Trip Report: 8 & 22 March, 2003
Georgia Speleological Survey
c/o Brent T. Aulenbach, Treasurer
195 Windy Court
Lilburn, GA 30047-6442
2 April, 2003
Buddy Lane, SCCi Frick's Cave Preserve Property
Manager
40 Hidden Brook Lane
Signal Mountain, TN 37377-2063
RE: Georgia Speleological Survey 8 & 22 March, 2003 Trip Reports for Resurvey of Frick's Cave, Walker County, Georgia
Dear Buddy,
The trip scheduled for Saturday, 15 February, 2003 was canceled due to high water conditions. Water levels would have made it difficult to get to the area of the cave that needed surveying and may also have been unsafe.
The seventh day of surveying in Frick's cave were held by the Georgia Speleological Survey (GSS) on Saturday, 8 March, 2003. This coincided with the SCCi's Frick's Cave Open House. There were three participants making up one survey team. Meeting time was 9:30 am. An orientation was given to all participants and the one new surveyor was taught how to read survey instruments. The team entered the cave at 10:10 am.
The team consisting of Brent Aulenbach (sketcher), Ray Craig, and John Quinn (new surveyor). We started surveying at 11:08 pm in the southwestern end of the cave at station J29. On the previous trip, that survey team reported that the lower level passage continues only a few additional stations. But in reality, this passage continued as the main route as indicated by the original map. It did require three short digs to get through a few tight spots that had filled with sand and gravel over the years. The passage was mostly hands and knees crawls. We completed our survey at 5:05 pm. A quick check ahead indicated that there is at least another 150 feet to survey at the end of this passage. The passage ends at a 40' high dome with a small amount of water coming down it. The majority of water enters at floor level from a very small passage. A side lead is present right before the dome and goes at least 30 feet. We exited the cave at 6:45 pm. A total of 19 survey shots (continuing the J survey) were taken for 414 feet of survey.
The eighth day of surveying in Frick's cave
were held by GSS on Saturday, 22 March, 2003. There were three
participants making up one survey team. Meeting time was 9:30
am.
The team entered the cave at 9:55 am.
The team consisted of Brent Aulenbach (sketcher), ET Davis, and John Quinn We started surveying at 10:25 am starting from station J42 where a lead was noted on the previous survey. This went through a couple of belly crawls and into a couple of rooms. This passage was not on the original map. It eventually connected into the upper level passage at station H21 creating a loop. The loop closure was quite good with an error of 5.9 feet over a 495.9 foot long loop for an error of 1.2%. Afterwards, several side passages were sketched in near the beginning of the survey. We had planned on finishing up this area, but ran out of time. We finished surveying at 4:30 pm and exited the cave at 6:08 pm. A total of 14 survey shots were taken for 191 feet of survey (L survey).
On these two trips, there was one new surveyor who learned how to read instruments and set tape. Two of the four people who participated on these trips had not been on a trip before. So far, 41 different people have participated on the project in eight days of trips.
Brent Aulenbach was designated by the head SCCi Frick's Cave Property Manager as the SCCi representative for both trips
The survey currently stands at 406 survey shots and 10,454.6 feet surveyed. Surface surveys, spray shots and setup shots have not been removed from these statistics.
These trips are the last trips of the season due to the return of the gray bats. The remaining areas to survey are the upstream gravel crawl (estimated as 1,000 feet), the most southern end of the cave (estimated as 150 feet), and to resketch a portion of the main trunk passage including surveying some side pancake crawls along this passage. Unfortunately, the cave survey was not completed in the proposed two seasons. Part of the problem was that it was too wet to survey the upstream gravel crawl. One trip was canceled due to high water. Fewer people were interested in trips in March than for other trips resulting in only one survey crew for each of those trips. I also did not schedule any trips in January due to the birth of my child Claire and I did not get anyone else to take over coordinating a trip.
I will contact the SCCi Board with a request for an extension to finish the project next season. Meanwhile, I will start drafting the parts of the cave that have been surveyed.
Respectfully Submitted,
Brent T. Aulenbach, Frick's Cave Resurvey Project Coordinator
Cc:
John Hickman, SCCi Chair
Tom Moltz, GSS Chair
Attached:
Copies of all survey notes with survey data files from Compass
Copy of existing map with passages mapped thus far highlighted
Line plot of cave from Compass
Survey statistics from Compass
Reduced station locations from Compass
Loop closures from Compass
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Last modified: Thursday, 10 April 2003 bta