Date: 9/2-9/5/2005 Area Mapped: Upper Thunder River Cavers: Ben Miller, Joe Berg, Amber Spohn, Bob Lerch, Andy Lerch, Bill Gee, and Dan Isbell Time In: 10:00p, 9/2/05      Time Out: 3:00 pm, 9/5/05             Duration: 65 hours Four of us (Ben, Joe, Amber, and Bob) were camping for the weekend, and the other three were going to join us on Sunday. The camp team headed in Friday night, and we made good time to our camp near UL3, arriving in just over an hour. Our goal for the weekend was to push main passage into and beyond the Breakdown Barrier. In so doing, we would also pass the Helwig survey, which ends on the downstream side of the Barrier, and extend the Upper Thunder map well beyond the previous mapped end. 9/3/2004 We split into two teams since the stream splits at about 300 feet from the Barrier. Joe and Ben mapped the left fork (looking in), and Amber and I mapped the larger right fork.  Amber and I picked-up the survey at U182  in very large passage. We would have to map up...

Permit:             0505-1 Leader:             Jeffrey Crews date:               5-7-2005 manager:            Bob Lerch Assessment:         Downstream Thunder participant1:       Jeffrey Crews participant2:       Amber Sphon participant3:       Eric Hertzler participant4:         Roger Brown participant5:       Bob Lerch participant6:         Bill Gee Time In:             1:00 P.M. Time Out:            10:00 P.M. Damage:               No Rescue Supplies Used: No Report Date:        June 23, 2005 Time:               11:23 AM Purpose: Survey and Collect water samples Details: After the entire team of Amber, Eric and I entered the cave we proceeded to Thunder River to collect water samples.  After sampling, we climbed up to the Angel Pool and collected more samples without incident.  We then returned to Thunder River and walked downstream to Thunder Falls.  This was the first time Amber and I had been in the river below the shaft. It was neat winding around and seeing the rope light...

Date: 4/2/2005 Area Mapped: The Big Meander in Upper Thunder Team 1: Bob Lerch, book/sketch, tape, and foresight; Val Schmidt, lead tape and backsight. Team 2: Amber Spohn, book/sketch, tape, and foresight; Andy Lerch, lead tape and backsight. Trip Leader: Bob Lerch Time In: 11:00a, 4/2/05      Time Out: 2:30a, 4/3/05      Duration: 15.5 hours We headed into the cave earlier than normal for us since the other teams heading downstream got up early and most everyone, unfortunately, got up with them. We arrived at the U survey lead (U161) in just under 2 hours. Andy and Amber were going to start mapping the first side passage they came to upstream (UL7), and Val and I would map the huge meander. The meander is relatively easy mapping for Upper Thunder, but it’s also relatively non-descript. An old stream channel runs under a low ledge along the right-hand wall (looking in) the entire way. The clay sediments in the channel are cracked throughout. The walking passage is the common sand...

From: Bob Lerch <blerch420@yahoo.com> Subject:  Carroll Survey Plans, April-June 2005 I wanted to send out the plan of action for the next three months. April: we will camp at the Round Room and continue pushing main Upper Thunder, work on side passages, and work on stream level in the main passage, too. May: push lower thunder with at least two teams leap frogging downstream as far as we can go. If we have more than three teams, there will be plenty of side passage work to do in any section of the cave. June: camp at Jerry's Cairns and continue pushing lower thunder. We will have side passage work to do in lower thunder as well. The key for camping to be worth it is to survey both Sat. and Sunday. July is up in the air right now. Most likely, there will be many of us at the NSS convention. I'll be out of town the last two weekends in July, but if someone wants to coordinate a survey trip in July, that's ok with me. For the April and June trips, you do not have to camp to...

Email and pictures from Daniel Lamping regarding surveying activities March 5, 2005 ******************************************************************************* Marty, Here are some photos from the last survey trip. These are of course all from the Thunder Falls area. Participants were Ben Miller Matt Goska Dan Lamping Feel free to put all, some, or none of these photos on the web. It would be nice to have some mapping photos on there, though I realize these aren't of the highest quality. - dan [I haven't received a survey report this year but I think they're still mopping on in the UL4 area, probably still more in the UL2 area and possibly discovering UL5 and beyond.  On March 5th, 2005 they began the trek down Thunder River with survey tape in hand.  Until we receive the written word these photos taken by Dan Lamping will have to do.  -webmaster]

Email and pictures from Daniel Lamping regarding surveying activities on March 5, 2005. Here are some photos from the last survey trip. These are of course all from the Thunder Falls area. Participants were Ben Miller Matt Goska Dan Lamping Feel free to put all, some, or none of these photos on the web. It would be nice to have some mapping photos on there, though I realize these aren't of the highest quality. - dan [I haven't received a survey report this year but I think they're still mopping on in the UL4 area, probably still more in the UL2 area and possibly discovering UL5 and beyond. On March 5th, 2005 they began the trek down Thunder River with survey tape in hand. Until we receive the written word these photos taken by Dan Lamping will have to do. -webmaster]

Permit:             052-01b Leader:             Dan Lamping date:               02-05-05 manager:            Bob Lerch Assessment:         Upstream-Round Room or beyond participant1:       Dan Lamping participant2:       Jeff Crews participant3:       Tony Schmitt participant4:       Joe Sikorski Time In:             12:30 p.m. Timeout:            12:30 a.m. Damage:             No Rescue Supplies Used: No Date:               Sunday February 13, 2005 Time:               12:52 PM Purpose: Survey in UL4 details: The four of us went into UL4 & UL5 to continue the survey.  UL5 is the survey designation for the lower level of the UL4 passage.  Spike and I took the upper UL4 while Joe and Tony took the lower UL5.  Things began slow for Spike and I, having a tough time getting into the groove with our first few shots.  We had intended on a meeting time of 7:30 to eat.  By  7:00 Spike and I were losing what little momentum we had.  We decided to head back to the Bone Room early hoping Joe...

Carroll Cave Survey Project – 2004 Progress Report Submitted by Bob Lerch, Survey Project Chairman (NSS 45004; CCC 140) The Carroll Cave survey had its most productive year yet, with just under 22,000 feet surveyed in 2004 (Table 1). The total surveyed passage is now 40,803.9’ (7.73 miles), and the estimated passage length surveyed is 38,326’ (7.26 miles).  We mapped 3125.3’ more in the last 12 months than the previous 14 months of the project. In 2004, we averaged 1830.4’ (0.35 miles)/month compared to the previous 14-month average of 1345.7’/month. That’s a nice 36% increase in productivity. We have mapped 3.25 miles of previously unmapped side passages along with 4.48 miles of re-mapped trunk passage. Figure 1 shows the current line plot with the side passages and major sections and rooms labeled. Figure 2 is perhaps a more impressive way to show our progress, providing a visual comparison between the footage surveyed to date with that surveyed through 2-28-2004. Since the start...