Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps
1989 - 2000
1989
In 1989 the first of the annual week-long Restoration Field Camps was
conducted at Mammoth Cave from July 23 to July 29. This Field Camp was
organized by David Irving as a preliminary event to the National Speleological
(NSS) convention to be held in Sewanee, Tennessee the week following the
Field Camp. Bob Ward, the Cultural Resource Specialist at Mammoth Cave, was
The National Park Service (NPS) person in charge of the Field Camp. The NPS
had conducted two weekend clean-up events prior to the week long Field Camp
as a trial run to determine if the NPS and NSS cavers could work well together
and accomplish the objectives of both groups. The weekend events met with
great success.
The Field Camp was a
cooperative event between the
NSS and the NPS. The NSS
provided manpower and the
NPS provided lodging at the
Maple
Springs
Research
Center as well as a restoration
project worthy of the time and
effort of all participants.
The participants provided their
own food, cook and bedding.
The NPS provided lodging in a
house at Maple Springs that
was a former Ranger Station. There were 18 participants at the start of camp.
However, the Field Camp was visited on Monday evening by representatives of a
British Army caving group who were in the US caving in Tennessee and had
heard of the Field Camp. They expressed a desire to join the Field Camp and on
Tuesday afternoon four of them joined the Field Camp efforts with the remaining
three arriving on Wednesday.
This first week long Field Camp concentrated on Great Onyx Cave. Great Onyx
Cave is a former commercial cave within the Mammoth Cave National Park
boundaries. This cave had been used by the NPS for a lantern tour but was
currently not used because repairs were needed to the entrance stairway and
some handrails in the formation areas. The weekend clean-up events had been
conducted here and it was felt by the NPS that additional restoration work could
be conducted here with no impact on existing tours in Mammoth Cave. There
were many clean-up and restoration projects that the NPS had on their wish list
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
1
but with manpower and budget limitations they had been unable to accomplish
them. This first Field Camp would allow some of them to be completed.
The former owners of Great Onyx had maintained the cave in very good
condition by prohibiting the type of graffiti seen in many other commercial caves
of the same era. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of their method of
disposal of worn out benches, handrails and stairs. It seems their philosophy was
“out of sight out of mind.” They disposed of obsolete materials (mostly decayed
wood) in side passages and any place that was not visible from the tour route.
The clean-up project was to remove as much of this material as possible from the
cave. The NPS felt that in addition to being unsightly, the decaying wood
provided an unnatural food source for the cave life and thus created an abnormal
ecological condition to exist within the cave. It was thought that removal of the
wood would help bring the conditions closer to a normal state.
The first area to be worked was just
beyond the pit to the river where several
feet of decayed wood had accumulated.
The wood was placed into bags about 1.5
by 3 feet in size and hauled out in
wheelbarrows to the foot of the entrance
stairs where it was stacked. There were
several concrete blocks and some
concrete that had served as the base for
benches which was also broken up and
hauled out to the entrance stairs.
Each day as we exited the cave for lunch we formed a bucket brigade up the
entrance stairs and removed the accumulated concrete and sacks of wood.
These were emptied into a farm truck with high sides that had been staged at the
entrance . The bucket brigade scenario was repeated each day at quitting time.
Several days of work resulted in enlarging the passage by a foot or two as the
accumulation of rotten wood was removed.
Wednesday was planned as a half work day and at lunch time part of the group
left to take a free lantern tour of Mammoth Cave, some went to the water slide in
Cave City and some remained at Great Onyx to explore and take photos.
With the addition of the British Cavers in the cave on Wednesday our progress
surged forward. These folks with their “ceiling burner” Petzel carbide lamps were
truly awesome workers. They felt that the time we required (around 30 minutes)
to wheel loaded wheelbarrows from the work area to the entrance area (about a
3/4 of a mile of cave passage) was too long and began to race through the cave
with loaded wheelbarrows trying to beat each others times. The winning time
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
2
was 7 minutes and 26 seconds. Those loading the bags had a hard time keeping
up with those manning the wheelbarrows.
By Thursday we had accomplished all (and more) that the NPS had planned for
the week. Beyond the area where we had been working in was a set of wooden
stairs that descended to the river. The stairs were in poor condition with missing,
weak and broken steps. It was decided that removal of the stairs was desired.
The Brits set a couple of bolts at the top of the stairs and we began to
disassemble the stairs while tied in to ropes in the stairway passage. Material
was removed both through the stairway passage and through the pit on the
entrance side of the of our previous work area. By quitting time on Friday the
majority of the stair material had been removed from the river area to the
entrance area.
Saturday brought reward trips for those Field Camp participants with any energy
left. These trips were led by Cave Research Foundation personnel. The easy trip
was to be about 4 hours in Unknown Cave while the hard trip was to be a
through trip in the Historic Entrance and out the Austin Entrance. The hard trip
lasted 12.5 hours.
1990
The second annual Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camp was held on July 29
to August 4, 1990. This year Norm Rogers had volunteered (was drafted) to be
the coordinator of the field camp. Sunday afternoon a few of the participants had
a preview of this years work area when Bob Ward led them in the elevator
entrance to the Snowball Dining Room and the Cathedral Domes areas.
This year an additional building was available for our use. This was an air
conditioned bunkhouse and contained about 34 bunks. This greatly increased
the space available and eliminated the need for people to sleep on the floor as
some had last year. Also two additional toilet and shower areas had been
created out of the garage attached to the house we used last year making a total
of four now available greatly reducing the long wait for a shower after a day in a
dirty cave.
On Monday morning the group was split up to cover the three main project areas.
(It appears that last years experience had convinced the NPS that one project
wasn’t sufficient for a weeks worth of volunteer effort by dedicated cavers.)
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
3
The first project area was on Cleveland Avenue starting
just beyond the Snowball dining room and working
toward the Carmichael Entrance. On the left side of the
passage was a pile of broken limestone that had been
stacked there when the elevator entrance was created.
This rock supply was about five feet high, six to eight
feet deep and 50 to 100 feet long. Quite a few tons of
rocks to say the least. the project was to load these rocks in wheelbarrows and
use them to line the trail from the Snowball Dining room as far down the passage
as possible. This was done to outline the trail to encourage tourists to stay on
the trail and away from gypsum formations on the walls. Each piece of limestone
was loaded into wheel barrows, wheeled down the passage, dumped and
lovingly placed by hand to create an obvious edge to each side of the trail.
Project number two was the rigging of Thorpes’ Pit and removal of debris from
the bottom. Following completion of that project two moved to the Cathedral
Domes area and removed the remains of old stairs at the bottom of the dome.
This project was done to remove unsightly materials from the tour route and to
remove unnatural food sources for the cave life.
The third project was the removal of wood debris from the far side of Crystal
Lake and tourist litter in the Frozen Niagara section of the cave. This required
rigging off of the tour route handrail and hauling debris up the pit to the tourist
trail.
Monday evening we were treated to a slide show on Floyd Collins and the Cave
Wars by Ranger Bob DeGross.
Tuesday started with a bang at about 2:30 AM! Most of the people in the
bunkhouse were awakened when the lights came on in the middle of the night. It
seems that one of the participants had turned over on the top bunk and fell to the
floor with a bang. He survived with minor bruises to his body and major bruises
to his ego.
Resuming our work on Cleveland Avenue we found that about 1/4 mile of trail
was lined but the NPS was concerned that our methods were improper. We had
stacked rocks two or three high on each side of the trail. We were told that
wouldn’t work! The NPS was concerned that if a tourist stepped on the rocks
they would move and the tourist might fall and be injured. We were advised that
only one layer of rock was to be used. So we spent part of the day moving the
rocks we had moved the day before.
