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Daily Updates
Monday, June 9
Team 1, Conservation: Ciara , Achal &
Charles
Today, arriving around 1 pm we
immediately started unpacking our stuff. We then started to set up the
tents and then ate lunch. The drive down wasn’t that bad, the day so far
has been pretty slow, it was pretty much an introductory day and so far
have just gone over everything. We got to go swimming, which was a
surprise, and that was pretty awesome. It is pretty toasty down here and
we could do away with the heat, but over all it is nice. We like the
camp site all the grass the trees and stuff. We are super excited about
going caving tomorrow it is going to awesomely awesome. We cannot wait
to get dirty and gross and covered in mud. We got to have a discussion
with Mr. Benoit about crickets and how different aspects of the cave can
affect the organisms living in them. We then got on the subject of bats
and how people came into the cave during the hibernation of the bat and
killed them for no reason and that was really upsetting and just shows
how dumb people can be. We cannot wait for tomorrow and the days that
are to follow.
Team
2, Wet/Dry: Marilyn , Jessica , Colin & Nathan
Today
we arrived at Carter Caves and set up camp. We ate lunch and our group
was responsible for cleaning the dishes. We did this at the pump, which
is located in the center of the camp ground. We’ve been having a good
time at camp and the food has been good. Colin and Nathan enjoyed the
pool. Jessica and Marilyn enjoyed the discussion and the veggie burgers
that they ate for dinner.
We
found it incredibly interesting that The White Nose was a possible
fungus that was going around in the Northeast region of the United
States. The best part of the day for the entire group was getting to
talk to Mr. Benoit about the paper he wrote on cave crickets and
mycoflora. The worst part was that it was extremely hot and humid. We
all struggled with the heat and wanted to say that it was too hot to put
up the tents and the canopies. Overall, it was a very good day.
Team
3, Organizers: Cassie , Eric , Bryn & Ronny
Today
we arrived at camp around 12:40 p.m. and we set up our own camps. We
took two, 12 person vans. Our entire group was much more prepared for
this trip than some of the previous trips that we have taken with vans.
After everyone was set up we had an overview of what we were going to be
doing, our assignments, and our chaperones that would be staying with us
for the duration of the trip. We also discussed the jobs that we were
going to have on a daily basis for the trip. Our groups first job is
organizer which means that we need to make sure everyone is on task and
we have to keep track of the check in /check out sheets. For the rest of
the week we will switch daily jobs to daily doyens, kitchen patrol, and
chef duty. When we finished the overview and introductions we got to go
to the pool and we spent about an hour there swimming. Swimming was nice
because it is hot here and very humid. After swimming, we went to the
lodge for dinner. When we came back to camp and had an open discussion
about cave crickets and mycoflora. We did not stay on topic for the
entire duration of the discuss, but our group really enjoyed the
discussion we had. Other than the cave crickets we also talked about
invasive species, natural springs, white nosed fungi, population
fluctuation, and cave zoning. Our group was particularly interested in
cave zoning and the discussion revolving around cave crickets with
mycoflora because our subject is species interactions of spiders and
insects. Today if everyone finishes on time we will be able to go on a
nature hike. Our group is excited to start caving tomorrow and begin
looking into our research topic.
Team
4, Light Zones: Jamie , Kristine , Benjamin & Joseph
Today,
15 Metro High School students began their expedition to Carter Caves in
Kentucky. We departed Metro High School around 9:30 and arrived at
Carter Cave State Park around 1:00. After we unpacked our things, we
set up our tents and quickly reviewed all camp rules and equipment
protocol. Next, we altered the schedule a bit and went to the camp
swimming pool because of the scolding heat. After supper at the camp
lodge, we had a group discussion with the researcher and author of a
research article about cave crickets and fungi, Mr. Benoit. We talked
with him for about an hour and then had time to discuss ideas regarding
our research project and then wrote our group journals. We are very
excited because after this journal is complete, we are planning on going
on a night hike to explore the campsite.
One of
the main highlights of the day was the discussion with Mr. Benoit. Mr.
Benoit is a leading entomologist and researcher regarding cave
crickets. Some of the main topics he talked about were certain fungi
that killed cave crickets, the relationship between crickets and other
organisms, and genetics in cave dwelling species. The discussion was
very interesting because very rarely do you get to talk with the
researcher and author of a published article.
Overall, our first day laid the groundwork for what should be an amazing
trip and we look forward to the rest of the week.
Random
Quote of the Day- “You have 40 DEET bug spray?!”
