Fort Stanton Cave Study Project History

2025 Calendar available HERE

Group photo of FSCSP volunteers at the NSS SWR 2024 Winter Tech Meeting, showing off their new blue tee shirts, celebrating reaching the 50-mile length of Fort Stanton Cave. (Custom shirts from ooShirts)
2024 Summary: 2024 was a banner year as far as exploration goes, because Snowy River passage, the backbone of the cave, was dry for the entire year. The FSCSP fielded a spring and a fall expedition, with several “mini-expeditions” during the summer. These 3-4 day long trips are designed for deep cave exploration, and are also supported by a small surface watch team that are involved in shorter surface trips. Some of these long trips extended the cave beyond the boundaries of the National Conservation Area and under private land. For these trips, permission was obtained from all the potential landowners involved before the trips. Several areas were discovered with exceptional beauty, comparable to that found in Lechuguilla Cave. The length of the cave is now approximately 51.7 miles. Caver Quest (latest update Version 7) is now available so you can continue to do some exploring on your own. More photos HERE.		This upper level of the PA survey was named El Dorado
2023 Summary: In 2023 we fielded our last year of three, week-long expeditions. 2023 was not a good year for exploration because Snowy River Passage, the backbone of the cave, was flooded beyond the 5.5-mile mark (Floating Islands), preventing exploration and survey beyond that point. Supporting Caver Quest, Garrett Jorgensen obtained GeoSLAM ZEB Lidar scans of Snowy River from SRN40 to SRS98 near Black Rock Bypass, and most of The Metro. Hell Hole 2 was resurveyed until sleeping bats were encountered. Recent additions during 2023 to Caver Quest continued in 2024 and now you can enjoy visiting even more of the cave by video and computer simulation. without any fear of contracting the COVID virus or spreading it to your closest friends. Links to selected You-tube Videos. A new surface monitoring site was set up on Eagle Creek in June, 2023, which we expect will allow improvements to the hydrology flow analysis. This is important by enabling better long range planning for deep Snowy River South trips.
2022 Summary: There are five new pages of photos from a July, 2022 trip to a continuation of the Snowy River Passage, passing the 44 mile surveyed passage mark. A new release of Caver Quest, now at Version 6.8.1, is using more advanced LIDAR and photogrammetry techniques, including 3-D presentations. We were fortunate to field several trips to a dry Snowy River in May and July. An exploration and survey team of 4 cavers made significant progress in passages beyond the Midnight Junction Camp, extending the cave another 2 miles. Rainfall starting just after their trip caused Snowy River to flow again. We continued working to obtain permission to continue our explorations under private property as we went just past the southern bou9ndary of the NCA, managed by the BLM. At the close of our Fall 2022 expedition the total length of the cave was 44.57 miles.
2021 Summary: During 2021 the flow continued and provided only limited access in May 2021. Additional work continued in the historic sections of the cave including new photography for Caver Quest. Derek Bristol's Fort Stanton Cave videos covering Snowy River, Bliss Borehole and Capitan Caverns are available for viewing.
2020 Summary: With COVID-19 rules, our cave access was very limited, and strict rules to minimize possible exposure were followed. Our volunteers who come to New Mexico from at least five different states, realized that the cave will wait for their return to probe the underground until the pandemic passes. Three more S&L survey trips in 2020 were made following Covid-19 rules. Garrett Jorgensen led three S&L teams in the Fall of 2020 and they were able to increase the official survey length of the cave to 42.29 miles! Starting with a lead from April 29, 2008 at station SRS107, the team named an important cut-around for the Mud Lizard sump area "Black Rock Bypass". Additional leads were surveyed during Snowy River maintenance work (repairing the "magic carpets") before flowing water was reached several miles upstream.
2019 Summary: Exciting new discoveries were made during October 2019. An extension of the Gold Rush passage discovered in October 2018 was pushed by three "Strong & Light" (S&L) teams and another six miles of passage were surveyed. Derek Bristol was able to video much of the new passages on the last weekend of the October expedition, and has released it on his You-tube channel. Check out Derek's video HERE.
2018 Summary: After four years of flow, Snowy River stopped flowing at Turtle Junction in May 2018. Four months later the soft calcite surface was dry enough for survey and exploration teams to continue during September and October before another flow started. During September and October 2019, Snowy River had dried enough for three "strong & light" teams to push an upper level passage which, after 28,700 feet of new survey, was named Capitan Caverns.