Project group two completed clean up of Thorpes’ Pit and made good progress
on the Cathedral Domes area. Today part of group two switched places with part
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
4
of group one since everybody wanted a chance to move heavy limestone!
Everyone learned that a “John Rock” was a monster piece of limestone that John
Vargo loved to load into a wheelbarrow and everyone else hated to try to move
again.
Project three had made good progress but caused disruption of the tours as the
tourists wanted to look over the rail and watch the cavers on rope thus delaying
the progress of the tour. With a tour passing group three about every 30 minutes
the rangers had their hands full encouraging tourists to move on to avoid conflicts
with following tours.
An evening slideshow and talk was presented by Dave Foster from The
American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA) on his organizations purpose
and plans for a Museum in Horse Cave, Kentucky.
On Wednesday a review of project one showed another 1/8
mile of progress. Due to the rework of the Monday activity
and the increasing distance from the rock pile progress was
slowing but still moving forward in this area. Several people
from this project joined the Crystal Lake project for a change
of pace.
On project two it was decided that with all of the remaining
people on project one joining those on project two the
Cathedral Domes project could be completed today. This
project was finished by lunch time. After lunch a few more
left for fame and glory at Crystal Lake while the remainder returned to the slave
labor at the rock pile. The Limestone Sisters (bored cavers moving rocks)
entertained the group with their singing while piling rocks. After a while their
singing began to cause others to wonder how long it would be before the bodies
were found if we covered them with the trail rocks.
Wednesday evening brought a program presented by George Gregory, Park
Natural History Specialist, on the geology of the area.
Thursday finds project three completed at Crystal Lake and project one at about
1/2 mile of trail lined with rocks. An additional project was started cleaning
several small pits near the New Entrance. As today was a scheduled half work
day we returned to Maple Springs at lunch time. After lunch we had a short talk
by David Mihalic the Park Superintendent who thanked us for the work we were
doing for the park. After the superintendents talk 5 people went to Ganter Cave
for a wild cave tour and 34 went to Great Onyx Cave (site of last years project)
for a photo and exploration trip. Most were out of Great Onyx by 8:30 but a party
of nine remained with four of the group exploring over the dam in the lake at the
bottom of the cave in an attempt to find a connection to Mammoth. While they
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
5
were unsuccessful in their attempts they did stay in the cave long enough to miss
the last ferry across Green River and had to make the 50 mile trip through
Brownsville to get back to camp.
Friday the Cleveland Avenue project ended at about 3/4 of a mile of passage
lined and stopped at a point where the natural breakdown tends to keep tourists
on the trail. The Frozen Niagara and New Entrance projects were wrapped up at
about the same time as the trail project and tools and materials were removed
from the cave completing this years projects around 3 PM.
Friday evening was spent in an impromptu slide show, lie telling session and
packing up for tomorrow’s departure.
On Saturday reward trips were taken to Floyd Collins Crystal Cave for a couple
of hours on the tourist trail for some and a couple more hours in more remote
areas of the cave for others. Some people took the opportunity to take some of
the scheduled tours in Mammoth to areas they had not yet seen.
1991
The third annual Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camp was held on July 21 27, 1991. Camp coordinator was Norm Rogers and Bob Ward was the NPS
representative in charge of the camp. Superintendent David Mihalic spoke to the
group at the Sunday evening orientation meeting.
Monday the party was spilt up into three groups for different project areas. A
vertical group was formed for areas requiring vertical work. A horizontal group
was formed for work in the other cave areas and a special carbide dump clean
up group was formed to clean up carbide dumps.
The horizontal group started by moving aluminum beams and grating from River
Hall to the base of the stairs at Mammoth Dome. The NPS had planned for this to
take till Wednesday and had to scramble for other projects when the cavers
finished it by noon Monday. After lunch the group returned to River Hall to
remove the gate to the Echo River Passage and a few went to remove a
concrete and stone stand that had previously held a fish tank and blind fish
display.
The vertical group bopped a few pits recovering trash, change, a demolished
Minolta camera and other debris that tourists had dropped accidentally (or on
purpose).
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
6
As to the carbide dump clean up crew, well, they had a
nice one just off of El Ghor. Now the park service said
these were carbide dumps and to be sure some people
had probably dumped used carbide in them at times in the
past. However, as cavers are sometimes reasonably
intelligent, it didn’t take too long to figure out that a lot of
the carbide was actually slaked lime which was used most
frequently in pit toilets to keep down the smell. So the
carbide dump crew was also the latrine cleaning crew. Admittedly most of this
stuff was probably 50 or more years old and the smell was gone but the thought
lingers on.
Tuesday the horizontal crew began to remove wet rotten wood from the areas
along Echo River Trail and haul it to the staging area where the aluminum was
stored the day before. The vertical crew managed to hide well and probably
accomplished some work while the carbide crew continued with their
conservation effort. On Tuesday evening Norm Rogers presented a slide show of
caving slides in the house. The secondary purpose of this show was to occupy
John Vargos attention while part of the crew was preparing a surprise birthday
party for him. John was quite surprised and pleased when he entered the
cookhouse to find a large group both singing and signing Happy Birthday to him.
Wednesday was a break from normal as the plans were for in cave activities to
begin about 4:30 PM. The day was spent with a trip to Horse Cave, Ky. to see
the progress on the ACCA museum and a short talk by Dave Foster. A short
cleanup trip from the New Entrance and out Frozen Niagara was an excuse for
some to see another part of the cave. In the afternoon some cleanup work was
performed in and around the Maple Springs facility where we were staying for the
week.
The fun really began when the entire crew went to
the cave after the last tour had departed. Tonight the
plan was to rig the firetower at Mammoth Dome and
haul out all of the aluminum, wood and other debris
that had been staged at the bottom of the stairs. Due
to the regular tours through this area the work could
only be accomplished after hours without having a
detrimental effect on the tours.
We were joined by a group of kids from the Mammoth Cave Job Core Center
who thought they were coming over to pick up paper , cigarette butts etc. Boy
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
7
were they surprised! This was probably the hardest they had had worked since
they joined (or were sentenced) to the Job Corps.
I have heard that some of the female cavers spent a time sitting on the aluminum
grating while resting and waiting for rigging to be completed . It was reported a
NPS representative told them that they would have grate butts when they got up.
To which one replied “I had a great butt before I sat down!”
The debris was hauled up the tower and out of the cave to a waiting flatbed truck.
Work was finished around 10:30 or so and a group of tired dirty cavers headed
back to Maple Springs for showers, cherry cobbler and bed. Three days of work
by the cavers had accomplished a task that would have taken the parks limited
maintenance staff five or six weeks.
Thursday - a day off ! Many went to Great Onyx again to explore, photograph or
just hide out. A trip to the Labyrinth was led by Bob Ward for some while others
went shopping in nearby tourist traps. A few slept or sat around recovering.
Friday the last day was spent in cleaning up the various areas where we had
been working as well as doing some trail patching in Audubon Avenue. Tools
were collected and returned to the storage areas and work for this year was
completed by early afternoon.
Saturday was the day reserved for reward trips to thank us for the work done.
There was usually an easy trip for those who wanted something easy after a
week of hard work and a hard trip for the gung-ho cavers who just couldn’t get
enough! For easy trips there was a walking tour of the upper levels of Floyd
Collins Crystal Cave where the hard tour was to be a trip to Floyd’s Lost
Passage. The other easy trip in the Violet City area of Mammoth (easy walking
passage with a crawl or two) led by Kevin Downey turned out to be a seven hour
rinkydink and not at all what had been anticipated.
