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Equipment   Intensive
Trips
    Bat Cave 1
    Bat Cave 2
    Jim's Wedding
    Three Creeks
    Natural Bridge
    Mike's 26th B-Day
    Onyx Cave
Bolivar Fire Dept
Hannibal Fire Dept
Jefferson City Fire Dept

December 16th, 2000

Onyx Cave

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We left our lesbian wives at home and did something a lot cooler... When we left at about 10:00 the temp outside was about 34F two days after about 11 inches of snow fell.  By the time we came out at 15:00 the temp was 14F.  Here are frozen stalagmites at the entance. 
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About 2 inch straws in the foregound with a 14 inch stalagmite in the background. This area was just covered with 2 inch straws.
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This is the first big room wih Mike in the background This is another big room, about 50 ft wide and 15 ft tall.
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Another big room with a lot of moisture in the air. Straws.
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Curtains about 12 inches long. More curtains, about 14 inches long.
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Here is some curtains and a column with Mike standing for some scale. More curtains.
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This picture was taken looking up from where Mike was standing in the picture above. Another picture from where Mike was standing.
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18 inch columns about 15ft in the air. The back side of the column Mike was standing next to above.
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In this area, straws were everywere.   Anywhere from 4 to 18 inches long.  Something interesting about these straws was that several of them were growing down at an angle instead of straight down.  Kinda like trees growing on the side of a hill.  Almost like a constant strong wind blows into the cave.
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More straws, So many straws together, they formed columns.
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More straws. Looking straight up at straws.
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Lookin up again. This column was covered with copper mineral deposits and looked blue-green.
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This is the same column, looking down at Mike. The same column again.
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A set of curtains growing down to form a column. This cave is obviously well traveled, even though there is evidence of concrete and steel to block off the entrance that has been destroyed.  Despite the large traffic volume, there is little vandalism besides the normal spray paint and burn marks.  Most of the straws are intact (probably because they are so far up in the air).