Tuesday, June
10
A little muddy, and a little wet. Okay, a lot of both.
Team 1, Conservation: Ciara , Achal &
Charles
Today is the very first day we went
caving. We had a blast visiting, Horn Hollow, Cobble Crawl and Laurel
cave. The walk to the caves was pretty nice. It hasn’t been to hot today
so all the clothing we had to wear was cool. As we entered the cave we
were hit with an immediate feeling of cool air. Horn hollow was in our
opinion the wettest cave that we visited, besides the cave we toured.
This However might be due to it being our first cave. There were not
many animals within this cave, last night we had a huge rain and a lot
of the stuff got washed out. Many of the animals we saw in Horn Hollow
were cave crickets and spiders. We had a lot of fun in this cave. On a
good note we DID NOT see a lot of trash, which was a good sign, but the
trash we did see was recyclable.
Cobble Crawl was a tight fit, crawling
is just the half of it, not staying for a while so we could spend most
of our time at Laurel, while we were there the trash that we did see was
recyclable, there were still manly crickets and spiders and it was not a
wet as Horn Hollow.
The best time was spent at Laurel Cave;
this cave was where the bat massacre occurred which is really super sad.
We got to do a lot more stuff in this cave. It was a lot bigger then
Horn Hollow and Cobble Crawl. We got to climb and crawl and get crazy
dirty. When they said, “we would be getting muddy”, they took it to a
whole new level. Laurel was really fun, being a larger cave there were a
lot more crickets and spiders. We did not see a lot of trash, today but
we feel that was because of the rain last night.
After the cave we explored it was time
for lunch and off to our tour. The tour was a blast, we toured bat cave
and it was pretty awesome. The tour they gave us was really cool, we got
to go on an “off the road tour.” They took us on an excursion that was
pretty cool. We were pretty muddy and wet, going on climbs and dropping
into things as well as squeezing through tiny cracks. This experience
was pretty amazing just like Anne (and I know that many people have
wrote this but its true)
Quote of the day:
“Thank you helmet” said by everyone…
respect the helmet J
“I won't drop you, just Ronny” said by
Ms. Rector
“My shirt has a smiley face of Doom”
said by Ms. Parks
Swimming in 55-degree water.
Team 2, Wet/Dry: Marilyn , Jessica , Colin & Nathan
Today was much more productive and
insightful than yesterday. We got to go caving for the first time on
this trip which helped us gain a deeper understanding of cave formations
and cave life. It was useful to be able to see the biodiversity of
different caves which helped us determine which caves to go to for our
research project. In Laurel Cave, being able to see the formations
helped us all to understand what they actually were, rather than just
reading about it in the assigned readings. This cave was Marilyn’s
favorite.
Colin’s favorite was Horn Hollow which
had a keystone entrance. Bat cave was the most diverse in formations.
There were paths that one could walk on, or one could crawl through very
small openings. We learned the 3 point pressure drop technique in this
cave. This was a way of controlling a drop through a crack in the rock.
The best part of the day was the overall caving experience. Jessica was
taken aback at some of the spaces we crawled through. It was also nice
that it was cold in the caves. The worst part of the day was having to
be wet for long periods of time. The excuse we wanted to use was “I
don’t like getting wet” (Achal) but we didn’t. We all ended up very wet.
Trekking through Laurel Cave.
Team 3, Organizers: Cassie , Eric , Bryn & Ronny
Today was awesome.
During the night we had a huge storm that flooded the chaperones tents.
Our group’s job today is data doyens so tonight we will be uploading
photos onto the past foundation website. After breakfast this morning
everyone made their lunches and we packed them up in the cooler. Our
group helped the KP people do the dishes this morning so we would be
able to leave on time. When we were all ready to go we checked out hard
hats and head lights for us to use in the caves. Our entire group
separated into two smaller groups to switch the order of the caves for
everyone. Our smaller group had the garbology team and ourselves, the
spider/insect interaction team. The first cave we went to was Horns
Hollow. This cave was flooded the most out of all the caves we visited
today so we got to see a lot of debris from the flooding. This cave also
had a lot of outcropping tunnels that we were able to crawl into. Also,
due to all of the flooding we did not see a lot of spiders or insects
inside of the cave. The cave crickets we did see in were very large
crickets.
The
second cave that we visited was Cobblestone Crawl. This cave was very
hard – we walked right by it and backtracked before we located it. To
actually get into this cave we had to crawl down Inside we saw a lot of
orb weaving spiders near the entrance. When we had crawled into the cave
some distance we all turned off our lights and we talked about light
zones in a cave. What was surprising in this cave is that it was low the
entire way through so you had to crawl—hence the cave’s name
Cobblestone Crawl.