All in all another good year with old and new friends together having fun and
accomplishing a lot.
1992
The fourth annual Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camp was held from July
19 - 25, 1992. This year Norm Rogers was again the camp coordinator (no one
else would take the job) and Bob Ward was the NPS person in charge of the field
camp.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
8
As usual camp officially began with the Sunday evening meal. After the meal Bob
Ward outlined the projects for this year. They didn’t sound too bad but
remember, it was still early and we were fresh and eager.
Monday started with a leisurely stroll out the passage of El Ghor and Silliman
Avenue to Cascade Hall and Echo River. Now the fun begins! OK folks see
these aluminum boats? See that NPS maintenance man with the electric saw?
Well, he’s gonna cut these boats into one foot cross section pieces and you are
gonna carry them out to the elevator. OK?
The main project was to remove some of the aluminum boats that had formerly
been used on the Echo River tour. These boats had been retired some years
before and were just waiting for someone to figure out how to remove them from
the cave. You know, a one foot wide piece of an aluminum tour boat is DAMN
heavy! You know, the elevator is a DAMN long way from Cascade Hall!
A secondary project for a couple of people was the removal of a carbide dump
from Welcome Way passage near Cascade hall. Remember carbide dumps
from last year? More of the same. The Speleo-Feces team (Their motto: We
hate Feces to Pieces) attacked this project with gusto. Besides, it was a lot
easier than carrying out pieces of aluminum boats.
Tuesday work continued on the removal of the boats from Cascade Hall and
also on the carbide dump clean up in Welcome Way.
Another crew was
scheduled to remove a stone wall in a side passage between Giants Coffin and
Bottomless Pit. A vertical crew managed rig and rappel Sidesaddle Pit (which
had already been cleaned) for a reporter and photographer from The Daily News
in Bowling Green. What some people will do to get their pictures in the paper.
By the way, we learned that if you wanted to be photographed wear a red helmet
- it shows up better in the newspaper.
Wednesday brought a change as we began to remove wood from the water
along the Echo River Trail as we had done in the past.
Thursday a short project was to remove some surplus light fixtures, ballasts and
wiring that had been stashed in a side passage between Giants’ Coffin and the
Bottomless Pit. As usual this was a half work day with a trip to the Labyrinth
scheduled for the afternoon.
Friday and another years work ended with a haul out of the Echo river debris up
the firetower and out of the cave. The vertical crews finished up a few small
tasks, tools were stored and another years Field Camp was done.
Saturday and the reward trips this year were trip in Violet City to Wright’s
Rotunda and back viewing the historic remains of reed torches the Indian
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
9
explorers of this area had left along the way. The hard trip was a return to
Floyds’ Lost Passage in Floyd Collins Crystal Cave.
1993
Camp Started on Sunday August 15 and ended Saturday August 21, 1993.
Sunday afternoon those who had arrived and were interested went to the
Elevator Entrance for some preliminary work for this weeks activities. Materials
stored at the elevator were taken down into the cave and moved to the Snowball
Dining Room. Then we moved all of the picnic tables down Cleveland Avenue
and away from the dining room area. Sunday evening brought the usual
introductions and information presented by Norm Rogers, camp coordinator and
Bob Ward, Park Cultural Resource Specialist who was also the NPS person in
charge of the Field Camp.
After the meeting many of us went to the Historic Entrance for we were fortunate
to start camp on the same day as the annual Church Revisited program was
held. A non-denominational church group that presents church services in
National Parks was conducting a service this evening in the Methodist Church
area of Mammoth Cave. This free event was a recreation of the type of services
that had been held in the cave in its earlier years.
Walking into the cave with lanterns, assembling in the Methodist Church area
with a preacher high above and a choir below holding candles was an inspiring
sight. A couple of songs were sung, a short sermon was heard and we went out
the way we had entered. This historic recreation of past events in the cave left
us with a warm feeling of appreciation and satisfaction in having participated.
Monday we all went to the Elevator Entrance and down to the Snowball Dining
Room for instructions on the main project for this year. This project was the
cleaning of the ceiling of the Snowball Dining Room frequently referred to as the
Sootball Dining Room because of the darkened condition of the ceiling. A study
conducted by Ozark Underground Laboratories had determined the cause was
mainly a fungus growing on the material accumulated over the years on the
gypsum snowballs. Testing showed the least harmful and most successful
method of removal was spraying the ceiling with normal household bleach
followed a few hours later with a clean water rinse. The first task was to spread
black plastic under the area to be cleaned, mark off grids on the plastic with
masking tape and cover this with a layer of clear plastic to contain any runoff,
drips and spills. A demonstration of the use of garden sprayers to apply the
bleach and water was given. Workers had to wear protective tyvek suits, rubber
gloves and full face respirators as protection from the bleach. Ten people were
chosen to work this project while the rest returned to the surface for other
projects.
After an early lunch, those not chosen for the Snowball project went in the
Historic Entrance and proceeded to Great Relief Hall where a reported dump
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
10
behind the restrooms was investigated and six people remained to remove the
materials found. The rest headed for Echo River checking for wood along the
way. After a look at the river they returned and began bagging up more wet
rotten wood in the water and along Echo River Trail. When everyone had a bag
full of wood they all headed out to the Mammoth Dome staging area, dropped off
the wood and exited the cave finishing work for today.
Evening brought a slide show, talk and demonstration on the development of
caves by Field Camp member John Marquart. It also revealed several people
with bleach burns as the seams on the tyvek suits were leaking and removal of
the face masks (without rinsing) caused some minor transfer of bleach from the
masks to various parts of the anatomy.
Tuesday brought a rush order to the supplier of the tyvek suits for suits with
sealed seams to eliminate the leakage problems while the Snowball crew did the
best they could with duct tape patching of the current suits. The river rats
returned to the Echo River Trail and continued to remove the remains of former
handrails and bridges from the water, bag the wood up and haul it to a staging
area in River Hall. The vertical people rigged a rope in an area high above the
water just beyond River Hall and removed wood from the water below. Matt
Reece dropped Steve Gentrys bolt hammer in the water, lost it (it’s still there
somewhere) and of course was severely chastised (by anyone and everyone).
In the afternoon we formed a chain gang up the stairs at River Hall into Sparks
Avenue. From there we hauled the bags of wood to the staging area at Mammoth
Dome before calling it a day.
The evening brought video tapes from TV stations of prior years Field Camps
and other cave related videos that participants had brought to camp with them.
Wednesday the entire crew formed a chain gang up the stairs at Mammoth
Dome and then up the firetower and moved the pile of bags and other stuff into
Little Bat Avenue. The Snowball crew then left for the Elevator Entrance to
resume their project. Penny Hibbard was dubbed the Porcelain Princess for
having carried a urinal from Great Relief Hall to the Fire Tower. It was reported
she told the tourists we encountered that we had to bring our own toilets to work
with us. Next we moved the stuff from Little Bat Avenue to the entrance stairs.
When all of the material was at the base of the entrance stairs we chain ganged
it up and out. Next a lunch break and then back into the cave for more of the
same. After lunch a couple more hours of bagging wood and hauling it to River
Hall pretty well wore us out so most called it a day early and headed back to
camp.
