Carroll Cave Reports Blog
1 July 2022 – CCC merges with MCKC
Today marks a big change in the history of Carroll Cave and its community. In recent months the boards of directors for the Carroll Cave Conservancy (CCC) and the Missouri Caves and Karst Conservancy (MCKC) have been negotiating a merger by which the MCKC will assume ownership of the Carroll Cave property presently owned by the CCC. The board of CCC determined this move to be in the best interest of securing ownership in perpetuity. The presidents of both organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that defines the relationship going forward. Let's take a look at what will and won't be changing from here on out. The CCC will cease to exist as an independent organization. There will be no CCC annual meetings or elections of officers. The management group will be the same people who are doing it presently and will be called the Carroll Cave Management Team (CCMT). They will be resposible to report to the MCKC in all matters concerning Carroll. That change takes place today...
2026 July 18 – Upstream Thunder River bio count
Cave visited: Carroll Cave Area Visited: Upstream Thunder Permit #: 2239 Trip Leader Name: Kristen Vogel Trip date: 2026-07-18 Trip purpose: Biology Trip participants: Marty Griffin Peter Schnegelberger Mike Kovacs Jason Maulorico Jessica Wilson Entry Time: 9:20 am Exit Time: 3:15 pm How far: Round Room Injuries: No Trash: No Biology: Biology Count- Cave Fish Upper Thunder = 9 Cave Fish UL2 = 25 Bats 1 dead near the ladder Snakes 3 dead near the ladder Salamanders = 0 Isopods = 0 Trip report by Kristen Vogel The trip report: This trip started as Bill Gee’s hydrology trip. We split into two trips due to the number of participants being greater than 8. The purpose of this trip was to monitor biology counts in Upper Thunder. I arrived at the silo around 8:30am on Saturday. Bill, Marty, Jason and Peter were already there. We discussed the plan and started getting geared up. All 12 people were in the cave by 10:00am. It was starting to really get hot in the silo. Once we were all in the...
2026 July 18 – Data logger service
Cave Trip Report - Carroll Cave 18 July 2026 Time in - 9:20am Time out - 3:00pm. Participants - Bill Gee (data logger) Rita Worden Seth Colston Matthew Chasen Jocelynn Morris Quentin Brown Kristen Vogel (bio survey) Mike Kovacs Jason Maulrico Jessica Wilson Marty Griffin Peter Schnegelberger Permit number = 2101 (data logger download) and 2239 (bio survey) Trip report by Bill Gee. Twice each year I run a trip into Carroll Cave to download data from the stream flow data loggers. The loggers can hold a bit over 6 months of data before overwriting. This is a good trip for Carroll Cave newcomers. This year I had way more people ask to go than will fit on one permit. After discussion with Kristen Vogel and Marty Griffin, we decided to get a second permit. To avoid having a large group traveling together, we came up with a different objective for the second team. When asking people to sign waivers, we did not worry about which permit they signed for. The important thing was to get everyone...
2026 June 20 – Mowing and other surface maintenance
Cave visited: Carroll Cave Area Visited: Campground Permit #: 2326 Trip Leader Name: marty griffin Trip date: 2026-06-20 Trip purpose: surface maintenance & mowing Trip participants: marty griffin Entry Time: 10pm Exit Time: 6:30pm Biology: birds on surface The trip report: TRIP REPORT: Carol Cave Silo Site Maintenance Date of Trip: June 19 – June 20 1. Arrival & Overnight (June 19) • Arrival Time: ~10:00 PM. The area was completely dark upon arrival. • Site Conditions: The cabin electric was fully operational. Swallows/birds were found roosting inside the cabin. • Weather: Beautiful, clear night with a consistent temperature around 69°F. 2. Mowing & Equipment Operations (June 20) A new mowing strategy was tested during this trip with highly successful results: • Turtle Mode Test: The lawnmower was operated exclusively in "Turtle Mode." This provided plenty of power and speed to cut the tall grass, while vastly improving maneuverability. • Efficiency Gains: Operating in...
2026 March 21 – Mowing and other surface maintenance
Maintenance Trip Report: Serenity & Spiders Date: March 21, 2026 Status: Site Secure | All Infrastructure Operational I. Site Observations & "Alien" Encounters Upon arrival at 8:00 AM, the site was secure and peaceful. Activity was minimal, with the only neighbor being an SUV tending cattle 2,000 feet to the west. Vegetation: Grass growth remains stunted due to the recent 18°F freeze. Wildlife: Discovered six "alien pods" in the Pic Pavilion. A quick consult with Google Lens confirmed these are egg sacs for garden spiders. Hundreds of new "volunteers" will be joining the team soon. Cleanup: Spent the morning clearing board ends and debris piles via controlled burns. II. Equipment & Grounds Maintenance The lawn mower is performing like a brand-new machine following last year's service. Performance: Sharpened the blades (Pro tip: you’ll need the elusive 16mm closed-end wrench), which made the mower smoother, quieter, and significantly more efficient. Operation: Confirmed...
