Participants:

Scottland: Alan Blevins, Jackie Prince, Amy Nordfelt, Travis and Amanda Scott, Shannon Summers

Schroeder Bat cave: All of the above plus, Alan Cobb, Mark Gee, Jim Kennedy, Julia Germany, Kurt Menking

Devil’s Sinkhole: All of the above plus, Meg Goodman, George Kegley, Mike Knezek, Randy Rosales

Part I

by Alan Blevins

Friday afternoon, everyone except for the Scotts met in the usual place behind the Zachary Engineering building. Without much delay, we packed up the cars and headed out. Shannon was a little worried about the health of his truck, as its organs had been spread across his driveway not a week earlier, but we figured (correctly) that it would be fine.

After getting past Caldwell, it was smooth sailing, until I took the wrong road into Austin and we hit traffic on IH-35 (Southbound traffic jam late on a Friday night?? Northbound, maybe, but that’s the first problem I’ve had going southbound after 8pm). Anyhow, Travis caught up to us just outside of Austin, choosing to identify himself by getting behind us and turning on his brighter-than-the-glowing-eye-of-God floodlights. I then identified myself with the only word of sign language I know.

There was a brief meal at a Dairy Queen, and then a leisurely drive out to Scottland. The wind was fierce and a bit cold, so we took refuge in the hunting cabin with drinks and lively conversation. Anticipating a long day, we went to bed at a semi-respectable hour.

Saturday we all slept in until at least 9:30, a rarity on ASS trips. We got up, I was informed that I snore a lot, Shannon (being the gentleman that he is) made pancakes for everyone but himself (he had an Atkins omelet), and Travis worked on his spiffy old Jeep. Amanda related to us her dismay about forgetting some items, and jokes were made. Of course, it didn’t take long to break out the .22 and the slingshot, and many baby aluminum cans were once again without their fathers. Travis took Amanda and I on a fun little Jeep ride to check the deer feeders, all of which were empty. The Jeep was unanimously declared awesome by all present. Future plans for returning when it warms up were discussed, as were plans to bring out inflatable things and floating coolers for a vacation in the stock tank.

Unfortunately, it didn’t clear up Saturday, and stayed windy and drizzly and grey all day long. Mid-afternoon, we took a trip out to a cave on the adjacent property and poked around a bit. It is a nice cave that was blowing a fair amount of air, although on last exploration, no leads were found. The entrance is a very nice hole in the ground, which drops down maybe five feet or so, with another 3 foot drop not far below that. The immediate room is reasonably large, tall enough to stand in some places, and branches off in several directions. We mostly stayed in the main room, as we were not geared for serious caving. After about half an hour, we headed back.

Upon arrival at the hunting cabin, we found that Mark Gee and Kurt Menking had arrived. They showed us a very nice map of “Three Whirlpools Cave”, a long water cave in some undisclosed location. The art of surveying was discussed, among other things. Dinner was started early due to two huge racks of ribs that I’ve been enthusiastic about since I purchased them a week before. Upon cooking, we found out why they were only $6.12 – they were mostly fat and bone. However, they still came out very well, or so it seemed to me after a drink or five. Dinner was a feast of the magnitude that I have come to expect from these Scottland trips, and I sure hope everyone was enjoying their food, because I was enjoying mine so much I didn’t deem it necessary to ask.

Sometime between the cooking and eating of the feast, Jim Kennedy and Julia Germany arrived and set up camp. After the feast, we all sat around and chewed the proverbial fat, some of us more involved in conversation than others. It was still too windy to start a campfire, but inside of the tarp we nailed up, it was warm and pleasant. Eventually everyone went to bed, although I’m not too sure of the specific goings-on for most of the night for one reason or another.

Sunday morning we took off at a reasonable time and headed to Schroeder Bat Cave. After a brief stop at the delightful Garvin store (dried sausage, mmmmmm), we arrived at the cave in question. Allan Cobb arrived shortly thereafter, a fine addition to our caving troupe, if I may say so myself. Several climbing implements had been lowered by locals to assist in climbing down the first 12 foot drop. Jim led the way and, being the gentleman that he is, drilled for us some wonderful bolts to tie in to. This was a great improvement from tying off to an X-terra, although not nearly as commercially appealing. Two survey teams were immediately dispatched, and began ravenously mapping the cave.

Schroeder Bat cave is a larger cave that starts with two small drops (17 feet or so each) followed by a 30 foot drop which ends in a large open room with several large piles of guano. There is a room immediately below the drop with a singular pile of guano and a ceiling high enough to stand in most places. There is also another room across from the drop which is carpeted with guano, and has a few nice, large formations. At the back of this room a lead was discovered, but not push to the end.