At the Snowball project Ken Janice bleached a bat hiding in a crevice where he
couldn’t see it. It complained and flew away (we hope it was OK). While Larry
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
11
Matiz was spraying the ceiling a large crust of gypsum came loose and fell to the
floor. As far as we know these were the only detrimental effects of the Snowball
project and were not significant in view of the final results of the project although
they did cause some unhappiness to those involved.
Following supper there was a showing of a National Geographic video on Caves,
some tall tales, lie swapping and a nice bed after a hard day for most.
Thursday was a scheduled half work day with the Snowball crew finishing up on
the prior days activities and the rest moving the accumulated debris in River Hall
up to Little Bat Avenue for final removal on Friday. This afternoon Bob Ward led
an easy reward trip to Gothic and Gratz Avenues off of Main Cave. For the
harder trip 14 people went once again to see Floyd’s Lost Passage entering the
cave around 1:30 PM. At about 4 PM disaster struck! While negotiating Straddle
Canyon, a foothold broke away and John Marquart fell a short distance
dislocating his shoulder.
The group moved John a short distance to a small flat area, assessed the
situation and determined a rescue was needed. They were far into the cave and
a difficult crawlway lay between the accident site and the exit. It was decided four
people would stay with John and the remainder left all of their spare supplies and
exited the cave at top speed. The park authorities were notified at around 6 PM
and the rescue process was started.
It was necessary to get a medical doctor to John to administer a sedative,
relocate and immobilize the shoulder and then administer a stimulant to cancel
the effects of the sedative. It was probably sometime early Friday morning
before this had been accomplished. A significant number of people were involved
in one way or another before the ordeal was over. This included park personnel
from rangers to ferry drivers to even the lawn mowing crew who were used in the
commercial trail part of the cave. Of course the field camp cavers as well as
other area cavers were also involved.
After the shoulder had been relocated and with the cavers and park people
assisting, John slowly made his way toward the entrance. After many hours in
the cave John and the rescue party eventually reached Scotchmans Trap and
the tourist trail. There he was placed in a stokes litter and carried to the entrance
(this of course would have been the easiest part of the cave for John to navigate
with his injury.) He refused to let them carry him out of the cave and walked up
the entrance stairs into the bright sunlight at 11:24 AM on Friday August 20,
1993. A seven hour fun trip had turned into a 22 hour ordeal.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
12
The accident was just that, an accident. It could have happened to anyone at
any time. There is no blame to be placed, no person who is responsible, no
evidence of unsafe practices, just a plain old accident.
Friday - well this had started off as Thursday - a very long day after all. After
John had been loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital we were all
transported to the incident command center for a brief exit interview and from
there headed back to Maple Springs for showers , unwinding and sleep. John
arrived back from the hospital around 5 PM. He had been x-rayed, examined,
medicated, bandaged and told he would likely live and he should see his family
physician as soon as possible upon returning home.
Saturday and no reward trips this year although its unlikely anyone was in the
mood anyway. Bob Ward came to Maple Springs and conducted interviews with
everyone individually. Details of each interview were recorded for inclusion in the
final incident report that The Park Service would prepare. After the interviews we
headed home having still accomplished most of what had been planned. We did
leave a pile of materials in Little Bat Avenue (planned for Fridays removal) which
was taken care of on the fall weekend clean up trip.
1994
After last years rescue many had wondered if that was the last Field Camp but,
here we are again! The 1994 Mammoth Cave Restoration Field camp was the
sixth annual event and was held from July 31 to August 6. As Bob Ward had
assumed some extra temporary duties with the Park Service he would not be
able to spend as much time with us this year as in the past. Rick Olsen would be
filling in for Bob and spending the majority of his time this week working with us.
Norm Rogers was again camp coordinator this year.
An additional guest this year was Tina Tyvek who had appeared late last year at
camp. She was one of the suits used to clean the Snowball Dining Room (with
appropriate clothing) and had been sending cards and letters from all around the
world to Norm Rogers since last years camp. Unfortunately Tina was fatally
injured Sunday afternoon when a van driven by one of the participants backed
into her lawn chair and knocked her to the ground. She must be a hardy caver
as she was miraculously resurrected later in the week.
Sunday evening brought the normal introductions and outline of this years
projects. The projects were trail patching in main cave, graffiti removal in the
restrooms at Great Relief Hall, wood removal along Echo River Trail and
entrance modification and gate replacement at the Bedquilt Entrance of Colossal
Cave. A special presentation of a No Popeye Pancake T-shirt was made to
Carole Rogers
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
13
Monday one small crew started working at the Bedquilt Entrance where a
concrete base for the entrance gate had restricted the normal drainage into the
cave. This was to be removed (partially) and a new gate installed further into the
cave to return the drainage pattern to a more natural
state.
A second crew of about 15 began some trail patching
near Gothic Avenue while a third crew of 6 or so
started graffiti removal in the restrooms at Great Relief
Hall. The trail patching was completed in short order
and this group then moved to Audubon Avenue for a
more extensive trail patching job. Previous trail
patching had used material removed from near the
end of Audubon Avenue. The Park Service had
decided that this was a bad idea and future trail
repairs were to be made with materials at the repair
site. So... with no surplus material where it was needed the plan was to break up
the hard packed trail surface, mix it with water (from the entrance waterfall) and
then smooth it out making a new smooth surface and eliminating the potholes in
the trail. Easier said than done, it proved to be a lengthy task.
Tuesday work continued at the Bedquilt
entrance with a few people swapping places
with the other crews. The graffiti removal in
the restrooms continued. The graffiti was
mainly scratch marks made in the natural
surface patina rather than smoked names that
were common in other areas. The removal
process consisted of wetting the surface and
lightly rubbing it with brushes, rags etc. to
blend in the dark and light areas. The results were quite good. The Audubon
Avenue trail patching continued with the work area taped off as this was on an
active tour route.
Wednesday work in the restrooms was completed. The Bedquilt Entrance
project continued and the trail patching in Audubon Avenue was finished. A crew
was sent to Cascade Hall to remove the wood from the former boat storage rack.
Part of the crew remained behind to dismantle the remainder of the boat rack.
They quickly discovered it was made of reinforced concrete rather than wood as
they had assumed. After a short period of attacking this monster with sledge
hammers and doing no damage to it they decided to abandon the project. They
must of gotten confused on the way out because they were soon in unfamiliar
passage and it took them a couple of hours to get back to familiar passages
again.
Tina Tyvek was recovering and had found a new friend - GI Joe.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
14
Thursday the majority of the camp went to Echo River Trail to remove wood. The
plan was for one bag load per person to be removed and then hauled all the way
out of the cave. There were still a few working on the Bedquilt Entrance project.
After the wood was out of the cave work for today ended. Thursday evening was
a reward trip on the Frozen Niagara tour route. We entered the New Entrance
and exited the Frozen Niagara entrance just like the tourists. No hard hats, no
packs and electrically lighted passages and a slow and easy tour with time to
photograph and enjoy the cave.
Friday the entire Field Camp crew went to the Bedquilt Entrance to remove the
debris from that project. This consisted of the old gate, a steel monster that took
four people to haul up the hill, the broken concrete from the former gate base and
the tools used on the project. We formed a chain gang part of the way up the hill
and passed the broken concrete from person to person till we reached the end of
the line. Then we moved on up the hill and repeated the process until the top
was reached. The debris was loaded into a waiting trailer and removed from the
area.
Friday evening at supper Tina Tyvek suddenly went into labor. Bob Ward was
there and was called upon to deliver the baby. The delivery was successful with
the baby upon arrival having a tattoo that resembled the tattoo of one of the Field
Camp participants.