The
third cave we visited was Laurel Cave. This cave was amazing. Because
this was our last cave we had more freedom to explore the cave if we
stayed in groups. There were gates put up in the cave because of the bat
killing that happened on Halloween. Bryn and Cassie went with Ciara and
Mrs. Parker to climb around in the cave. People that went climbing also
walked through some pretty stagnant water and they stank really bad.
We
walked back from Laurel Cave to the Welcome center. Cassie, Ciara, and
Mrs. McCaskey went back to the welcome center through Laurel Cave. When
everyone was back to the Welcome Center we all ate our lunches and tried
to clean up a bit. Near the end of lunch it started raining and everyone
had to go sit under the porch. After we had all finished eating we met
with our tour guides to go to Bat Cave. At the cave we split into two
groups- one that wanted to crawl around and get wet; and a group that
wanted to stay dry. Our entire group went with everyone that was
crawling and getting wet. Our tour guide took us into places in the cave
that they wouldn’t normally take a group because we were all excited to
be in the cave and were able to handle ourselves pretty well. This route
was awesome. The “fork” in the road where everyone had to decide what
route they were going to be taking began with a drop into the lower
level of the cave or a walking path. We had to create pressure with our
bodies and drop down about 12 feet. Mrs. Rector and our tour guide
helped all of us down, except for Ronny. At one point; we were in water
that was about four feet deep. This trail ended in a cavern with bats
and Boy Scout bedroom. Our tour guide told us the story of the boy
scouts that survived the flood of ’62. This was the last cave that we
visited today and it was a really cool way to end the day.
Crawling through the gate.
Team
4, Light Zones: Jamie , Kristine & Joseph
Our first exploration was at Laurel
caves. This cave had a fairly narrow walkway with vary tall caverns.
It mostly consisted of cave crickets and not much more. Overall, this
cave had a very small amount of organisms. Because of its tall cavern
structure, there were many opportunities to climb and explore taller,
smaller spaces.
The next cave was named Horn Hollow.
This was a wider but shorter cave that required some crawling and it had
extreme amounts of water. Because of the water, there were many rim
stones formed by the dripping water from the cavern. In the dark zone,
there were not that many dead zones because 1.) It was the dark zone 2.)
There was a huge storm lat night that wiped away most of the organisms
that would have been there naturally.
The last cave before lunch was called
Cobblestone Coral. This cave was wide and short, which required a lot
of crawling. This cave had the most organisms in it. We saw crickets,
a wide variety of salamanders, crawfish, spiders, but there were also
cavefish that were not seen. We saw a spider eating a centipede, which
was one of the most exciting things in the cave.
After lunch and uselessly cleaning off a
bit, we went on a tour of the bat cave. We did end up seeing plenty of
bats that were pretty amazing but it required a lot to get to them.
There were extremely small crawl spaces and large pools of water that
was roughly 48 degrees Fahrenheit. We ended up being wet from the chest
down and the 55 degrees cave temperature was not that pleasant.
This day was amazing just like Anne.
This was the first time for many to go caving to this extreme and it was
exhilarating. We were able to climb, duck, and hit our head many, many
times, which explains why we needed the quote of the day:
Random Quote(s) of the day-
“Thank you helmet!”
“I only let Ronny fall”
“Ms. Rector, will you catch me?”
“Run around in circles”
Wednesday,
June 11
Team 1, Conservation: Ciara , Achal &
Charles
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Group Photo 1 (from left): Eric, Charles, Bryn, Sarah Parks, Ronny,
Ciara, Cassie, Achal, Andy Allamander.
Our adventure of the day started in the
cave called Cascade Caverns. We visited this cave with a tour guide. The
cave wasn’t as lively as the past caves we had visited because it had
less wildlife than the more open caves and this cave was dug out for
tourists. We walked with the tour guide into a private part in the cave
where there was an indoor waterfall formed by water. After we all hiker
back to the car and drove to coon crack one and two. Just how it
sounds, the entrances to the cave were cracks in the ground and we all
had to squeeze and shift down in to the cave. Coon Cave one was easier
to get into and also had another opening in the middle of the cave that
was about 15 feet high. Coon Crack two was very difficult to get into,
as it involved a lot of squeezing through. Our last cave of the day was
Saltpetre. At this cave we were on a guided tour, which showed us how
miners lived and survived in the cave in 1812. Here we learned that
100,000 pounds of gun powder would last two hours in the War of 1812.
