Time in – 10:15am
Time out – 12:45pm

Participants – Bill Gee
Candace Kovacs
Mike Kovacs
Adele Kovacs
Rita Worden

Back in January during the regular data logger service trip, I had trouble downloading data from the logger in UL2. To further diagnose the problem, I took the logger out of the cave. It turned out to have a low battery. We sent it in for a battery replacement. It was returned in early March and placed back in the cave during a trip on 20 March.

The other three data loggers of the same model had their batteries replace some years ago, at the same time as the UL2 logger. When I checked the January downloads from them, I could see that their batteries were also low. We pulled all three of these loggers from the cave on 19 March so they could be sent in for new batteries.

The refreshed loggers returned to me on April 4. I wanted to get them back in the cave as soon as possible, so I put out a request to see if anyone was available for April 10 or 11. As a backup, I also asked about April 30. This is during Fall MVOR which will be held rather close to Carroll Cave.

In the event four people responded for April 10, so we planned a trip. I drove down Sunday morning arriving at the same time as Rita Worden. We were very early. Rita tended to the oak trees she planted a few weeks ago while I opened the cave and rigged the rope.

The new oak trees that Rita planted are all marked with T-posts so they do not get run over. These are considerably larger than the trees planted a year ago. We looked at the red cedar trees, and they look like they will put on some nice growth this year. I also took some photos of the mower kept at the site so we can see about getting an air filter for it.

The three Kovacs arrived about 9:45am. We all geared up and were in the cave by 10:15am. This was the very first Carroll Cave trip for Adele Kovacs, and also the first time she has used vertical gear to enter a cave.

Two of the data loggers are placed at the ladder. One records the barometric pressure and the other is in Thunder River just below the ladder. Reinstalling those two loggers took only a few minutes.

From there we headed down Carroll Passage to the Rimstone Room. Replacing that logger required cutting off the end of the tether line because it was too frayed to go back through the hole in the logger cap. Candace had a very sharp knife which took care of the problem.

The Rimstone Room has some nice formations, so we went over there to take some photos. When we got to the shortcuts, we decided to take a trip over to Thunder Falls. This is a must-see feature of the cave for all newbies like Adele.

Climbing out of the cave took only a few minutes. We were all out by 12:45pm. Just as we were closing up the cave, Rick Hines and Jeff Page arrived. They had driven down for the day to visit Rusty Clark.

We chatted for a while and then everyone left. We were off the hill by 2:00pm.

Bill Gee