Saturday and another Field Camp was successfully concluded. A reward trip into
Colossal cave was taken by many and ended almost as a through trip out the
Bedquilt entrance. Actually they got to the Bedquilt gate but had no key so they
had to return back the way the came in. Some chose to take regular tours and
enjoy the cave with the rest of the tourists.
1995
The seventh annual Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camp was held on
August 7 -11, 1995. This year the camp started on Monday evening rather than
Sunday due to facility scheduling conflicts at Maple Springs. On Monday a quick
trip into the Frozen Niagara area was made by Bob Ward and four others along
with a photographer and reporter from an area newspaper to demonstrate what
we would be doing there this week. As usual the first evening brought
introductions and an outline of projects presented by Bob Ward from the NPS
and camp coordinator Norm Rogers. Projects included lint removal in the Frozen
Niagara area, wood removal from the Echo River area and a assisting the
American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA) with a move from their current
office to a new office above the ACCA Museum.
Tuesday work began on the lint removal in the Frozen Niagara area with a crew
of six. The wood removal project was started along Echo River Trail however
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
15
due to high water it was determined that this project was not practical. Wood that
was above the water was collected and removed from the cave and this project
was abandoned after the first day. It will be resumed at a later date when lower
water levels permit.
Wednesday the lint removal continued with a different crew. An alternate project
to the wood removal was started. This project was
removal of the fencing and handrails between the
Echo River boat dock and the Sands of The Sahara
areas. Material removed was transported to the
normal staging area at the bottom of the steps in
Mammoth Dome. A reward trip was taken to Great
Onyx Cave this evening however it was guided and
time limited as it began about 7:30 and we had to be
out in time to make the last ferry at 9:55.
Thursday was the day to assist the ACCA with their
move. The move was about half a block down the
street in Horse Cave, Ky. With their limited staff it
was expected to take them a month or so to
complete the move. With the assistance of the field camp crew the move was
accomplished in four hours. Following the move we viewed the museum exhibits
and were given the Hidden River Cave tour by one of the guides. Those who
wished were permitted by the ACCA to enter and explore Hidden River Cave.
The remainder spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, visiting area tourist
attractions and generally relaxing.
Friday a couple of people returned to Frozen
Niagara to clean up the work area and remove
the tools. The remainder completed the handrail
removal project and formed the typical chain
gang up the stairs and fire tower to remove the
debris staged at Mammoth Dome to Little Bat
Avenue. From there the debris was carried
through Little Bat Avenue, Audubon Avenue and
up and out of the Historic Entrance to a waiting
truck. This completed another years activities.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
16
1996
The eighth annual Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camp was held on August
11 -17, 1996. The official start
was as usual at supper time on
Sunday evening. After the meal
introductions were made and
Bob Ward, the Park Cultural
Resource Specialist, outlined
the projects for this years camp.
Norm Rogers was again the
Field Camp Coordinator.
We started the camp on the same day as the annual Church Revisited program.
This is a recreation of past church services held in the cave. This was held in the
Methodist Church area of the cave starting about 8:15 PM and ending about 9
PM. Many of the Field Camp participants took the opportunity to attend this
inspiring event.
Monday, the project for today began with four people heading to the elevator
entrance with tools while the remainder entered the Carmichael Entrance. All
would meet at Ole Bull's Concert Hall where two Echo River Tour boats (or if you
prefer 4 half boats) had been stored. A prior weekend trip had moved the boats
from near Cascade Hall and our project was to remove them the rest of the way
out of the cave.
We drilled holes in the boats air tanks to drain out any remaining water then
moved them about a quarter mile by dragging, lifting and carrying them to the last
point in the passage where power was available. At this location the boat halves
were cut into three sections with an electric saw then carried out to a staging
area near the elevator. We encountered problems
with the saw on the last half boat and it was left to be
finished when the saw was repaired. By about 3 PM
the cut up sections had been moved to the staging
area and work for today was completed.
Tuesday, today's projects saw six people start the
lint removal project on Broadway while the remainder
headed to Echo River for wood removal. Due to the
success of prior wood removal efforts and the
increased silting of the area the wood removal
project met with little success. Very little wood was
found and removed. After lunch the river rats
proceeded to remove some remaining handrails at
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
17
Echo River and all wood and handrails were removed to an area just outside the
gate at the Historic entrance.
Wednesday, four people went to the Doyle Valley entrance (a 60 foot pit) with
Rick Olsen while the rest went to continue lint removal on Broadway. The Doyle
Valley crew did flowstone cleaning with the assistance of a 2000 gallon pumper
truck from the Cave City Fire Department. This was a real hose job, stringing fire
hose down the pit and hosing off formations.
On Broadway about 1000 feet of passage was cleaned of lint for a distance of 3
feet from each side of the trail. This ended at near the Corkscrew. Following
dinner a trip to Great Onyx Cave was enjoyed by many of the camp participants.
Thursday, the entire crew went to Horse Cave, Ky. to assist the ACCA with
landscaping and wall building at the entrance to Hidden River Cave. We built
about 20 feet of a stone wall along the trail to the cave continuing the project
started by other groups. Rigged off the fence at the street level Larry Bundy
trimmed brush. Others groomed the flower beds at the entrance. This project
was finished about noon and some of the group took the afternoon to explore the
cave while others went shopping or saw other tourist attractions. It was noted
during the morning that cigarette lighters would not function on the sinkhole floor
and it was necessary to go 15 to 20 feet above the floor to get them to light.
Those working in the sinkhole did not have any significant problem with what was
an obvious lowered oxygen level. Those who went on the afternoon exploration
trip did experience some increased shortness of breath and heightened anxiety
levels. It would appear that there was a lack of air circulation in the sink and
cave on this day.
Friday, was a clean up day with a small crew going to the Historic Entrance to
remove tools and material from the lint removal activities and also the river clean
up debris at the entrance (most of which had already been removed by the
maintenance people). The remainder went to the elevator entrance to finish
cutting up the last boat section in El Ghor and removal of all the pieces up the
elevator and onto a waiting trailer. A small crew started trail clean up at Ole
Bull's Concert Hall to remove any traces of the grooves and aluminum skid marks
left on the passage floor from dragging the boats down the passage. Work for
this year was completed about 2 PM.
Saturday, reward trips into Roppel Cave were conducted consisting of an easy 4
hour trip (that wasn't quite as easy as some had anticipated) and a harder 7 hour
trip that included some quite beautiful passage and gypsum formations.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
18
1997
August 10th, 1997 marked the start of the ninth annual Restoration Field Camp at
Mammoth Cave. This year was the beginning of a multi-year project focused on
the Echo River Trail. The Echo River tours were discontinued about five years
ago. While these tours were one of the more popular ones in the cave the cost
of manpower to conduct the tours and to maintain the tour route was no longer
within the funding available to the park. The Echo River trail route floods several
times each year and each flood leaves behind a large amount of silt on the tour
route. Each flood event requires that the trail be restored (silt removed and
bridges repaired) prior to conducting tours along the route again. This requires a
significant amount of manpower and time that could be better spent on other
maintenance activities.
In the five years since maintainence of the tour route has been discontinued
there has been significant deterioration of the bridges and in some areas a large
amount of silt covering some structures. The current project calls for removal of
the bridges and man-made structures along this route. This will remove nonnative material from the cave and restore this section to a more natural state.
The bridges are constructed of creasote impregnated timbers. Over time the
creasote has leached into the soil and water. Removal of this material will
improve the ecosystem for the cave creatures living in the water.
