Menu . . . Home Calendar Contacts For Sale Links Mailing lists Articles Conservation How Do I Find Caves? Rules Of Safe Caving The Art Of Cave Digging New Caver Training Equipment Directions F.A.Q. Caves Projects Punkin Cave Colorado Bend SP Beck Ranch Cleanup Vertical Training Pictures . . . Pictures: Whirlpool Cave Pictures: Maple Run Cave Pictures: Cobb Cavern Pictures: Midnight Cave Pictures: Rebelay Practice All Random Images Photo Submission		Colorado Bend State Park General Information Scope And Purpose Of Project To locate, survey, and produce maps of all the caves on the 5400+ acre property. Included in this are biological counts and surveys. By last count, there are about 400 caves and karst features in the park, and no doubt many more that still have not been found. Project Management Butch Fralia, Mark Gee, Keith Heuss, and Rafal Kedzierski are coordinators of the Colorado Bend State Park project. How Can I Get Involved? Ultimately, it is up to everyone to find something they are interested in—be it survey, exploration, biology, vertical work—and just enjoy the park and the karst of central texas. Check the UT Grotto calendar, then contact any of the four coordinators at (cbsp at maverickgrotto.org). You may not be guaranteed a reply from all 4 people, but one of us will surely answer. Trip Report 2007 March The weekend started out just right with exemplary weather. I arrived early to find that there was a burn ban. Foo. Only Keith (and of course Inca) and Lee Jay were there when I arrived. As evening wore on, the sky became a smear of stars with Venus shining brightly. Kevin showed up while Lee Jay and I were chatting around the non-fire. I crashed out shortly before the Dallas cavers arrived. Saturday morning the rest of the group (Kathleen, Mark Sanders, John T., and Barb) trickled in. Mark Gee, Kevin Toepke (a Kentucky Caver at heart), and I headed to Middle Cave to mop up some cave mapping. The rest of the group headed to Circurina for biological sampling and other cave related activities. After making short order of the cave mapping in Middle Cave, Mark, Kevin, and I headed back to the truck. Proper procedure is, of course, to spread out and look for Karst features. Mark found one, and so did I. I soon got busy pulling rock out of the ground, making a feature into what might very well be a cave. Since we were on an agenda, we took a GPS point of the feature, then headed to meet the rest of the group. We then took a look at Turtle Back Cave and Biscuit Cave, finding interesting formations and biological creatures (frog, millipede, scorpion, crickets, etc.). We headed back to camp before dark to have a bunch of snacks and beverages. I thought we were roughing it until the brie, several kinds of salsa, and—I think—humus came out. I don't eat this well at home. We proceeded to munch and jest—a great combination. When it became dark, the group headed to the conference center for cleaning rituals. I stayed smelly; I have my reputation to uphold after all. We poked around the stream, then when the group was ready, we headed down the path to Gorman Spring for a biological investigation. I did not personally see all of the creatures mentioned, but people in our group saw: a beaver Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinus) a racoon slimy things on rocks, a.k.a. flatworms (Planaria) a frog (pictured above) fly larvae armadillo a fungus Next morning, we looked for Chimnier's Delight. We went through some rather potent Juniper to find it. Interesting looking cave. We must come here again. Cave Maps (Posted with permission) 2007 Six Month Project Summary Five project trips at Colorado Bend State Park were run in 2007 so far, with trips on the second weekend of January, February, March, May, and first weekend of April. A total of 20 cavers for January trip, 12 cavers for February trip, and 13 cavers for March trips, 39 cavers for April, and 20 cavers for May trip were present. The total number of volunteer hours for January trip was 108 hours, for February trip was 132 hours, for March trip was 128 hours, for April trip was 236 hours, and May trip was 134 hours. The total number of participants was 104, for a total of 738 hours. The participation overall has improved from trips in 2006.