Subject: E-Newsletter, Vol3 Number 7

Chouteau News, electronic version
July, 2000
Vol. 3 No. 7
Upcoming Meeting: Wednesday, July 5, 2000; 7 pm
Next meeting: Wednesday, August 2, 2000; 7pm
Program: unknown
Check out our web page http://chouteau.missouri.org. 
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MSS Picnic Lunch and meeting at Onondaga
The Spring 2000 meeting of the Missouri Speleological Survey was held in conjunction with the MCKC - MSS Cave Picnic at Onondaga Cave State Park on 
June 10, 2000.

The morning was devoted to the 2nd quarter MCKC Board meeting. A 'bring your own' picnic lunch, at noon, was enjoyed by all.

The minutes of the Winter 2000 Board meeting were printed in the Jan.-Feb issue of LIAISON. One correction was made, and the Board voted to accept, as amended. My only vote of the meeting.

Alberta Zumwalt reported on Membership with 150 regular members, 20 family and 2 honorary. Gary Zumwalt reported on LIAISON with 191 subscribers and 14 complementary.

Missouri Speleology: Bob Taylor reported on work on the shelter issue, by Jon Beard and James Potts, the first issue for 2000. Vol. 39 No. 4 (1999) has been sent to Carol Wicks for review.

MSS Research Section: A grant of $500 was awarded to Matt Forir in partial payment for a Carbon 14 date on material collected from Lon Odell Memorial Cave. The material was dated around 1440 AD.

Jeff Page reported that the Carroll Cave Conservancy has now received their 501c3 status from the IRS.

Chouteau member Bill Elliott reported that he, David Ashley and Mick Sutton have combined their records of cave life into a cave fauna database. He can generate a checklist if requested.

Honorary Member: Dr. Oscar (Oz) Hawksley (one of the founders of the MSS) has been voted an MSS Honorary member. Oz was unable to attend the meeting. The gift was displayed for all to admire. Plans are to make the presentation at the next meeting that Oz 
can attend.

New Business: Bill Elliott presented a report of the recent accomplishments in the Cave Conservation Program of the MDC. He would like help of cavers in restoration work in Lone Hill Onyx Cave. He and Jon Beard have written an article on cave restoration 
for the Conservationist, and would like 'before' and 'after' pictures.

Next Meeting: The next Board meeting will be in September, in Rolla, MO. Hopefully in conjunction with the MCKC again. Exact date will depend on the availability of the DGLS conference room.

David Webster
proxy for Mike Morgan.
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Regional Calendar

7/15-23/2000: NCRC Weeklong Cave Rescue Training Program, Camp Pioneer, Beverly , West Virginia. Levels I-III cave rescue, Wilderness EMT, and Instructor level classes. Info: John Appleby at (215) 541-4494.

8/6-12/2000: Restoration field camp at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. 30 participants are needed to fill positions within the camp. Help restore the Echo River area to a natural state. Volunteers^³ camp expenses will be reimbursed along with a part
ial reimbursement of travel expenses. Trips to nearby caves can be arranged for those interested. Contact Norm Rogers, 3122 N. Isabell Ave., Peoria, IL 61604, (309) 682-5416, or at nrogers@iaonline.com

8/11-13/2000: 47TH Annual Indiana Cave Capers, Delany Park, Salem, Indiana. Caves, a lake and a great banquet. Site of the 92 convention. Contact Kathy Welling at 765-653-6352 or by email at kathyd@ccrtc.com. Check out the web site www.caves.org/grotto/ci
g.

8/12-13, 8/26-27, 9/9-10: Level I modular NCRC class in Huntsville, Arkansas, hosted by the Madison County Search and Rescue, cost $175. For more info email Kerry Littrell at klittrel@labarge.com. 

9/8-10/00: The Eastern Indiana Grotto will be hosting Karst Encounters 2000, in southeastern Indiana. Event will be held at Muscatatuck County Park in North Vernon, Indiana. For information contact: Mark Webb; MTW96@aol.com.
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Grotto Reunion September 29- October 1, 2000. Rock Bridge State Park.
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A Note From Afar
Hey guys, 
I posted my adventures on the internet so you can check out what I've been up to. Check out Trapper Peak, Stanley, etc. 
http://www.geocities.com/darylgreaser
Let me know what you think!
Daryl 

