Billig and Sarah Wedge to the KR survey where they inventoried 21 stations.

Also on July 18, a routine trip down to the Lakes area to check the water levels led to the discovery of a new pool. This pool filled within the last month and is located near RB7. It is triangular in shape, 8’x 8’ x 10’ and 18 inches deep in the middle. The source of the water is 50 feet upstream from the pool, contributing a steady trickle of water.
07/26/1996
Abby Wines, Sarah Wedge, Don Frankfort, and Rachel Bosch
Abby Wines led Sarah Wedge, Don Frankfort and Rachel Bosch out to the TR survey where they surveyed 108.6 feet.

The August Wind Cave Weekend was canceled due to the National Speleological Convention being held in Colorado at the same time.
An August 19 trip to the recently formed pool en route to the Lakes found it to have a new south extension going an additional 50 feet past where it terminated last month.
A return trip to the new pool on August 29 found that the pool had risen 1 foot! If it continues at this rate, it is possible that the route to the Lakes may sump shut within a few months.
September/October 1996
At the beginning of September, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 78.5 miles. By the end of October, Wind Cave's length was increased to 78.9 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was .4 miles. A total of 0 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition .4 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 09/14/1996
Jim Wilson, Hazel Barton, Evan Anderson, and Tim Moreland
Jim Wilson led Hazel Barton, Evan Anderson and Tim Moreland to the Half-Mile Hall Zone where they surveyed 745 feet in the KEG survey.

Mike Wiles, Marc Ohms, Noah Daniels, and Kelly Mathis
Mike Wiles led Marc Ohms, Noah Daniels and Kelly Mathis out to the Half-Mile Hall Zone where they surveyed 408.5 feet in the BX61 survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 10/12/1996
Jim Wilson, Bruce Albright, and Dennis Laird
Jim Wilson led Bruce Albright and Dennis Laird out to the Half-Mile Hall Zone where they surveyed 725 feet in the KEG201 and KE55 surveys.

Mike Wiles, Chris Long, Noah Daniels, and Matt Reece
Mike Wiles led Chris Long, Noah Daniels and Matt Reece out to the Half-Mile Hall Zone. They surveyed 343.2 feet in the BV69 and BX37 surveys.

November/December 1996
At the beginning of November, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 78.9 miles. By the end of December, Wind Cave's length was increased to 79.3 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was .4 miles. A total of .4 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition .4 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 11/09/1996
Skip Withrow and Evan Anderson
Skip Withrow led Evan Anderson out to the Bubble in the Historic Zone where they surveyed 375 feet in the HB’ survey.

Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, Jamie and Ron Sherer
Sandy Kraemer led Kathy Petty, Jamie and Ron Sherer to the Fairgrounds in the Historic Zone. They inventoried 58 stations, mainly in the AT survey.

Clarence Williams, Keith Smith, and John Allison
Clarence Williams led Keith Smith and John Allison to the Spillway vicinity. They inventoried 29 stations in the AI and UZ surveys.

Mike Wiles, Marc Ohms, and Noah Daniels
Mike Wiles led Marc Ohms and Noah Daniels to the Elephant Trunk area in the Half-Mile Hall Zone. They surveyed 384 feet in the BX37 survey.

12/07/1996
Stan Allison, Mike Wiles, Noah Daniels, and Kelly Mathis
Stan Allison led Mike Wiles, Noah Daniels and Kelly Mathis out to the Southern Comfort Zone. They found a short-cut from Northwest Territory to The Other Side. This route bypasses the old Playground route and should save approximately 20 to 30 minutes round trip. A total of 420 feet of cave was surveyed in the LTE7, LTE43 and LTK3 surveys.

Wind Cave Weekend 12/14/1996
Evan Anderson, Skip Withrow, and Shawn Kramer
Evan Anderson led Skip Withrow and Shawn Kramer to the Half-Mile Hall Zone. They surveyed 547 feet in the KEG survey.

1996 Summary
The survey total for 1996 was 1.65 miles. 2.1 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried in 1996.
Two Wind Cave weekends were canceled in 1996, one due to the Federal Government shut down in January and another due to a conflict with the National Speleological Society Convention in August. Although the volume of survey and inventory has slowed down in the past few years, the overall quality of survey and inventory data is much improved over previous years.
January/February 1995
At the beginning of January, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 76.1 miles. By the end of February, Wind Cave's length was increased to 76.3 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.2 miles. A total of 1.6 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.2 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 01/14/1995
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza, and Mike Paulick
Jim Nepstad led Bob Kobza and Mike Paulick out to the Elephant Trunk area. They found a connection between the BW and the BX surveys. Later they surveyed part of a route that connects from the Elephant Trunk to the Museum. This route was originally discovered in 1992. It is a more difficult alternative to the Magic Hole/Pasta Pulverizer route. Their BXX survey added 303 feet.

Rich Wolfert, Bob Stucklen, Stu Marlatt, and Jim Gaiser
Rich Wolfert led Bob Stucklen, Stu Marlatt, and Jim Gaiser out to the Colorado Grotto Zone. They surveyed 75 feet in the CSB survey near Independence Hall.

Jim Wilson, Clarence Williams, Eric Dutton, and Skip Withrow
Jim Wilson led Clarence Williams, Eric Dutton, and Skip Withrow out to the Titanic Room area. They inventoried stations BY1-28.

Doug Kent, Evan Anderson, Lee Blazek, and Steve Lester
Doug Kent led Evan Anderson, Lee Blazek, and Steve Lester to the New Lakes area where they surveyed 89 feet in the WZ117 survey. In addition they inventoried 27 stations in the WZ survey, completing the inventory of everything on the far side of Windy City lake.

Stan Allison, Paul Burger, and Myk Coughlin
Stan Allison led Paul Burger and Myk Coughlin to the lead that Mike Wiles had found in Blind Faith during an October 1994 trip. They surveyed 697 feet of cave in the LTQ survey. This area has some nice flowstone and small calcite raft line pools. They ended up connecting to the PH survey by finding a water bottle that Stan had lost down a fissure there in 1991!

Steve Smith, Robert Phillips, Mark McVey, and Kim Rowland
Steve Smith led Robert Phillips, Mark McVey and Kim Rowland to the Happy Route, which in reality is a tight crawly, unhappy area. They inventoried a record 127 stations! Most of their inventory was done in the WQ survey, with some in the KY survey.

Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty
Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty inventoried 30 stations in the NM, UG, and UGA surveys.

Tim Moreland, Dan Hansen, Dennis Laird, and Rene Singer
Tim Moreland led Dan Hansen, Dennis Laird, and Rene Singer to the Cheese Factory where they inventoried 31 stations in the KY survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/11/1995
Wind Cave weekend was not very well attended due to a snowstorm in Colorado that prevented many of the cavers from making the trip.
Steve Smith, Kevin Smith, Evan Anderson, and Dennis Laird
Steve Smith led Kevin Smith, Evan Anderson, and Dennis Laird to the Land of Oz where they inventoried 78 stations in the OZ survey and checked the area thoroughly for leads finding none.

02/24/1995
After the trip leader training session on February 24, two short trips were taken into the cave. Jim Wilson and Skip Withrow went out to the Club Room to remove survey tags left from a re-sketch of the room. Kathy Petty led Sandy Kraemer and Kirk Haley on an inventory trip to the UG survey where they inventoried 11 stations.
March/April 1995
At the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 76.3 miles. By the end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 76.5 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.2 miles. A total of 0.7 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.2 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/11/1995
Dave Lester, Louise Hose, and John Peters-Campbell
Dave Lester led Louise Hose, and John Peters-Campbell out to the Archimedes Pool area. They surveyed 247 feet off of KY258, GR58, and KYD3.

Paul Burger, Cori Gianuzzi, Evan Anderson, and Steve Lester
Paul Burger led Cori Gianuzzi, Evan Anderson, and Steve Lester to Delusions of Grandeur. They surveyed 341 feet in an area near the Thigh Master. Most of the survey was in crawling cave, but they left several leads going.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Bruce Albright, and Damian Invereigh
Jim Clark led Veronica Stahl, Bruce Albright, and Damian Invereigh to the Western Fringe Zone. They surveyed 164 feet in the WFV and WFU surveys.

Myk Coughlin, George Fredericks, and Eric Miles
Myk Coughlin, George Fredericks, and Eric Miles inventoried 48 stations in the SZ survey in the Half-Mile Hall Zone.

Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, and Mita Das
Sandy Kraemer led Kathy Petty, and Mita Das to the UF9-24 area where they inventoried 16 stations. They noted some historic signatures from Alvin and Elmer McDonald, as well as John Stabler.

Steve Smith and Robert Phillips
Steve Smith and Robert Phillips did some maintenance on the yellow/black tape trail between the Post Office and Rainbow Falls.

Rich Wolfert, Dan Hansen, Mike Zawada, Ed Clarson
Rich Wolfert led Dan Hansen, Mike Zawada and Ed Clarkson out past the Wind Tunnel where they surveyed 216 feet in the NWA4 and NWA5 surveys.

Skip Withrow, Jim Wilson, Paul Fowler, and Frank Leskinen
Skip Withrow, Jim Wilson, Paul Fowler and Frank Leskinen surveyed 264 feet from BY11. This route involved a short, roped drop.

Stan Allison, Barry Brown, Steve Baldwin, and Cory Baldwin
Stan Allison led Barry Brown, Steve Baldwin and Cory Baldwin to NB40 where they surveyed 139 feet in upper level cave.

03/25/1995
Myk Coughlin, Marc Ohms, and Greg Hanson
Myk Coughlin led Marc Ohms and Greg Hanson on a trip where they make a large loop. They traveled up Half-Mile Hall to Andy's Ice Box where they inventoried 44 stations in the BX survey arriving at the Elephant Trunk. They then followed the green tape trail back, completing their loop at Half-Mile Hall.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/08/1995
Tim Moreland, Ingar Abarzua, Bruce Albright, Dennis Laird
Tim Moreland led Ingar Abarzua, Bruce Albright, and Dennis Laird out to the KIL survey where they surveyed 193 feet in the KIL20-25 and KID1-11 surveys. At KIL23 they found some new helictite bushes! These bushes are within several hundred feet of the previously known Bush Gardens and Bushed helictite sites and are in the same line that all but one of the known bush sites are located along.

Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, Bob Stucklen,and Dan Hansen
Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, Bob Stucklen and Dan Hansen surveyed 132 feet in the UYA survey off of the Bachelors' Quarters. They noticed interesting non-limestone stream cobbles in their survey Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty inventoried 26 stations in the UF25-26 and F'1-9 surveys. These are located in the Historic Zone.

May/June 1995
At the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 76.5 miles. By the end of June, Wind Cave's length was increased to 76.85 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.35 miles. A total of 0.6 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.35 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 05/13/1995
Sandy Kraemer, Jamie Sherer, Keen Butterworth, and Steve Petruniak
Sandy Kraemer led Jamie Sherer, Keen Butterworth and Steve Petruniak out to the NY, NM and NN surveys where they inventoried 50 stations of previously surveyed cave in the Historic Zone.

Ed LaRock, Rene Singer, Andy Flurkey, and Dan Hansen
Ed LaRock led Rene Singer, Andy Flurkey and Dan Hansen to the UK survey north of the Elbow Room. They surveyed 516 feet of mostly walking cave in the UKA survey. One of the rooms they discovered was 100 feet long and 25-35 feet wide, with ceiling heights averaging 10 feet. Another room they found called Sculpture Gardens contained clean thin-bedded limestone bedrock in interesting shapes.

Myk Coughlin, Virgil Armajo,and Cori Gianuzzi
Myk Coughlin led Virgil Armajo and Cori Gianuzzi to the YT survey near the Club Room where they inventoried 39 stations of cave.

Paul Burger, Steve Lester, Bruce Albright, and Dennis Laird
Paul Burger led Steve Lester, Bruce Albright and Dennis Laird out to the Lunatic Fringe where they surveyed 320 feet of cave in the WFH and WFJ surveys.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/10/1995
Tim Moreland, Ingar Abarzua, and Dennis Laird
Tim Moreland led Ingar Abarzua and Dennis Laird to BBB4 near the Club Room where they surveyed 521 feet in the BBD survey.

Doug Kent, Rene Singer, and Amy Bernard
Doug Kent led Rene Singer and Amy Bernard to the H survey in the Historic Zone. They surveyed 281 feet in the HB survey finding a waterfall dropping approximately 10 gallons per minute at HB13. This waterfall is probably due to the extremely wet spring this year.

Steve Smith, Robert Phillips, and Ed O'Connor
Steve Smith led Robert Phillips and Ed O'Connor out to Deep Confusion where they inventoried 19 stations from BX159 to BX177. At BX164 they found a dome that has surveyable passage.

Paul Burger, Evan Anderson, Cori Gianuzzi, and Steve Lester
Paul Burger, Evan Anderson, Cori Gianuzzi and Steve Lester pushed the lead going north near the Snake Pit. They noted that approximately one-third of the air going into the Snake Pit Entrance seemed to be going up the north lead. Cori being the smallest member of the trip, managed to push the crawl to the point where it became breakdown choked with air going into the breakdown.

Jim Wilson, Clarence Williams, Dan Hanson, and Dan Wray
Jim Wilson led Clarence Williams, Dan Hanson and Dan Wray to the Titanic Room where they inventoried 14 stations.

