2.25.25 Tritrogs Meeting Minutes
In attendance: ~15 in-person. 6 persons online
Secretary- Taylor O.
Hancock Cave Bat Countin’ No Fountain Trip report. Weekend of Feb 15, WV.
President Taylor called meeting to order.
~735 to 745 Introductions- favorite cave snack. Peanut M&Ms, protein bars, anything one can ingest (Stephan), peanut butter, Snicker bars, dark chocolate cran kind bars, chicken sandwich, Costco brownie protein bar, rice crispy treat, trail mix, Clif bar or beef jerky, canned fruit cups, 3Cs- cashews, cranberries and chocolate chips, PB and J sandwiches, jerky, PB bars, subway sandwich, loose almonds, jerky, gummi worms
Business
Aug 9- Boy Scout Caving Request Stephan- got contacted by BSA, got email. How have we done that in the past. Would like to go caving that weekend Aug 9. Open to suggestions of which cave. Lisa says has taken scouts into butler cave and it has gone well. Stephen will fwd email and introduce to guy who contacted. Depends how far they are willing ot drive. Ken pointed out web page we have that has instruction for youth group trip.
~749 Logo Creation Kat says that was something she was curious about. Apparently there are two floating around. Logo has a dinosaur. Some interest in shirts w logo on it. Ken says Rob did those 11 years ago
~751 Officer’s Meeting March 10 TT says location TBD. Officers will meet and get acquainted. Discuss certain items like masking policy and shirt orders. Get donation figured out. Plan grotto trip. Anyone is welcome to come to it, not just officers.
-Nick needs to update officer names on website.
Trip Reports
~753 Pine Hill- pics shared, shovel eater in germany valley, hamilton and new trap the next day. Explored new trout until it was gross. Next went to Kentucky, first cave was pine hill, supposed to drop into vertical, but just did horizontal, went swimming. Then went to Bowmans
Bowmans Cave covered in gypsum and sandy, surveyed lead/passage. Gotta go back. 30 hour trip and camped in cave, 2 hrs from entrance. Cave was supposed to be dry, but there was big waterfall. Flooding. Explorers got soaked on hike to cave.
Hancock Bat Count video shared of active water running. Matthew gave trip report. Said it was wettest they have ever seen. Sumping everywhere. Slept at Tanya’s. Sleeting in morning which turned to rain. Ken rigged the entrance like a gentle sir. Rest of group arrived and slid into mudslide that was the Hancock entrance. Started doing bat count. Found two bats almost immediately. Checked out flushing toilet bowls which were full of water. One group was with Matt Jenkins. Part of fun of caving is exploring. Root room was objective. Both potential passages have ramp of mud, 50ft down to roiling water. Third passage was goldilocks. Count then got up to 5. Matthew got his feet soaked and said a swear. Taylor tibbs could hear it along with the other groups. Matthew’s feet kept slipping and he needed help getting out. Amazing formations. 100 yr rain event. Bridges washed out and parts of the road. Came out. Mexican restaurant and headedhome.
Ken shared his version via tritrogs website.
Ken got stuck and had others pull out blue hand line that wasnt there. Carved out footholds with chisel. Toilet bowls normally empty. Overflowing. A lot more cave to explore at lower levels when not flooded.
Matthew was last to leave the cave. Piotr had a time getting out of the cave. Came slipping back in. Make sure you rig a handline before going in.
Upcoming Trips/Events
March 1 & 8: New River Jacob. Back to back new river trips. Currently about 8 people
March 15: Worley’s 3 or 4 expressed interest thus far. Best way to express interest is through discord channel and after meeting
March 29- 30: Tawneys, Giant’s, & Pig Hole Malanie beginner friendly vertical caves. Trip is pretty full. Grotto would need to purchase vertical gear. Trip capped currently
April 19: Low Moor Ladder Trip TT is leading. Day before emilys bday and Easter. Bats hibernating. Ladder chilling in TT’s apartment. Goal of trip is to replace ladder spanning 10 ft pit. Open cave, not a lot of crawling. Potentially graffiti cleaning. Ken says unlikely VAR will do anything this spring
May 9 -11 Spring VAR there is a FB page. Discord channel hasnt been started yet for it. TT will share link for registering. Ken says Sruce Knob in WV so 7 or 8 hr drive.
Lisa(?) Taylor climbing trip potentially at Table Rock. Some sport and some trad. Camping and parking lot are not open. Mike and Lisa were discussing. Alternative would be climb at Pilot mountain (crowded) and camp nearby. It is top ropeable. There is some lead. Moderate to advanced. Tritrogs and friend of Taylor discussion, any objections changing to pilot mtn. Lis awill make a date for some time in April or May. Will set up on Discord to figure out weekends. Can set up like summer tritrogs camping trip. Will need to see if Scoliokie(?) campground has space.
~821 took break. Return at 830 David asked Question asked if new river trip is new river cave. Traditional end point or far back. Going to far back. Mar 8th is more beginner friendly. Keep things before water fall
Program
~831 Forest Service Program Update
Stephan updated us on the forest service program. Last year in Oct had Jason Holifield from US Forest Service presented at grotto meeting to establish relationship/cooperation; informal meeting to see what is there.
All parties interested, but would need a project. SF says has worked a little bit on that.
In Jan contacted folks in western NC (Flittermouse grotto). For a potential ridge walking, cave (re)discovery project, to identify cave locations, and use them for future exploration and mapping. If you know where are caves, you can use that info to further explore area.
In national forest is main interest. Ken says US forest service and national forest may not be the same. NSS has started doing web meetings every two months. SF used opportunity to present early stage idea of project. Got contact back for when that goes to more serious idea.- Lee-Gray.
Did bat counts in Jan 31st and Feb. 24th with Scott and Wildlife Service. Might help to protect area with nearby housing development in progress. Mtn split perfect for fracture cave. Walked along hillside w no discernible path, until bulldozed area was reached. Wildlife service is particular about how to enter cave when counting bats. Dont use your own gear. Boots and cavesuits and other gear provided to avoid cross contamination.
Might have 3 party meeting with Tritrogs, Flittermouse Grotto, and Charlotte Cave Club group to explore what we want to do. There might be some funds. Sometime in spring.
Project Ideas- Ridgewalking / cave re discovery in national forest areas. Locate promising areas based on existing caves and/or LIDAR data. Recent hurricane damage. SF is open to ideas/input from others to develop ideas for projects on national forest areas.
Reviewed map of caves in NC by county. Most are in western half of NC. Reviewed map of National Forests in NC.Croatoan NF is a swamp. Uwharrie NF is closest but mostly volcanic. There is a legend about a bootlegger than dig a cave.
Pisgah and Nantahala NFs have potential. They have caves. Western NC.
Mines are off limit and we are not concerned with those.
SF says need to keep in mind recent hurricane in area, and that will make travel difficult in more rural areas. Also changeover in government agencies
After meeting Beer/Seltzer/Food at Raleigh Times.
-TO needs to get access to WordPress website. Ken says make sure to link to secretary page on website to upload minutes. Check with T Tibbs.