Then we had to work on our WBS (work breakdown structure), The best part
of the day would have to be going to
Coon in the
Crack Cave, both one and two.
This adventure today was awesome, just like Anne, and there was no bad
part. We can’t wait until tomorrow.
Quotes of the Day:
“Chazzle Dazzle Baby”
“…that makes it
interesting” (ask one of those who were around)
Team 2, Wet/Dry: Marilyn , Jessica , Colin & Nathan
Today we visited four different caves.
Two of them, Cascade Caverns and Saltpetre, were guided tours. The other
two, Coon in the Crack 1 and Coon in the Crack 2 were both dry caves.
They were both the tightest caves that we have visited so far, because
they required the most crawling. We decided to do some of our research
in Coon in the Crack 1 and 2. Today we decided that in our research we
will collect fungi samples, soil samples, spider quantities, and cricket
quantities. We will collect this data from four different caves Laurel,
Cobble Crawl, Coon in the Crack 1, and Coon in the Crack two. Salt
Peter cave was a show cave, but was not made for that purpose. It was
used for mining sodium nitrate during the war of 1812. We used lanterns
to light this tour to understand the experience a little better.
Marilyn squeezing into Coon-in-the-Crack Cave
Today we all enjoyed the experience of
seeing a show cave (cascade), because it gave us a different perspective
on caving and the types of things that people do with caves when they do
not appreciate the ecosystem. We had a discussion about whether or not
show caves like this one effect peoples opinion of conservation of caves
or not. We all also enjoyed Coon in the Crack 2 because we didn’t get
wet. Nathan and Colin did not enjoy Salt Peter because he thought it
was boring; however, Marilyn and Jessica thought it was extremely
interesting and filled with history.
Nathan climbing out of Coon-in-the-Crack Cave.
Quote of the Day: But that’s what makes
it interesting!
Team 3, Organizers: Cassie , Eric , Bryn & Ronny
Today we woke up and ate breakfast
quickly. The chaperones were intent on leaving in a timely fashion, so
we left for the first cave bright and early. We ended up arriving at the
cave before the tour guide, so we played games, took pictures and
stretched.
Cascade Caverns is a privately owned. It
is a very commercial cave. It was used by the previous owners as a great
room and a speak easy. There were lights everywhere, so the cave life
was less than many of us expected. There were also paths to follow and
railings to keep people on the paths. We only got to go under the
railings once and there were hardly any animals, but the cave had great
geological formations. The waterfall that the cave was named after, for
example, fell 30 feet under the ground.
The Coon in the Crack caves are tiny,
little caves with extremely small openings. They are hard to stand in
and require a great deal of crawling. These caves, unlike Cascade, had a
large number of various animal life. There were mosquitoes, spiders,
crickets and flies. Our group took longer to get out of Coon in the
Crack 2 so we were a little late to lunch. When everyone had finished
lunch we got a little bit of time to sit down with our group and start
discussing our work break down system.
After lunch we traveled to Salt Peters
Cave and took a lantern tour. This tour was very interesting. We got a
historical aspect of the mine there, which was very cool. Our tour guide
told us that Salt Peter’s Cave produced roughly 70,000 lbs of sodium
nitrate, an ingredient in gunpowder, and a year. He also told us that
this much sodium nitrate would only produce enough gunpowder to last two
hours during the war. When our tour was over we went back to the
campsite to clean up and then we went to dinner at the lodge. During
dinner, our group sat together to discuss our research tomorrow and the
rest of the night we spent working on our Work Break Down System and
preparing ourselves for research.
Group photo 2: (back row, l. to r.)
Joseph, Jaime, Kristine, Marylin. Front row, (l. to r.) Anne Corscadden,
Jessica, Nathan, Megan Rector, Colin
Team
4, Light Zones: Jamie , Kristine , Benjamin & Joseph
After departing from the welcome center,
we went on a tour of Cascade Cave but not before stretching from our
long day yesterday. We also did a few team-building activities that
stretched ourselves out before our long day to come. When we got inside
the Cascade Cave, we were all immediately disappointed in the
tourist-proofed cave, which was artificially lit. It was rather a large
letdown compared to what we did the day before.
Next, we went to two caves at once:
Coon-crack II and I. These caves were the caves least touched by people
and were rather difficult to get into. They had a few organisms but
since they had little room for light to be let in, it was much darker
than those with larger openings.