06/24/1995

After the trip leader training on June 24, two trips were taken. Randy Brown led Evan Anderson, Rene Singer and Doug Kent to the HB survey where they surveyed 203 feet from HB20 through HB44. At HB40 small roots were found. Abby Wines led Jeff Wolin, Steffani Cleaves and Sarah Billig out to the Dreamland area.

July/August 1995
At the beginning of July, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 76.85 miles. By the end of August, Wind Cave's length was increased to 76.95 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.1 mile. A total of 0.1 mile of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.1 mile was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 07/08/1995
Rich Wolfert, Cyndi Mosch, Mike Goar,and Dan Hansen
The July Wind Cave weekend was the 8th. Rich Wolfert led Cyndi Mosch, Mike Goar and Dan Hansen to the north end of the Club Room where they surveyed 231 feet in the BUT survey. At BUT4 the group found Hoods, calcite caps that form on dogtooth spar. Hoods are not commonly found in Wind Cave.

Kathy Petty, Sandy Kraemer, and Ed O'Connor
Kathy Petty led Sandy Kraemer and Ed O'Connor to the Historic Zone where they inventoried 18 stations. Their inventory was done in the NM10M-Q, G1-7 and H surveys.

07/13/1995
Abby Wines, Don Frankfort, Dave Schifsky, and Terry Rich
On July 13, Abby Wines led an evening trip consisting of Don Frankfort, Dave Schifsky and Terry Rich. They surveyed 111.8 feet in the TR survey. Their survey ended in a dripstone area that was too delicate to travel through.

08/04/1995
Abby Wines, Jeff Wolin, C.J. Grimes, and Ed O'Connor
Abby Wines led Jeff Wolin, C.J. Grimes and Ed O'Connor out to the Dreamland area. They inventoried 11 stations, DL1-11.

Wind Cave Weekend 08/12/1995
Steve Smith, Robert Phillips, and Virgil Armajo
Steve Smith led Robert Phillips and Virgil Armajo out to Deep Confusion. They surveyed 248 feet in the VV survey.

Abby Wines, Sarah Wines, Dave Schifsky, and Don Frankfort
Abby Wines led Sarah Wines, Dave Schifsky and Don Frankfort back to the TR survey on August 24. They did a couple of survey shots to tie the TR survey into the BFL survey.

September/October 1995
At the beginning of September, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 76.95 miles. By the end of October, Wind Cave's length was increased to 77.2 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.3 miles. A total of 0.1 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.2 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 09/09/1995
Tim Moreland, Dennis Laird, Keene Butterwork, and Zig Appelt
Tim Moreland led Dennis Laird, Keene Butterworth and Zig Appelt to KID12. They continued the survey to KID21 were they stopped because the continuing passage was completely coated with white aragonite and calcite. They then surveyed KIE1-13 ending their day with a total of 428 feet of survey.

Louise Hose, Dave Lester, Jodie Cottier, and Michael Bush
Louise Hose led Dave Lester, Jodie Cottier and Michael Bush surveyed 194.5 feet in the KYD25-37 survey.

Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, Bob Stucklen, and Terry Sherman
Rich Wolfert led June Golaz, Bob Stucklen and Terry Sherman to the Bachelor's Quarters area where they surveyed 180 feet in the WXA survey.

Steve Smith, Gary Kirchberg, and Forest Weller
Steve Smith led Gary Kirchberg and Forest Weller past Rainbow Falls to the T, UH, UHA and WA surveys where they inventoried 41 stations.

Paul Burger, Cori Giannuzzi, and Evan Anderson
Paul Burger led Cori Giannuzzi and Evan Anderson to Blind Faith where they determined that the high leads in the room would require technical climbing to enter. They then traveled to the Thigh Master area where they surveyed 252 feet in the LE21-31 survey, leaving some leads to be checked in the future.

Wind Cave Weekend 10/14/1995
Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, Kathy Petty, and Sandy Kraemer
Rich Wolfert led June Golaz, Kathy Petty and Sandy Kraemer to the WXA survey where they surveyed 300 feet in the WXB survey. Along the WXB survey they found an Alvin McDonald signature dated 1891.

Paul Burger, Hazel Barton, and Bruce Albright
Paul Burger led Hazel Barton and Bruce Albright to the Chamber Pot Room area where they surveyed 272 feet in the NJPA, NCP9 and NCP3 surveys. The NCP3 area had several hundred feet of previously untravelled cave with more to look at in the future!

10/21/1995
Stan Allison, Marc Ohms, and Kelly Mathis
On October 21, Stan Allison led Marc Ohms and Kelly Mathis in via the Snake Pit Entrance to the House of the Fallen Snurd and on to the KY-155 area. They thoroughly pushed north leads from KY155 to 165 closing off several leads and surveying 118 feet in the KY159A-H survey.

November/December 1995
At the beginning of November, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 77.25 miles. By the end of December, Wind Cave's length was increased to 77.7 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.45 miles. A total of 0.3 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.45 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 11/11/1995
Tim Moreland, Dan Hansen, Randy Macan, and Henk van Beek
The November Wind Cave weekend was the eleventh. Tim Moreland led Dan Hansen, Randy Macan and Henk van Beek in the survey of 500 feet in the BBB6 and BBE surveys. This area is near the Club Room.

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Dan Wray, and Danny Doty
Jim Wilson led Skip Withrow, Dan Wray and Danny Doty out to the DF survey in the Half-Mile Hall Zone where they closed some leads off of DF5.

Sandy Kraemer, Rich Wolfert, Bob Stucklen, and Aron Macan
Sandy Kraemer led Rich Wolfert, Bob Stucklen and Aron Macan to an area just off of the Garden of Eden elevator landing. They surveyed 403.3 feet in the WXC and WXD surveys.

Myk Coughlin and Cori Giannuzzi
Myk Coughlin led Cori Giannuzzi out to JD31 where they found approximately 200 feet of explored, but unsurveyed cave.

Paul Burger, Evan Anderson, and Hazel Barton
Paul Burger led Evan Anderson and Hazel Barton to the Baker Street area where they surveyed 394.3 feet in the NCA and NCP3 surveys.

Wind Cave Weekend 12/9/1995
Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, Paul Burger, and Bruce Albright
The December Wind Cave weekend was on the ninth. Evan Anderson led Hazel Barton, Paul Burger and Bruce Albright out past the Necessary Evil pit where they surveyed 482.7 feet in the WOB, WLF and WLE surveys.

Rene Singer, Vi Schweiker, and Ted Lappin
Rene Singer led Vi Schweiker and Ted Lappin out to the Canal Zone. They inventoried 51 stations and checked leads out beyond the Wind Tunnel.

Skip Withrow, Clarence Williams, and Jim Wilson
Skip Withrow led Clarence Williams and Jim Wilson out to the KD and KE surveys where they inventoried 19 stations.

Andy Flurkey, Ed LaRock, and Mike Behn
Andy Flurkey led Ed LaRock and Mike Behn out to the Li'l Bubble area where they surveyed 389.2 feet in the UKB survey.

12/16/1995
Stan Allison, Cori Giannuzzi, Mike Wiles, and Marc Ohms
Stan Allison led Cori Giannuzzi, Mike Wiles and Marc Ohms out to the XH survey in the Colorado Grotto Zone. They surveyed 218.9 feet in XHA survey. In addition to finding bat scratches, the team left several passages to survey in the future.
January/February 1994
At the beginning of January, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 73.65 miles. By the end of February, Wind Cave's length was increased to 73.8 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period as 0.15 miles. Approximately 250 feet of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.15 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 01/08/1994
Randy Macan, Aaron Macan, and Chris Nelson
Randy Macan, Aaron Macan and Chris Nelson surveyed 135 feet of cave in the BHE survey and inventoried one station.

Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty
Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty surveyed 126.7 feet in the PK survey.

Bill Yett, Rich Wolfert, Jim Wilson, Carl Pagano, Clarence Wilson, and Jim Wilson
Bill Yett, Rich Wolfert, Jim Wilson, Carl Pagano, Clarence Wilson, and Jim Wilson surveyed 230.5 feet in the XER 8-19 surveys.

Jim Clark, V. Stahl, and Randy Brown
Jim Clark, V. Stahl and Randy Brown surveyed 165.6 feet in the UHA survey.

Dough Kent, Paul Burger, Mike Behn, and Dave Hauch
Doug Kent, Paul Burger, Mike Behn and Dave Houch surveyed 30.4 feet in the BEG20 survey. They pushed all of the leads off of the BEG survey and feel that this area is finished.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/12/1994
Jim Wilson, Daniel Horkan, Evan Anderson, Tim Moreland, Mike Zawada, and Steven Kumpf
Jim Wilson, Daniel Horkan, Evan Anderson, Tim Moreland, Mike Zawada, and Steven Kumpf surveyed 284 feet in the BB43 and BB53 surveys. They also inventoried 9 stations from BB47-55.

Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, and Rich Wolfert
Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty and Rich Wolfert surveyed 116.15 feet in the FP survey.

March/April 1994
At the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 73.8 miles. By the end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 74.3 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.5 miles. Approximately 0.45 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.5 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/12/1994
Dave Lester and Jim Wilson
Dave Lester and Jim Wilson surveyed 86.6 feet in the UTG survey off of Snowdrift Avenue.

Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, Jim Shattles, and Bob Stucklen
Rich Wolfert, June Golaz, Jim Shattles and Bob Stucklen inventoried 20 stations from AD1-20. This is a survey near the Newspaper Room along the Caving Tour.

Randy Macan, Aaron Macan, and Chris Nelson
Randy Macan, Aaron Macan and Chris Nelson surveyed 215 feet in the BHR survey. This survey is in the Half-Mile Hall Zone.

Steve Lester, Pat Malone, Mirko Zayas and Dan Hansen
Steve Lester, Pat Malone, Mirko Zayas and Dan Hansen inventoried 33 stations in the New Lakes area.

Evan Anderson, Jim Clark, and Bruce Albright
Evan Anderson, Jim Clark and Bruce Albright surveyed 393.5 feet in the WRP survey. This survey is in the Western Fringe area.

Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, and Jamie Sherer
Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty and Jamie Sherer surveyed 158.1 feet in the NK' survey in the Historic Zone.

Ross Hart, David Worthington, Betsy Kolarich, and Eric Mayes
Ross Hart, David Worthington, Betsy Kolarich and Eric Mayes surveyed 156 feet in the MQ' survey off of the yellow tape trail.

Paul Burger, Rene Singer, Harold Hutson, and Brad Woodard
Paul Burger, Rene Singer, Harold Hutson and Brad Woodard surveyed 297.7 feet in the SE18 and SEJ surveys. These surveys are in the Silent Expressway Zone.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/09/1994
Dave Lester, Louise Hose, and Matt Staples
Dave Lester, Louise Hose and Matt Staples surveyed 431.7 feet in the CWA survey near the Wind Gate.

Paul Fowler, Hazel Barton, Jim Gaiser, and Scott White
Paul Fowler, Hazel Barton, Jim Gaiser and Scott White surveyed 190.1 feet in the WFE survey in the Western Fringe.

Evan Anderson, Bruce Albright, Jim Clark, and Veronica Stahl
Evan Anderson, Bruce Albright, Jim Clark and Veronica Stahl surveyed 248 feet in the WBA and SSG surveys in the Western Fringe area.

Dan Horkan, Chris Brondom, and Ross Hart
Dan Horkan, Chris Brondom and Ross Hart surveyed 232 feet in the MPA survey. This is a continuation of the MQ' survey that was done in March.

Carl Pagano, Rick Whistler, Jody Cottier, and Frank Leskinen
Carl Pagano, Rick Whistler, Jody Cottier and Frank Leskinen surveyed 54 feet in the UTI survey.

04/23/1994
Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty
Sandy Kraemer and Kathy Petty came up the weekend of April 23 to prepare for an upcoming lint camp at Wind and Jewel Caves. While they were here they inventoried 43 stations in the NZ, ND and NDA surveys near Rainbow Falls.

May/June 1994
At the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 74.3 miles. By the end of June, Wind Cave's length was increased to 74.9 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.6 miles. There was no inventory done in previously surveyed cave. A total of 0.6 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 05/14/1994
Louise Hose, Steve Lester, Al Hinman, and Rene Singer
Louise Hose led Steve Lester, Al Hinman and Rene Singer to the PMS survey where they resurveyed the PMS survey and started the PMT survey for a total of 805 feet. Louise later found a bad tie-in shot in the KY that had been causing a bad loop closure in this area.

Dave Lester, Margie Robinson, Steve Petruniak, Jamie Sherer, and Pat Malone
Dave Lester, Margie Robinson, Steve Petruniak, Jamie Sherer and Pat Malone surveyed 291.9 feet in the DN survey near Half-Mile Hall.

Paul Fowler, Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, and Bruce Albright
Paul Fowler led Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton and Bruce Albright to the Western Fringe. They surveyed 454.5 feet in the WFE2 survey, leaving more to do on another trip.

Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Charles Shepard, and Chri Chapman
Jim Wilson led Tim Moreland, Charles Shepard and Cheri Chapman to the BB survey where they surveyed 165 feet in the BB43 survey.

Mike Behn, Ed LaRock, Paul Burger, and Doug Kent
Mike Behn, Ed LaRock, Paul Burger and Doug Kent surveyed 308 feet in the FB27 survey out in the Colorado Grotto Zone.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/11/1994
Robert Phillips, Steve Smith, Evan Anderson, and Rene Singer
Robert Phillips, Steve Smith, Evan Anderson and Rene Singer surveyed 555 feet in the WFR survey. This area includes a nicely decorated flowstone and stalactite area called "Second Helpings".

