Butler Resurvey - 10/26/2024
Casey Reporting
Charlottesville Grotto planned a trip to Butler Cave to help with The Great Resurvey effort on October 26th, 2024. The trip was for caving, but also for astronomy, as Edward P. Smith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is a renowned and learned astronomer.
Most of the attending grotto members convened at the Homestead around 9:30 to sort things out, figure out where to go, and slowly get ready to enter the cave.
3 teams formed
Team 1 – Ed Smith, Bill Murray, Murphy Liang, and Margaret Bauman
Team 2 – Scott Wahlquist and Josh Rubenstein
Team 3 – Casey Tucker (reporting), Eric Shuler, Isabella Brown, and Chris Meyle
Everyone entered the cave around 10:30 or 11.
Team 1 went up Pat’s section to continue survey Brian Crowell and Scott W had worked on previously. Scott & Josh escorted that team to the lead, including through a tight window through a drop. They surveyed 372’ of big, spacious, borehole near the end of Pat’s Section. While they had been hoping to exit around 5 or so, they felt the need to keep surveying and working on the sketches. Dedicated cavers! They eventually exited the cave around 7:45, ready for food, drinks, and astronomy. Ed created beautiful sketches, as always.
Team 2 continued work on Sinking Creek survey where Sinking Creek leaves the main trunk in a wet crawlway. Josh is the champion of laying in wet, cobble crawls to survey and collect data for Sinking Creek. When they exited around 5:30ish, they reported very low water levels. They had taken a handful of shots and made plans to return the following day. With such low water, this was the perfect time to push the passage and get data for what was only sketched in on the old map.
Team 3 went up a steep climb from Sinking Creek opposite the highest window entry into the Moon Room. This was Isabella’s first survey trip. Meanwhile Chris has been wanting to learn to sketch, so he shadowed Casey. Eric took point and off they went. Surveying down a crawlway, Eric came upon modern survey stations with only whiteout marking the way. They followed that survey in both directions but never found a station that had any indication of designation. 2 tie-in points were established in those station, and hopefully tying them into the existing data isn’t too much of a detective story with the help of tying into the ADP survey in Sinking Creek. Chris did quite well for his first time sketching in cave. Isabella enjoyed her first survey trip and stayed warm the entire time. In total they surveyed 672’ of passage. Hopefully it does not duplicate any other modern survey.
Team 3 had set a turnaround time of 4:15 in hopes to exit the cave just after 5 to start some stargazing with Ed. On the way out they made stops at the Moon Room and Hanging Dong to show off the cave. All were quite impressed, and exited the cave just after 5pm. First team out, but they were greeted by Crowe who stuck around the Homestead to split wood, tend a fire, and relax. Crowe also got a visit from the Steamerhole dig team of Mike Kistler, Nate, & James. Nate and James are also CVille Grotto members.
After Ed’s team decompressed from their trip, Ed broke out the telescope to regale everyone with a tour of the heavens. He showed off the rings of Saturn, zoomed in on Jupiter a few of its moons, pointed out double stars, galaxies, and constellations. Casey brought a laser that made pointing out celestial bodies a little easier and aided the sky tour in the beautiful, dark skies of Burnsville Cove. It was a glorious, clear, crisp night. A fire roared nearby to keep everyone warm between visits to the telescope. Shooting stars blazed across the sky. The Milky Way was on display as it always is on a clear night at the Homestead. It was a fabulous trip full of dark deeds (caving and astronomy, obviously). Big thanks to Ed for hosting the astronomy tour.
