NSS-CDS March Social

[billyf]

The CDS will be sponsoring a Social / Work Day at Cathedral on Saturday March 29

Directions:
Cathedral is located in Falmouth, FL
I-10 at HYW-90
Take HYW-90 West for 2.8 miles turn Left (South) on to Newburn Rd (185th Rd)
Cathedral is on the right side ½ mile after the turn on the corner of Newburn Rd and Ball Rd(52nd St)

http://www.nsscds.com/

Sheck Exley donated approximately four acres containing Cathedral Sink to the National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section. The property is the furthest upstream of 18 known entrances into the Falmouth system that eventually empties into the Suwannee River at Ellaville Spring within the Suwannee River State Park. The system was explored and mapped by Sheck Exley, Mary Ellen Eckhoff, Paul DeLoach, Dave Fisk, L. Hall, John Harper, Lewis Holtzendorff, Randy Hylton, Bill Main, Clark Pitcairn, Wes Skiles, Bill Stone, Dale Sweet, John Zumrick and Court Smith, and contains over 41,020 feet of passage. On December 16, 1990, Sheck established what was then a record penetration of 10,939 feet on a multi-stage dive lasting nearly 12 hours, including decompression. (Upstream exploration was extended to over 17,000 feet in 2004.)

When exploration first began in Falmouth-Cathedral System, the visibility in Cathedral was often 100 feet or more. Since then, changes in the aquifer have reduced visibility to only a few feet most of the year. Occasionally, conditions allow the visibility to improve to 40 feet or so. Because of this, and the depths involved, Cathedral is considered an advanced cave dive with depths to 200+ feet and the access policy is written with this in mind.

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/files/9/4/9/cathedral_workday.bmp

[rlc5925]

What time? just show up? what to bring?
Thanks, Dick

[billyf]

The work crew plans on starting at 9am
There will be wood working, pouring concrete and general site maintenance.
There is a flyer on the CDS home page
www.nsscds.com

[rlc5925]

Thanks

[Line Squirrel]

Sounds like a worthwhile day to me. Everything will still be flooded, hopefully we can get a lot of people out there.

I'm only guessing but I imagine there will be everything from picking up litter and weed-whipping to construction so even the kids could help?

[ajimmythekid]

Count us in (Jim & Bobbi)
What costruction equipment is needed?

[Bill Oigarden]

I posted some photos of the first workday almost a 1.5 years ago. We have come a long way since.

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7823&catid=member&imageuser=163
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7824&catid=member&imageuser=163
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7825&catid=member&imageuser=163
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7826&catid=member&imageuser=163

The types of tools we could use depends on what area you are interested in helping with; decking/stairs, concrete or general site cleanup. We also need a couple of generators.

Woodwork - Todd will head this area up. Tools needed include cordless drills with extra batteries to drive deck screws, hammers, and skill saws.
Concrete - Gene and Bill will head up this area. I will talk to Gene this week and find out what we still need.
General Site Cleanup - Kelly will head up this area. I believe we will need rakes, shoves, weedwackers, chainsaws, etc.

Thanks in advance for everyone who is willing to come out and help.

[Line Squirrel]

I've got a generator, I just ran it today for an hour to make sure I could get it started...couple pulls and she fired right up.

It's not a real big one, 4500watts [5500 peak] but I can bring it.

[Bill Oigarden]

Sounds good on the generator Mike. Gene is bringing an electric cement mixer. Sure beats mixing the concrete by hand.

[traveler]

As Bill mentioned, we've made a lot of progress. Here's a bunch of cruddy cell phone pics I took at the end of today's workday:

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7830
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7831
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7832
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7833
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7834
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7835
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7836
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7837
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7838
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7839
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7840
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7841
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7842
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7843
http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7844

Unfortunately, the water is way up now. Unless it goes down a few feet by the 29th, the concrete plans will need to be limited. FWIW, the system is strongly reversed with dark tannic water. There's a vortex over what would ordinarily be the upstream side of Falmouth.