After lunch, we only did one activity,
which was another tour. We took a tour of sulfur cave. In this tour,
we saw how people experienced life in a cave during the war times and
the gunpowder that was extracted and used from that cave. This included
visiting artifacts that were used during that time and also seeing the
places where miners slept and drank their water during their long
periods working in the caves.
Overall, we came up with a lot of ideas
on what we could do with the caves that we visited and other types of
research we could do concerning our light diversity topic. This allowed
us to determine what we were going to do for our final project and help
us develop our WBS so we could get our required research.
Quote of the day: (in a childish tone)
“Awwwww, Anne’s thinking logical!”
“I
just got LED’ed in the face”
“But
that’s when things get interesting!” (Ask someone)
“The
dolphin would like that too”
Thursday,
June 12
Team 1, Conservation: Ciara , Achal &
Charles
Today was the first day of the testing,
Research was pretty exciting we like our results so far. Going back to
these caves seemed like a piece of cake now. It is very different going
into a cave with only a few people the cave seems much larger. Laurel is
still Ciara’s favorite and the guy’s do not like getting wet. Over all
it was fun, we had to organize our stuff when we got there because
forgetting the tape is not the best idea, (we will remember it
tomorrow). Gathering the data was surprisingly easy. After organizing
the vials and containers it went extremely fast.
We created a key that we were all able
to follow, each vial was given a letter and a number depending on where
we collected the water samples from. The trash in both caves was pretty
moderate. We noticed sum but not too much.
We walked from laurel to Horn Hollow and
basically went through the same process. We still seem to like the
outcome we are getting and we hope that the hypothesis we believe is
correct. After finishing with the testing and putting away the final
supplies we were excited to get back and start on the stuff we are going
to show. We came back to the lodge and finished the nitrogen testing and
worked on the data itself, going over it and looking at the results. We
plan to keep working on the PowerPoint and showing our results to Ms.
Rector and Anne (who is awesome by the way). This day was super fun and
we loved almost as much as we love Anne. And of course we did have our
quotes….
“I know how to find you and hunt you
down”
“If it’s a bear… you only have to be
faster than one of us”
“Lets turn of the lights and scare
them”
“Dirty mouth” “clean it up with orbit”
“Is that people” “yes it is” “we have
been here for so long, do you know the way out”
Team
2, Wet/Dry: Marilyn , Jessica , Colin & Nathan
Today was the first
day devoted to research. We went to Cobble Crawl and Laurel Cave. We
went to these caves because they are both wet caves and our subject is
biodiversity when comparing wet and dry caves. At each cave, we took
soil and fungus samples, counted crickets and spiders, and took
environmental data. We saw that there was much more biodiversity in
Laurel than in Cobble, contrary to our hypothesis.
Laurel was by far
the favorite cave among the group. It was much easier to get around in,
and Marilyn liked it because she got to climb into many places in order
to count the crickets and spiders. Jessica liked Laurel as well because
she was able to walk through it rather than crawl like in Cobble. Colin
liked seeing all of the crickets, especially how they were all clumped
together in Laurel. Nathan liked crawling in Cobble, but did not like
carrying all the gear through it.
Overall, the day was
a success because we finished all of the things that we were planning on
as well as some others. We were consistently on task and worked well
with each other.
Quote of the day: “I
like you guys, I don’t want to pee on you.”
Team
3, Organizers: Cassie , Eric , Bryn & Ronny
This morning we had to get up early
because we were on Kitchen Patrol. This involved getting out the dishes
for everyone to use during breakfast and then cleaning those dishes when
they were done.
Today our group had to prepare
individually prepare for our research today. We had to create sticky
webs so we could catch available prey for the spiders. We were the last
group to leave the campsite because Anne had to come back from dropping
another group off. We traveled to a farm about thirty minutes away. The
farm was on beautiful land. The owner told us about a short cut to the
cave where we were going to be conducting our research. This short cut
however, was confusing and we ended up taking a little longer to get
there than we had intended. On the way to Tar Kiln we found another,
smaller cave, but we did not explore because we knew we had research to
do. We learned what it is like to be a scientist searching for a
research site. When we finally arrived we stopped to eat lunch and then
started into Tar Kiln. We marked off sections in the entrance,
twilight, and dark zone of the cave to be areas where we would collect
our data. Ronny started collecting data in the dark zone at first, but
there was very little to collect in this zone so he helped Cassie with
the Entrance Zone. Bryn and Eric. After counting all of the spiders and
crickets we all went back through and determined species type and web
type in every zone. We were able to finish early so we repeated our
research at the main entrance of the cave also. On the way back we still
had some time remaining so we explored the cave that we found on the way
up. After exploring, we trekked back up to the farm and Anne picked us
up to take us to the campsite. We had time to change and then we left
for dinner. After dinner we worked on our project and had a group
meeting at nine thirty.