The surveyors made quick work of the cave, and were done in a matter of hours, a speedy accomplishment given the size of the cave. There was a bit of a wait as several ASS members learned / relearned how to use vertical gear, but there was no rush. Around 4pm or so, all of the ASS took off for College Station, except for Travis Scott, who had the adventure that follows.

Part II

by Travis Scott

Cut to Travis Scott saying his good byes to Amanda and the rest of the Aggies as everyone cleaned and packed up for the long, late drive back to College Station from Schroeder Bat Cave.

I turn around only to see Allan etching into the mud on my Xterra’s back window “I WISH MY WIFE WAS THIS DIRTY”. We all joked because just a few minutes earlier, she was that dirty, and it wasn’t dirt either, it was guano! The rest of the cavers trickled out of the cave, de-rigged and cleaned up. After destroying the makeshift ladder that the local kids have been using to drop into the cave and stashing the remains aside, we headed back to Scottland for dinner.

Since Amanda was gone, Allan played substitute wife and did the cooking for me!! We ate and played computer nerds looking at digital photos on the laptops and thinking of ways to be even more nerdy.

The rest of us didn’t stick around at Scottland on a Sunday night for nothing, we had big plans the next day and Scottland was a convenient place to stay the night. Scottland (the hundred acres owned by my father and uncle, the Scotts) is in the panhandle of Edwards County. From here it is only a short drive to the elusive Devil’s Sinkhole, and that was the scene of our big adventure for the next day.

Jim Kennedy and Meg Goodman had been working with TPWD to get a trip into the cave to install data loggers in the bat roosting areas, verify rumors of Eastern Pipistrelle bats, and to assess the historical trash in the cave. The day had finally come.

For those that don’t know, Devil’s Sinkhole is a huge chamber that collapsed when the water table lowered creating a 310’ deep cave with a 140’ drop onto the top of a large breakdown mountain through a vertical tube about 100’ across. It is a very unique cave for Texas to say the least.

Monday morning we cleaned up Scottland and headed out to meet the TPWD folks in Rocksprings. By noon we were at the entrance of the cave. Quite an impressive hole! It was really neat to watch the swallows circle above the entrance, then quickly dive straight down into the hole. We immediately began rigging to the newly built viewing platform overlooking the deep pit. This rig point provided a free rappel all the way down, and we were able to avoid negotiating the undercut lip. Kurt went down first, and I followed second. Then Julia, Meg, Mike Knezek and Allan followed. George Kegley and Randy Rosales stayed above ground to work on various surface projects including documenting the numerous historical graffiti.

Once down and off rope, duties were delegated. Kurt and I were chosen to help Jim and Meg with the placement of the data loggers. I was chosen to take photos of the happenings as I had a new spiffy camera. Off we went, descending the steep slippery breakdown mountain. It was tough going as you couldn’t help but look around in awe, it really made foot placement difficult.

We arrived underneath one of the main bat roosts and the work began. I had read that the guano is so thick that it bridges and covers the spaces between the large breakdown blocks and that it was possible to fall into one of these crevices and be head deep in a guano filled hole. It didn’t take long for a few of us to find this out. I think within just a few minutes, a few of us had found waist deep crevices. Nothing like walking carefully along and suddenly finding yourself half swallowed by a guano hole that could have been three times as deep as you are tall!

Meg and Jim placed a data logger as Kurt and I helped. We took many working photos and finished up with the data logger. Meg wanted to get photos of the bat roost on the ceiling, so we tried to light it up with flashbulbs and electronic flashes to no avail; the ceiling was just too high!

Then we dropped even deeper to one of the three beautiful green lakes to check on reports of Eastern Pipistrelle bats inhabiting the cave. We must have counted well over 50 bats before deciding that there was a healthy population. Our attention was then rerouted to the other side of the cave to place another data logger at the other main bat roost.

From this side of the cave one can get a perspective of just how huge this underground chasm really is. It is a good vantage point for the entire cave and luckily, it is completely illuminated by daylight. After the necessary oohhs and aahhs and a few photos, another data logger was placed, photos taken of the work, and we quickly dropped down again to see the North Lake. The water in the North Lake is so clear that unless someone else points it out and lights it up, you would walk right into the crystal clear water! This part of the cave is very decorated and still has the remains of an old diving platform.

After taking more photos, Kurt and I headed for the top as it was getting late, and we had to drive home that night. On the way out, the sun was getting low and created some awesome mood lighting for the ascent out of the cave. About halfway up, I noticed an owl sitting in a crevice silently watching all the commotion. Once reaching the top, climbing back over the railing (and the “do not cross” sign), I quickly began packing-up, downloading photos, helping pull out gear and getting ready for a long drive. We were all out and on the road by dark.

All in all, it was a very successful trip, all of the trip goals were accomplished, and everyone had a great time. Devil’s Sinkhole is a unique cave. Hopefully, other Texas cavers will soon be able to enjoy this underground jewel.