The 1997 camp began on Monday with five people entering the Violet City
entrance to do some minor
trail patching. They were to meet the rest of the group
at the Historic entrance at lunchtime. The remainder
entered the Historic Entrance and proceeded to the
former boat dock on Echo River. At this location a
double set of aluminum stairs led down to the water.
As the stairs were partially buried in silt the first step
was to clear the stairs off so we could dismantle them.
While part of the crew cleared the stairs, another part
started dismantling them with wrenches, chisels and
sledgehammers.
The electrical system was also scheduled for removal.
Power in this area had been turned off and the
maintenance staff had instructed us as to where we
could cut the power cables leading to the river without a negative effect on the
remaining lights. One of the volunteers who was an electrician accomplished this
task easily while others of the group started removal of the waterproof lights and
cables leading from the river.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
19
Work continued with materials removed
from the boat dock area and carried to an
area just before the Sands of the Sahara
area. As this pile grew some people
began moving the material to another
storage area near River Hall.
This
process continued Monday and Tuesday.
Many trips were made back and forth
through the cave carrying pieces of
stairway, electrical cables, waterproof
lights and some wet soggy wood. The
stair and wiring removal was essentially finished by Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday the major task was to remove the materials that had been stored
in River Hall out through Sparks Avenue to Mammoth Dome and from there up
the fire tower and out to the entrance of the cave. When the material had been
moved to Mammoth Dome the entire group formed a chain gang up the stairs to
the base of the fire tower and everything was moved up the stairs. Next another
chain gang was formed up the fire tower and the process was repeated. Finally
everyone made several trips from the top of the fire tower to the entrance stairs
to get all the material to the base of the entrance stairs.
Thursday saw minor cleanup of the stairway removal area and the start of
removal of the first (or last depending on your point of view) bridge.
As
significant silting had occurred in this area, the first task was to find the end of the
bridge. The top of the silt pile was six or more feet above the bridge deck. The
first attempt at moving the silt was jumping from the top of the pile and sliding
down it pushing the silt ahead while sliding. While fun, this was soon abandoned
as non-productive and the old fashioned method of shovels and manpower was
employed to move tons of silt to find the end of the bridge. A small portion of the
bridge was dismantled.
Friday brought the clean-up day where all of
the bridge material from Thursday was
removed to the cave entrance and the
accumulated pile from the weeks activities was
moved up the entrance stairway to park service
truck for removal and disposal. Project tools
were removed from the cave and returned to
the maintenance storage area and another
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camp came
to an end.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
20
1998
1998 marked the 10th annual field camp. Work continued along Echo River Trail
with bridge removal the primary objective for the first two days. John Vargo had
invented and manufactured two tools over the past winter that greatly aided the
removal of the support beams of the bridge. Additional work in the Silliman
Avenue area of the cave was conducted later in the week.
Several of the crew had to leave camp by mid-week due to
prior commitments and the reduced number of people did
create some problems in the removal of materials up the
stairs and firetower at the Ruins of Karnak as well as at the
entrance stairway.
An evening trip to Great Onyx Cave was scheduled during
the week for those who hadn’t seen this cave as well as
those who wanted to see it again. It’s always a nice place to
visit.
Even though short handed, those remaining at camp
accomplished a formidable task in the removal of
bridge materials that had been accumulated so far
this week. There is still plenty of bridge left for future
camps and it would appear that the work is
progressing on schedule.
This years’ camp was a success even though the
manpower was less than desired. All who attended had some fun while working
and many will return next year.
1999
The 11th annual Restoration Field Camp at Mammoth Cave began on Sunday
evening August 8th.
The continuing major project for the field camp is the removal of the wooden
bridges along Echo River Trail in the cave. On Monday we started in to the cave
with about 28 eager participants carrying tools and ready to attack the bridges.
Due to the limited space at the end of the bridge only a few at a time were
actually able to work on dismantling the bridge structure while the rest carried
bridge pieces down the trail to a work area where the decking and beams were
cut into smaller pieces and bagged. The bags were then carried from the work
area to a storage area near River Hall.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
21
While some were dismantling the bridge, others were removing the PVC
waterpipe along side the bridge and still others were removing the old electrical
wiring. In total about 60 feet of bridge was dismantled and quite a bit more of the
PVC pipe and wiring was removed.
The majority of the material was moved to the River Hall
staging area with some left at a high area about halfway
between the end of the bridge and River Hall. The intent
was to insure all of the material was stored above the
flood zone and that most would be accessible to those
working on the weekend camps when the high water
would prevent further dismantling of the bridge.
On Wednesday afternoon two educational trips were
scheduled for the group. The majority went on the easier
trip following the Violet City lantern tour route while about
seven went on a seven and one-half hour loop trip at the elevator entrance to
view a part of the cave no longer shown on tours.
Thursday evening we were treated to an after hours
tour of Diamond Caverns which has recently
changed owners and is now owned by a partnership
of five caver families. They are Mr & Mrs Gary
Berdeau, Mr & Mrs Gordon Smith, Mr & Mrs Stan
Sides, Mr & Mrs Larry McCarty and Mr & Mrs Roger
McClure.
Friday we spent the final day on the Cascade Hall side of the river moving
material stored at Valley Way Side Cut to Ole Bulls’ Concert hall again to move
the material above the high water line so it could be removed on the weekend
camps when the water was up.
Friday evening the NPS held a cookout at Maple
Springs for us and provided a great meal which
everyone appreciated.
It was a week of hard work but it felt good to help in the
restoration of a part of the longest cave in the world.
There was lots of fun and fellowship and a good time
was had by all.
The October weekend trip removed all of the material
that was staged by the summer field camp participants.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
22
2000
Sunday August 5th, 2000 was the start of the 12th annual Mammoth Cave
Restoration Field camp. The first official
event was supper on Sunday evening
followed by the Camp Director, Norm
Rogers, providing a welcome and outline
of the project schedule for the coming
week. Next John Fry, the NPS project
administrator, gave us a welcome from
the park service and covered the safety
rules we were to observe during the
project. Finally John Vargo explained the
history and use of the Vargo tools used to
bridge pilings. We had a record
attendance with 43 people on hand for the start of this years’ camp.
The major objective of this year’s camp is a continuation of work started two
years ago and is a part of the Mammoth Cave Historic Entrance Ecotone project.
The removal of the Bridge to Echo River is being done for two reasons. The first
is an attempt to restore the area to a condition approximating its original
condition before modification by man. The second reason, and the more
significant one, is to remove the bridge materials, which consist primarily of
creosote treated timbers, from the water. The creosote is not a normal part of
the cave eco-system and undoubtedly is causing some damage to the cave
inhabitants. It is expected that after the project is finished the cave environment
will be much better for tits aquatic inhabitants.
Monday we entered via the Historic Entrance about 9AM. The majority of the
people headed to the end of the bridge to see what it looked like. We stationed
one group at Vanderbilt Hall where power was available. This area contained
some posts that needed to be cut down to fit in the bags for removal. An electric
chainsaw was used here to cut the posts. The Nelson family spent the majority of
their time here cutting, bagging and stacking wood . The creosote fumes were
quite strong from the freshly cut wood.
Two people were assigned as a repair crew to attempt to
patch the holes in the existing bridge deck with pieces of
plywood. As the bridge was another year older, there
were several new areas that had been broken through
since the last repair attempt. Hopefully the repairs will last
until the repaired areas are removed as we work our way
back from the river removing the bridge.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
23
Another area was setup on a sandbank not too far from the bridge end where the
bridge timbers could be sawed into manageable pieces. In this location we were
using battery powered Sawsall’s since the power to this area had been shut off
when we began the removal project two years ago.
