Participants

Seth Colston (Leader) – KCAG
Bill Gee – KCAG
Becky Nelson – KCAG

This was the first recorded trip to Geronimo Cave near Macks Creek, MO since Bill Gee visited the cave about 12 years ago. I will be leading the survey efforts along with others in the Kansas City Area Grotto.

All three of us met at 6:30am in Grandview, MO. Bill led the convoy while strictly following the speed limit. Becky and I followed behind. We stopped shortly in Warsaw, and arrived at Husong’s property around 9am. It was youth deer season, and we were greeted by Ray helping the children with their hunting efforts. The boys are interested in going into the cave someday. So, we will have to plan a trip someday to lead them through the cave.

We then proceeded to get ready and made our way down the hill to the cave entrance. We entered the cave at 9:40. The cave entrance has been modified for mill use. The concrete slab is about 2×1 feet in dimensions. The first approx. 200ft of the cave is about 1 foot high with about 3-4 inches of water. About 20 feet into the cave, there is a man-made dam. Bill set stations and took backward survey shots, Becky helped take forward survey shots. I stayed in the rear and recorded the data. After an hour working in the water passage, Bill got cold and had to proceed to the first room. As Becky and I finished getting data on the last 60 feet of water passage, Bill was doing push ups to stay warm. I set up the last couple of survey stations in the water passage. It was difficult for Becky and me to work in the water passage at this point. If you tried to move your head, you would have to dip your chin/mouth into the water. We caught up to Bill shortly and continued to take data until we got to the big room with ceiling height close to 20 feet tall.

At this time, Bill and Becky were shivering. Therefore, we explored the cave for about 45 minutes to warm up. We were able to move around easily in decent sized cave passage. We found the waterfall that was about 5 feet tall with a decent flow. We also found 3 tri-colored bats. We found a good amount of secondary formation and multiple piles of breakdown.

After exploring, we took a lunch break. Following lunch, I started sketching line plots and teaching Becky the beginnings of the sketching process. I sketched most of the plan view line plots and I had Becky plot all the profile line plots. I helped take a couple of survey shots with Bill during this time.

At about 2pm, I started sketching backwards towards the entrance of the cave. Bill and Becky continued forward through the cave taking survey data. At about 3pm, Bill and Becky made their way back to me. I was ready to start sketching the water passage at that time. Bill and Becky went ahead of me. I followed slowly behind trying my best to sketch while keeping the paper dry. At about 3:30, I was almost done sketching. Bill and Becky were waiting at the dry spot at the very beginning of the cave. I still had some sketching to do and I told them to exit the cave and get into some dry clothes. Becky said, “That is the news I have been waiting for all day.”

I exited the cave at about 3:45 and we quickly changed into dry clothes. At this time, Angela came out of the house to let us know that she had to leave to help the boys track down two deer.

We left around 4pm. I rode back with Bill and Becky followed.

The good news is that the entrance water passage is done being surveyed. This was a very important step to get done in the survey process. We can now make our way quickly through the water passage and change into dry clothes.

Our next survey date has yet to be scheduled.

Seth Colston