Introductions

In attendance were Maria, Mark, Taylor T., Emily, Matthew, Mike B., Kyle, Nick, Melanie, Nathaniel, Stephan, Lisa, Quentin, Ken, John, and Zeke.

Business

• Stephan displayed the official roles of the five officers while Ken talked.
• Dues are due. Pay $15 as an individual or $22 as a family. Your dues allow the grotto to maintain its stock of loaner helmets and lights. The funds also pay for our campsites during the big annual grotto trip. Each year, the grotto donates money to a cave conservancy or to some other worthy cave-related group.
• Mike shared the treasurer’s report.
• The 2023 officers recommend expenditure of up to $250 of TriTrog funds to improve the entrance to Buchanan Saltpeter Cave.

Announcements

• The Virginia Senate bill to dissolve the Virginia Cave Board was successfully stricken.
• Mike reports that RASS (Richmond Area Something Something) will no longer accept donations from us because their charitable status changed.
• Taylor continues to probe the possibility of an available meeting space at Chapel Hill Community Center. The grotto members who live in Chapel Hill and Durham would occasionally prefer to drive less.
• There have been reports of the leg loops on the Petzl Superavanti and Aven harnesses slipping through the buckles. As of January 31, 2024, Petzl has not publicly reported this as a safety issue, but the company now produces anti-slip devices for these harnesses and provides them free-of-charge to anyone who requests them.
• Taylor hauled in lots of cave-related books and maps that were given to the grotto by the estate of Dana Rea.

Trip Reports

• Kyle et al visited Worley’s Cave (TN). Kyle found it a lot easier than Hancock Cave. It has some nice features and the river was cool.
• After Worley’s, Melanie and Nick sought out Grindstaff Cave. They eventually found it and the pit and a waterfall and stream crawl.
• Did Melanie mention that she loves Worley’s? “It literally just gets better and better and better.” That explains why she keeps going back.
• Nick surveyed with Ken and Sully in Buchanan Saltpeter Cave. They spent nearly 8 cold hours looping around the entrance area. See Ken’s trip report.
• Despite leaving his camera at home and running out of water, Matthew thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in Paxton’s with Taylor and Mark. At least they found the Christmas Room. And next time they’re more likely to remember the route back.
• Melanie and Nick went to a bunch of caves, some previously unnamed and/or unknown. Beacon had some nice river passage and a wide chimney that they chose to not do. They returned to Speedwell and saw almost all it has to offer. Also, Goosepoop Cave, Sugar Hall Cave.

Upcoming Trips

• VAR Sinkhole Cleanup in Bland, VA – April 27-28
• Spring VAR in Durbin, WV – May 3-4
• NSS Convention in Sewanee, TN – July 1-5

Elections

Introductions

In attendance: Ken, Mike B. Mark, Kyle, Max, Taylor T., Melanie, Zeke, Nick, Kenna, Phil, John, Eli, Maria, Emily, Carlin, Zach, Stephan, April, Lisa, Mike Y., Quentin, Diana, Jillian, Piotr

Business

• Proposed year-end donation:
  • $100 to West Virginia Cave Conservancy (https://wvcc.net/) for cave preserve maintenance
  • $100 to Eastern Region of the National Cave Rescue Commission (https://ncrc-er.caves.org/) towards a cave rescue cache and rescue trailer for Greenbrier Co., WV
  • $50 to Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla (https://www.peshcaving.org/) to support exploration and underground research
• The holiday party is at Mark’s place in Durham on December 9 from 5:30 to 10:30pm. Use the Google sheet to sign up to bring something, or just show up! The squeeze box might make an appearance.
• The grotto elects new officers in January. Volunteer! No experience or gray hair needed.