We had three people in wet suits in the water that were
dismantling the bridge piece by piece. An additional 4
people were at the bridge end and/or on the bank
beside the bridge assisting with the removal process.
An additional crew was removing lighting wire, handrail
and PVC water pipe from the bridge and along the bank
beside the bridge.
All remaining personnel were hauling the removed
material from the cutting station to the rise at Lake
Lethe or from the rise at Lake Lethe to the storage and
cutting area at Vanderbilt hall.
At the end of the first day approximately 37 feet of bridge had been dismantled.
Day two started on Tuesday with a group photo at the Historic Entrance and then
proceeded much as it had on Monday. Productivity was enhanced with
everybody now knowing to do and how to do it. We removed an additional 24
feet of bridge by lunchtime. It was then that we discovered that we had run out of
haul bags. This put a major crimp in the project design. While we were out of the
cave for lunch,
Norm and John discussed the options and a plan was
formulated.
The original plan was to leave the bags in the cave for the weekend trips to haul
out. However, since we had six hundred bags of material in the cave on one side
or the other of the river and no more bags available it was decided that a haul out
was necessary. Step one was to move all accumulated material from the rise at
Lake Lethe to Vanderbilt hall. Next all of the bagged material was moved to the
steps at the base of the fire tower.
A chaingang was formed up the steps from
Mammoth Dome to the bottom of the firetower
and the bags were moved up the steps. The area
normally used to stack the bags became full and
additional areas were used. This indicates that
we now had more bags the bottom of the firetower
than ever before.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
24
We had to clear the way for a tour that arrived when almost all of the bags had
been moved up. After the tour cleared the firetower another chaingang was
formed up the firetower and we started moving bags again. We quit for the day
at 4:30 with about two thirds of the bags moved up to Little Bat Avenue.
Wednesday’s project was to get the material out of the cave. We started again on
the firetower moving the remaining bags up to Little Bat Avenue. We had
brought in four wheelbarrows to assist in moving the bags from Little Bat Avenue
to the Historic Entrance stairs. The bags were all at the stairs by lunchtime. It
was decided not to move them up the stairs until about 2:30 to minimize
interference with the Discovery tour. Additionally the truck to remove the bags
would not be available until 3:30. After lunch the group returned to Vanderbilt
hall to remove the PVC pipe as some other materials that still remained there.
At around 2:30 we formed another chaingang up the entrance stairs and moved
all the bags to the surface. John Fry then left and returned with the truck about
3:30. The truck was loaded, driven to the Boneyard, emptied, returned, loaded,
emptied, returned, loaded and emptied a third time before the day ended.
A free private tour of Diamond Caverns was scheduled for 5PM and many of the
field camp participants attended this tour. This is a well-decorated cave and all
that attended the trip were pleased to see such a nice commercial cave.
Thursday was planned as a recreational caving day. Joe Meiman and Chuck
DeCroix guided twelve people on a Colossal – Bedquilt through trip. The
majority of the remaining people accompanied John Fry on a trip in the
Carmichael Entrance and out the Frozen Niagara entrance following the half-day
tour route. Several people took advantage of Dave Fosters’ offer for a free tour
of Hidden River Cave and the ACCA museum.
Friday was to be a half-day working on the bridge
followed by a clean up and tool removal after lunch.
Well, it just didn’t happen as planned. The river was
up.
It must have rained some where upstream from
Mammoth because the Green River rose about eight
feet overnight. We all went into the cave to see if we
could get to the work area. The bottom steps to the
first, stainless steel, bridge were under water. The river
gauge at this location indicated 11.5 feet. The gauge at
Green River Ferry had been 4.1 feet on Tuesday. The
water was too high to safely return to the work area and
all of the tools and equipment left there were probably
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
25
underwater. They would be abandoned until the river went down.
So with almost a day left and 40+ cavers looking for work we headed to the
Elevator Entrance to work on the other side if Echo River. Material had been
moved from Cascade Hall to Ole’ Bulls Concert Hall on the April weekend trip.
We were to move these bags from Ole’ Bull about halfway out of the cave to an
area now called Pam’s Paradise where Pam Saberton had broken her leg on the
April trip. This was accomplished by early afternoon and work for this years’ field
camp came to an end.
Friday evening we enjoyed a cookout hosted by the NPS
followed by the Monroe Brothers annual awards ceremony.
Sack Rat of the Year was awarded to Roy “If that’s your real
name” VanHooser, the Sack Pack award was given to the
Nelson Family, a special Nancy Bag award was given to
Nancy Friend and the Lifetime Achievement Award was
given to Larry Reece. This concluded this years Field Camp.
On Saturday trips had been arraigned for caves outside of
the park for those who wanted more caving on the way
home. Several planned to visit either Indian Cave or Roppel Cave.
The week after camp when the water had gone down some, Joe Meiman and
John Fry went to the work area to retrieve the tools. The following is Johns’
account of this event. “At first glance it was a pretty bad scene. Both saws and
both lanterns had been submerged, most of the tools were soaked and in the
early stages of rust, and the drill was nowhere to be found. Fortunately 5 of 6
saw batteries had escaped to higher ground. Looked downstream toward Sands
of the Sahara and saw a white case floating on the foam... the first-aid kit.
Donned the wetsuit to go retrieve it and found a various assortment of plywood,
grass sacks, garbage bags, a full roll of duct tape (in addition to the thousand
and one uses it also apparently floats!), and the closed drill case with a dry drill
inside. Brought all the critical equipment out of the cave immediately, hosed 'em
down, cleaned em up, dried everything out, and charged the various batteries.
Much to my amazement the saws and lanterns are working fine... at least for the
time being. The only loss seems to be one battery which now sloshes like a can
of Chicken and Stars soup. In the end, water was probably only 12-18 inches
above the level of Chop Shop #1. Joe said he checked and the "flood" was not
attributable to anything the Corps did up at Green River Dam. Just a quick, heavy
rainfall upstream.”
What will next year bring? Well, several hundred feet of bridge still needs to be
removed so you can be sure we’ll be back if the river isn’t up. The smell of
creosote lingers in my mind as a reminder that what we have done and will do
has and will improve the habitat of those who dwell in eternal darkness along
Echo River Trail. I hope to see you all at Mammoth Cave next year.
.