Group photo of FSCSP volunteers at the NSS SWR 2024 Winter Tech Meeting, showing off their new blue tee shirts, celebrating reaching the 50-mile length of Fort Stanton Cave. (Custom shirts from ooShirts)

2024 Summary: 2024 was a banner year as far as exploration goes, because Snowy River passage, the backbone of the cave, was dry for the entire year. The FSCSP fielded a spring and a fall expedition, with several “mini-expeditions” during the summer. These 3-4 day long trips are designed for deep cave exploration, and are also supported by a small surface watch team that are involved in shorter surface trips. Some of these long trips extended the cave beyond the boundaries of the National Conservation Area and under private land. For these trips, permission was obtained from all the potential landowners involved before the trips. Several areas were discovered with exceptional beauty, comparable to that found in Lechuguilla Cave. The length of the cave is now approximately 51.7 miles. Caver Quest (latest update Version 7) is now available so you can continue to do some exploring on your own. More photos HERE.

This upper level of the PA survey was named El Dorado

2023 Summary: In 2023 we fielded our last year of three, week-long expeditions. 2023 was not a good year for exploration because Snowy River Passage, the backbone of the cave, was flooded beyond the 5.5-mile mark (Floating Islands), preventing exploration and survey beyond that point. Supporting Caver Quest, Garrett Jorgensen obtained GeoSLAM ZEB Lidar scans of Snowy River from SRN40 to SRS98 near Black Rock Bypass, and most of The Metro. Hell Hole 2 was resurveyed until sleeping bats were encountered. Recent additions during 2023 to Caver Quest continued in 2024 and now you can enjoy visiting even more of the cave by video and computer simulation. without any fear of contracting the COVID virus or spreading it to your closest friends. Links to selected You-tube Videos. A new surface monitoring site was set up on Eagle Creek in June, 2023, which we expect will allow improvements to the hydrology flow analysis. This is important by enabling better long range planning for deep Snowy River South trips.

2022 Summary: There are five new pages of photos from a July, 2022 trip to a continuation of the Snowy River Passage, passing the 44 mile surveyed passage mark. A new release of Caver Quest, now at Version 6.8.1, is using more advanced LIDAR and photogrammetry techniques, including 3-D presentations. We were fortunate to field several trips to a dry Snowy River in May and July. An exploration and survey team of 4 cavers made significant progress in passages beyond the Midnight Junction Camp, extending the cave another 2 miles. Rainfall starting just after their trip caused Snowy River to flow again. We continued working to obtain permission to continue our explorations under private property as we went just past the southern bou9ndary of the NCA, managed by the BLM. At the close of our Fall 2022 expedition the total length of the cave was 44.57 miles.

2021 Summary: During 2021 the flow continued and provided only limited access in May 2021. Additional work continued in the historic sections of the cave including new photography for Caver Quest. Derek Bristol's Fort Stanton Cave videos covering Snowy River, Bliss Borehole and Capitan Caverns are available for viewing.

2020 Summary: With COVID-19 rules, our cave access was very limited, and strict rules to minimize possible exposure were followed. Our volunteers who come to New Mexico from at least five different states, realized that the cave will wait for their return to probe the underground until the pandemic passes. Three more S&L survey trips in 2020 were made following Covid-19 rules. Garrett Jorgensen led three S&L teams in the Fall of 2020 and they were able to increase the official survey length of the cave to 42.29 miles! Starting with a lead from April 29, 2008 at station SRS107, the team named an important cut-around for the Mud Lizard sump area "Black Rock Bypass". Additional leads were surveyed during Snowy River maintenance work (repairing the "magic carpets") before flowing water was reached several miles upstream.

2019 Summary: Exciting new discoveries were made during October 2019. An extension of the Gold Rush passage discovered in October 2018 was pushed by three "Strong & Light" (S&L) teams and another six miles of passage were surveyed. Derek Bristol was able to video much of the new passages on the last weekend of the October expedition, and has released it on his You-tube channel. Check out Derek's video HERE.

