{"id":422,"date":"2022-08-29T22:15:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T03:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/?page_id=422"},"modified":"2022-08-29T22:15:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T03:15:31","slug":"trip-report-2002-aug-03","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/exploration\/exploration-posts\/pastevents\/trip-report-2002-aug-03\/","title":{"rendered":"Trip Report 2002-Aug-03"},"content":{"rendered":"

Progress Report \u2013 Goodenough Springs August 3, 2002<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday, August 3, 2002 a dive team consisting of Chuck Noe, Mike Gault, and Bill Graham made two dives at Goodenough Springs realizing our long-time goal of passing the major restriction in the Fire Hydrant Tunnel. A permanent knotted pull line was installed to approximately forty (40) feet beyond the restriction. On a second dive this permanent guideline was extended another sixty (60) feet for a total post-restriction linear penetration of approximately one hundred (100) feet. A maximum depth of two-hundred-seven (207) ffw was attained on the second dive.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first dive began with Mike and I reaching the restriction and finding it once again choked with a significant mound of rounded gravel and rocks. We attached a jon-line to the previously installed ceiling piton and Mike began clearing gravel while I waited in the alcove above him. After Mike cleared the debris from the front of the landscape-timber\/foothold I moved into place and took my turn at gravel removal. Once I felt that there was sufficient room to make a \u201cpush\u201d I wedged myself into the hole and began wriggling. Dragging a shop-hammer and the knotted line, I wasn\u2019t making quick progress, but Mike reported later that my movement was steadily forward. Before long I was through the hole and into a short smooth tunnel that was just wide enough to accommodate the sidemounted cylinders. <\/span><\/p>\n

My continual search for a crack large enough for a piton replacement yielded none. Then I found a small crack in the floor and hammered a piton into it. The piton did not penetrate far enough to be secure so I removed it and began looking for a better placement. I pulled the knotted line further into the cave and turned to the right finding another larger crack overhead. I installed a piton into this crack and then attached the pull-line with a stainless-steel carabiner. At this point my dwindling gas supply and apprehension of exiting the restriction made a departure seem prudent. I followed the pull-line back to the restriction where Mike was diligently waiting with his light as requested. That light was a welcome sight. Driven by the high flow I ducked my head and wedged into the restriction. A few quick swipes of my arms cleared sufficient gravel from my shoulder area to allow my egress. The maximum depth on this dive was one-hundred-sixty-five (165) ffw.<\/span><\/p>\n

My suspicions were confirmed on the second dive when the cave began a steep descent just past the restriction. The most notable feature was a fairly wide vertical fissure that continued downward at a steep angle. The walls were slab-like with no obvious tie-offs and the floor held numerous broken rocks where the slope was shallow enough to prevent their tumbling downhill. A strong upflowing current was overcome by my negative buoyancy and pull technique. I was breathing a 20\/25\/55 trimix with a MOD of two-hundred-thirty-one (231) feet and, with 55% nitrogen, the onset of narcosis struck me at about one-hundred-ninety (190) feet. I began immediately looking for a tie-off for my primary line but found none. Then I looked at the rocky floor below me and spotted a <\/span>bowling-ball sized rock which became my terminal tie-off. After stowing my reel I attached a \u201cMike Gault\u201d line arrow to the line. My depth was two-hundred-seven (207) ffw. Curious about what lie beyond this point I moved a few feet to the right and hovered over the continuing crevasse, shining my light into the void. A rocky floor started about twenty feet below, then continued down another twenty feet further before disappearing under a high ledge. The estimated depth of this room is two-hundred-fifty feet. The cave appeared to continue deeper and deeper at a very steep angle. Before reaching the restriction on my exit, another piton was placed in the wall and the line passed through it for redundancy. Again Mike was waiting at the restriction with his light while I wiggled through once again. On both exits I accidentally turned off my primary light and had to wait a moment to relight it (HID).<\/span><\/p>\n

While I was having all this fun Bill had been finalizing the mapping data and replacing damaged carabiners. He was near the restriction with Mike each time I exited, ready to assist Mike and me if needed. Both Mike and Bill were invaluable elements of this excursion.<\/span>
\nDeco gave us the opportunity to place a permanent sub-surface buoy on the anchor chain with a surface line above it. Mike and Bill cleaned and inspected the permanent buoy as well, finding it in good shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

And certainly not enough can be said about every single person\u2019s contribution to our three-year-old project. Certainly, the efforts of Robert Laird, Rick Aurich, Jonathan Gol, Daniel Lloyd, and David French were just as vital in achieving this goal. And please tell me I haven\u2019t left anybody out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now realize that we have turned a corner in this project. Ongoing efforts will require a significant increase in equipment and support. If fact, on my next Goodenough dive I would like to extend the penetration to a depth of three hundred (300) feet or more if possible. This will require the use of a travel bottle (to allow starting with full sidemounts at the restriction), plus additional deco bottles (120\u2019, 70\u2019, & 20\u2019). We are quickly reaching the point where the Swamp Yacht will be unable to support a significantly larger operation. Thankfully I am already receiving offers for things such as a pontoon boat from which to stage the dives. I am also hopeful that we can start efforts to permanently move gravel away from the restriction so that others may see beyond the restriction. I would encourage those interested to start gaining sidemount experience so that they may participate more fully in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks again to everyone for helping to make this dream of mine a reality. We have just uncovered the most significant underwater cave in the state of Texas. And more challenges lie ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chuck<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Progress Report \u2013 Goodenough Springs August 3, 2002 On Saturday, August 3, 2002 a dive team consisting of Chuck Noe, Mike Gault, and Bill Graham made two dives at Goodenough Springs realizing our long-time goal of passing the major restriction in the Fire Hydrant Tunnel. A permanent knotted pull line was installed to approximately forty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":215,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"protect_children":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-422","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/422\/revisions\/777"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodenoughsprings.org\/gsep-wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}