In person attendance: Stephan F, Cat C., Taylor T, Taylor O, Jake, Matthew W, Mark D, Melanie, Piotr; Jacob; Rudy; Zeke

Online attendance: Maria D, Emily G, Lisa, Mike B, Mike, Blake F

735 Taylor T brings meeting to order. What is the strangest thing youve found inside a cave? If youre an officer, state your position

Introductions: Strangest thing you found inside a cave:

Online: Lisa- translucent scorpion in Mexico cave; Mike-pair of sunglasses; Mike Y- can of chewing tobacco in registry; Maria D- a sandy beach; Emily-packrat nest; 

In person: Matthew W- naked barbie dolls; Piotr- frog; Jake- cow skull on a stick; Jacob- long moldy stick ;Rudy- room of clay phallus; Melanie- bare footprints or two giant carbide barrels w nudie mags (the library); Cat-joker cards; Taylor O-century old stuff ;Stephan F- godzilla model in the godzilla room; Mark D- found Taylor T; Zeke- giant frog; Taylor T.- barbies and secret thing in Paxtons

747-reviewed agenda

Writing trip reports encouraged to show we are active. No maps, no cave locations

749 Annual grotto trip. Aug 1st to 3rd. Blue meadows campground in WV. 4.5-5 hr drive from Triangle. Still looking for cave. Group campground has vault toilets. 500ft down the road has bathrooms and showers. Bring tent and other usual camping gear.

Can do Culverson Ck but use different entrance

Buckeye Ck

Or others in Greenbrier country

752 T shirts for annual grotto trip

Submit art to Cat C by June 1st. Cat says can send as DM in Discord

754 Trip reports

March 29 Tawneys Giants and Pig Hole

Two groups on this trip. First vertical experience. Matthews first vertical trip. Stayed Friday night at Bat ranch, went to Giants in the morning. Giants is a show cave with a collapsed entrance. Only way in is to drop in. Rappelled into entrance. Walk into enormous room and greeted by house sized boulder. Looks small compared to rest of the room. Rotten staircases, lighting fixtures from previous life of the cave. Collapsed in 70s. 

Then went to pig hole cave. 120 ft drop, vertical fissure opens to outside. Beautiful places like Queens bath. Exited via manhole. Melanie gets credit for putting trip together.

Mike Y presented other groups experience. Initial leads werent able to make it. MY stepped up to lead. Tawneys first. First cave for a number of people. Found a new passage. Ran into second group of arborists wearing converse and crocs. Good beginners trip. Navigable and mostly horizontal. TT added for Tawneys excited to bring new folks in. Found interesting crawl. Convinced newbies to follow. Melanie says TT and MY gave new attendees a good time.

March 30 TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia)

Mike B and Lisa went on this trip. 4 days. Group of 5. Stayed at cavers paradise outside of Salani. Larsons well. Have to pull a permit to access. Private but cavers allowed. Attacked by puppies. Waterfall. Second day was Caybills(?) cavern. MB wnet first. Got good pics of Lisa coming down. Went to OSuth Pittsburg pit. Near town of south pittsbur, at edge of park. Decided vibe wasnt right. Pulled out and will come back next time. Ran into the Howie.

April 05 Tawneys, Links, New River, Pig Hole

Rudy presented. Cow skull on a stick. Rudy enjoyed the trip and the group. Stayed at bat ranch.

April 12 Low Moor Ladder trip

Mark D presented. Recovered old ladder. Replaced w new ladder. 8 attended. Anchors went in fine. Matthew designated navigator. Did good job getting to ladder room and then to fossil room. Future project may be log jam in river and mowing field.

April 19 Pilot Mountain Climbing Trip

Climbed howdy dude. Jacob presented. Pole dancing highlighted as a good climb. Cat’s first climbing trip. MB and L made her feel comfortable tying the knots.

Melanie did another trip report. NBC(?)

830 UPCOMING TRIPS

May 3 Worleys Bluff City TN. Jacob organizing

May 9-11: Spring VAR Spruce Knob WV Out of Bounds Grotto

June 21-28 NSS Convention Cobleskill NY- Mark Stephan Jacob going

Aug 1 – 3 Annual grotto trip, Blue Meadows Campground White Sulfure Springs WV

Aug 9 Boy Scout Troop Trip Butler(?) VA; Lisa thinks need another VCCS person to help. Room for 3 or 4 trips. If there is room for tritrogs, Lisa will let group know.

TBD Mammoth Cave Grotto Trip KY

Melanie planning caving trip sometime in the next month. Plenty of opportunities to survey. Theres a dig to bypass sump. Worked on since the 90s. Fix ladder. Graffiti. Big river. Good formations. SW VA. Buchanan cave salt peter

836 Cat presenting Cave Jeopardy 

Team Cave Sluts vs Team Godzilla

Lava tubes, troglobites, hypothermia, Talus Cave, Column, Krubera in Georgia, Cave bacon, Speleology, Chimney, Karst topography, Carbonic acid, Minimum 4 for caving trip, Cave of crystals, garbage bag can prevent hypothermia in cave, trogloxenes, prehistoric cave paintings, orange salamander, cave crayfish, soda straws, dissolution aka chemical weathering, , limestone, Pit, Shouting “Rock”, Glowworms, Mammoth cave, Stalactites, , carry three light sources, caver, bats

903 Round 2 of Jeopardy next meeting. Godzillas won first round. Cave sluts $6600 and Godzillas at $7600

Godzillas- Stephan, Mark D, Taylor T, Mike B, Mike Y, Lisa, Zeke, Taylor O

Sluts- Everyone else

Beers at Raleigh Times after meeting