2018 Summary: After four years of flow, Snowy River stopped flowing at Turtle Junction in May 2018. Four months later the soft calcite surface was dry enough for survey and exploration teams to continue during September and October before another flow started. During September and October 2019, Snowy River had dried enough for three "strong & light" teams to push an upper level passage which, after 28,700 feet of new survey, was named Capitan Caverns.

Our award winning 306 page exploration and picture book [12 Miles From Daylight] that was published in June, 2017, is unfortunately now out of print. This book was featured at the National Speleological Society Convention held in Rio Rancho, NM. We are investigating being able to reprint the book but, in the meantime, keep your eyes open for previously owned books.

Note: some of the following links are out of date, but we will attempt to fix them. Check back later.
Take a look at ICS Exploration Award page and related information from the ICS & NSS meetings and other articles!
Cave study volunteer honored by BLM National Award Copy of Zine May 14, 2013 article. . Cave radio team (L-R: R. Harris, J. Lyles, Jim Cox & B. Kendrick). The beacon antenna is on the cave floor behind the group.		On the day before the award presentation, Jim Cox was part of the in-cave radio beacon team (see photo on left) supported by this surface team of volunteers. Some of the surface gear may be seen in the truck on the left. Bob and Deb Buecher (standing on the right) constructed the specialized equipment that provided enhanced survey precision seven miles from the cave entrance. Following the April-May 2013 FSCSP expedition, the length of the cave was 23.8 miles, making it 21st on the list of the Longest Caves in the US!
Ruidoso News: Cave study project receives conservation award Ruidoso Free Press, or scanned Note: some of the older internet links may no longer work, and have been omitted.		Fort Stanton Cave Project Receives National Conservation Leadership Award from the CLF (Conservation Lands Foundation)
		Fort Stanton Cave Project Receives Lincoln County Award: 10th Anniversary of the Snowy River Discovery
Ruidoso News: The Youngest Caver Lincoln County 150 Years!
FSCSP Scientist Receives 2011 National Speleological Society Science Award Shown here in Snowy River measuring survey distances with a laser range-finder, John McLean is best known for his many years of geophysical measurements including gravity and resistivity surveys. These measurements have allowed discovery of new cave passages before actual exploration underground.
FSCSP Receives Assistance Agreement as a Challenge Cost Share program. This article mentions that FSCSP volunteer hours and work sometimes adds up to more than 12,000 hours annually. It also mentions networking with the Government Services Division of the State of New Mexico towards a "green" improvement to the Bunkhouse which the FSCSP Project, with other users including the BLM, use during the year. The improvement in energy efficiency will pay back the cost of the work.		. Ruidoso News "Cavers' patience rewarded"
FSCSP Assists BLM in Receiving State of New Mexico Bunkhouse Renovation. The article mentions both the Cost Share Assistance Agreement with the BLM and the Bunkhouse renovations. It mentions in detail some of the scientific research performed by the volunteer FSCSP group.		. Ruidoso Free Press "Fort Stanton Cave Study Project hits two home runs"
Our Director of Public Relations Liaison , Lynda Sánchez, has written many articles about the Fort Stanton Cave Study Project for various publications. The example on the right appeared in the LINKS Newsletter of the New Mexico Association of Museums. The Fort Stanton Museum, located on the Quadrangle at the Fort, has a "cave room" dedicated to the surrounding BLM Fort Stanton - Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area (NCA). The display in this room was prepared by the Roswell Field Office of the BLM with assistance from local photographer David Trembly and members of the FSCSP team. In addition, FSCSP team members, who were also members of the Southwestern Region (SWR) of the National Speleological Society, acted as key organizers in restoring the 2nd floor balcony railings on one of the buildings on the Fort Stanton Quadrangle. This Restoration Project was completed in March, 2012, just in time for the 50th Anniversary of the New Mexico SWR cavers. "From Cavers to Carpenters..." demonstrated the wide variety of talents offered by cavers in New Mexico.

Older History can be found HERE