Bruce Albright, Hazel Barton, and John Ekeberg
Bruce Albright led Hazel Barton and John Ekeberg out to the Western Fringe where they surveyed 155.6 feet in the WFB survey. An unsurveyed side passage led to an unclimbable pit.

Paul Burger, Doug Kent, Sean Durhan, and Mark McVey
Paul Burger, Doug Kent, Sean Durham and Mark McVey surveyed 261.5 feet in the XEB, WEC, XED and XEA6 surveys.

Kevin Smith, Dan Hansen, and Nancy Ortolani
Kevin Smith, Dan Hansen and Nancy Ortolani surveyed 290.8 feet in the NM10 survey in the Historic Zone.

July/August 1994
At the beginning of July, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 74.9 miles. By the end of August, Wind Cave's length had increased to 75.5 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.6 miles. A total of 1.2 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.6 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
07/01/1994
Stacy Smyth, Abby Wines, Garnet Goodrich, and Jeff Wolin
Stacy Smyth led Wind Cave interpreters, Abby Wines, Garnet Goodrich and Jeff Wolin into survey station BL8. They surveyed 118.8 feet in the Historic Zone.

07/05/1994
Stacy Smyth, Abby Wines, Jackie Gericke, and Dave Schifsky
On July 5, the 75th mile was reached. Stacy Smyth led Abby Wines, Jackie Gericke and Dave Schifsky back to the BL survey where they added 199.5 feet to the cave survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 07/09/1994
Dave Lester, Pat Malone, and Abby Wines
Dave Lester led Pat Malone and Abby Wines into the Half-Mile Hall Zone. They surveyed 281.7 feet in the DTB survey.

Kathy Lankford, Dale Lankford, Dennis Worthington, Marianne Smyth, and Rich Wolfert
Kathy Lankford led Dale Lankford, Dennis Worthington, Marianne Smyth and Rich Wolfert into the Club Room Zone where they surveyed 225 feet in the MBA, MBB and MBC surveys.

Evan Anderson, Bruce Albright, Hazel Barton, and Paul Burger
Evan Anderson led Bruce Albright, Hazel Barton and Paul Burger out to the Western Fringe Zone. They rigged a rope and dropped the 40 foot Necessary Evil pit. At the bottom they surveyed 1015.1 feet in the WFB and WFC surveys.

07/19/1994
Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison, and Bob Kobza
Jim Nepstad led Stan Allison and Bob Kobza out beyond Necessary Evil. At the bottom of the pit they followed the WFC survey through the formerly pristine Blizzard Blvd. While checking leads, they managed to find a bypass to Blizzard Blvd. While doing some additional looking around, they found a nice room that they named Bittersweet in light of their mood at the time. Several leads were left going, indicating more cave in this area. In light of the above incident, and several other problems that had occurred in communications between the Park and cavers, Jim Nepstad decided to put a temporary halt to exploration and survey effective August 1, 1994. This hiatus was intended to give cave management time to write clear and precise guidelines for cavers and trip leaders. In addition a trip leader list was begun to insure that a qualified trip leader is on every trip into Wind Cave.

07/20/1994
Stacy Smyth, Melissa Morse, and Abby Wines
Stacy Smyth, Melissa Morse and Abby Wines surveyed 70 feet in the AT22 survey.

07/30/1994
Stacy Smyth, Abby Wines, Emily Becker, Dave Schifsky, and Don Frankfort
Stacy Smyth started a full day of caving by leading Abby Wines and Emily Becker out to the AG14 and BQ4 surveys. They surveyed 110.8 feet. That afternoon Stacy led Dave Schifsky and Don Frankfort to the BQ4 survey where they surveyed 189.7 feet and found a nice wet formation area near the Coliseum. The third and final trip for the day consisted of Stacy Smyth, Abby Wines and Dave Schifsky. They surveyed 98.5 feet off the BQ4L.

Wind Cave Weekend 08/13/1994
Since survey and exploration was put on hold, the August 13 Colorado Grotto weekend consisted of inventory trips only.
Paul Burger, Evan Anderson, and Steve Lester
Paul Burger, Evan Anderson and Steve Lester inventoried 116 stations near Silent Expressway. This is the most stations that have ever been inventoried in one trip.

Hazel Barton, Rene Singer, Dave Beck,and Brice Albright
Hazel Barton, Rene Singer, Dave Beck and Brice Albright inventoried 58 stations in the Beacon Street area.

Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, and Carl Pagano
Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty and Carl Pagano inventoried 37 stations in and near the AT survey.

Mike Bailey, Mark Thornberry, Dan Wray, and Dave Wray IV
Mike Bailey, Mark Thornberry, Dan Wray and Dave Wray IV inventoried 15 stations in the KQ survey off of Half-Mile Hall.

Sean Durrun, J. Almegrew, and Jeff Brummel
Sean Durrum, J. Almegrew and Jeff Brummel inventoried 5 stations in the SZ survey, near Half-Mile Hall.

Paul Fowler, Jim Gaiser, and Kim Rowland
Paul Fowler, Jim Gaiser and Kim Rowland inventoried 8 stations in the BB survey.

08/14/1994
Stacy Smyth and Abby Wines
Stacy Smyth and Abby Wines inventoried 22 stations in the Dreamland area. This trip was cut short when one of Stacys' glasses lens fell into breakdown. Unable to retrieve the lens and worse off with one lens than none, Stacy had to exit the cave with no glasses. It took a tedious 4.5 hours to exit an area that normally takes less than an hours to get to!

September/October 1994
At the beginning of September, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 75.5 miles. By the end of October, Wind Cave's length was increased to 75.7 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.2 miles. A total of 0.25 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition, 0.2 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
The September Wind Cave weekend was canceled due to the unavailability of the cave management staff.
Wind Cave Weekend 10/08/1994
Louise Hose, Kim Kreb, and Petty Widhalm
Louise Hose led Kim Kreb and Perry Widhalm to the Blue Bayou in the Historic Zone. They mapped 176.3 feet in the AZA survey noting good airflow.

Dave Lester, Becky Ward, and Dan Hanson
Dave Lester led Becky Ward and Dan Hanson to the Blue Bayou where they checked leads and assisted Louise Hose's group.

Tim Moreland, Bob Stucklen, and Jerry Morrison
Tim Moreland led Bob Stucklen and Jerry Morrison out near the Titanic Room where they inventoried 9 stations, JB12-15 and ZA15.

Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, and Dennis Laird
Kevin Smith lead Steve Smith and Dennis Laird to the Half-Mile Hall Zone, where they inventoried BR1-9 and OZ1-7.

Sandy Kraemer, Carl Pagano, and Ken Tiner
Sandy Kraemer led Carl Pagano and Ken Tiner into the Historic Zone where they inventoried 29 stations, PR5-13, PRA7-8 and AW1-3.

Bruce Albright, Louise Fernando, and Steve Lester
Bruce Albright led Louise Fernando and Steve Lester to the Club Room where Steve re-sketched the Club Room.

Randy Brown, Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton, and Rene Singer
Randy Brown, Evan Anderson, Hazel Barton and Rene Singer surveyed 511.2 feet in the EI survey off the Egg Hatchery area in the Club Room Zone.

10/15/1994
Stan Allison, Mike Wiles, and Dave Zelenka
Stan Allison led Mike Wiles and Dave Zelenka out to Grease in the Southern Comfort Zone. They surveyed 390.1 feet in the LTL14 and LOK18 surveys. At the end of the day while checking leads along the west side of Blind Faith, Mike found a passage going to approximately 300 feet of cave with airflow. This area has some small pools in it and was incompletely checked, leaving an interesting lead for the next trip.

November/December 1994
At the beginning of November, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 75.7 miles. By the end of December, Wind Cave's length was increased to 76.1 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.4 miles. A total of 0.2 miles of previously surveyed cave was inventoried. In addition 0.4 miles was inventoried in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 11/12/1994
Kathy Petty, Carl Pagano, Jamie Sherer, and Sandy Kraemer
Kathy Petty led Carl Pagano, Jamie Sherer and Sandy Kraemer to the Historic Zone where they inventoried 6 stations along with PR survey.

Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, Rene Singer, and Steve Lester
Ed LaRock led Mike Behn, Rene Singer and Steve Lester out to the Club Room Zone. They continued the EI survey from 36 to 57, surveying 236 feet and leaving a few breakdown crawls.

Tim Moreland, Dan Hanson, Dale Lankford, and Dave Schaefbauer
Tim Moreland lead Dan Hanson, Dale Lankford and Dave Schaefbauer to the Titanic Room where they inventoried 30 stations along the BY survey.

Carol Boyles, Dennis Laird, and Robert Phillips
Carol Boyles led Dennis Laird and Robert Phillips along the Red and White trail to Half-Mile Hall. They performed tape trail maintenance along this travel route.

Rich Wolfert, Susan Herpin, Bob Stucklen, and Alan Williams
Rich Wolfert led Susan Herpin, Bob Stucklen and Alan Williams out to the Colorado Grotto section where they surveyed 287 feet using the XES survey designation.

Jim Wilson, Dan Horkan, Clarence Williams, and Nancy Holler
Jim Wilson led Dan Horkan, Clarence Williams and Nancy Holler to the Titanic Room where they surveyed 193 feet in the BY29A-M survey.

Paul Burger, Stan Allison, Evan Anderson, and Bruce Albright
Paul Burger led Stan Allison, Evan Anderson and Bruce Albright out to the Lunatic Fringe area. They surveyed 1178 feet including a 300x50 foot long room called Bitter Sweet. Two bypasses to Blizzard Boulevard were surveyed. An eight inch high logomite was found in an area profusely decorated with aragonite. Airflow in the area entered an impenetrable breakdown choke.

12/03/1994
Stan Allison, Myk Coughlin, and Mike Wiles
Stan Allison led Myk Coughlin and Mike Wiles into Coyote Cave. Making their way through the perpetual crawlways, they observed that the cave had flooded in the last two years. At the end of the cave Mike Wiles was able to squeeze through a tight passage only after removing cloting. He followed a strong breeze through approximately 500 feet of virgin crawlway. At his farthest point, the cave was still going. Both Myk and Stan were unable to fit through the tight passage.

Wind Cave Weekend 12/10/1994
Doug Kent, Paul Fowler, and Evan Anderson
Doug Kent led Paul Fowler and Evan Anderson out to the Lunatic Fringe. They surveyed 549 feet in the WFG survey. At one spot along their survey they noted many bat scratches.

Skip Withrow, Bob Stucklen, and Jamie Sherer
Skip Withrow led Bob Stucklen and Jamie Sherer to the BY survey to inventory.

Steve Smith, Robert Phillips, Mark McVey, and Kim Rowland
Steve Smith led Robert Phillips, Mark McVey and Kim Rowland to the Coke Room where they were unable to locate the start of their chosen inventory area and thus had to leave the cave with no inventory.
January/February 1993
In early January 1993, Wind Cave's surveyed mileage stood at 70.8 miles. By the end of February, the length had been increased to 71.2 miles. The total amount of survey accumulated for the two month period was 0.4 miles. The total amount of inventory performed in previously known passage was 0.2 miles. In addition, 0.4 miles of inventory was done in conjunction with new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 01/09/1993
Bill Yett, Pat Jablonsky, and Sandy Kraemer
Bill Yett, Pat Jablonsky and Sandy Kraemer surveyed 90 feet in the NO' survey in the Historic Zone.

Kevin Smith, Pat Malone, and Jamie Meyers
Kevin Smith, Pat Malone and Jamie Meyers went out to the Silent Expressway to assist with the hydrology project.

Tim Moreland, Dan Hansen, and Jim Myers
Tim Moreland, Dan Hansen and Jim Myers also helped with the water study by going to the area north of the Coke Room.

Kirk Haley, Jim Erickson, Ron Potter, and Karen Murphy
Kirk Haley, Jim Erickson, Ron Potter and Karen Murphy surveyed 53.1 feet in the UR5A-D survey. Jim climbed the dome at CM'11 and found no going leads.

Randy Macan, David Coles, Becky Ward, and Aaron Macan
Randy Macan, David Coles, Becky Ward and Aaron Macan surveyed 500 feet from DY-11 to DY-36. The lower-level passage they surveyed went to the south boundary of the cave.

Stuart Marlatt, Rob Reichert, and Tom Ceier
Stuart Marlatt, Rob Reichert and Tom Ceier inventoried 23 stations, SA1-5, SA35-48. This area is in the Half-Mile Hall Zone near the Cratework Crawl.

01/23/1993
Carol Boyles, Charles Hubbeling, and Mike Lilygren
Carol Boyles, Charles Hubbeling and Mike Lilygren inventoried 8 stations in the Historic Zone. The are they inventoried was E47-50, 53-55 and 64.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/13/1993
Rich Wolfert, Tim Moreland, June Galaz, and Bob Stucklen
Rich Wolfert, Tim Moreland, June Golaz and Bob Stucklen surveyed 158.9 feet in the NWA survey near the Wind Tunnel. They found an historical Alvin McDonald signature dated Nov. 23, 1890.

Robert Phillips, Kevin Smith, Steve Lester, and Fred Douglas
Robert Phillips, Kevin Smith, Steve Lester and Fred Douglas surveyed 181.3 feet in the VH survey as well as inventorying 3 stations.

