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

increased the cave's depth to -197 m. I explored on ahead another 100 m andsaw no end in sight - indeed, the water flow seemed to be increased and thepassage ahead took quite a bit of air. We exited after 17 hours.The 18th we rested, and on the 19th Thomas, Sheila, and Margaret wentinto Brinco to Laguna Verde where they attempted to su~y the connectionEdiger had made. They mapped partway up to the end of the other survey.Ediger, Diane and I did a·, surface survey from Brinco through town up to thatwo new high cave entrances. We mapped 60 m upstream into Entrada del VientoAlta to the bottom of a 10 m dome. Here a fault was visible, the chert bedshaving about 10 em displacement. The dome is climbable, but requires a belay.Into Entrada del Viento Baja we surveyed 40 m to a pinch. I squeezed onthrough and explored another 60 m downstream in tight passage. It will probablyconnect into the Brinco system but will requi.re a lot of work - a connectionwould add considerable depth.By a"long shot this was the most successful trip into Brinco to date.The cave's length was increased from 3.2 km to 5.2 km in the cave's largestand longest passage. The configuration of the cave was totally changed anda defin!te trend established. The cave has been extended 1 km to the south,lBay from the assumed resurgence to the north. It seems to be trapped in aminor syncline that has captured stream flow along its axis. At some point(which could be a long way off:,) it may break through this, dropping downand doubling back. Such an occurance would also break the recent horizontaltrend and again result in increasing depth. The cave thus far has dr~pped197 m of a projected 1400 m potential. The new discovery is so vastly differentit almost doesn't seem like the same cave. The well integrated dippingstream maze has intersected a large horizontal stream trunk 1.5 km long (sofar). By all indications this passage will continue a long way in both directions.Further Explorationin Cueva de Infiemillo by Maureen CavanaughDate: July 29-August 6, 1977Persons: Terry Sayther, Tom Byrd, Sheila Balsdon, Maureen Cavanaugh, JeffHorowitz, and Peter SprouseJuly 29: After much soul searching about "Mexico or Convention" our crewheaded resolutely south. The 2 a.m. border crossing'at Matamoros presentedno problems and we arrived in the Victoria square in time for sunrise andbreakfast. After an assault on the mercado it was time for a swim and:- watermelongobble in the El Careen canal. A ruthless bout of seed spitting ensued,but the mountains beckoned to us • •• A wet and muddy road was anticipateddue to the rainy season but it was very dry. That evening we camped at thePaso de la Huerte campground and watched the rising of a billiant full moonflooding the valley below with an eerie silvery light. The r.reather was warmbut pleasant and we all felt exhilarated to be out of the sultry lowlands andinto the dry mountain air.23