Trip Reports

• Mike and Lisa went to Ellison’s to photograph Fantastic Pit (586 ft, longest free drop underground in the US). A friend of theirs is coming out with a book about the cave so they had some fancy photography equipment. They hauled a bunch of gear in Thursday night, came back the next day, and another team had rigged the rope for Fantastic Pit for them. Unfortunately, the photographer ran into some issues and was unable to get on rope, so the photo part of the trip had to be cancelled. M & L used frog system for the shorter drops and ropewalker for the pit.
• Nick traveled to Morgantown, WV, for the two-and-a-half-day Orientation to Cave Rescue course. So far, it hasn’t changed the way he caves, but it changed the way he packs. He has 5-6 pages of notes. He feels that the low need for knowledge specific to caving appeals to beginners. In fact, many of the attendees were guides for adventure camps who fit that demographic.
• Phil descended into Blowhole Cave. This was the first trip since they dug it open a year ago. The next trip will require a bit of persuasion. A successful connection will make this the first vertical entrance to a large existing cave system.
• Melanie and Eli poked around in Speedwell Cave and marveled that a cave with such a large, roadside entrance still boasts some nice formations. They laughed at the very sketchy ladder to nowhere. They also made the slog back to Mega-Junction in Blue Spring Cave in TN and admired the jaguar tracks. On a separate trip, they stopped at something called Beacon Cave (in VA) to see if they could find it. Then they went to Tawney’s and looked in every nook and cranny. Eli described a lot of perilous mud slopes with no foot holds and a high risk of sliding.
• April, Eli, Emily, Ken, Kyle, Melanie, Nick, Quentin, Steve, and six other people worked on the trail to Hancock Cave before splitting into three groups and exploring within. They marked the trail from the road to the creek with several tall plastic stakes. April showed Ken how to bend rebar to help hold some steps in place.
• Eli, Emily, Ken, Melanie, and Nick ventured into Atwell’s Tunnel Cave. Scat and spiders occupied most of the cave, but Nick was happy to find one passage that featured lots of tiny rimstone dams instead.
• Phil mopped up some small leads in Carpenter-Swago. It was disappointing.
• Nick enjoyed being able to safely guide a friend and new caver through Worley’s Cave (TN).

Upcoming Trips

• Dec. 2 – New River Cave sport trip and Buchanan Saltpeter Cave survey (Phil)
• Dec. 15 – Worley’s Cave, TN (Melanie)
• NYE? – New River Cave sport trip (Emily)
• July 1-5, 2024 – NSS Convention in Sewanee, TN
• ??? – Bone-Norman sport trip (Melanie)

Program

Stephan showed a video: “Rettungsaktion in der Riesending Höhle” about the 2014 rescue of Johann Westhauser

Introductions

In attendance: Ken, Mike B., Zeke, Melanie, Eli, Kyle, Nick, Kenna, Mary, Ben, Mark, Taylor T., Stephan, Phlegmily, Michael Y., Lisa, Lee, Jillian, Piotr, April, Quentin, Steve M.

Business

• Reminder: There will be no regular meeting in December.
• Time to celebrate the holidays and the 34th birthday of the TriTrogs! Inform one of the officers if you’re willing to host a party in December.
• The grotto’s yearly donation to a caving charity/organization is in the works. Officers are considering the following groups, but suggestions are welcome.
  • funding for a cave rescue cache in West Virginia (ER-NCRC)
  • cave preserve maintenance (WVCC)
  • Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla (PESH)
• As the November program, Stephan has lined up a video about a cave rescue in Germany.

Trip Reports

• Ken, Emily, Mark, Taylor T., and Piotr ventured into Rehoboth Church Cave for a photo trip. See Piotr’s posted trip report. They enjoyed the mud slide several times. Each iteration became increasingly more muddier and more challenging. Eventually, the ladder slope also became a slide.
• Ken, Emily, Mark, Taylor T., and Piotr visited Link’s Cave. Once past the horde of spiders at the entrance, Taylor led them to a small squeeze that Ken wouldn’t fit through. He backtracked to join the others. After the crawl, Piotr persuaded Mark to go through a squeeze into a small, terminal room.
• TAG Fall Cave-In. Melanie and Eli.
  • Simmons Cave was straightforward, had a lot of open space. A long muddy stoop walk, Howard’s Waterfall, the Art Room. They didn’t get down to the Sewer where the air is bad.
  • Pettyjohns is not a beginner cave. They went back to the Waterfall Room. There’s a mud slide that you couldn’t access without a rope. It started out dirty and stinky but got better.
  • Mystery cave near Knoxville. It’s about 700 feet long with chimneys and small stuff. They found a pit in the back – maybe 50 ft deep – with a mysterious rope. Descent was not attempted.
• Fall VAR.
  • Melanie loved Jones Quarry Cave. They did the hard section back to the Handshake Room. She also visited Crystal Grottoes Caverns which claims to have more formations per square foot than any cave known to man.
  • Cricket Maze Cave was the most fragile cave Nick had seen. Not difficult but a lot of crawling and mud. It was so decorated that past imprints had crystal formations growing in them. They traveled back to the Pool Room.
• Vertical Practice hosted by Lisa and Mike. Attended by Taylor T., Piotr, Ben, April, Maria, Mark, Phil, Melanie, and Eli.