Dave Lester, Kirk Haley, Randy Brown, Barry Berg, and Cheryl Scifres
Dave Lester, Kirk Haley, Randy Brown, Barry Berg and Cheryl Scifres surveyed 598 feet in the Snowdrift Avenue area.

Sandy Kraemer, Pat Jablonsky, Kathy Petty, Frank Leskinen, and Clarence Williams
Sandy Kraemer, Pat Jablonsky, Kathy Petty, Frank Leskinen and Clarence Williams surveyed 102.2 feet in the ND2A-G survey. They also inventoried 6 stations and noticed some leads in the Basement area.

Bran Smith, Jim Meyers, Don Broeker, Margo Butner and Carl Pagano
Bran Smith, Jim Meyers, Don Broeker, Margo Butner and Carl Pagano surveyed 432.9 feet in the AG survey near the 3-way stair on the Fairgrounds tour.

Max Mazur, Mike Mazur, and Wes Allen
Max Mazur, Mike Mazur and Wes Allen surveyed 120.7 feet in the THO survey. This survey is in the lower level cave area of the Half-Mile Hall Zone.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, David Terry, and Brad Clark
Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, David Terry and Brad Stampa surveyed 73.5 feet in the DX survey off of the DY survey. Jim found a tight lead up above BWB6 that led to 150 feet of virgin cave but they did not survey it due to the tightness of the initial squeeze.

March/April 1993
At the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 71.2 miles. By the end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 72.0 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period as 0.8 miles. Approximately 0.75 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.8 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/13/1993
Jim Wilson, Eric Dutton, Randy Brown, and Kevin Reyonds
Jim Wilson, Eric Dutton, Randy Brown and Kevin Reynolds surveyed 510 feet off of JX18. They found a nice passage off of the Wine Cellar.

Steve Lester, Bill Hawn, and Robert Phillips
Steve Lester, Bill Hawn and Robert Phillips inventoried 14 stations near the caving tour.

Dave Lester, Becky Ward, Pat Malone, and Kevein Smith
Dave Lester, Becky Ward, Pat Malone and Kevin Smith inventoried 65 stations in the New Lakes area.

Bryan Smith, Jim Myers, Carl Pagano, Jane Prendergast, Jamie Myers, Ingred Luszko, and Carol Boyles
Bryan Smith, Jim Myers, Carl Pagano, Jane Prendergast, Jamie Myers, Ingred Luszko and Carol Boyles surveyed 348 feet in the AJ and AP' surveys near the 3-way stairs.

Paul Burger, Doug Kent, and Jim Erickson
Paul Burger, Doug Kent and Jim Erickson surveyed 551.4 feet off of the LTG, LTO and LTB surveys. They mopped up leads in the Canyon and Northwest Territory sections of the Southern Comfort Zone.

Pat Jablonsky, Sandy Kraemer, and Clarence Williams
Pat Jablonsky, Sandy Kraemer and Clarence Williams surveyed 180 feet in the NK survey in the Historic Zone.

04/03/1993
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza, Paul Burger, and Stan Allison
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza, Paul Burger and Stan Allison made a trip to the New Lakes area to look for leads. There were several things with air but the leads they looked at were too tight.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/10/1993
Max Mazur, Mike Mazur, and John Coyne
Max Mazur, Mike Mazur and John Coyne surveyed 497.3 feet in the BUC, BUA and BHA surveys. This area is in the Half-Mile Hall Zone.

Bryan Smith and Steve Posey
Bryan Smith and Steve Posey surveyed 402.6 feet in the CQA survey near the Fairgrounds Tour Route.

Tim Moreland, Paul Coulam, and Jane Prendergast
Tim Moreland, Paul Coulam and Jane Prendergast inventoried 35 stations north of the Coke Room.

Robert Phillips, Steve Smith, Steve Lester, and Evan Anderson
Robert Phillips, Steve Smith, Steve Lester and Evan Anderson inventoried 20 stations near the Birthday Cake in the western section of Wind Cave. While poking around they found a large virgin room, which they left going.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, and Sean Durram
Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl and Sean Durram surveyed 315.6 feet and inventoried 24 stations in the Silent Expressway Zone.

04/16/1993
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Steve Lester, Steve Smith, Jim Nepstad, and Bob Kobza
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Steve Lester, Steve Smith, Jim Nepstad and Bob Kobza returned to the new area found the week before. They surveyed 800 feet of new cave in the WFS survey. One large room was approximately 200 feet long, up to 75 feet wide and from 15 to 40 feet tall. A pool named Nice Ice was also discovered. There does seem to be some airflow in this area.

04/24/1993
Stan Allison, Paul Burger, Myk Coughlin, and Mike Wiles
Stan Allison, Paul Burger, Myk Coughlin and Mike Wiles surveyed 555 feet in the LOL survey along Route 66. They checked out most of the leads along Route 66, leaving only a high lead.

May/June 1993
At the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 72.0 miles. By the end of June, Wind Cave's length was increased to 72.6 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.6 miles. Approximately 0.2 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.6 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 05/05/1003
Louise Hose, Al Hinman, and Bob Johnson
Louise Hose, Al Hinman and Bob Johnson surveyed 210 feet of cave in the KYH1-9 survey. They discovered several wet areas and stalactites.

Mike Behn, Dave Hauck, Ed LaRock, and Alan Williams
Mike Behn, Dave Houck, Ed LaRock and Alan Williams surveyed 333 feet in the KQA1-16 survey. This group was attempting to push leads north-west and north-east of KQ84 into an area with no known cave. They were unable to push into this area but did the KQA survey in upper levels near KQ84.

Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, Pat Jablonsky, and Clarence Williams
Sandy Kraemer, Kathy Petty, Pat Jablonsky and Clarence Williams surveyed 143.7 feet in the NK6B1-6 survey. They noted heavily dripping water, a pool, and a fly in their survey.

Jim Clark, Stefan Scherer, and V. Stahl
Jim Clark, Stefan Scherer and V. Stahl surveyed 235.1 feet in the SP1-10 survey. They originally intended to survey in the Off Ramp area, but upon finding most leads choked off in silt fill, they decided to survey in the No Thru Streets area.

Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Randy Brown, and Tim Moreland
Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Randy Brown and Tim Moreland surveyed 694 feet in the NM22, NM26, NM32 and NMC surveys near the Wind Tunnel. Many historic signatures were noted in this area.

Kevin Smith, Jan Prendergast, and John Campbel
Kevin Smith, Jane Prendergast and John Campbell inventoried 30 stations in the BC1-21 and Delta 1-9 surveys. The pool at Delta 1, which was used as a water source during the 1971 in-cave camps, was found to be dry.

Bryan Smith, Bill Yett, Kyle Flaming, and Kirk Haley
Bryan Smith, Bill Yett, Kyle Flaming and Kirk Haley surveyed 173 feet in the A24 survey. This survey is in the Blue Bayou area.

Bill Hawn, Steve Lester, Doug Kent, Evan Anderson, and Steven Smith
Bill Hawn, Steve Lester, Doug Kent, Evan Anderson and Steven Smith surveyed 279 feet in WFS14-15, and the WFT survey. This survey is in the Western Fringe area.

05/22/1993
John Scheltens, Dave Springhetti, and Andy Flurkey
On May 22, John Scheltens, Dave Springhetti and Andy Flurkey surveyed 408 feet off of the WFT and WFS surveys noting much gypsum.

Over the Memorial Day weekend of May 29-30, a total of 28 cavers traveled around the Club Room Loop as a part of the Caver Classic occurring on John Scheltens Ranch near Hot Springs.
Wind Cave Weekend 06/12/1993
Robert Phillips, Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, and Karen Kurtak
Robert Phillips, Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Karen Kurtak found a tight passage going west across the Big Dark. Not all of the party was able to fit through the passage, so it was not surveyed. Kathy Petty,

Sandy Keaemer and Clarence Williams
Sandy Kraemer and Clarence Williams surveyed 164.1 feet in the NK1 survey. Their survey tied in to the Natural Entrance trail.

Jim Clark, V. Stahl, Stefan Scherer, and Dale Martin
Jim Clark, V. Stahl, Stefan Scherer and Dale Martin traveled out to Martels' Madhouse. They pushed this area hard, and feel that it has been thoroughly checked. (In Wind Cave it is hard to imagine anything 100% checked, due to the amazing complexity of the cave).

Jim Wilson, Bill Yett, Eric Dutton, and Skip Withrow
Jim Wilson, Bill Yett, Eric Dutton and Skip Withrow surveyed 525 feet in the continuation of the JX survey. They finished the Whine Room area exploration and connected into the LL and BB surveys.

Pat Jablonsky, Jon Bennett, Fred Crowle, Kathy Lankford, Dale Lankford, and Dan Wray III
Pat Jablonsky led an orientation trip for Jon Bennett, Fred Crowle, Kathy Lankford, Dale Lankford and Dan Wray III. Pat taught surveying and inventorying on this trip.

Vi Schweiker, Ted Lappin, Evan Anderson, and Bruce Albright
Vi Schweiker, Ted Lappin, Evan Anderson and Bruce Albright surveyed 138 feet in the GRA1-11 survey and inventoried GR15-19. They were unsuccessful in looking for a connection to the Disappointment Chamber.

January/February 1992
At the beginning of January, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 64.6 miles. By the end of February, Wind Cave's length was increased to 65.5 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.9 miles. Approximately 1 mile of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.9 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
01/04/1992
Jim Nepstad, Mike Wiles and Dave Springhetti
Jim Nepstad, Mike Wiles and Dave Springhetti made a trip out to the Gypsy Road area. They surveyed 524 feet, noting a small room with what seemed to be an abnormally high temperature.

01/10/1992
Rick Bogue, Marc Lamphere, Lon Sharp, Kevin Smith and Dave Anderson
Paha Sapa Grotto members, Rick Bogue, Marc Lamphere, Lon Sharp and Dave Anderson surveyed 190 feet in the YUK survey. Kevin Smith inventoried 15 stations along the Candlelight tour.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/11/1992

Rich Wolfert, Dave Lester, Randy Brown and Bob Stucklen
Rich Wolfert, Dave Lester, Randy Brown and Bob Stucklen surveyed 343.5 feet of new cave in the FT survey. They reported leaving leads and airflow in this area.

Tim Johnson, Christian George, Randy Macan and Eric David
Tim Johnson, Christian George, Randy Macan and Eric David inventoried 24 stations in the BX survey near Deep Confusion.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Kirk Haley and Jerry Hassemer
Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Kirk Haley and Jerry Hassemer surveyed 491 feet in the YG and EE surveys. They surveyed the Flapjack Room, a room with a fairly large aerial extent, but only 2 feet tall!

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Dennis Kendrick and Peter Wilson
Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Dennis Kendrick and Peter Wilson surveyed approximately 400 feet in the KPA survey near Mystic Hall.

Clarence Williams and Pat Jablonsky
Clarence Williams and Pat Jablonsky inventoried 18 stations in the Snowdrift Avenue area. While checking a high lead in the upper-middle level of cave, Pat had a handhold break. She fell about 3 feet and hit her jaw on the wall, fracturing her jaw and loosening some teeth. This is another reminder to be careful when climbing in the loose, upper-middle level of cave.

Carl Pagano, Amy Johnson, Tim Moreland, Brian Smith and Jim Myers
Carl Pagano, Amy Johnson, Tim Moreland, Brian Smith and Jim Myers surveyed 165 feet in the PIT survey near Mammoth Canyon.

Robert Phillips, Vern Carlson, Bill Hawn, Murray Vogal and Steve Huck
Robert Phillips, Vern Carlson, Bill Hawn, Murray Vogal and Steve Huck surveyed 580 feet in the MH survey, leaving leads.

Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Stuart Marlatt
Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Stuart Marlatt surveyed 288.8 feet of cave in the OFF survey near Selenite Avenue. They also inventoried 21 stations in the OF survey.

Paul Burger, Dawn Reed and Jon Turnbull
Paul Burger, Dawn Reed and Jon Turnbull went out to Gypsy Road to survey. Unable to locate the survey tape left previously, they pushed the LOK survey 200 feet further west.

01/18/1992
Darren Ressler and Michelle Youngquist
On January 18, Darren Ressler and Michelle Youngquist surveyed 221.1 feet in the DM survey near the Citadel.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/08/1992

Skip Withrow, Kevin Reynolds, Steve Posey and Brian Smith
Skip Withrow, Kevin Reynolds, Steve Posey and Brian Smith went out to the Colorado Grotto section and surveyed a connection between two surveys.

Ted Lappin, Vi Allured and Pat Seiser
Ted Lappin, Vi Allured and Pat Seiser surveyed 300 feet in the BED survey, near the north end of Half-Mile Hall.

Robert Phillips, Bill Hawn and Dirk Haley
Robert Phillips, Bill Hawn and Dirk Haley surveyed 174.6 feet in the VC survey near the Rescue Pit.

Doug Kent, Alan Williams, Mike Behn and Ed LaRock
Doug Kent, Alan Williams, Mike Behn and Ed LaRock surveyed 218 feet in the OJ survey near the north end of Half-Mile Hall.

Margo Butner, Nancy Houdeshell and Carol Boyles
Margo Butner, Nancy Houdeshell and Carol Boyles inventoried 22 stations in the NP survey.

Bill Yett, Charles Lawrence and Cam Seibolt
Bill Yett, Charles Lawrence and Cam Seibolt pushed cave near CM23 but were unable to find much cave.