Team
4, Light Zones: Jamie , Kristine , Benjamin & Joseph
Today was our first day conducting our
research projects. We visited two caves throughout the entire day. The
first part of the day was devoted to Coon in the Crack cave two and the
last part of the day was for Coon in the Crack one. The first cave took
some squeezing but we all eventually made it into the cave. While
inside our objective was to find biodiversity and measure light zones in
the three zone: entrance, twilight, and dark zone. We split our group
into individual tasks. Kristine was responsible for measure cave
crickets, Jaime was responsible for finding the biodiversity, and Joseph
was responsible for finding the lux of each light zone. All of the
measurements were operated according to the separate light zones.
After we squeezed our way out of coon in
the crack two, we went to coon in the crack one. This cave was the same
process. We went in, did our measurements, and quickly hurried back
out.
After a long day of caving, we could not
wait to get hike a mile back to camp and see Anne’s’ wonderful face.
Our first day of caving went pretty well
considering it was our first day. We had a few difficulties such as
keeping the equipment clean and following directions. This honestly led
to a very frustrating time but we all generally enjoyed our work and
found it livablycomfortable. We were al glad to get o of the caves but
we did have to go back into one of the caves because a few of the
measurements were not taken.
After compiling our data, we witnessed
the problems that can occur while working with a group. These were
reflected in our data and did not allow us to construct any graphs when
considering the light zones. We will work with what we have and make
sure that the same mistakes are not done again tomorrow in Laurel and
horn hollow caves.
Quotes of the day: “Maybe he’s just a
bachelor”
“I’m
going to spork you”
“That’s a big cricket”
“(crash)… Ouch….”
Friday, June 13
Team 1, Conservation: Ciara , Achal &
Charles
Today was a lovely day just like
Awesomely Awesome Anne. Being Friday the 13th we are glad nothing bad
has happen. This was our second day to finish the research / data
collection we started on the day before. However overnight, we decided
to also test the hardness (amount of metals) and dissolved oxygen in the
cave water. This also meant that we would have to go to all the caves we
visited before and test the water in the same place we took the first
samples. In order to achieve this goal, we first went to Cobble Crawl to
test the phosphate, oxygen, hardness, pH, chlorine, and nitrogen. We
tested for these things in the entrance of the cave, which were also the
exit and the middle of the cave. After talking to Dr. Roberts, we found
out that all of cave water was connected together and got their water
from Beaver Dam.
Ciara
We became interested in this and tested
the entrance of this stream, where all the water ends up and Tiger
River, which also contributes to the water supply in Carter Caves. Then
we ate lunch and tested Laurel and Cobble for hardness and oxygen. We
came up with some interesting results: Chlorine increased as we tested
the water closer to Beaver Dam. We walked back up through Horn hollow,
while we at Horn Hollow we took samples of hardness and oxygen and the
results were basically the same as the last cave which means they were
good. After that we walked back up to the van we then went down to
Laurel Cave taking samples of the middle and the entrance of the cave.
We also tested the water in Carter creek and then where done with all
testing of the caves and creeks.
We had a fantastic day; it was really
exciting getting all our results so we can finish our PowerPoint. We
cannot wait to finish our project. We are excited about tomorrow and are
having a lot of fun. We did not get any good quotes today.. But Anne is
still awesome.
Team
2, Wet/Dry: Marilyn , Jessica , Colin & Nathan
Today was the last day
of field research for our project. We visited Coon in the Crack 1(C1)
and Coon in the Crack 2 (C2). We found very many crickets in both of
them, but not many spiders. We also saw a mouse eat a cricket in C2. We
collected four soil samples from each cave and two fungi plates from
each. The soil that we tested from yesterday’s caves did not have any
small arthropods in it like we had hoped, but today the samples that we
collected have more organic material in them, and should give us better
results. We found out today that C1 is much longer than C2, with more
small crevices throughout. This is contrary to what we believed in the
past. C1 took us about 3 hours to research, and C2 took about an hour.
