Colorado Bend State Park, Texas
All photos are © The Maverick Grotto and the respective photographer
All Rights reserved!
Photos from Colorado Bend State Park where Texas Cavers have maintained a
volunteer cave research
project since the early 1980's. The current version of the project
sponsored by the Texas Speleology Association (TSA) was begun, November 1987
after TPWD purchased the Lemons Ranch and combined it with the Gorman Falls
property. Shortly after the project began, the park was opened to the
public but the project continued as it does to this day.
There is no public caving on the park. To enter caves, one must be an
attendee of the volunteer project or go on a fee based guided wild cave tour
offered by TPWD. For more information, visit the link below.
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/colorado/
Map
Pictures taken by Butch Fralia using both film and digital cameras.
Photo credits for other photographers will be given for the individual photo.
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At the entrance to Little Bad Air Hole, Keith Heuss records location data. The cave was named for it's high levels of CO2.
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To find all the caves, you have to look under every cedar tree. Dave Castello and son Eric in the entrance of Blue Ribbon Cave. Until it's discovery, the entrance was well covered by an overhanging cedar limb, since cut away.
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The entrance to Biscuit Can Cave, known for many years before the TSA volunteer project started.
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Cavers shown preparing to enter Gorman Sink, a large entrance without much cave inside.
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Inside, Gorman Sink is almost like a shelter with a small crawl way passage leading off.
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Copperhead Cave is another impressive entrance lacking in passage once inside.
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Cavers visit Copperhead Cave to check the accuracy of a cave description written for it in the middle 1970's.
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Gorman Falls cave, located near the conference center is gated and locked because of extremely high CO2 levels. Occasionally it is visited by cavers if the air is good enough.
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Rune Burnett, a one-time TPWD archaeologist visited this cave. The air was dangerously bad so he had it gated. It's aptly named Rune's Bad Air Hole.
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Some caves are longer than others. Nila's Very First Cave named after Nila Dennis on her first cave discovery.
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Nila's Cave was surveyed to about 600 feet until the passage became to small for cavers to continue on.
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Dinky Hammer Cave was overlooked for a long time because it was thought to be another entrance to a nearby cave.
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Sharon Welch enters PG Pit, a small entrance well hid behind a rock along a hiking trail. There's more to this cave than the entrance implies.
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Sharon Welch exiting PG Pit after going down with Dennis to write a description.
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Dennis Welch exiting PG Pit after going down with Sharon to write a cave description. He made it out but had to work at it.
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