There's a lot of trees down at Cathedral that should be removed, plus a number of dead trees that should be cut down and removed before they fall on the walkway or in the sink. I'd encourage people to bring chainsaws on the 29th, and hopefully we can make a big dent in this.

Bill's list of tools should cover most of what we need for wrapping up the platforms. Also, the screws that will secure the stair treads need a hex driver.

BTW, thanks to those who came out to work the last two work days...

2/23/08:
AJ Gonzales
Bill Oigarden
Bryce Thompson
Cory Bell
Curtis Baldwin
Doug Mudry
Todd Leonard

3/8/08:
Bob Schulte
Curtis Baldwin
Todd Leonard

Thanks, and see you on the 29th...

- Todd

[rlc5925]

I'll be there, generator, power tools, chainsaw, etc..
look forward to it.
Dick

[Line Squirrel]

As Bill mentioned, we've made a lot of progress. Here's a bunch of cruddy cell phone pics I took...

WOW! There has been a lot of progress made since the last time I walked back there.


Thanks to all who have been working on this.

I'll be there on the 29th

[BgDadddy]

Count me in with a chainsaw and a 9,000w generator.

It will be nice to finally meet some more of you guys.


Rick

[ajimmythekid]

large generator 40 amp sv., Saws, drils, impact driver (the only way to go with galvinized lag bolts) gas powered auger, 20" chainsaw, 4x4 quad - & trailer for hauling material or draging trees, all construction hand tools.

Jim

[Line Squirrel]

Okay, now I feel like the little kid that shows up at a fireworks display with a box of sparklers :smt086

[BgDadddy]

Remember Mike, size doesn't matter... (cough, snicker).

Rick

[Line Squirrel]

Remember Mike, size doesn't matter... (cough, snicker).

Rick

That's what I tried telling my last girlfriend...just before she passed out laughing.

[BgDadddy]

Wow! She shouldn't have belittled you like that... That was very small of her.

I can feel your pain, Buddy.

[Line Squirrel]

LOL


Can we burn there? Is there a big enough area to do it safely? Obviously conditions [wind, moisture] will need to be considered.

May be a way to get rid of a lot of natural debris quickly.

Of course we have to be absolutely sure any fire is completely out before leaving the property.

[ARY]

Is there rule that prohibits overnight parking on nss owned sinkhole sites? or is it a big liability issue? I wouldn't mind sleeping in a car there... I know other people ;-) who drive even couple hrs more than me and wouldn't mind to save some cash on a sleepover.

does anybody know if primitive camping is allowed yet at Suwannee Rvr State park?

BTW David&Cynthia's house in Live Oak is a very good option to stay if several people would go. I don't know though if they are available on 29th weekend.

[FW]

Is there rule that prohibits overnight parking on nss owned sinkhole sites? or is it a big liability issue? I wouldn't mind sleeping in a car there... I know other people ;-) who drive even couple hrs more than me and wouldn't mind to save some cash on a sleepover.
This is what it says in the new management plan.

9. No camping is allowed on the property without NSS-CDS BoD approval.

I will ask the BoD about that weekend.

[DeWayne]

They do have camping (both primitive and hookups) at SRSP. We stayed there in 2006 and loved that place. You might want to check to ensure that the campgrounds are open at this time (seems like they were closed for renovations last year, and with all the rain down there who knows.)

[billyf]

Suwannee River State Park is open for camping

http://www.floridastateparks.org/suwanneeriver/default.cfm

You can use Reserve America to see the sites that are available, I have noticed that this is a popular place to camp and just showing up and getting a site might be a problem. You can reserve a site through Reserve America to guarantee that you have a site.

[DavidP]

Suwannee River State Park has cabins
I think they sleep 8 people, $90 a night

[DeWayne]

From my understanding of it, you have to go through the Reserve America site to book a campsite at any of the FL State Parks (the ranger at FL Caverns SP told me this a few years back) even at the not so popular places. We have yet to encounter any problems going through RA, and it is nice to be able to select your campsite from the map.

We looked at those cabins when we stayed at SRSP in 2006 and they are very nice with lots of space. I think they said you could sleep 6 people comfortably. They also mentioned that the cabins tend to book fast during summer months, so one needs to look into them well in advance.