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
26
One hundred seventy six participants to date have come from 23 states with the
majority coming from the mid-western states. Seventy five have attended more
than once. We have also had participants from Canada, England, Gibraltar, the
Netherlands and Hungary. A participants list follows:
Participants list:
April Aills, Indiana, 95
Lana Aills, Indiana, 95
William Aills, Indiana, 94, 95
Christie Allen, California, Tennessee, 90, 91
Ray Alley, California, 89
Julie Angel, Illinois, 95, 96, 97, 98, 00
Tim Barker, England, 89
Gerry Barsky, Pennsylvania?, 92
Steve Bayne, Kentucky, 00
Mark Belding, Illinois, 95, 96
Brent Bennett, Illinois, 00
Nick Bennett, Illinois, 00
Christopher Bell, Illinois, 95
Richard Bell, Illinois, 95, 97
Brett Bennett, Illinois, 98
John Benton, Indiana, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 00
Nick Benton, Indiana, 97
Patty Binegar, Illinois, 91, 93, 94
Lee Blazek, Pennsylvania, 91, 92, 94
Harry Brandle, New York, 92
Jason Brandle, New York, 92
Brandy Braye, Illinois, 94, 95, 96, 97
Brian Braye, Illinois, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98
Cheryl Braye, Illinois, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98
Tom Brucker, Tennessee, 90
Eric Buckelew, Alabama, 99,00
Larry Bundy, Indiana, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Linda Bundy, Indiana, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Jos Burgers, Netherlands, 98
Liz Burkhardt, Pennsylvania, 93
Amanda Carroll, Illinois, 96
Bonnie Curnock, Missouri, 99,00
Chuck DeCroix, NPS, 00
Mark Deebel, Indiana, 93, 94
Ken Dejong, Michigan, 00
Joe Depp, North Carolina, 00
Sophie DeMaio, SCA, 00
Michael Domansky, Florida, 98
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
27
Karen Dennis, California, 89
Jonatahan Downes, Gibraltar, 89
Melody (Durbin)Dehart, Illinois, 90, 92
Dan Eldridge, SCA, 99
Shadi Farbin, California, 90
Charles Fox, Indiana, 00
Alan Frager, Kentucky, 93
Tanya Fraser, Illinois, 96
David Frazier, Kentucky, 91
Arielle Freeman, SCA, 00
Nancy Friend, California, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
TJ Friend, California, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
Tom Friend, California, 00
Shane Fryer, Kentucky, 99
John Fry, NPS - MACA, 94, 97, 99, 00
Brenda Gaynor, NPS, 00
Harold Geick, Illinois, 94
Jonette Gentry, Kentucky, 90, 91, 92, 93
Steve Gentry, Kentucky, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94
Jeff Grant, Illinois, 91, 94
Ernie Grimes, Texas, 90
Donald Gyula, New Jersey, 99, 00
Donald Gyula Jr., New Jersey, 99, 00
Jason Haas, Illinois, 97
Charlie Hanion, NPS, 99
Frank Herceg, Pennsylvania, 98
Ed Hertel, Ohio, 98, 99
David Hibbard, Michigan, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95
Penny Hibbard, Michigan, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95
Borbala Hidvegi, Hungary, 00
Connie Hillebrand, Indiana, 99, 00
Ken Janice, Illinois, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 99, 00
Jim Jacobs, Illinois, 93, 94, 95
Matthew Hussong, California, 90
Michelle Karle, NPS, 99
David Kohuth, Pennsylvania, 98
Chad Kellem, Illinois, 96
Spencer Kelley, Illinois, 92
Bobbie Kuykendal, Indiana, 99
Jerie Laishley, West Virginia, 98, 99, 00
Mike Lawrence, Kentucky, 89, 90
Angela LeClerk, Indiana, 94
David LeClerk, Indiana, 94, 95
Teresa Leibfreid, NPS, 99
Mike Lorance, Indiana, 91, 95
Jamie Lutes, Illinois, 96
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
28
Urs Mader, Oregon, 89
John Marquart, Illinois, 93, 95
Larry Matiz, Ohio, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
Virginia McDaniel, NPS, 99
Bill McFarden, Illinois, 00
Ginger McPhee, California, 89
Jonathan McPhee, California, 89
Erik Meitner, Wisconsin, 91, 92
Joe Meiman, NPS, 93, 99, 00
Ben Miller, Missouri, 00
Debbie Miller, Ohio, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Phyllis Morell, Virginia, 90, 99, 00
David Mosley, California, 89, 90, 91
Mike Murphy, Canada, 90
Ursula, Murphy, Canada, 90
Chris Nack, Indiana, 92
Richard Nelson, Kentucky, 00
Kathy Nelson, Kentucky, 00
Kim Nelson, Kentucky, 00
Chris Nelson, Kentucky, 00
Jim Nickell, Indiana, 90, 91, 92, 93
Rick Olsen, NPS-MACA, 94, 96, 98, 99
Larry Ostrander, Virginia, 90, 99, 00
Sonja Ostrander, Virginia, 90, 99, 00
David Irving, California, 89
Nathan Pelosi, Illinois, 95, 96
Steven Peterson, Michigan, 98, 99
Steve Petruniak, Wisconsin, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 98, 99, 00
Evelyn Phillips, Illinois, 90, 91, 92
Gordon Phillips, Illinois, 90, 91
Greg Phillips, Illinois, 96, 97, 98, 99
Karen Potter, Massachusetts, 91
Larry Reece, Indiana, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
Matt Reece, Indiana, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 00
Chris Redd, Illinois, 94
Beth Reinke, Illinois, 95, 96, 97
Todd Richards, Ohio, 00
R.A. Richardson, England, 89
Granger Ridout, Kentucky, 96
Carole Rogers, Illinois, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95
Christine Dinesen Rogers, Illinois, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
Eric Rogers, Illinois, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 00
Jared Rogers, Illinois, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Joshua Rogers, Illinois, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94
Laura Rogers, Illinois, 90, 91, 00
Norm Rogers, Illinois, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
29
Kurt Rothenberger, Pennsylvania, 93
Jerry Saberton, Michigan, 93
Pam Saberton, Missouri, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 98, 99
Irene Saxer, New York, 98
Jo Schaper, Missouri, 91
Joel Shoemaker, Iowa, 94, 95, 96, 97
Jonathan Shoemaker, Iowa, 94, 95, 96
David Sholar, Ohio, 91
Beverly Schwartz, Massachusetts, 90, 91
Jack Sheldon, England, 89
Laurie Sheldon, England, 89
Craig Smilovitz, Massachusetts, 90
Cresant Smith, Kentucky, 90, 93, 94
Serena Smith, Indiana, 90
Teresa Smith, NPS, 99
Mary Stanton, Michigan, 00
Jason Stanton, Michigan, 00
Joanne Staley, Arizona, 89
Chris Straley, Arizona, 89
Lara Storm, Illinois, 95, 96, 97, 98
Michael Strailey, Pennsylvania, 89
Carl Tanner, Indiana, 94
Ed Throckmorton, Indiana, 90, 91
Sandy Trembley, Missouri, 89, 92
Roy Van Hoozer, Kentucky, 99,00
Siska Van Soolen, Illinois, 94
Dwight Vargo, 00
Grace Vargo, Michigan, 97
John Vargo, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00
Jonelle Vargo, Michigan, Oregon, 95, 97, 00
Joy Vargo, Illinois, Michigan, 91, 92, 97
Ruth Vargo, Michigan, 93, 97
Joseph Vaughn, Florida, 98, 99
Elizabet Vaughn, Florida, 98, 99
Joseph Vaughn, Florida, 98, 99
Amanda Vaughn, Florida, 98, 99
Bob Ward, NPS-MACA, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97
Wally Wallace, England, 89
Kim (Hurley) Webb, Indiana, 91, 93
Mark Webb, Indiana, 90, 91, 93, 96
Barbie Wheeler, NPS, 00
Clay Whitaker, Indiana, 91
Jamie Winner, Indiana, 00
Ed Wooten, New Mexico, 00
Martin Wykes, England, 89
Liz Zenker, SCA, 00
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
30
Alabama 1, Arizona 2, California 12, Florida, 5 Indiana 25, Illinois 41, Iowa 2,
Kentucky 13, Massachusetts 3, Michigan 12, Missouri 5, New Jersey 2, New
Mexico 1, New York 3, North Carolina 1, Ohio 5, Oregon 3, Pennsylvania 7,
Tennessee 2, Texas 1, Virginia 3, West Virginia 1, Wisconsin 2, outside the US
11.
Rev 9/00
Mammoth Cave Restoration Field Camps 1989 - 2000
31