Once again the TriTrogs represented at Grand Caverns Annual
Spring Restoration Camp, with participation from Emily, Elise, Kim, Rachel,
Tanya, Zeke, and me. The trip started with an unexpected detour toward
Lexington to pick up Tanya after her car broke down.
On Saturday morning I led a small group with buckets of
gravel back to the Oyster Shells at the back of the tourist trail. Puddles had
been forming on the tourist trail, and the commercial trail was getting
slippery. We immediately discovered that instead of gravel, we really needed
muscle and tools instead. A thin veneer of flowstone was forming atop last
year’s gravel. Using a weird assortment of tools, we sledged, picked, and
pulled our way back to the gravel floor. We gradually assembled more tools and
workers to create very walkable trails.
Kim and Emily hauled lumber up to Fountain Cave, Rachel and
Elise scrubbed algae before joining the floor crew, Tanya worked with the
flowers, Emily climbed on the roof, and Zeke spent the day installing the first
phone lines ever within the cave.
Good dinner and then a trip to Madison Saltpeter Cave (named
for the President’s uncle). Thick calcite rafts floated in one of the pools,
and Rachel found a deep hole behind one of the formations. Except for Tanya,
the TriTrogs all headed home Saturday evening.