2026-January 10 – Data Logger Service Trip
Carroll Cave trip report - 10 January 2026 Entrance time = 9:40am Exit time = 3:15pm Participants - Bill Gee Mike Kovacs Candace Kovacs Preston Hunter Jerome Brauner Robyn Barnes Jason Jakary Quentin Brown Trip report by Bill Gee Twice each year I lead a trip to service the stream flow data loggers in Carroll Cave. The main task for the trip is to download data from all six of the data loggers. This data is used to prepare the annual report of the Stream Flow Project. For this trip we had five people who have never been in Carroll Cave. The data logger service trip is a good introduction for people new to Carroll Cave. I arrived at the silo at 7:30am on Saturday. The temperature was middle 30s and the wind was blowing, as usual. It was cold at the top of the hill. There were about 20 head of cattle clustered around the middle gate. I had to shoo them away from the gate so I could drive in, then had to go slow while they got out of the way. I hung the rope and downloaded data from the...
2025 Annual Stream Flow Project Report
2025 Stream Flow Project Report This is the annual report for the Carroll Cave Stream Flow Project. The discussion covers calendar year 2025. There is an attached ZIP file at the bottom of this post which contains all of the data and graphs for the year. Carroll Cave recorded three flood events during 2025. The first was in early April, the second in late April and the third in early June. The late April event was the biggest of the three. Flood one: The stream started rising in the early morning of 4 April. By late afternoon the level at Thunder River was almost 4 feet. It ebbed for a few hours, then came up again to a maximum of just over 4 feet during the morning of 6 April. The level subsided slowly for about two weeks, getting down to 1 foot on 19 April. The water level below Thunder Falls peaked at about 13 feet for this event. Flood two: The stream started rising in the early morning of 19 April. It went up to about 2 feet and stayed there for a day and a half. Starting in...
2026 January 10 – Surface work
Trip date: 2026-01-10 Trip purpose: data logger service Trip participants: Marty Griffin Entry Time: 8am Exit Time: 4pm MCKC Publish: Yes Trip report by Marty Griffin. The trip report: I arrived as #9 on Bill's logger trip, as usually there is a no-show. I assisted the suit, kit and rappel process as needed then began an above ground work day. This biannual data download trip is good to introduce cavers to the close sections, and I've noticed a few cavers who were trained this way participating on longer survey trips over the past few years. Since the Pic Walenta shelter house is cold in wintertime, due to the constant wind on this upland plateau, I drove to High Brothers and purchased an 8'x10' brown tarp for $13. Pulling out of the gate onto the road, logging equipment was unloading and driving into the woods north of the road. I also noticed a new driveway and "permanent" RV setup immediately east of the Sweatt Schoolhouse driveway. I used nails on hand, having no screwgun with...
2026 January 3 – Survey mop-up in Thunder River
Trip purpose: Cross Section and floor detail in Thunder River Trip participants: Treavor Bussard Kayla Sapkota Jessie Bridges Megan Gallo Derek Thompson Entry Time: 10:30 a.m. Exit Time: 5:00 p.m. How far: Top of Thunder Falls, Backdoor entrace to end of T survey (Angel Pool) and from TF upstream to UL2. Injuries: No injuries Trash: No trash observed/removed Biology: 157 Eigenmamn's Cave Fish and 2 Adult Grotto Salamanders. Trip report by Treavor Bussard Treavor Bussard, Kayla Sapkota, Jessie Bridges, Megan Gallo, and Derek Thompson, entered the back door entrance at 10:30 a.m. The group added a cross section in a small passage connecting T-Junction/Thunder Falls and the beginning of Carroll River Passage. After a short visit to the top of Thunder Falls, the group then traveled up stream noting on the map where ripples existed within Thunder River to just past the entrance of UL2. Along the way the group counted 157 Eigenmamn's Cave Fish, and 2 Adult Grotto Salamanders. The group...
2026 January 3 – Final Survey in DR4
Trip purpose: Finish survey of DR4 Trip participants: Kohl Mitchell Nathan Curran Jack Rufener Maria Rodriguez Jerel Waters Entry Time: 10:00 Exit Time: 18:15 How far: To the bitter end of DR4. Injuries: No Trash: Some debris left from the previous DR4 survey. Biology: 10+ cave fish, 2 in Cutoff Creek 1 grotto salamander 1 larval grotto salamander 1 isopod 1 hellgramite Trip report by Kohl Mitchell We began arriving at the silo at about 8:30 Saturday morning, with Jack getting there first, unlocking the silo, and getting the shaft rigged. Nathan and I arrived next, and Jerel about 10 minutes later. Maria was running about 15 minutes late, having gotten lost on the Camden County gravel roads, but we were all geared up and started dropping down the shaft by about 9:45. As Maria and I got on rope, the Arkansas team who were doing some work in Upper Thunder River also began trickling in, so we said a quick hello to them and dropped down the hole. We reached Thunder Falls at 10:30, and...
2025 October 25 – Annual Bat Census
Carroll Cave Trip Report - 25 October 2025 Entrance time = 9:45am, exit time = 7:00pm Participants: Bill Gee Mike Kovacs Candace Kovacs Jessica Wilson Jerel Waters Sarah Peterson This is the annual bat census trip that we have been running for about 20 years. We accumulated several additional tasks this year which made for a fairly busy trip. The "bat" aspect of the census has, in the last 6 years or so, turned into more of a "sculpin and salamander" census. I arrived at the site about 3:00pm on Friday. The grass down the middle of the access trail was over a foot high, and there were some woody plants growing in there. The grass inside our fence was about the same height. I noticed that the red cedar trees we planted a few years ago are growing like gangbusters. A couple of the oak trees are gone, but several others seem to be doing well. I did not look for the cyprus trees around the frog pond. I set up my camper, then went into the container to get the mower. It took me ten...