Upcoming Events and Trips

• Oct. 27-29 – Orientation to Cave Rescue (Morgantown, WV)
• Nov. 4 – Buchanan Saltpeter Cave survey (Phil S)
• Nov. 11 – Hancock Cave (Steve M)

Program

2024 NSS Convention promotional video
Sewanee, TN July 1-5, 2024
https://caves.org/convention/2024-nss-convention/

Introductions

The 20 people in attendance:
Ken, Max, Nick, Maria, Emily, Mike B., Lisa, Zeke, Sam, Bodoni, Melanie, Alex H., Alex M., Kyle, Eli, Ben Taylor T., Piotr, Mark, Michael N.

Business

• Pay grotto dues. TriTrog membership is only $15 a year for individuals, $22 for families. Right now, for the low, low price of half off, you can be a member for the rest of 2023!
• Many thanks to everyone who volunteered at BugFest this year.
• If anyone is interested in being the youth group contact for the grotto, please let the officers know.
• Who wants to host our Halloween or Winter Holiday potluck party? The host gets to pick the date and time!
• Please offer any suggestions for year-end donations that the grotto should make.

Trip Reports

• Culverson Creek Cave – Grotto Trip Day 1
  • Maria noticed a large, chunky salamander, very deep mud, and lots of crayfish. She really enjoyed the mesmerizing reflections off the water onto the cave walls. When Melanie’s students saw a photo of the culvert, they thought she got to slide down it. Taylor posted some nice photos on Discord.
  • Zeke wasn’t mentally prepared for the climb down after the culvert entrance. This was Bodoni’s first wild cave, and maybe Sam’s if we don’t count lava tubes. Bodoni enchanted the Northern Spring Salamander. Emily poked it to see if it was dead. Nope. There was also something about Gordon throwing a couple packs off of a high ledge to see if they could fly. Nope.
• Piercy’s Mill Cave – Grotto Trip Day 2
  • Piotr would like to see the giant rimstone dams when the water level is higher, but maybe not as high as when Taylor was there last. There were some really pretty formations and some fish. Everyone appreciated being able to wash gear off in the stream.
• Perkins Cave – ACC Open House
  • Melanie thought the 30-foot belly crawl presented a nice challenge. She saw an impressive variation of formations on a trip to the Forest Room. A second excursion that day took her to the historic section.

Upcoming Events/Trips

• Sept. 30 – Rehoboth Church Cave photo trip
• Oct. 5-8 – TAG Fall Cave-In (Menlo, GA)
• Oct. 14/15 – Vertical Practice
• Oct. 20-22 – Last Chance VAR (Antietam, MD)
• Oct. 27-29 – Orientation to Cave Rescue (Morgantown, WV)
• Nov. 11 – Hancock Cave and trail maintenance (Smyth Co, VA)
• Spring 2024 – VAR Conservation Trip Sinkhole Cleanup

Program

Cave Packs – Taylor led a presentation and discussion about cave pack options (shape, capacity, durability, etc)

Introductions

In person: Ken, Peter, Emily, Mike B., Zeke, Mark, Vinnie, Melanie, Nick, Christian, Diana, Stephan, Taylor O.
Via Zoom: April, Taylor T., Maria, Dmitri, Mike Y., Matt J., Lacey, Justine, Lisa, Martin

Business

• Pay your 2023 dues if you have not already done so. Dues pay for food and campground fees for the annual grotto trip and for new lights and helmets that the grotto loans out.
• Check your inbox for an email from Peter about BugFest, an exciting opportunity to volunteer at the museum that offers us free meeting space each month.

Upcoming Events

• Sept. 16 – BugFest at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences (Volunteer!)
• Sept. 23-24 – caving presentation to Boy Scouts
• Oct. 27-29 – Orientation to Cave Rescue (Morgantown, WV)
• Various dates – Rescue Training Level 2 (Blacksburg, VA) Level 1 is full and is a pre-requisite.
  • https://ncrc-er.caves.org/events for more information about Cave Rescue Training events.

Upcoming Trips

• Aug. 31-Sept. 4 – Old Timers’ Reunion (Dailey, WV) You must be a TRA member or a guest to attend.
• Aug. 31-Sept. 5 – Cave Fest (Sewanee, TN)
• Sept. 15-17 – ACC Open House at Perkins Cave
• Oct. 5-8 – TAG Fall Cave-in (Menlo, GA)
• Oct. 20-22 – Fall VAR (Antietam, MD) https://var.caves.org/index.php/events/fall-var
• Nov. ? – Hancock Cave (Smyth County, VA)

Trip Reports

• Sully (absent) went to Memorial Day Cave.
• Zeke and Family visited Lost World Caverns. Albeit a show cave, the tour is self-guided. His daughter’s first cave trip featured sightings of a salamander and a tree frog.

