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...
2023 July 15-16 Work Weekend
Trip ReportCarroll Cave Shelter House Work Weekend7-14 thru 7-16-23Trip Permit Number: 2023-010 On July 14th through the 16th we worked on the Carroll Cave shelter house. I was fortunate to have the largest crew so far working on this project consisting of Bill Gee, Jim Cooley, Marty Griffin, Jeff Page, Kevin Feltz, Martin Carmichael, Sean Zimmerman, Caleb Mundwiller, Tristin Whetstine and Nathen and Sam Taylor. Bill Copeland came down Friday but was feeling sick and had to leave. With 12 of us we were able to make good progress. I left home Friday afternoon with a heavy load. I was pulling a trailer with 20 sheets of ¾” plywood and my riding lawn mower. The back of the truck was fully loaded with a table saw and numerous other tools. One goal for the weekend was to get the plywood installed on the ceiling. It was securely fastened to the bottom edge of the trusses forming a sturdy floor in the attic. The floor was planned so that the four-foot-wide spaces between the trusses can be...
2023 July 8-9 Upper Thunder Survey
Carroll Cave Upper Thunder River Camp Trip Date: July 8 & 9, 2023 Location: Carroll Cave, Upper Thunder River Goals: Survey and perform map QC in Upper Thunder River Participants: Kohl Mitchell, Bryn Downes-Ward, Erica Hroblak, Caleb Mundwiller Time In: 9:30 AM July 8 Time Out: 4:00 PM July 9 Bio Count: ~20 cave fish, 4 isopods Report Written By: Kohl Mitchell Our much-anticipated trip to the Lake Room and survey at Diarrhea Falls at the very end of Lower Thunder River had a wrench thrown into it when forecasts called for up to 2 inches of rain on Friday and Saturday in Camdenton. While the chances were pretty low, we decided that a 40% chance of death was too high, so we chose to change our objectives and make a trip to Upper Thunder River instead. This would be the first time cave camping for all members of our party, so the experience of camping was more important to us than the destination anyway. Despite some issues with a low tire on my pickup in the morning, we weren’t too...
2023 July 8 Data Logger Service
Carroll Cave Trip Report 8 July 2023 Participants: Bill GeeMike KovacsCandace KovacsSarah PetersonRabecca MarlinSean Zimmerman Purpose: Data logger service Time in - 09:30 Time out - 14:45 This trip is the summer service trip for the stream flow data loggers. The goal is to download data from all data loggers in the cave. Also replace the battery in the rain gauge logger, and replace the batteries and memory card in the cave intrusion detector. I drove to the silo early Saturday morning, arriving a few minutes after 07:00. Nathan and Sam Taylor were there in their camper. No one else camped over Friday night. I downloaded data from the rain gauge logger and replaced its battery. Looking around the site, I noticed that the weeds were getting quite tall in front of the silo. Part of the area had been mowed. Grass in the unmowed area was about 20 inches high. People started showing up shortly after 08:00. I was expecting Kohl Mitchell to be early since he was planning an overnight camp...
8 July 2023 Introduction Trip
Cave visited: Carroll CaveArea Visited: Carroll PassagePermit #: 2023-008Trip Leader name: Kristen Vogel Trip date: 2023-07-08Trip purpose: Exploration, RestorationTrip participants: Kristen Vogel, Nathan Taylor, Sam Taylor, Martin Carmichael, Nathan Hensel, Dustin Schmidt, Becky NelsonEntry Time: 10 amExit Time: 3 pmHow far: UL2 Formation Area, the Water Barrier, Thunder Falls.Injuries: NoTrash: NoBiology: 4 cave fish in Upper Thunder Becky, Nathan H, and I were the last to arrive at the silo around 9:30 am. We were just in time to chat with Bill Gee for a minute before he headed down that shaft. His group was 6 people, we were 7, and Kohl Mitchell was there with a group totaling 4. As we started gearing up, Kohl’s group finished gearing up and they headed down the shaft. This was the first time in Carroll Cave for Becky, Dustin, Nathan H, and Sam. Martin went over safety with everyone and gave instructions for the entry rappel. We started down at 10 am, and I was the last one in at...
2023-05-23 Campground Work Day
Trip report by Rick Hines Carroll Cave, Shelter House, May 23-24, 2023 Crew: Rick Hines, Bernhard Arnold, Jeff Bowman, Marty Griffin, Jim Cooley, Tristin Whetstine, Peter Schnegelberger As Bernard and I were approaching Camdenton I got a call from Jeff asking if I had lawnmower gas. I did not so Jeff said he would take care of it. As we pulled up to the gate to the campground Jeff was behind us. Arriving at the campground I found we already had a full crew plus one. In addition to Jeff, Jim, and Marty who I was expecting I found Tristan. Later in the day I got another pleasant surprise when Peter called to say he would be there that evening with about 140 bricks and would stay overnight to work on the 24th. Everyone pitched in to help me unload my truck, that was loaded with almost every tool I own, and seven panes of glass tied to a specially built rack. Our goal for the next two days was to install the ridge cap, plug old screw holes in the metal roof, install glass in the four...
2006 Stream Flow Project Report
The ZIP file linked below contains the data that was collected during 2006. This was the year we started the stream flow project, so the data is a bit spotty. It does not cover the full year. 2006-CarrollCaveStreamFlowDownload
2010 Stream Flow Project Report
The file linked below has al the data and graphs from calendar year 2010. 2010-CarrollCaveStreamFlowDownload
2018 Stream Flow Project Report
The link below contains all data and graphs from calendar year 2018. 2018-CarrollCave-StreamflowDownload
2022 Stream Flow Project Report
Data from the Stream Flow Project for calendar year 2022 is linked below. 2022-CarrollCaveStreamFlowDownload
Carroll Cave Maps
A collection of maps from the Carroll Cave survey project. Some of these represent work in progress. Sheet D5_6-17-2023 Lake Room This is a PDF file, so no preview. Carroll D1 7_9_23 Downstream Thunder River D1 section. Includes Black Rock Riffles. The gallery maps are all JPG format.