Survey Trip Report

Date: 11/08/2003

Purpose of Trip:  To survey in UL2 in the vicinity of Convention Hall

List the actual trip participants:

1) Jeffrey Crews

2) Joe Sikorski

3) Dan Isbell

Time of entry: 11:30 Time of exit: 4:30

Trip Report:

After descending the shaft we waited for the other parties to head on out to UL3 and for Bob Lerch’s party to descend before traveling to UL2.  Bob was to show us where we would be surveying and also where we would be tie in.  We first survey approximately 50 feet from the pearl room to tie into Ben Miller’s survey.  Joe sketched and Dan set stations and performed back sights, while I shot fore sights and performed cave inventory.  After this short survey we traveled upstream to leap frog ahead of Bob’s party.  Instrument reading was easy while the sketchers had headaches dealing with the complex entrenched, migrating, and meandering vadose canyons several feet under the meandering phreatic ceiling channels and remnant tubes.  After completing about and acre of surveying we closed a loop to tie back into Bob’s survey.  Then we made the short stroll up to Convention Hall to eat a hot meal around 11:00.  Upon returning to our work we started a side passage that began as hands and knees crawl in the old phreatic tube.  We pulled about a hundred feet of tape before reaching a constriction.  Dan stayed behind while Joe and I shot two more shots before calling it a day.  We contacted Bob’s party to let them know we were starting out of cave.  They said they had a few more stations left in them.  Then they would leave.  We slogged down Thunder river and made for the shaft.  I climbed that ladder first, having geared up quicker.  Upon reaching the surface, I noticed it was quite cool outside of the silo.  Joe followed up and informed me that Bob’s team had arrived at the shaft.  It being quite cold I quickly walked back to the school House and changed clothes there, since I had left my dry clothes there.  I built the fire up and had it stoked nicely when Bill Gee drove up and informed me both parties were out of the hole.

-Spike