Christian George, Chris Sodergen, Tim Johnson and Doug Hansen
Christian George, Chris Sodergen, Tim Johnson and Doug Hansen inventoried 31 stations in the DD, DF and KD surveys.

Mike Frazier, John Peters-Cambell, Erin Zumpf and Max Mauer
Mike Frazier, John Peters-Cambell, Erin Zumpf and Max Mauer inventoried 33 stations in the SD and RF surveys near the Lakes.

Pat Jablonsky, Frank Leskinen, Clarence Williams and Sandy Kraemer
Pat Jablonsky, Frank Leskinen, Clarence Williams and Sandy Kraemer inventoried 6 stations near Snowdrift Avenue.

Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Amy Johnson and Bob Stucklen
Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Amy Johnson and Bob Stucklen surveyed 355 feet, continuing the FT survey, leaving leads.

Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Becky Ward
Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Becky Ward inventoried 33 stations in the OF and MR surveys near the Master Room.

02/29/1992
Paul Burger, Pat Seiser and Dave Springhetti
Paul Burger, Pat Seiser and Dave Springhetti surveyed 100 feet near Deep Confusion.

March/April 1992
At the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 65.5 miles. By the end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 66.4 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.9 miles. Approximately 0.25 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.9 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/14/1992
Randy Macan, David Coles, Chris Collins, Wes and Max Mazur
Randy Macan, David Coles, Chris Collins, Wes and Max Mazur surveyed 321.7 feet in the DZ and DZA surveys near Jarbidge Pool.

Doug Kent, Barry Berg and Cheryl
Doug Kent, Barry Berg and Cheryl pushed leads off of Martels' Madhouse, surveying 352 feet in the BEB survey.

Carl Pagano, Brian Smith, June Golaz and Tim Moreland
Carl Pagano, Brian Smith, June Golaz and Tim Moreland surveyed 327 feet in the BIG and FX surveys. These surveys are in the Atlas Underground Hempworks area.

Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Randy Brown
Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Randy Brown and Dave White surveyed 359.7 feet in the FKJ and FB surveys east of the Hempworks area.

Bill Hawn, Steve Huck, Bob Phillips and Murray Vogel
Bill Hawn, Steve Huck, Bob Phillips and Murray Vogel surveyed 244.7 feet in the LP' survey near the Blue Bayou.

James Wilson, Clarence Williams, Frank Leskinen, Pat Jablonsky and Kathy Petty
James Wilson, Clarence Williams, Frank Leskinen, Pat Jablonsky and Kathy Petty surveyed 97 feet in the NS_H survey.

Jim Clark, Kirk Haley, John Peters-Campbell and Ian Peters-Campbell
Jim Clark, Kirk Haley, John Peters-Campbell and Ian Peters-Campbell resurveyed the erroneous RB survey.

Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, Becky Ward and Vern Carlson
Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, Becky Ward and Vern Carlson surveyed 538.1 feet in the GK survey north of the Master Room.

Bob Kobza, Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison and Harry Burgess
Bob Kobza, Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison and Harry Burgess went out to the Southern Comfort Zone to push the maze at the end of Delusions of Grandeur. Continuing the LOL survey, they pushed through the tight maze and into a passage 30 feet tall and 30 to 70 feet wide. Since the cave passed 66 miles while surveying this passage they named it Route 66. Following the air down this passage pushed the cave further south to a small, mazy zone with no easy way on. A total of 1168 feet of cave was surveyed.

Wind Cave Weekend 04/11/1992
Bill Hawn, Murray Vogel and Eric Dutton
Bill Hawn, Murray Vogel and Eric Dutton inventoried an impressive amount in the SB survey, 46 stations from the Magic Hole to the Lunar Tubes.

Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Brian Smith and Bob Stucklen
Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Brian Smith and Bob Stucklen surveyed 659.2 feet in the XI surveys near the Wretched Hole.

Becky Ward, David Coles, Max Mazur and Wes Allen
Becky Ward, David Coles, Max Mazur and Wes Allen surveyed 175.8 feet in the NH survey near the Master Room.

Steve Smith, Kevin Smith, Jeff Fowler and James Fair
Steve Smith, Kevin Smith, Jeff Fowler and James Fair surveyed 394 feet off of Christmas Tree Park in the BBA survey.

Pat Seiser, Vi Schweiker and Ted Lappin
Pat Seiser, Vi Schweiker and Ted Lappin resurveyed the XX survey in the Colorado Grotto Zone. They reported airflow and lots of leads.

Jon Hollman, Ryntha Johnson, Aaron Birenboim and Randy Winans
Jon Hollman, Ryntha Johnson, Aaron Birenboim and Randy Winans surveyed 127.5 feet in the XXA survey.

04/27/1992
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza and Stan Allison
On April 27, 1992 Jim Nepstad located a blowing hole near Cold Brook Canyon. This hole may be related to Wind Cave as it breathes in accordance with the Wind Cave winds. Its location along the contact of the Minnelusa and Paha Sapa formations if also promising as that is where both the Snake Pit and Blowhole entrances are located. Bob Kobza and Stan Allison returned with Jim only to find that the hole is home to a 50 foot long, vicious, rattlesnake (well at least that's what it looked like to me!).

May/June 1992
At the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 66.4 miles. By the end of June Wind Cave's length was increased to 67.5 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 1.2 miles. One survey was eliminated from the cave, as it had a 10% loop closure error; this resulted in a 0.1 mile loss in length. Approximately 0.38 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 1.2 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
05/02/1992
Paul Burger, Stan Allison, Myk Coughlyn and Mike Wiles
Paul Burger, Stan Allison, Myk Coughlyn and Mike Wiles made a trip to the far end of the Southern Comfort zone near Route 66. After mopping up a few leads, Paul led them into a mazy, walking section of cave called Toon Town. Total survey was 1189 feet in the LLB, LDL and LWD surveys. In addition, the cave was pushed approximately 350 feet further south.

John Scheltens, Andy Flurky, Ed LaRock and Mike Behn
John Scheltens, Andy Flurky, Ed LaRock and Mike Behn surveyed 536 feet of cave in the BT area. They reported that the area had beautiful aragonite and flowstone.

Wind Cave Weekend 05/09/1992
Margo Butner and Nancy Houdeshell
Margo Butner and Nancy Houdeshell inventoried 11 stations in the UQ survey off of the Model Room.

Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Robert Phillips
Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Robert Phillips surveyed 212.5 feet in the BBAA survey near Christmas Tree Park.

Bob Kobza, Stan Allison and Paul Burger
Bob Kobza, Stan Allison and Paul Burger surveyed 1263 feet in the LOS, LTG and LTO surveys off of Gypsy Road. One passage they surveyed, Barnacle Straights, had calcite coating on the wall similar to Jewel Cave!

Mike Frazier, Martin Smith, Bill Koershner, Win Wright and Carol Boyles
Mike Frazier, Martin Smith, Bill Koershner, Win Wright and Carol Boyles surveyed 321.7 feet in the SEZ and SEY surveys off of the Silent Expressway.

Christian George, Eric Show and Don Denton
Christian George, Eric Show and Don Denton surveyed 420.1 feet into the HH and HI surveys in lower level cave off of the DD survey.

Dave Lester, Bill Yett, Randy Brown and Dawn Reed
Dave Lester, Bill Yett, Randy Brown and Dawn Reed surveyed 187.4 feet in the FTA, FTB and FTC surveys in the Colorado Grotto section.

Max Mazur, Randy Macan, David Coles, John Williams and Becky Ward
Max Mazur, Randy Macan, David Coles, John Williams and Becky Ward surveyed 427.5 feet of lower level cave in the DZB, DZ and DY surveys.

Jon Hollman, Shane Zumpf and Al Pangburn
Jon Hollman, Shane Zumpf and Al Pangburn surveyed 246.5 feet in the XXA and XXB surveys off the XX survey in the Colorado Grotto Zone.

05/30/1992
Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison, Mike Wiles and Myk Coughlyn
Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison, Mike Wiles and Myk Coughlyn surveyed 1063.8 feet of cave in the Route 66 area. Survey designations from this trip were LDL3, LDL10, LLL, LOL62 and KIK51B. Most of their time was spent pushing in the Toon Town area attempting to follow the air. The air was left going into a mazy area, but they managed to push the cave 100 feet further south.

Wind Cave Weekend 06/13/1992
Dan Hansen, Rich Wolfert, Pat Seiser, Steve Mosberg and Steve Parks
Dan Hansen, Rich Wolfert, Pat Seiser, Steve Mosberg and Steve Parks surveyed 216.5 feet in the DR survey near the Xerox Room.

Nancy Houdeshell and Tim Moreland
Nancy Houdeshell and Tim Moreland inventoried 20 stations in the UQ survey.

John Hollman, John Mitchell and Randy Brown
John Hollman, John Mitchell and Randy Brown surveyed 242.9 feet in the FSH, SVP and SCP surveys in the SH area of tight North Zone.

Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Jurray Vogel, Steve Huck and James Fair
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Jurray Vogel, Steve Huck and James Fair inventoried 6 stations along the travel corridor in the Elephant Trunk area.

Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Becky Ward
Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Becky Ward surveyed 190.9 feet in the DIE survey heading south from the Master Room. They also inventoried 23 stations of the OF survey.

06/18/1992
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza, Stan Allison and Paul Wightman
Two radio location trips were done in June with the help of Paul Wightman's radio expertise. On June 18, Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza and Stan Allison did radio locations at the Pile-Up, Southern Comfort and Blind Faith. All three locations were between 300 and 400 feet deep.

06/24/1992
Mike Paulick (Binky), Bob Kobza and Stan Allison
Mike Paulick (Binky), Bob Kobza and Stan Allison did a radio location at the Root Cellar in the North Zone. This room proved to be only 18 feet beneath the survey, and rock pounding could be heard between the surface and the cave!

July/August 1992
At the beginning of July, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 67.5 miles. By the end of August, Wind Cave's length was increased to 68.3 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.8 miles. Approximately 0.18 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.8 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 07/11/1992
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips and Steve Smith
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips and Steve Smith inventoried 37 stations in the Silent Expressway, along the SE survey.

Kirth Haley, Randy Winans, David Wright and Eric Simonds
Kirth Haley, Randy Winans, David Wright and Eric Simonds surveyed 105.5 feet in the PE survey. This area is located off of the PD survey.

Dave Lester, Kevin Smith, Becky Ward, Steve Lester and Linda Gentitle
Dave Lester, Kevin Smith, Becky Ward, Steve Lester and Linda Gentitle surveyed 203.3 feet in the LG survey in the Windy City Lake area. They also inventoried 6 stations along the L* survey.

Jim Wilson, Bill Yett, Aaron Birenboim and Dina Venezky
Jim Wilson, Bill Yett, Aaron Birenboim and Dina Venezky surveyed 601 feet in the JX survey. They discovered a large room with a very low ceiling.

Vi Schweiker, Ted Lappin and Rod Horrocks
Vi Schweiker, Ted Lappin and Rod Horrocks surveyed 180 feet in the BEN survey. Airflow was reported going into a dangerous dig in this area located off of Martels' Madhouse.

Dan Hansen, Rich Wolfert, Mike Goar, Doug Kent and Alan Williams
Dan Hansen, Rich Wolfert, Mike Goar, Doug Kent and Alan Williams surveyed 129 feet in the FKJ3 and SKJ1 surveys. They were attempting to push east of the Atlas Underground Hempworks area, but were unable to find much.

Jim Meyers, Jamie Meyers, Brian Raven and Pat Smith
Jim Meyers, Jamie Meyers, Brian Raven and Pat Smith surveyed 192.9 feet in the JBM and BRR surveys. They reported that this area contained extensive frostwork formations.

Stan Allison, Paul Burger and Skip Withrow
Stan Allison, Paul Burger and Skip Withrow surveyed 904.7 feet of upper level cave off of Blind Faith in the LTK survey. Bat scratches were noted along this survey which is over two miles away form the Natural Entrance.

07/15/1992
Art and Peg Palmer, Bob Kobza, Brice Leech and Stan Allison
Art and Peg Palmer, Bob Kobza, Brice Leech and Stan Allison made a trip to photograph and make geologic observations in the recent discoveries of the Southern Comfort Zone.

Wind Cave Weekend 08/08/1992
Due to the conflict with the National Speleological Society convention, few trips occurred.
Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel
Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel found an area with several interesting forms of quartz. They surveyed 266.3 feet of cave finding an easy route into the Toxic Waste area.

Tim Moreland, Ingar Abarzua, Carl Pagano and Bruce Albright
Tim Moreland, Ingar Abarzua, Carl Pagano and Bruce Albright surveyed 95.3 feet in the KCA survey near the Xerox Room.

Bryan Smith, Linda Gentile, Stacy Smyth, Randy Brown and Kim Dreyfuss
Bryan Smith, Linda Gentile, Stacy Smyth, Randy Brown and Kim Dreyfuss surveyed 718 feet in the QP, FO and FU surveys. This area is just off of the Fairgrounds Tour route.

08/11/1992
Smyth, Randy Brown, Mary and Mike Laycock, Linda Gentile and Lisa Engleman
Stacy Smyth, Randy Brown, Mary and Mike Laycock, Linda Gentile and Lisa Engleman survey 500 feet in the FU survey. They found newspapers from the 1890s' as well as other historical items.

