asscciation for mexican cave studies box 7672 ut station austin ...

20SCHOOL BUS SCOOPSZOaUITLAN AREA~)eoT'lle : Ji~ {ode~aker, Loretta ?oer, Freddie Poer,?ete Strickland, ?restonrorsythe, Shad L'1rason. Bill Hayne, Gilbert Pena, Barbara MacLeod,Lis.;. ~Hl k, Grah'am Jordan. ;1axine '1iller.The iZirk'-mod 4;.lD 'caver school bus Ieft Austin ,dth 12 people and drovevia Cd. V'lUes to .\catlan in extreme :-lorthern Oaxaca. ~lernbers of the ?rouprr.a~e a detaile~ ~a? of the ~urial Cham~er in Cueva de Culebra, anrl thenjoined 'd th .>'1. "1)run and the Lord' s to map almost a mile in Cueva de laFincn :,. ..-.;~!" La~una 'Jerde. They checked Cueva de Caballo - (this cave r,;[SIndian h':1'l,..:-, .Ii.. .....'::'.:1 reportedly also a painted horse - hence the n!'l!"~)..,);1 the hill .1."JOVC ti1is cave was a pit tentively named Sotano 30nito :.liththe lar?est room vet found in the area. esti~ated at 30)x500 feet. After~e~ Years they dr~e to 7.oquitlan, Puebla a~out 30km north of Huautla,')axaca. T~is town is situated on the ed!'e of a karst area .1ust east ofthe crest of the high ran~e that borders the coastal plain north of Huautla.0n the fjrst day in the area the school bus crew (now reduced to seven)walked co the west and found a pro~isin~ area of closed vallevs. Theyca~ped here the next day and ·...ere barelv able to enter two lar~e st'=!eplvdrnpp1n~ river caves. The fir~t cave, Cueva del Rio Texococla, had anentrance 50 feet wide a~d 20 feet hin.h, and they were able to follow thiscave dm.rn two drops before t!lev ','ould have to ~et very wet to continue.I~ the next dol1na was Sotano ~el ~io COYO ~ealpa with a 175 foot entrancedrop. They r~~?elled down to a ledge where the drop narrowed and sprayfilled the shaft. It ·...as dec frled to return wi tl~ ....et: suits. The nextpromising cave. Cueva de Covomeapan wa~ located upstre;t°T\ ~10"?, t'l'! ~i.oCoyomealpa. The entrance to the cave '.Ins only four feet above the riverlevel and was scoured clean by floodwaters that freouently enter the cave.Thev were a'::le to follo\o.' this cave down 5 drops of 10 to 5'"1 feet co wherethe cave picked up some ....3t~r at an R~ foot dro~ and it was decided to ~ostponeexploration.The Zoquitlan area appears to be a promisin~ karst area as the riverssink in the pine trees and could, if conditions are ri~ht, ~o almost to sealevel.editorialBill RussellSotano de San Agustin has been pushed to -2500 feet, and several newcaves have been discovered to the north of Huautla that may RO even deeper.Mexican cavin~ has reached the point where the resources and orginazationrequired to fully explore these caves exceeds the present capabilities ofthe AMeS. To 8ucessfully enga~e in World Class cav1n~ the organizationallevel of the AMCS will have to be considerably augmented.