Stream Flow Project Trip Report

Date of trip – 9 January 2021

Participants – Bill Gee (Trip leader)
Krista Bartel
Martin Carmichael
Kayla Heady
Sandra Galloway

Time in – 9:15am
Time out – 2:45pm

Areas visited – Carroll Passage, UL2, Convention Hall, Thunder Falls

This trip was the annual data logger collection trip. The goal was to download all data from every logger, and to change the battery in the rain gauge logger.

The last two years (2019 and 2020) this trip has been delayed twice due to weather and icy roads. That was not a problem this year. The field was quite dry and the gravel trail was in good shape.

Everyone made a day trip of this. No one camped either Friday or Saturday night. I arrived at the silo about 7:45am. The first task was to change the battery in the rain gauge logger. This takes about 15 minutes. Martin and Kayla showed up as I was getting started, and Martin provided a hand to hold some very small parts.

Once that was done, we all started getting dressed for the cave. We were chatting in the silo when Sandra walked up. She was looking for a key to the lock on the gate at the road. Martin gave her a ride back down the hill, unlocked the gate (it is a combination lock) and let her in.

I reviewed some safety items mainly for Kayla and Sandra’s benefit. I demonstrated how the cable sleeves go on and off the safety cable. I also pointed out the winch, the garbage can with a first aid kit and the field phone equipment on the rack.

We were all ready in good time. Krista went down the shaft first. Kayla and Sandra were next, then Martin and I came last. We were all in the cave by 9:45am.

I downloaded the data loggers at the ladder. We then left for the trip to Carroll River. It took about 30 minutes to get to the logger. I did the download, then we all went over to the Rimstone Room to admire formations.

We were back at the ladder by 11:00am. It was a bit early, but we had lunch anyway as the next opportunity would bean hour or more. We left the ladder for the trip to UL2 about 11:30am.

It took 40 minutes or so to get to the data logger in UL2. We stopped several times so that Kayla could take pictures of cave fish. As usual, we saw more and bigger fish in UL2 than anywhere else in the cave. I also saw a cave fish that was only about 3/4 of an inch long. I have never seen a cave fish that small.

After I downloaded the data logger, we continued on to Convention Hall. The waterfall in Convention Hall was flowing, though not much more than a trickle. We all looked around, including a trip to the overlook room. Martin found a pocket of cave pearls in the overlook room, and Kayla took some photos. Unfortunately there was no water in the pocket.

On the way back we stopped to admire the formations at the entrance to UL2. We stayed in the stream all the way to Thunder Falls, arriving there about 1:30pm. While everyone else looked around, I downloaded the last data logger.

We took the stream passage back to the ladder, arriving there about 2:00pm. Everyone geared up for the climb out. Martin went first so he could help people get off the ladder safely. Sandra was next, then me. Krista and Kayla were last. Everyone was out fo the cave by 2:45pm.

The temperature outside was right at freezing. We all stayed in the basement level until everyone was up. By doing that we avoided having a cold wind blowing up the shaft while people were climbing.

We pulled up the rope, then everyone got busy changing to dry clothes. After packing up we left the silo about 3:30pm.

Bill Gee