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Recent adventures
Joe Hobbs and family spent the second half of June in the Yucatan
Peninsula. They visited Loltun Cave south of Merida as part of Joe's research on human uses of caves. Some of the earliest known traces of human occupation of the Yucatan have been found in Loltun, and later Mayans used it as a source of both "sacred" wat
er (for ceremonial purposes) and drinking water. There are also ancient Mayan petroglyphs and carvings in the cave. Joe and Katie later visited Bolonchen cave, made famous in Frederick Catherwood's 1841 lithograph depicting locals toiling up a huge ladder
 with jars of water they had collected deep in the cave. Finally, Joe and three-year old Lily snorkeled in some cenotes near Tulum. Because of the lack of rivers and lakes in Yucatan, caves have always been incredibly important to local people as a source
 of water. Nowadays they are acquiring new economic significance as tourists and cave divers come to the growing number of once-remote caves and cenotes accessible to visitors. If any of you are headed down that way, you might want to contact Bill Wagnon,
 who has started up a grotto. He is based in Paamul, just south of Playa del Carmen. His email is: grutadepaamul@hotmail.com The grotto members are very active in the area between November and April. They are planning on spending a week of each month mapp
ing caves in Belize, and would welcome any of us to tag along and help out.
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NSS CONVENTION 
Chouteau Grotto members Dan and Carol Childress, Bill Elliott, Bob and Andy Lerch, Jeff Williams, and Jennifer Wolf were in attendance at this year's NSS Convention, held in Elkins, WV. A very nice convention with plenty of variety in terms of caving - fr
om easy to brutal; lots of excellent sessions; and a great slide salon show. Rick Walk had a number of excellent shots in the Slide Salon, and he also won a Merit Award for a beautiful waterfall shot. Congratulations to Rick! This was my first convention,
 and I can genuinely say it was very worthwhile. The days are filled with preparations for caving, finding caves, and then actually caving, or going to one of the many excellent sessions. Sessions cover everything from scientific presentations to vertical
 training, from NCRC to policy sessions with the Forest Service. So, if you get bored at convention, it's your own fault because there is such a great variety of activities. If you've never been, I recommend it. I had a great time and plan to attend next 
year's convention in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky.

Bob Lerch
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Hey, Chouteau-ites! More NSS Report....

I myself caved 6 out of 7 days, and then rappelled off of Seneca Rocks for the other day. The highlights included an awesome Howdy Party with lots of free beer, a fabulous 2-pool hot tub, and 3-building sauna, highly informative sessions including Bob and
 Bill's lecture, photography tips, international cave exploration, and multiple workshops, a day-long NCRC training, a naked run through the Sinks of Gandy, and finally, for me, a very scary 175' drop deep in a cave called Cass that started with a re-bela
y traverse!!!

Today, I've moved into an apartment in Roanaoke, and will be hear till October. These undulating,
green-covered mountains were best described by Andy Lerch as "the Ozarks on steroids".