In our hypothesis for our project we wrote that there would be more
terrestrial organisms (spiders and crickets) in the dry caves. This
hypothesis is turning out to be half correct, because we found more
crickets in the dry and more spiders in the wet. Tomorrow we will
compile all of the data and determine how the data compares to our
hypothesis. While we were going through C1 there was a fly following
our head lamps and flying in our faces. Also, Nathan accidentally killed
a cricket because it jumped in his face. We mourned for it.
Team 2: Marilyn, Jessica, Colin and Nathan
Our group’s favorite
part of the day was getting such good data from each cave. Jessica and
Marilyn’s favorite part was realizing how short C2 was. Nathan and
Colin’s favorite part of the day was when they got to crawl back into a
small crevice in C1. Overall today was a good day, and there was no
least favorite part…yet.
Quote of the day: We’re
going to determine the species richness in four different caves. Oh
man… ~Marilyn
Team
3, Organizers: Cassie , Eric , Bryn & Ronny
Today was our last day to collect data for our
research project. We were pretty well set this morning to go and get
started right away. We started at Coon in the Crack 2. Cassie created
the markers for us to distinguish our sections. Bryn measured out the
different sites for all three zones and then Ronny and Eric went to the
entrance zone to begin collecting data. Cassie, then, collected the data
for the twilight zone and then the dark zone. After we had finished this
section we went to the alternative entrance and completed the same
research again. We finished this research early so we collected
distance, temperature, and humidity measurements.
 Team
3: Eric, Cassie, Ronny and Bryn
We also collected the same information from Coon in
the Crack 1 before lunch. After we finished here we hiked back down to
the lake and ate lunch. Bryn an Cassie swam in the lake for about ten
minutes during lunch. When everyone had finished eating lunch we walked
back up to the pool’s parking lot and waited for Anne to pick us up. She
took us to the Welcome Center and we then hiked to Cobbletstone Crawl.
At Cobblestone Crawl we collected all of the same data, but we
discovered something we hadn’t seen the last time we were there. When
Cassie was setting up the Twilight Zone she saw a small crack near the
roof that was big enough for a person. As a group we crawled back into a
smaller cave section. We waited for Mrs. Rector to get back into the
room before any of us were able to come back. We finished up the rest
of our collections and then hiked back out We traveled through Laurel
cave to get back to Dr. Roberts truck and he drove us back to the camp
site. We cleaned up at the camp site and then went to dinner. After
dinner, we had the rest of the night to work on a project.
O-H-I-O. Ronny, Eric, Bryn and Cassie
We look like to take notice of a special person at
our campsite in our journal today. Anne Corscadden, she is an amazing
person. AMAZING AMAZINGAMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. She is also awesome.
Team
4, Light Zones: Jamie , Kristine & Joseph
Today was our second day of gathering
information for our projects. This time, we went to Laurel the first
part of the day and then after lunch we went to Horn Hollow. In Laurel,
we had to move much faster in the species counting because the cave was
so large. Because yesterday did not go so well, we made sure that we
measured the light and entrances to the cave correctly. Also, the light
sensor was cleaned off very frequently so the light readings seemed like
they were more accurate than they were yesterday. This was probably
because we kept the same person doing the same job for the whole day and
did not switch jobs, making the readings and measurements more
consistent.
Also, because these caves were much
larger, the actual measurements might not have been that exact as they
might have been in the Coon in the Crack caves if the measurements were
consistent. Apart from this, we really saw the differences between the
most traveled and least traveled caves. In the most traveled caves
(Laurel and Horn Hollow), most of the organisms were in the cracks ad
hiding from the open areas. They had a reason to hide unlike the
organisms in the least traveled caves (Coon in the Cracks I and II). In
the Coon in the Crack caves, there probably had not been people doing
research in those caves for about ten years or so. This meant that the
organisms would not be afraid to be out of the cracks because no one
would be there to disturb or hurt them.
These two caves were relatively easy as
far as collecting data goes. We were a little constrained because of
the size and times we had to be back at camp and into the other cave.
The Coon in the Crack caves were extremely small so we had a little
extra time to make sure we had everything together even though it ended
up not being that way.
Overall, today was very successful and
the information gathered can be used well for our project in the end.
Quotes of the Day: “You look less like
the specter of death today.”
“Dead, molded over grossness legs do not
count as a species.”
