Stanislaus River January 2001 by Jeff Fitzwater Saturday January 27th dawned with temperatures in the twenties, but this did not deter seven Columbia Grotto members from crossing the Stanislaus River/Melones Reservoir and taking a brisk morning walk to enjoy three horizontal caves. Trip participants were John Gardner, John Karpinski, Dave and Lisa Tebaldi, Phil Hayden-Meyer, Wayne Christensen and Jeff Fitzwater. We were later joined by Lysa DeThomas (of Merced) and her friend, visiting from Israel, Asa Wolfson. Due to the lack of rainfall this year, the group found the caves to be uncustomarily dry, which meant that (on this trip anyway) we did not have to become human sponges while belly crawling through the squeezes.
<<Back to trip reports Home Conservation Safety Meetings Caves Our Story Members Trip Reports Restaurants Links email the webmaster	We enjoyed the beauty of the caves, and remarked that they are surprisingly well preserved for their popularity. By lunchtime the morning chill had given way to a cool, but sunny, afternoon. We were serenaded by birds and blessed with views of the surrounding gullies and limestone ridges. Trip leaders John and Jeff gave information about Motherlode caving and history. Before hiking back to our vehicles, we visited a bedrock mortar site in an adjacent gulch where we cleaned out the existing mortars, and were able to excavate and uncover four more mortars, which had been completely buried. We marveled that only 150 years ago our Native American forebearers lived here and ground acorns where we now sat. It was, in the words of Lisa T., a very "pretty and beautiful" day!
Photo by Dave Bunnell Pages and their contents © Copyright 2000, 2001 by Elizabeth Bunnell, except where otherwise noted.