April Cave, Iowa- 1997

April Cave is a very beautiful cave located near Decorah, Iowa. Originally just an ear dip leading to an unstable entrance room, judicious sledgehammer use on the breakdown pile where the spring/stream entered the room yielded several thousand feet of classic stream cave, with many unique formations and some tall domes, with pasages still to be pushed and explored. As it is a relatively tight cave dimensionally, with a great deal of stoop-walking, there is generally a bit of fog surrounding yourself and other cavers- the water temperature is 46F, so this is to be expected. As I will return to help survey the several hundred feet of virgin crawlway leading to ? that I helped to push, I hope to get a few more images.

At the entrance; after about 7 years of caving, I think this is the most beautiful entrance I've ever seen. The low eard-dip entrance crawl is at the back of this collapsed dome- very silo-like.

Nice speleopretties!

...and more!

NSS Convention 1997- some Missouri caves...

Berry Cave

Berry cave is situated near Ft. Leonard Wood,and is owned by Mrs. Berry(of course!), who has lived there since 1936. She is a kind lady with an impressive collection of photographs of the cave- many taken with flash powder. An inconspicuous entrance leads to a Guadalupe Moutains type of main room, with many diverse and massive formations. I've included some images I took at the Fall '96 MVOR- I've been to the cave twice, and hope to go again!

A Goliath of a stalagmite just as you enter the big room. A photo I took while at MVOR '96.

A most impressive cascade- another MVOR photo.

In the Table Room...an upper level of the big main room.

A inactive rimstone pool- very pretty, I think.



Barite Cave

Barite Cave was a pretty and 'sporting' cave we visited. The 1000' of entrance crawl was supposed to be very muddy; we ended up swimming most of the way, thanks to the 12"-16" of rain we had on the first night of Convention. There were magnificent formations in the back of the cave, and well as a massive barite deposit; thus the name. Pretty much everyone was thoroughly chilled and ready to head back when I took these photos; it only looks like a solo trip!

A nice cascade at the end of the cave, about 10' tall; the 'bell' at the bottom denotes the water level of the pool, which contains some most unphotographable calcite rafts.

Some 'antler' helictites in a little niche along a wall.



A few more Missouri cave images...

The famed 'Hanging Lake' in a truly nameless cave very close to the Missouri Convention site. The lake is about 3' deep, and the flowstone shelf that the caver on the far left is standing on goes completely around the '2nd floor'; quite an unnerving experience! It was taken during a photo trip that was going to generate goodwill with the owner; the cave had supposedly not been entered since the owner forbade access in the 1970s, during the Corps of Engineer's attempts to dam the Meramec River, which the cave is quite close to. Obviously, many cavers and 'spelunkers' have entered the cave since then; the lake area is mud-covered, and the main passage, full of crotch-deep 'goo', is littered with shoes and flashlights. Anne Bosted and Dave Bunnell were the ace photographers there to photograph the hanging lake; I enjoyed the chance to work as a photo assistant again; for some of the folks there with no studio photography experience, it was a bit mind-numbing for them! Anne even brought coloful caving clothes for her 'models' to wear- talk about being prepared!

Mushroom Cave- in Meramec State Park. The trip leader insisted on bringing this lantern; it was a nice touch, but we ended up sharing lantern duty on the way out. This is Theresa Carbrey admiring a formation detail; it was a very spacious cave that was in fact used for commercial mushroon production before the Depression.

A dandy 'cup' formation along the main passage; whiter than white!

Groaning Cave, Colorado- 1996

Groaning Cave is located in northwest Colorado, on the White River Plateau, where several other long caves are located- Fixin'-to-Die, for example. At over 7 miles, there is a great deal to see; most of these pictures are from Serenity Hall- discovered the day man landed on the Moon; thus the name. Much of the brown staining you see has been deposited by cavers simply moving through the cave; being a fairly dry cave, dust is obviously a real conservation issue. The cave was gated within days of its' discovery- still, even footsteps leave their trace here. Ed LaRock was our trip leader- pretty nice having a geologist on hand! Famed speleobiologist dude Dave Hubbard was also on our trip, and collected many different cave arthropods, some of which I got to see in situ. He said he hates to separate individual critters from their families- he tries to get them all if he can!

The view from the entrance... no, I'm not kidding!

My vote for Coolest Speleothem of the Day went to this selenite sword- nearly 18" long- again, I'm not kidding!

Ed LaRock(sagely avoiding flash blindness) and Theresa Carbrey enjoying the view of a stalagmite growing on a fallen forefather...

Some nice 'velvety' formations- these sure glowed after I popped them with my spare strobe- and I asked Ed to give me the 'full metal' rap on why the afterglow occurs; the flash actually knocks electrons out of their orbits, or 'shells'; light is generated when they jump back- pardon me, Miss Electron!

The Harp- what I called it, anyway...

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