[billyf]

From my understanding of it, you have to go through the Reserve America site to book a campsite at any of the FL State Parks (the ranger at FL Caverns SP told me this a few years back) even at the not so popular places. We have yet to encounter any problems going through RA, and it is nice to be able to select your campsite from the map.

We looked at those cabins when we stayed at SRSP in 2006 and they are very nice with lots of space. I think they said you could sleep 6 people comfortably. They also mentioned that the cabins tend to book fast during summer months, so one needs to look into them well in advance.

I would say that’s not correct.

The wife and I stayed at Oleno a few months ago and just walked in and got a site we also did this at Manatee we also used RA the second time we went to Manatee.

[billyf]

Dive Rite

will be donating a “LED 500 Flashlight” for the door prize.

MSRP $360

[billyf]

Any ideas/requests for lunch?

I was thinking Burgers and dogs with chips, soft drinks and water.

We need a volunteer to cook and we will need a grill, would anyone want to volunteer one or both?

[Cindy]

You do have to reserve the cabins. The campground is usually on a first come basis but during the summer you have to reserve the spots with electric. The cabins are awsome, wish my house was as nice!

Instead of buggers and hotdogs why not have sandwiches. I did that once at a cleanup at Hart and people would go back and eat when they wanted. No worry about anybody working at a grill.

Cindy Butler

[Line Squirrel]

Good idea, sandwiches or maybe some of those 4ft subs?

[FW]

If you let them know in advance. Sue's Market will make sandwiches to go. They have been very helpful to the project, so using them would be a nice gesture.

[FW]

Is there rule that prohibits overnight parking on nss owned sinkhole sites? or is it a big liability issue? I wouldn't mind sleeping in a car there... I know other people ;-) who drive even couple hrs more than me and wouldn't mind to save some cash on a sleepover.

does anybody know if primitive camping is allowed yet at Suwannee Rvr State park?

BTW David&Cynthia's house in Live Oak is a very good option to stay if several people would go. I don't know though if they are available on 29th weekend.
I brought the question before the BOD, and all we could reach agreed it is ok. The vote isn't official yet, but there are more than enough votes for it to pass. The bottom line, you can camp at Cathedral the weekend of the Social.

[traveler]

Hi all.

Just a quick bump to remind everybody that we're still on for meeting at 9am at Cathedral on 3/29. The weather forecast looks good, and the river level has dropped enough that we probably won't have to wear waders to work on the lower deck. ;-) Should be a good day.

As you arrive, please park at the street -- we need to keep the path clear for the lumber delivery truck, plus for folks to swing in to the parking area temporarily to drop off supplies and large tools.

See you there...

- Todd

[Kelly Jessop]

If you haven't been to Cathedral in awhile,or have never been, I would recommend coming and seeing this historic site. We will have food and drinks,and great door prizes for participants. There will be a surprise,but it wouldn't be a surprise if I revealed it :-)
Look forward to seeing everyone there.

[Cindy]

If no one has seen Suwannee River State park you could also stop by there. With the proximity to Edwards and Cathedral their cabins are a good deal! I am going to be there Sat. but pinched a nerve in my neck. So no lifting etc. I can take photos and do an article for the UWS (unless I can talk someone into it). I'll ask the park if I can take people on a tour. Remember the park is where the Cathedral cave system comes out! Until you drive the distance it's very difficult to realise what and amazing feet is was that Sheck, Paul, Mary Ellen and a small handful of others were able to explore, let along connect most of this system. Cindy Butler

[traveler]

Cindy, a tour is a great idea. Falmouth is also a great place for people to stop for a look. Actually, I'm sortof eager to learn whether the cave is back flowing in the right direction again now that the river's on its way down.

Also, folks... please check in with Bill Oigarden as you arrive. We'd like to get a list of names so we can thank you properly later, and also to get a good headcount for lunch. Bill should also be able to help with a sort of "load balancing", so we wind up with a reasonable number of people working on each of the tasks we're trying to accomplish.