Saturday, June 14
Team 1, Conservation: Ciara , Achal &
Charles
The day started out as all of us waking
up in the morning around seven to go eat breakfast and wash up. We
geared up ready to go to the private cave at the farmer’s house, which
he had, five dogs which were all very friendly. We started our hike
through the woods and we took a picture above the waterfall that we will
be sending to people that sponsored us. We went down into the opening to
the cave and we Ms. Rector went down first instructing us and we all
followed the same steps. This cave had the farthest drops that we have
visited before so it was pretty scary being that high with water rushing
down you while your trying to climb down. This was pretty fun and we
got pretty dirty and wet.
Andy Roberts and Anne Corscadden
Team
2, Wet/Dry: Marilyn , Jessica , Colin & Nathan
Today we all were excited for this cave
called Tar kiln because the leaders were talking about this cave and
saying that it is so fun cause of all of the climbing and crawling
areas. We all had a very fun time in this cave because we all got wet
and we had a fun time getting wet. The most exciting part of the day for
everyone was the Sea of screams and the parts of the cave that involved
a lot of crawling that became pretty fun. The most interesting part of
the day for all of us was finding another cave while we were trying to
find tar kiln. The best part of the day was getting to the cave and
going down a waterfall to get to the cave. The worst part of the day was
the walk to the cave. “why is everyone quoting everything”.
 Ms.
Parks
Team
3, Organizers: Cassie , Eric , Bryn & Ronny
Last night Eric had to go home because
he had training to become a zoo aide today. Before he left he worked
with us to compile all of the data we had collected during the day.
Today we woke up at seven in the morning
to get ready to go to Tar Kiln. We left to go to Tar Kiln in the vans
quickly and everyone was carrying their own lunch because we would be in
the cave during lunch. When we got to the farm we all got ready to head
down to the cave and we were followed by a yellow lab named Scott. When
we arrived at the first entrance Ms. Rector offered us a wet path or a
dry path. The wet path involved climbing down into the cave and crawling
through water until the path met up with the entrance where the dry
group came through. Our entire group chose to take the wet path. Ms.
Rector let us help decide where we should be going based on a map of Tar
Kiln. We were successful in finding the spot where we were supposed to
meet the dry group fairly easily. After we met up, we continued walking
for about ten minutes and then we stopped in the picnic room and at
lunch. After lunch we went through the Sea of Screams. It seemed like
the place was named for the people that would scream going through the
cold water. After the Sea of Screams most people left the cave and sat
outside. Our group remained inside because we still had sticky traps set
up for our research. Mrs. Rector cut down our webs with a pocketknife
and we carried them out using trash bags. When we were all done
collecting our data we walked back up to the farm took off our outer
layer of muddy clothing before we got into the vans. Back at the
campsite Cassie went on a hike with Ms. Rector, Nate, and Kristine. Bryn
and Ronny stayed at the campsite and helped build the fire to make
dinner. After dinner we had skits which were very funny and then we had
time to work on our projects.
We <3 Anne, she is awesome. SOOOO
AWESOME.
Mr. Benoit
Team
4, Light Zones: Jamie , Kristine & Joseph
Today began with our
group being responsible for K.P. We helped in ways that we could by
cleaning the dishes as well as getting the plates and other object out.
Joseph was sent out into the forest to collect the small pieces of
firewood. Afterwards we prepared for breakfast and then got ready for
the expedition to Tar kiln. We collected our materials (helmets,
journals, book bags) and then got in the vans for a ride to the Tar Kiln
Farm.
The ride to Tar Kiln
was approximately thirty minutes in length and our group prepared by
checking that the materials we had brought were there, as well as that
of other groups. For most of the trip it was simply scenery, which
lasted for most of the time. We occasionally saw locals in their
tractors and mowing their lawns, which was unusual since unlike around
Ohio, there is large amounts of valleys and many more caves (big and
small) along the way.
Ms. McCaskey
When we arrived at
the farm, in which we met Scotty an obnoxious dog that had several cases
of fleas and ticks assaulting most of it’s body. There was also a black
Labrador and a beagle, which did accompany us some portion of the way
down the path. We discussed with the framer owning the land where he
gave us directions to find the cave and we set on our way to the cave
mouth. We prepared our groups gear and began to set off in the direction
that the cave was. While we set out Scotty decided to follow us all the
way through, which would be a remarkably bad decision as poor Scotty
would later discover.
When we finally
reached the cave mouth there was the option of whether or not a person
wanted to take the wet path. Kristine took he wet path, while Joseph and
Jaime went through the dry path. Eventually the cave ended with a large
cross through an extremely wet path. We all got soaked, especially
Scotty. Afterwards we dried up and made it back to the site. Here we ate
hamburgers and rested.
The Web of Life crew
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