Garrison Cave #2 in Christian County (south of Springfield) is currently 20,207 feet long (913 feet shy of 4 miles). There are two survey trips scheduled for the weekends of Oct. 18th and Nov. 29th. Anyone interested in helping should contact Lawrence Ireland (417-582-0888), who is leading these trips while my right arm is recovering from surgery. Those are the remaining scheduled trips for 2003.
Much of the surveying the last two years involved mapping the furthest reaches of passage explored during discovery trips in 1996 and surveying virgin passage. Virtually all remaining passage to be surveyed is virgin at this point. There is a section in the middle portion of known cave that remains to be mapped, otherwise, the remaining leads involve the furthest reaches of known cave upstream in North Creek (and a number of tributaries and side passages) and South Creek. A dye trace project funded by an MSS research grant and Ozark Highlands Grotto helped to delineate the approximate boundaries of the recharge area that feeds North and South Creeks (the final report of this dye trace project is supposed to be written and made available for publication in MoSpeleo). There is much potential cave remaining to be mapped, but since it is all virgin, we have no idea how much farther the cave can be mapped nor the characteristics of these unknown stretches of cave. The cave could end soon, or it could go miles more. We won’t know until we get there.
Persons wishing to help map the cave must be properly attired in wetsuits and expect to crawl through two 350-foot watercrawls just to get to the middle portion of the cave. (The majority of the main passage is dry, walking passage, but there is also considerable dry crawling.) Once “Three Rivers” is reached, there is more watercrawl, but not all of it is crawlway to the furthest reaches. It is not a cave for the physically limited (hence my personal moratorium until my arm is okay).
Please advise with specific questions if you need additional info.
Regards,
JON | 
