January ’10 "final" Endless Survey
By: Lee Ann Dean
January 9, 2010
Brian presented the final map of Endless to the grotto, and addressed the need to verify a couple of survey loops with strange data. Thus he led a “final” survey trip to Endless to verify about 5 survey shots. The initial plan of a weekend trip quickly turned into an incredibly long day due to the cold weather inhibiting a campout. Leaving the Lubbock area about 5 am were Brian, Jacob, Lee Ann, William, Tammy, Derek, Amy and Dan.
Attempting to tie new survey into the old survey
By: Lee Ann Dean
Bryant of Hobbs also joined the group on the hill. We got a late start due to transmission problems with one vehicle. The “newbie’s” of the group discovered that cavers care for each other both in and out of the cave. I learned that the weird phone rings on rock tunes at 6am are actually my cell phone.
A couple hours behind schedule, we entered Endless. Very quickly William was pushing every lead during the “mop up” shots to ensure that every alcove was accounted for. And yes, he discovered yet another crawly passage not on the original map. Brian determined to finish and be totally accurate, committed to completing the expanded survey.
Bryant shared his photography expertise and equipment with Amy. They spent hours happily photographing formations. Derek and Dan explored, crawled and challenged themselves to find their way using only a “blue glow light”. Jacob and I were happy to relax and support others in their endeavors.
Bryant teaching Amy about cave photography
By: Lee Ann Dean
Seven hours later, I requested a guide to lead the first group out of the maze. The confident “newbie’s” promptly got our expert temporarily lost. We excited the cave leaving Brian, Jacob, William and Tammy alone to finish yet another “endless” survey job of squeezes and tight passages. Another four hour drive to get home in the same day, filthy clothes and guilt about leaving others to finish the job made the long day bitter sweet.
As a "newbie" myself to the modern survey of Endless; KUDOS to Nobel, Tim, Jimmy, Dan and the decade plus of LAG members involved. For the last 5 years, KUDOS to William, Tammy, Susan and mostly Brian for your dedication. The map of Endless will never be perfect, yet my small exposure to the project has shown me that attempting to diagram "God’s perfect creation" is beyond our comprehension. But it sure is fun trying.