08/12/1992
Stacy Smyth and Randy Brown
Stacy Smyth and Randy Brown surveyed 45.1 feet tying in surveys in the FU area.

08/13/1992
Yri Dublyansky, Katalin Takacs Bolner, Sandov Kraus, Wolfgang Dreybrodt, Derek Ford, Susan Fuyedy, Craig Malis, John Scheltens and Marc Lamphere
Several visiting cave scientists made a trip down to the Lakes. Yri Dublyansky from Siberia, Katalin Takacs Bolner and Sandov Kraus from Hungaria, Wolfgang Dreybrodt from Germany, Derek Ford, Susan Fuyedy and Craig Malis form Canada all are involved in the study of hydro-thermal cave formation. John Scheltens and Marc Lamphere led this trip.

08/28/1992
Linda Gentile and Linda Chandler
Linda Gentile and Linda Chandler surveyed 141.6 feet in the NB survey. They report there is more to survey in this area.

08/31/1992
Stacy Smyth, Keri Yankus and Darryl Maleike
Stacy Smyth, Keri Yankus and Darryl Maleike surveyed 80 feet in the PO survey off of the Dreamland area.

September/October 1992
At the beginning of September, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 68.3 miles. By the end of October, Wind Cave's length was increased to 69.6 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 1.3 miles. Approximately 0.6 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 1.3 miles of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
09/05/1992
Stacy Smyth, Nate Fairchild and Meg Lamm
Stacy Smyth, Nate Fairchild and Meg Lamm did an after work trip to the Dreamland area. They surveyed 130 feet in the Dreamland area. On another evening trip Stacy Smyth, Nate Fairchild and Diana Wiggan surveyed an additional 114 feet in the PO survey. This survey has not been entered as there are loop closure problems in this section of cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 09/12/1992
Dave Lester, Randy Brown, Steve Lester and Kirk Haley
Dave Lester, Randy Brown, Steve Lester and Kirk Haley surveyed 397.9 feet in the PM survey off of Snowdrift Avenue. "Extremely nice aragonite formations" were found in this area.

Alaric Strauss, John Mitchell, Christian George, Bruce Albright and John Miller
Alaric Strauss, John Mitchell, Christian George, Bruce Albright and John Miller inventoried 61 stations along the B survey. This is the Snake Pit Entrance 800 foot long belly crawl.

Bryan Smith, Dan Hansen and Norm Thompson Bryan Smith, Dan Hansen and Norm Thompson surveyed 211 feet in the XC' and CB surveys in the Colorado Grotto Zone.
Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl and Bill Yett
Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl and Bill Yett inventoried 21 stations along the KK survey in Half-Mile Hall.

Kevin Smith, Becky Ward and Tim Moreland
Kevin Smith, Becky Ward and Tim Moreland inventoried 41 stations along the FC, NO and TL surveys in the Land of 10,000 Lakes area.

Robert Phillips, Murray Vogal, Bill Hawn and Steve Smith
Robert Phillips, Murray Vogal, Bill Hawn and Steve Smith found an area with multi-colored crystals in their CWS survey. They surveyed 431.7 feet in this area above the Wind Gate.

Aaron Birenboim, Rich Wolfert and June Golaz
Aaron Birenboim, Rich Wolfert and June Golaz spent time pushing beyond the Wind Tunnel, looking for a connection to the North Zone. Nothing of note was found, but 37.9 feet were surveyed in the NWU survey.

Paul Burger, Harry Burgess, Dave Springhetti and Stan Allison
Paul Burger, Harry Burgess, Dave Springhetti and Stan Allison surveyed 936 feet in the LRUD and LO surveys off of Toon Town. Harry found a wonderful 10 foot wide, 8-9 inch high, 70 foot long crawlway. Named Pervert Alley, this sharp crawl led south to Vega, a good sized room under Highway 385. Vega contains nice calcite rafts, and is the southernmost point in Wind Cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 10/09-10/1992
Bill Hawn, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel
Bill Hawn, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel surveyed 53 feet in the TD survey. An interesting historical resource was found in this survey, a 1937 silver dime! They estimated that another 200 feet of survey could be done in this area right off of the Fairgrounds Tour.

Dave Lester, Melissa Lester, Randy Brown and Steve Lester
Dave Lester, Melissa Lester, Randy Brown and Steve Lester surveyed 339.8 feet in the CAA and CM' surveys. They reported this area off of Snowdrift Avenue as promising, and containing bat scratches.

Robert Phillips, Jan Prendergast, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel
Robert Phillips, Jan Prendergast, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel, surveyed 203 feet, continuing the VA survey south of the Frostline.

Christian George, Tim Johnson and Chris Sodergen
Christian George, Tim Johnson and Chris Sodergen went to inventory an area that they had previously surveyed in the DF area. They inventoried 16 stations.

Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Bill Hawn
Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Bill Hawn surveyed 166.4 feet in the UO survey. They were looking for a connection between the Janine's Pitfall area and the Methodist Church area, but did not have any luck.

Dough Kent, John Lane, John Pollack and Tom Volkers
Dough Kent, John Lane, John Pollack and Tom Volkers went to an area north-west of the Figure 8 Room. They surveyed 177 feet in the ZZA survey and reported that most things ended in this area.

Bryan Smith, Dan Hansen, Greg Glazner, Dan Wray and Jim Meyers
Bryan Smith, Dan Hansen, Greg Glazner, Dan Wray and Jim Meyers mapped 713 feet in the AO survey. They found many historical items in this area right off of the Fairgrounds Tours Route.

Eric Dutton, Bob Evans, Janet Harms and Sean Durrum
Eric Dutton, Bob Evans, Janet Harms and Sean Durrum surveyed 149.6 feet northwest of the Graveyard in the TS survey.

Myk Coughlin, Mike Wiles, Stan Allison and Paul Burger
Myk Coughlin, Mike Wiles, Stan Allison and Paul Burger surveyed 1179 feet west of Gypsy Road in the LTN4, LOG4 and LTP surveys. One passage they were surveying, the OK Coral, pushed Wind Cave farther west.

10/24/1992
Stan Allison, Harry Burgess, Mike Wiles and Myk Coughlin
Stan Allison, Harry Burgess, Mike Wiles and Myk Coughlin traveled to Vega, the southern-most point of Wind Cave. Pushing east, they pooped through a tight Crawl (named Eughx!), that led to Cosmos. Cosmos is an area of square-shaped passages that average 15-20 feet wide and 10-12 feet high. Small pools were found, and walking leads were left going in all four directions. Most importantly, good airflow was observed in this area. 2003 feet was surveyed in LO25-69 before Mike's compass stuck, approximately 1000+ feet of cave was seen but not surveyed. Parts of this new discovery extend under Highway 385.

November/December 1992
At the beginning of November, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 69.6 miles. By the end of December, Wind Cave's length was increased to 70.8 miles. The total amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 1.2 miles. The total amount of new survey done in 1992 was 6.12 miles. 131 stations of previously surveyed passage were inventoried (approximately 0.6 miles). In addition, 1.2 miles of inventory was accomplished in conjunction with new survey. The total amount of old passage inventoried in 1992 was approximately 3.0 miles.
11/07/1992
Jim Nepstad, Paul Burger, Bob Kobza and Stan Allison
Jim Nepstad, Paul Burger, Bob Kobza and Stan Allison surveyed 1574.5 feet in the LO70-78, LO55A-M, LO49A-D, LO51A-D and LO64A-E surveys. Early in the trip a connection was found between Toon Town and Cosmos, this connection saves 15-30 minutes of tight cave. At the end of the trip, Stan found a tight lead going south that lead to walking cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 11/14/1992
Myk Coughlin, Stan Allison and Mike Wiles
Myk Coughlin, Stan Allison and Mike Wiles surveyed 1305 feet in the TM survey and in spurs off of LO36-49. The TM survey went out through the Strait Jacket, the tight crawl pushed the week before. The Strait Jacket led to the Asylum, an area of walking passages. The airflow in the Asylum seemed to be going into breakdown chokes.

Max Mazur, Mike Mazur and Monte Buchanon
Max Mazur, Mike Mazur and Monte Buchanon surveyed 144 feet in the BU14A-D survey.

Skip Withrow, Ed LaRock and Mike Behn
Skip Withrow, Ed LaRock and Mike Behn surveyed 330 feet in the KYG survey. The KYG is north of the Coke Room.

Eric Dutton, Sean Durrum, Bob Evans, June Golaz and Carl Pagano
Eric Dutton, Sean Durrum, Bob Evans, June Golaz and Carl Pagano surveyed 203 feet, continuing their TS survey they started in October. Apparently they pushed all leads in their survey off of the Graveyard area.

Steve Smith, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Steve Lester
Steve Smith, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Steve Lester surveyed 369.4 feet in the VH survey near Janines' Pitfall.

Kevin Smith, Pat Malone and John Mitchell
Kevin Smith, Pat Malone and John Mitchell inventoried 64 stations from Santas' Frosted Forest to the Chimera Room.

John Hollman, Bruce Albright and Phil Molzer
John Hollman, Bruce Albright and Phil Molzer surveyed 181.4 feet in the FSH area.

Dave Lester, Randy Brown and Kirk Haley
Dave Lester, Randy Brown and Kirk Haley surveyed 521.2 feet in the CM'10, CO and UT1 surveys. These surveys are in the Snowdrift Avenue area.

11/22/1992
Carol Boyles
Carol Boyles led a group of Explorer Scouts to do inventory near Snowmans' Heaven. They inventoried 17 stations along the E survey.

Wind Cave Weekend 12/12/1992
Steve Smith, Kevin Smith, Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Steve Huck and Steve Lester
Steve Smith, Kevin Smith, Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Steve Huck and Steve Lester surveyed 562 feet in the VH4 and AI34 surveys. This is in the Janines' Pitfall area.

Dave Lester, Randy Brown, Kirk Haley and Jim Wilson
Dave Lester, Randy Brown, Kirk Haley and Jim Wilson surveyed 506.9 feet in the UL and UP surveys. Several pits ere found that dropped approximately 30 feet into Snowdrift Avenue.

Rich Wolfert, Bob Stucklen, Clarence Williams and Tim Moreland
Rich Wolfert, Bob Stucklen, Clarence Williams and Tim Moreland surveyed 161.1 feet in the NM25 and NWB surveys, near the Wind Tunnel.

Doug Kent, Sean Durrum and John Lane
Doug Kent, Sean Durrum and John Lane surveyed 317 feet in the OFA survey off f OH55.

Bill Yett, Louise Hose and Carl Pagano
Bill Yett, Louise Hose and Carl Pagano inventoried 50 stations in the AE, CG and UD surveys in the Colorado Grotto Zone. They also worked on checking several surveys determining that the VD survey should be surveyed.

Stan Allison, Myk Coughlin and Mike Wiles
Stan Allison, Myk Coughlin and Mike Wiles surveyed 418.2 feet in the NG survey off of Cosmos. They checked many leads between Cosmos and Gotham City, but could not find anything going.
January/February 1991
On December 31, 1990, Wind Cave had a surveyed length of 55.4 miles. By February 28, 1991, the surveyed length has increased to 57.0 miles. During this time, additional 5525 feet of inventory of the "old cave" was accomplished, in addition to the 1.6 miles inventoried during the above survey work.
01/01/1991
Stan Allison, Bob Kobza and Jim Nepstad
Stan Allison, Bob Kobza and Jim Nepstad led a reconnaissance trip to the northwestern part of the cave. The plan was to head to KY205 and push leads on the way out. The first lead checked kept the crew busy for the remainder of the day. A number of nice rooms, some with tree roots up to 2 feet long descending from the ceiling, were discovered. Survey data, along with data concerning the maximum root depth of Ponderosa Pine, indicate a depth of less than 20 feet in this area.

01/05/1991
Dave Springhetti, Rick Bogue, Jim Wilson, Reed Wilson, John Scheltens, Jan Harms and Janine Fitzner
Smembers of the Paha Sapa Grotto, including Dave Springhetti, Rick Bogue, Jim Wilson, Reed Wilson, John Scheltens, Jan Harms and Janine Fitzner, headed to the PC survey area off the Coke Room route. PC1-15 was inventoried and an additional 272 feet of passage was added to the PC survey. Limited travel to the PC survey area was recommended due to fragile floors.

Steve Baldwin, Devin Hachmeister and Sarge Preston
Steve Baldwin, Devin Hachmeister and Sarge Preston surveyed the area that Rachel Cox was found in during her (and our) ordeal in the cave in October 1989. The exact route Rachel used to enter this area eludes us to this day. But it seems she must have traveled through some phenomenally tight crawls. The room she was eventually found in was named "Duncan", in honor of a psychic who called during the rescue operation to report that Rachel would be found in a room called "Duncan". A prophesy fulfilled! 224 feet of cave was surveyed.

Wind Cave Weekend 01/12-13/1991
Bob Stucklen, Sandy Kraemer and Margo Butner
Bob Stucklen, Sandy Kraemer and Margo Butner inventoried the Overland Trail area from UI1-39.

Kevin Reynolds, Carl Pagano and Dan Hanley
Kevin Reynolds, Carl Pagano and Dan Hanley went to the Blue Bayou Avenue area to investigate earlier reports of breezes in the area, but found nothing promising.

Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, Ted Lappin, Ned Messler and Barry Berry
Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, Ted Lappin, Ned Messler and Barry Berry took part in a through trip from the Snake Pit Entrance to the elevator via the Coke Room. Along the way, they flagged a path through Santa's Frosted Forest, surveyed 106 feet near Bush Gardens, and flagged a temporary (possibly permanent) route from the Coke Room to Archimedes' Pool. It was also determined that a 42 inch chest would fit in the Snake Pit.