Another need that's coming to light is folding tables -- please bring them if you have them, so we have somewhere to set the food, etc. Folding chairs are a very good idea as well.

I also encourage you to put your name on EVERYTHING you bring. With a group the size we're anticipating it's inevitable that things will be left behind, and marking your stuff is the best way to get it back later.

[Line Squirrel]

Bug Spray

In fact, does somebody have a fogger?

[Bill Oigarden]

Thanks to everyone how came out and helped make the Social/Workday a big success. This photo was taken after lunch. This shot was taken by Cindy Butler of about 30 of the 40 divers who attended. Cindy has lots more photos that she will run in UWS. A few of the original explorers Guy Bryant, Paul DeLoach, and Mary Ellen were kind enough to come out and join us. Sponsors included: Dive Rite, Halcyon, Dive Outpost, and AAA Protaserve. Lunch was organized by Laurie Jessop. Door Prize coordination and CDF announcements by Bill Fowler. This project has been very expensive and could would have not been possible with the funding from the NSS-CDS, Halcyon/WKPP, and Dogwood City grotto in North Georgia. Design, engineering, overall "get her done" Todd Leonard.

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/files/1/6/3/20080329cathedralworkday.jpg

[Line Squirrel]

It was a good day.

A lot of progress was made even before I left around 2pm. Most of you guys looked like you were still in it for the long haul.

What time did the gate close?

[Kelly Jessop]

Thanks to everyone how came out and helped make the Social/Workday a big success. This photo was taken after lunch. This shot was taken by Cindy Butler of about 30 of the 40 divers who attended. Cindy has lots more photos that she will run in UWS. A few of the original explorers Guy Bryant, Paul DeLoach, and Mary Ellen were kind enough to come out and join us. Sponsors included: Dive Rite, Halcyon, Dive Outpost, and AAA Protaserve. Lunch was organized by Laurie Jessop. Door Prize coordination and CDF announcements by Bill Fowler. This project has been very expensive and could would have not been possible with the funding from the NSS-CDS, Halcyon/WKPP, and Forrest's NSS grotto in North Georgia. Design, engineering, overall "get her done" Todd Leonard.

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=7863&c=500

Also a big thank you to Bill Oigarden for helping to organize the event

[FW]

Wow, that water is still way up. You can usually walk up to the rock that is showing in the middle of the water :-)

[traveler]

It was a good day.

A lot of progress was made even before I left around 2pm. Most of you guys looked like you were still in it for the long haul.

What time did the gate close?

Gate closed a little past 7:30, followed by a run to the Texas Roadhouse in Lake City... :-)

Thanks to everybody who turned out. We got a TON of work done on the walkway and platforms, and I've never seen the site look better. I'm hoping this is a fairly complete list of people who came out to work... please let me know if I've missed anyone!

Cory Bell
Guy Bryant
Cynthia Butler
Scott Butsch
Kathleen Byars
Scott Byars
Kell Canty
Paul DeLoach
Mary Ellen Eckhoff
Shellie Foss
AJ Gonzales
Joe Green
Rick Hartman
Tom Hundley
Kelly Jessup
Laurie Jessup
Todd Leonard
Mike McAuliffe
Casey McKinlay
Bobbi McMichael
Jim McMichael
Gene Melton
Sierra Melton
Jim Miller
Agnes Milowka
Bill Oigarden
Alan Owens
Jordan Owens
Lawton Owens
Mike Poucher
Sandra Poucher
John Rose
Stacey Sandrey
Kara Shafer
Amy Starkey
James Toland
Richard Vaughn
Andrey Yefimov
Jiangying Zhou

There's still some work left to do, and actually we'll head back again next Saturday (4/5) to see what else we can knock out -- all are welcome. Please get in touch if interested.

Thanks...

- Todd

[traveler]

Jim McMichael - please get in touch via email or PM. I have one or two things of yours from Saturday (10mm socket and maybe an extension cord?), and want to make sure they get back to you.

I also wound up with a blue zippered sweatshirt that I'd like to return to its owner.

Thanks again...

- Todd