I miss you all still and encourage you to come out for OTR
(old timer's reunion) over labor day weekend to experience the caves and the beauty of the land out
East!
Love,
Jen "Mystic Bat Lady" Wolff
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ADDITIONAL CONVENTION HIGHLIGHTS^‰.
I went on 4 cave trips, saw 3Virginia cave exploration symposium's and saw a wonderful NSS slide salon workshop. It was nice to see a lot of quality shots including locals Rick Walk and Michael Carter. 
Now for the caves; Monday 6/26 Mississippi Dan and his wife Carol Childress, Jennifer Wolff, Eric Weaver from Ohio and myself explored Sharps cave. The entrance was in the middle of the cave with four separate leads. We followed the main breakdown passage
 and then did some side passage exploring. We found the two waterfall system in the cave, one was a 8 foot high waterfall topped with a 5 foot high waterfall. What a marvel! After a quick splash we exited the cave. Tue. 6/27 Andy Lerch and I went to Bowde
n cave, which was a self led trip to one of the closest feature caves of the convention. It is a six mile long cave and is the second longest cave in Randolph co. We entered the main entrance,through a 10 foot high 20 foot wide abandoned quarry. This open
ed up to about 250 feet, from here we followed the main passage for about 4000 ft. to the third entrance, where we met some other cavers along the way. We all went to the third entrance after about 300 ft of belly crawling. Andy and I explored the hill si
de, and he found Jennifer rappelling and practicing some of her new photo techniques. Andy and I checked out the bear heaven entrance to Bowden but returned to the third entrance to travel back through the cave. Two of the people we met were from Maryland
 and the other two were from Colorado. We walked to the road and back to the other entrance above ground. Andy and I went back through and on the way out checked out the shower room, which had a 30 ft leaking dome room off of a side passage. 
On Wednesday 6/28 Bob Lerch, Andy Lerch and myself (Jeff Williams) explored flower pot cave. The directions to find included the words "look for the two big trees about 17ft apart then look for two big trees 800 ft from them" Needless to say it took some 
hiking to find this sink entrance especially since one of the two big trees 800 ft away was a big stump now. We started this trip with a 38 ft drop to 400 ft of dry crawl after about 1300 ft of crawling and walking we came to a T and went right. We explor
ed a side passage called, rightfully so, Rip Snort passage. This was a real spanker!! After about 5.5 hours we were ready to exit. 
On 6/29 Bill Elliott, Bob and Andy Lerch and I went to Trout cave. We hiked to the entrance and spent only about 3 hours in this cave since we had a 2 hr drive back to camp and didn't want to miss the slide presentation. This was a dry cave and mostly wal
king bore hole passage over huge breakdown. We got a
little disoriented, were shooting for the saltpeter mines and actually wound up in the maze part of the
cave and turned around in a small mud sculpture room. Later, we went to the slide presentation, and it was great.
chat more later.
Jeff
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Chouteau Grotto Meeting
June 7, 2000
The meeting was called to order at 7:08 P.M.
16 members attended.
There were three guests or soon-to-be members: Mag Matlock, Paul Lowry, and Chris; we didn't get Chris' last name but she is an EMT who was at the NCRC orientation. We hope some day you'll join us (and that the world will live as one).
Treasurer's report $1218.40 are in the coffers. 
MSS Director's report: The meeting will be on June 10 at Onondaga State Park and will be combined with the MCKC meeting. Besides business, it's a cavers' picnic and should be fun. Mike Morgan will not be able to attend, and Dave Webster will stand in for 
him. Mike encouraged more Grotto members to become MSS members. Only four of the 16 people at tonight's meeting are members. Dues are reasonable... 
The Foresight: Rick Walk was not able to attend this meeting. He is
looking for someone to do the 2000 editions. Please contact Rick and
Rita if you are interested in taking on this important role. 
Grotto Reunion planning report. Much of the meeting dealt with this
issue. There are problems with the proposed dates of the weekend of
15-17 September. One of these is that Jim Huckins will be out of the
country, and many members felt strongly that Huck ought to be present for the occasion. Also, as planning is still in the early stages, it
was suggested that a later date would be better. And it was pointed out
that mid-September can still be hot. Therefore the New Official Tentative Dates for the Grotto Reunion are 29 September-1 October 2000. Please mark your calendars. If there is any compelling reason the reunion should not be held on those dates please cont
act Rita Worden immediately. But unless you hear otherwise, these are the dates.

Patti Williamson will look into having the MU Alumni Association do an ad inviting former campus grotto members to the reunion. 
A much-anticipated and controversial Missourian article on cave
vandalism has not yet made its appearance.
Cave Reports
Patti Williamson and Ben Miller attended the NCRC Cave Rescue
Orientation at Lone Hill Onyx Cave. Rick Walk was one of the instructors. See Chouteau News 3(6) for details. 
Joe Hobbs reported on his trip to look at human uses of caves in
Madagascar.
Rita Worden and Ben Miller visited Spring Cave. Despite the tight spots
there are some large rooms with fine speleothems. Also too much graffiti. These two removed some graffiti and will return with toothbrushes to do more. They also visited Tumbling Cave on this trip and went as far back into it as they could. 
Mike Morgan spoke about the incredible traces of historic human
activity in Lon Odell cave. These include bare footprints left by a
Native American youth in a mudbank, and torch remains that have been carbon-dated to about 1400 A.D. 
Ben Miller and Bob Lerch went to Cathedral Cave and Fittons Cave. Ben, Rick Walk and Bill Elliott visited Breakdown Cave and Watkins' Cave over the MVOR weekend. 

Also during MVOR, Rita and Grace Worden, Jeff Williams and Bob Lerch visited Garrison Cave. Orin Worden and Jeff Williams joined Grace and Rita at Marvel Cave, which Rita described as really sensational for a commercial cave. Grace said they used to offer
 hot air balloon rides inside the cave, so vast is the entrance chamber!

Mike Walk will be speaking at the International Society of Optical
Engineers in San Diego, on the topic of using lasers to test the
integrity of vertical climbing equipment. Rarely has a high school student participated in this convention. Congratulations Mike!

Jeff Williams, a.k.a. Sir Toby of Twelfth Night, will soon be making crepuscular appearances at the Maplewood Barn Theatre. Go cheer for Jeff!

The meeting was adjourned at 8:57 P.M. The festivities continued at Gand D.

Respectfully submitted, with huge thanks to Patti for covering my
duties in the past few months,

Joe Hobbs, Secretary