Kevin and Steve Smith, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Jerry Hassemer
Kevin and Steve Smith, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Jerry Hassemer led a trip to the John Wayne Room. A total of 33 stations were inventoried, and 235 feet of passage surveyed, including a shortcut from the Coke Room route to the John Wayne area.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Kirk Haley and Bill Yett
Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Kirk Haley and Bill Yett heading to the Egg Hatchery area and surveyed about 120 feet of additional passage.

Pat Jablonsky, Greg Glasner and Clarence Williams
Pat Jablonsky, Greg Glasner and Clarence Williams returned to the E and D survey areas of the northeastern part of the cave. A connection between the two surveys was found.

Jim Wilson, Bethany Jablonsky, Skip Withrow, Dough Kent and Greg Glasner
Jim Wilson, Bethany Jablonsky, Skip Withrow, Dough Kent and Greg Glasner surveyed 342 feet of new cave in the Chimera Room area. A nice flowstone area was discovered, along with what appears to be the first rabbit skeleton found in Wind Cave.

Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Jerry Hassemer and Dan Hanley
On January 13, Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Jerry Hassemer and Dan Hanley went to Shelob's Lair and inventoried the last 15 stations in the area. No good leads were found.

John Scheltens, Marc Lamphere, Dave Springhetti and Lon Sharp
Also on January 13, John Scheltens, Marc Lamphere, Dave Springhetti and Lon Sharp returned to a lead off the Coke Room route they had noted on January 5. A new upper level area was discovered and 1187 feet of cave was surveyed, with more remaining.

01/19/1991
Stan Allison, Bob Kobza and Jim Nepstad
Stan Allison, Bob Kobza and Jim Nepstad returned to the northwestern part of the cave to continue working on the area discovered January 1. After tying in to a number of known points in the cave, a new survey was begun of KY137. A recent stream channel, along with stream sediments and cobbles, was discovered below this area. This passage eventually led to a major new helictite bush area now known as "Bushed". Bushes up to 3.5 feet tall, some coated with dogtooth spar crystal, were found. 792 feet of passage was surveyed.

01/20/1991
John Scheltens, Marc Lamphere, Lon Sharp and Ben Sharp
John Scheltens, Marc Lamphere, Lon Sharp and Ben Sharp returned to the area they discovered the week before. An additional 737 feet of passage was surveyed, including a beautiful new flowstone area. Another shortcut between the Coke Room route and the John Wayne area was discovered.

01/22/1991
Stan Allison, Steve Baldwin and Kevin Hachmeister
Stan Allison, Steve Baldwin and Kevin Hachmeister took part in an after work trip this evening. 591 feet of passage, including some nice flowstone, was surveyed between the Loose Screw Room and the Club Room route. More leads remain in the area.

Wind Cave Weekend 02/08-09/1991
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Steve Smith and Vern Carlson
Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Steve Smith and Vern Carlson showed up a day early to do some inventory in the Black Beauty area near the Lakes. On the way out, they flagged some of the calcite ice floored passages off the main route to avoid future accidents.

Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Steve Smith and Vern Carlson
On February 9, the same group went to the PR survey area in the historic part of the cave and surveyed 312 feet.

Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Doug Kent and Mike Frazier
Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Doug Kent and Mike Frazier inventoried the KX survey to the Chimera Room and surveyed 413 feet of passage southeast of KY30. The survey ended in a nice gypsum flower area.

Pat Jablonsky, Clarence Williams, Christ Bustos, John Peters-Campbell and Margo Butner
Pat Jablonsky, Clarence Williams, Christ Bustos, John Peters-Campbell and Margo Butner returned to the northeastern part of the cave.

Ted Lappin, Garry Petrie and Tim Moreland
Ted Lappin, Garry Petrie and Tim Moreland surveyed 597 feet of passage in the KY survey area west of Disappointment Chamber. No connection yet.

Mike Behn, Ed LaRock and Barry Berg
Mike Behn, Ed LaRock and Barry Berg were also in the KY survey area, and surveyed 364 feet of cave south of KY227. Ed reports the presence of granite boulders in a room at the end of their survey.

June Golaz, Sandy Kraemer, Bill Yett, Jason Miller and Carl Pagano
June Golaz, Sandy Kraemer, Bill Yett, Jason Miller and Carl Pagano surveyed 374 feet of passage north and east of the Pearly Gates in the historic part of the cave. The end of their survey plots out in a blank spot on the map.

Jim Clark, Dan Hanley, Pat Seiser, Bob Stuckland and Veronica Stahl
Jim Clark, Dan Hanley, Pat Seiser, Bob Stuckland and Veronica Stahl started a survey just past the Roadblock and wound up in the Loose Screw Room after 345 feet of survey. Lots of flowstone was found along the way.

Bob Kobza, Mike Paulick, Louise Hose and Jim Nepstad
Bob Kobza, Mike Paulick, Louise Hose and Jim Nepstad went back to the northwest corner of the cave and surveyed 849 feet of passage, most of it west of KY165. Many more leads remain in this part of the cave.

Despite all of this activity, the cave came up about 75 feet short of 57 miles.
02/23/1991
Bob Kobza, Mike Paulick, Warren Netherton and Jim Nepstad
Bob Kobza, Mike Paulick, Warren Netherton and Jim Nepstad surveyed 201 feet of cave on top of the Suburbia area, including a large room named "57 Mile Hall".

March/April 1991
During March and April 1991, a total of 1.2 miles of passage was surveyed at Wind Cave. This increased the length of the known cave from 57.0 miles to 58.2 miles. Roughly 2600 feet of previously surveyed passage was inventoried, in addition to the 1.2 miles inventoried as a part of the survey process.
Wind Cave Weekend 03/09-10/1991
Ted Lappin, Garry Petrie and Pat Seiser
On March 9, Ted Lappin, Garry Petrie and Pat Seiser headed back to the northwestern part of the cave near Disappointment Chamber. A total of 734 feet was surveyed, including a connection with the Ghost Rider's Gulch area.

Tim Moreland, Vi Allured and Mike Smith
Tim Moreland, Vi Allured and Mike Smith began the inventory of the Silent Expressway travel corridor. The area between Half Mile Hall and the BPH survey was completed.

Bill Yett, Lonny Haynes, Kevin Reynolds and Sandy Kraemer
Bill Yett, Lonny Haynes, Kevin Reynolds and Sandy Kraemer returned to the CM survey, north of the Pearly Gates, and surveyed an additional 90 feet of passage.

Kirk Haley, Jim Clark and Veronica Stahl
Kirk Haley, Jim Clark and Veronica Stahl surveyed 192 feet of passage south of Rainbow Falls, including a beautiful, flowstone filled dome.

Larry Coats, Dayna Gessler, Jim Erickson and Nizam Zawahir
Larry Coats, Dayna Gessler, Jim Erickson and Nizam Zawahir led a trip to the Chimera Room area and surveyed 235 feet of cave, some of it with nice aragonite.

Margo Butner and Katy Petty
Margo Butner and Katy Petty began the inventory of the route to the Artifact Room in the historic part of the cave.

Jim Wilson, Clarence Williams, Eric Dutton, Norm Thompson, Carl Pagano, Pet Jablonsky and Brian Small
Jim Wilson, Clarence Williams, Eric Dutton, Norm Thompson, Carl Pagano, Pet Jablonsky and Brian Small headed to the Lakes area. The RD survey, which leads to Rebel River, was inventoried and photographed. A visit to Rebel River, the first known since it initial discover in 1970, confirmed the presence of running water in Wind Cave! This "river" is about 3 inches wide and flows at a rate of roughly 1 gallon per minute. Wetsuits are not required.

Kevin and Steve Smith, Robert Phillips, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Judy Carlson
Kevin and Steve Smith, Robert Phillips, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Judy Carlson lead an inventory trip to the JW survey area, finishing the route from the Coke Room to the John Wayne Room.

Louise Hose, Donald Davis, Dave Lester, Todd Warren and John Peters-Campbell
Louise Hose, Donald Davis, Dave Lester, Todd Warren and John Peters-Campbell went to the northwestern part of the cave for survey and helictite bush observation. A total of 376 feet of survey was accomplished and the northern extent of the cave was extended by about 75 feet. In addition, a bone cave (possibly from a bird), and evidence of flowing water was found.

03/16/1991
John Scheltens, Greg Hanson and Jason Moran
John Scheltens, Greg Hanson and Jason Moran surveyed 378 feet of cave near the Multi-Purpose Room.

Dave Springhetti, Sarge Preston and Jan Harms
Dave Springhetti, Sarge Preston and Jan Harms led a trip to the Omnibus Hall area, surveying 202 feet.

Rick Bogue and Marc Lamphere
On the same day, Rick Bogue and Marc Lamphere led some Job Corps kids around the Club Room Loop.

03/22/1991
Tim Moreland, Dan Hanley and Wieslaw Klis
Tim Moreland and Wieslaw Klis, who had been performing volunteer work for the park that week, and Dan Hanley, led an inventory trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes area. A total of 21 stations were inventoried. A significant observation: due to the recent decline in lake levels, the Land of 10,000 Lakes now has only one lake!

Ted Lappin and Vi Allured
Ted Lappin and Vi Allured, also volunteering for a weekend, led a trip to the Disappointment Chamber area on March 31. This area, where the eastern and western parts of the cave overlap in places, has eluded connection for more than a decade. Keeping with tradition, no connection was found, but 128 feet of cave was surveyed.

04/05/1991
Krishnan Kutty, Doug Pflugh, Tim Sulser, Mariana Kubicek and Tom Shields
Krishnan Kutty, Doug Pflugh, Tim Sulser, Mariana Kubicek and Tom Shields surveyed a connection between the Artifact Room and Bishop Fowler's Loop, for a total of 185 feet. Upon emerging from the cave, they were immediately thrown into a mass evacuation from the visitor center area as a massive wildfire bore down on the park. It had seemed so peaceful in the cave...

04/12/1991
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza, Martha Jakobek, Steve Smith and Rick Dressler
Jim Nepstad, Bob Kobza, Martha Jakobek, Steve Smith and Rick Dressler started "mopping up" leads off the main tour routes. Only the Garden of Eden Loop and Assembly Room areas were checked (about 10% of the tour routes) this day, but 1002 feet of passage was surveyed. Interesting finds included a passage just 50 feet from the Assembly Room which apparently floods to the ceiling!

Wind Cave Weekend 04/20/1991
Due to a major snowstorm, the Colorado Grotto visit to Wind Cave was delayed until April 20.
Stan Allison, Paul Burger and Stu Marlatt
Stan Allison, Paul Burger and Stu Marlatt led an exploration trip to the Silent Expressway. 823 feet of passage was surveyed, mostly in the Rocky Road area.

Doug Kent, Garry Petrie, Skip Withrow and Carl Pagano
Doug Kent, Garry Petrie, Skip Withrow and Carl Pagano headed to an area between the Chimera Room and Key Room, surveying 460 feet.

Mike Behn, Ed LaRock, Barry Berg and Ken Wright
Mike Behn, Ed LaRock, Barry Berg and Ken Wright headed back to the KYL survey area to continue exploration. An area with bad air (with a "petroliferous smell" according to the survey notes) was discovered just a few hundred feet southeast of Bush Gardens. The nearest fuel tanks up-dip are more than a mile and a half away-on private land. That, combined with the isolated nature of this bad air, lends us to speculate that it may somehow be a natural part of the cave. Additional work is needed in this area. 327 feet were surveyed.

Verne Carlson, Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips and Steve Smith
Verne Carlson, Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips and Steve Smith surveyed 584 feet of passage off the JJ survey just past the Frostline.

Tim Moreland, Bill Yett and Nizam Zawahir
Tim Moreland, Bill Yett and Nizam Zawahir headed to the PR survey in the historic part of the cave and surveyed 284 feet of passage, some with good airflow.

May/June 1991
For the duration of May and June, a total of 1.4 miles of cave was surveyed in Wind Cave. This increased the length form 58.2 miles to 59.6 miles. In addition, approximately 3550 feet of previously surveyed passage was inventoried, along with the 1.4 miles inventoried during the survey process.
05/04/1991
Chris Bondun, Dave Worthington, Dan Horkan, Eric Mayes and Ross Hart
Chris Bondun, Dave Worthington, Dan Horkan, Eric Mayes and Ross Hart inventoried 9 stations in the LB survey, which is located in the Lakes Zone.

05/05/1991
Dave Springhetti, Myk Coughlin, Sarge Preston, Dennis Maynard and Jan Harms
Dave Springhetti, Myk Coughlin, Sarge Preston, Dennis Maynard and Jan Harms continued the SPH survey off of Omnibus Hall for a total survey of 98.7 feet.

Wind Cave Weekend 05/11/1991
Sandy Kraemer, Bob Stucklen and Rich Wolfert Sandy Kraemer, Bob Stucklen and Rich Wolfert inventoried 15 stations along the red and white travel corridor, between the Club Room and Half Mile Hall.
Mike Frazier, Louise Hose, Ted Lappin and Vi Allured
A survey trip was made to the Deep Confusion area by Mike Frazier, Louise Hose, Ted Lappin and Vi Allured. They surveyed 512 feet in the BC', BCA, BJ and BJA surveys.

Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Jerry Hassemer
A bypass to the Frostline was surveyed by Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Jerry Hassemer. With a little maintenance, this bypass may provide a travel corridor that is less sensitive to traffic than the Frostline. A total of 386 feet was surveyed in this area.

Doug Kent, Ken Hedrick and Chris Wooley
Doug Kent, Ken Hedrick and Chris Wooley surveyed 426 feet in the LV survey near the Figure Eight Room.

Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Vern Carlson and Dave Lester
Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Vern Carlson and Dave Lester inventoried 31 stations near the Frostline.

Margo Butner and Kathy Peety
Margo Butner and Kathy Peety inventoried approximately 10 survey stations along the route to the Artifact Room, just off the Post Office.

Louise Hose, Dave Lester and Mike Frazier
On May 12, Louise Hose, Dave Lester and Mike Frazier inventoried 8 stations near Franks Beard in the Historic Zone.

05/17/1991
Bob Kobza, Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison and Mike Paulick
On this day, a large, 200' long, 20-40' wide and 10-20' tall upper level room was discovered! This room, named Wakantanka was discovered by Bob Kobza, Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison and Mike Paulick. Wakantanka lies directly over the Club Room and in several places connects to the Club Room via 30-40' unclimbable pits. Nice flowstone and frostwork was also discovered in this area. The LSU survey done in this area accounted for 1059.7 feet of new cave.

05/25/1991
Paul Burger, Dina Venezky, Stan Allison and Bob Younger
Paul Burger, Dina Venezky, Stan Allison and Bob Younger managed to push a tight, blowing lead from the Snake Pit Entrance 70 feet to the north. This lead continues as a very tight passage into an area with no known cave.

05/26/1991
Bob Younger, Stan Allison, Dina Venezky and Paul Burger
Bob Younger, Stan Allison, Dina Venezky and Paul Burger surveyed 1072.8 feet of cave off of Wakantanka in the LSS and LST surveys. A climbable connection was made between Wakantanka and the southern end of the Club Room.

05/31/1991
Stan Allison and Dina Venezky
After two floods in late May, the cave was extraordinarily wet. Flowing water was noticed in several area of the cave that are usually dry. On May 31, Stan Allison and Dina Venezky observed a flowing stream in Monument Hall below Devils Lookout.

06/02/1991
Jim Nepstad, Dina Venezky and Stan Allison
Jim Nepstad, Dina Venezky and Stan Allison surveyed 952 feet of cave off of the Natural Entrance and Fairgrounds tour routes. Some walking-size passages were surveyed right off of the trail!

Wind Cave Weekend 06/07-09/1991
Kevin Reynolds, Skip Withrow and Bill Yett
On June 7, Kevin Reynolds, Skip Withrow and Bill Yett inventoried 22 stations along the red and white travel corridor near Half Mile Hall. They also surveyed 145.3 feet on the KSA survey.

Doug Kent, Garry Petrie, Dave Steinman and Tim Nuce
On June 8, Doug Kent, Garry Petrie, Dave Steinman and Tim Nuce surveyed 570.2 feet on the CS survey near Deep Confusion. They discovered a nice room 80' long, 30' wide and 15' tall.

Jim Wilson, Aaron Birenboim, Lisa Shertz and Steve Shertz
Jim Wilson, Aaron Birenboim, Lisa Shertz and Steve Shertz inventoried 13 stations on the red and white travel corridor near Half Mile Hall. A mouse was seen the Roadblock which is approximately 1500 feet away form the elevator, and further from the Natural Entrance.

Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips and Vern Carlson
Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips and Vern Carlson surveyed 404 feet of cave in the VA and VB surveys near the Frostline. A room filled with various gypsum formations was named the "Cotton Field".

Mike Frazier, Marty Smith and Randy Brown
34 stations were inventoried along the green travel corridor from Half Mile Hall to the Wind Gate by Mike Frazier, Marty Smith and Randy Brown.

Paul Burger, Harry Burgess and Stan Allison
Paul Burger, Harry Burgess and Stan Allison surveyed 988.5 feet near the end of the Silent Expressway. An extremely large, 2' diameter by 1' thick, disc shaped coral fossil was discovered. This is possibly the largest known fossil in the cave!

06/14/1991
Kevin Smith and Stan Allison
Kevin Smith and Stan Allison photographed "zebra rock" near the Muddle Room to aid the Colorado Grotto in the inventory process.

06/18/1991
Brad Stephenson, Anne Bohnet, Joelle Selk, Jennifer Cullen, Bob Younger and Stan Allison
Brad Stephenson, Anne Bohnet, Joelle Selk, Jennifer Cullen, Bob Younger and Stan Allison surveyed 84.2 feet of cave off of the Fairgrounds.

06/22/1991
Anne Bohnet and Stan Allison
Ten members of the Pennington County Search and Rescue group made the Club Room Loop with Anne Bohnet and Stan Allison. This trip was made for the purpose of orienting the group to the difficulties of cave rescue at Wind Cave.

06/29/1991
Paul Burger, Jim Nepstad and Stan Allison
Paul Burger, Jim Nepstad and Stan Allison surveyed 790.4 feet of cave near Mystery Lake and the Elephant Trunk. Highlights of this survey in the BWB, BXB and BXC included the infamous Big Butt Canyon.
November/December 1990
1990 was a year of enormous change at Wind Cave National Park. A marked trail system, closely modeled after one successfully used at Jewel Cave for several years, was installed. In all, six heavily traveled routes were marked, providing access to the entire system. In addition to protecting the cave form unnecessary impacts by concentrating traffic along narrow paths, the trails also drastically simplified route finding in this exceptionally mazy cave. In less than one year, the number of cavers capable of leading trips anywhere into Wind Cave has grown from fewer than 10 to more than 50. With the help of cavers from Colorado, Minnesota, and South Dakota, work at Wind Cave has accelerated tremendously. The purpose of this semi-monthly column will be to keep interested cavers up to date on progress at Wind Cave.
On November 1, 1990, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 53.9 miles. By December 31, 1990, it had grown to 55.4 miles in length. During these two months, more cave was surveyed than in the previous year and a half. A mile of cave was inventoried, not including the 1.5 miles of cave inventoried during the above surveys.
11/02/1990
Stan Allison, Mary Laycock and Jim Nepstad; Karen Hirschy, Sue McDonald and Jamie Wolfe
Stan Allison, Mary Laycock and Jim Nepstad surveyed 154 feet into a pleasant walking size upper level passage they found while searching for a bypass to the Frostline. Later that evening, they were joined by Karen Hirschy, Sue McDonald and Jamie Wolfe in surveying the remaining distance required to bring the cave over the 54 mile mark. A previously unsurveyed connecting passage between two parts of the Fairgrounds tour route was surveyed entirely by the lights from the tour.

11/09/1990
Kevin and Steve Smith, Bill Hawn and Robert Phillips
Kevin and Steve Smith, Bill Hawn and Robert Phillips inventoried the BB survey form BB8 to BB35. They indicated good leads were in the area, but recommended limited travel due to fragile floors.

Wind Cave Weekend 11/10/1990
Ted Lappin, Tim Moreland, Skip Withrow and Jim Wilson
Ted Lappin, Tim Moreland, Skip Withrow and Jim Wilson headed to the Chimera Room area and surveyed 499 feet off of the KN survey, consisting mostly of smaller passages with little additional potential.

Robert Phillips, Doug Kent, June Golaz and Carl Pagano
Robert Phillips, Doug Kent, June Golaz and Carl Pagano visited the Mystic Hall area and inventoried KP1 to KP13. In addition, they flagged off the bat skeleton in the Figure Eight Room and finished the last 300 feet of flagging on the green trail between Half Mile Hall and the BM survey.

Bill Yett, Kevin and Steve Smith and Bill Hawn Bill Yett, Kevin and Steve Smith and Bill Hawn traveled to the Snowdrift Avenue area and inventoried the UR, US and UT surveys, as well as parts of the C survey near Snowdrift Avenue. They also spent some time flagging off some of the delicate spots nearby.
Ed LaRock, Mike Behn and Barry Berg
Ed LaRock, Mike Behn and Barry Berg headed for the XS survey in the Colorado Grotto area of the cave and surveyed 220 feet into an upper level area despite battles with old confusing surveys and a defective measuring tape. Time was also spent looking for thrust faults in the Xerox Room, with none being found.

Pat and Bethany Jablonsky
Pat and Bethany Jablonsky spent some time route finding from the Amphitheater to the E survey area.

Jim and Greg Nepstad, Stan Allison and Paul Burger
Jim and Greg Nepstad, Stan Allison and Paul Burger went to a new area off the east side of the Club Room and surveyed 1647 feet of new cave, most of it below Jeez Pit, and eventually tied into the Winding Stair area.

Garry Petrie, Pat Seiser and Norm Thompson
The most exciting find of the day was made by Garry Petrie, Pat Seiser and Norm Thompson. After squeezing up through a tight opening in the ceiling near the start of the XD survey in the Colorado Grotto area of the cave, they entered a new upper level crawl which eventually led to several large rooms, including the STP Speedway. The new area, which is on the eastern edge of the cave, contained considerable airflow and was well decorated with various forms of aragonite. Large dry lake beds, unusual for upper levels in Wind Cave, were found in several areas. 820 feet of cave was surveyed with many large leads left unexplored.

11/17/1990
Garry Petrie, Pat Seiser, Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, Ted Lappin, Miles Hecker, Bob Kobza and Jim and Greg Nepstad
With a passable major breakthrough on the east side of the cave, an exception was made to the normal once a month visits of the Colorado Grotto. Garry Petrie, Pat Seiser, Ed LaRock, Mike Behn, Ted Lappin, Miles Hecker, Bob Kobza and Jim and Greg Nepstad returned on November 17 to the STP Speedway area. Jim, Greg and Bob busied themselves flagging off the fragile parts of the area while the rest split into two groups to survey. In all, an additional 1275 feet of passage was surveyed, with few remaining possibilities.

11/23/1990
The Minnesota Speleological Survey returned for their annual Thanksgiving weekend visit. A few representatives of the Windy City Grotto, as well as the Colorado Grotto, were also present for the purpose of "getting to know each other".
Matt Kramar, Randy Waslien, Rich Ness, Dave Trumm and Rick Nelson
Matt Kramar, Randy Waslien, Rich Ness, Dave Trumm and Rick Nelson traveled to the New Lakes region beyond Windy City Lake and surveyed 175 feet of water leads in the Mammoth's Backbone area. While snorkeling, they reported finding large flooded passages extending to the south. If the present rate of lake level decline continues, these passages may be enterable in five to ten years.

Gene Kremer, Mark Wickham, Any Clark, Anne Ness, Becky Schmidt, Jan Harms Dave Gerboth, Naomi Burtnick, Greg Brick, Jim Edberg and Bob Lenz
Gene Kremer, Mark Wickham, Any Clark, Anne Ness, Becky Schmidt and Jan Harms finished inventorying the Lakes route with the help of another group consisting of Dave Gerboth, Naomi Burtnick, Greg Brick, Jim Edberg and Bob Lenz. Close to 1000 feet of cave was inventoried.

Bill Yett and Pat Jablonsky
Bill Yett and Pat Jablonsky led two trips into the E survey area in the northeastern part of the cave.

Wind Cave Weekend 12/08/1990
Jim Wilson, Dave Lester, Bill Yett and Tim Moreland
Jim Wilson, Dave Lester, Bill Yett and Tim Moreland went to the Coke Room area and inventoried from MP22 to the Coke Room. They also surveyed 117 feet in the area.

Ted Lappin, Steve Reames, Bethany Jablonsky and Stan Allison
Ted Lappin, Steve Reames, Bethany Jablonsky and Stan Allison surveyed a total of 546 feet in the Winding Stair and Club Room areas.

Kevin and Steve Smith, Bill Hawn and Jerry Hassemer
Kevin and Steve Smith, Bill Hawn and Jerry Hassemer led an inventory trip into the area beyond the infamous Wretched Hole. They came out with a record 74 stations of inventory. Their only comment on the trip report was "the Wretched Hole is wretched".

Pat Jablonsky, Lonny Haynes, Bob Stucklen, Clarence Williams and Tom Briardy
Pat Jablonsky, Lonny Haynes, Bob Stucklen, Clarence Williams and Tom Briardy inventoried 23 stations along the E survey in the northeast part of the cave.

12/15/1990
Bob Kobza, Mike Paulike, Jim Nepstad, Marc Lamphere and John Scheltens
Bob Kobza, Mike Paulike, Jim Nepstad, Marc Lamphere and John Scheltens traveled to the BP survey (along the green trail) below Half Mile Hall. Once there they divided into two groups and surveyed 1800 feet of passage.

12/19-20/1990
Stan Allison and Paul Burger
Stan Allison and Paul Burger led trips into the Chamber Pot Room and Mound Builder's Rest areas of the Historic zone, and surveyed 230 feet of passage in the Club Room area. They also checked a blowing lead located only a few feet into the Snake Pit Entrance which heads north. Strong airflow was noted, but the passage becomes breakdown choked. On the same day, they reported observing wind exiting the Snake Pit while the natural entrance was blowing in. It was an exceptionally cold day, and the cave apparently set up a chimney effect (the Snake Pit is roughly 200 feet higher in elevation than the Natural Entrance). This was the first recorded occurrence of the phenomenon at Wind Cave.

Last updated: February 4, 2019

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