Program

Mood Lighting: How Simple Post-Processing Improves Cave Snapshots
With photo comparisons, Ken demonstrated that adjustments to cropping, saturation, tint, highlights, shadows, and temperature could drastically or subtly improve the look of an image.

Introductions

In attendance: Taylor T., Diana, Mark, Justine, Peter, Rob, Taylor O., Emily, Vinnie/Savage, Lauren, Phil/Sully, Lisa, Mike, Stephan, Maria, Ken

Business

• Thank you to Zeke for hosting the June meeting.
• Membership dues for the year are now reduced to half-price ($7.50 for an individual).
• Mike and Lisa brought two old TriTrog grotto shirts to the meeting and they found good homes with other members.
• Per a show of hands, there appears to be some interest in Emily’s “Trog Luddite” design, so we’ll look into pricing.
• A Boy Scouts event on Sept. 23-34 wants a short presentation on caving. If you’re interested, consider taking the squeeze box which is currently at Lisa and Mike’s.
• Taylor reports that we have 27 responses to the communications survey. 67% would like to be able to communicate using an app other than email/texting. Discord is preferred over WhatsApp. Discord can be used from a computer’s web browser or downloaded as an app. In addition to planning trips, it could be used to swap gear and make other announcements.

Past Trips

NSS Convention

• Stephan went to Smokehole and Seneca Caverns as part of the Geology Field Trip at the NSS Convention. He got a cool geology guidebook and learned some tricks from George Dasher.
• Mike visited about fifty feet of Dreen Cave as part of a sketching class. He learned to sketch digitally using TopoDroid, and he highly recommends the class.
• Mike, Lisa, Ken, and Emily went to Tolly’s Secret Cave. We were told it’s the largest sandstone cave in the country. Access was granted to members of the NSS during the week of Convention only. The rock had strange ripple patterns in places and pretty colors. They encountered lots of spiders and a monorail worm.
• Ken took a class in cave formation repair, partly at Hamilton Cave. The work appeals to people who like details and DIY stuff.
• Stephan, Ken, and Emily visited Sharp’s Cave. The entrance was not where we left it. The cave contains an extensive and impressive sculpture gallery and a noisy waterfall (which we heard but never saw). A huge, massive block that had fallen from the ceiling was huge and massive.

Other Past Trips

• Lisa and Mike and about 40 other people attended the post-convention camp at Butler Cave. On a separate trip, they took Bram to Butler to do some vertical stuff in the Bean Room. On Day 2 they surveyed for 5 hours, and on Day 3 they scoped out nearby Fossil Sink Cave dig. The dig goes about 40 feet down and hasn’t been worked for 5 years. There’s tons of mold and some of the wooden shoring is rotten, so it will take some work to get it going again.
• Phil went to Carpenter-Swaygo Cave and did a little surveying.
• Vinnie surveyed in Perkins Cave for his first wild cave trip. He was surprised at the size of the cave and how much there was to study. 10 out 10. Would do it again.
• Diana went to Grotte di Castellana in Italy. It’s quite decorated, but they don’t let you take your own photos. It’s about a mile long. A 50-minute trip makes a nice tour of about half the cave. She also attended mass at an underground church. They mine a lot of limestone in this area.
• Mike and Lisa took Lisa’s mom into Butler Cave for her first wild cave trip. She got to take a camp chair in and sit and admire the formations that they pointed out. She entered and exited in style on a sled rigged to the Subaru.

Program

Culverson Creek Cave, in Greenbrier County, WV, is about a 4.5- to 5- hour drive from here. Group camping at Blue Meadow. We can access water at the nearby campground. Expect no cell service at the campground due to its proximity to the observatory. We’ll use the Wildcat Entrance, which has a culvert and ladder. The water gets possibly waist-deep in places. The stream reaches probably 60-65 degrees in the summer. Culverson Creek water flows under the Buckeye Creek system and emerges at the Spring Creek resurgence. Stephan has a book with more information than you could ever want, including history, maps, and photos.

Introductions

In attendance: Ken, Emily, Taylor O., Tom, Philip, Mike B., Lisa, Mark, Peter, Zeke, Stephan, Matt W., Ashwin, Martin, Lee

Business

• Zeke will host our June meeting (not at the museum) (possibly at Raleigh Brewing Company).
• Is there interest in a TriTrog Discord channel? Lisa says Discord is friendlier than Slack and she’s willing to help set it up. If anyone thinks another option like WhatsApp (messaging app) would be better, we can look at that, too.

Trip Reports

Oh no! None since last month’s meeting!

Upcoming Trips

• May 26-29 – Paxton’s
• June 26-30 – NSS Convention
• Pre-convention and post-convention field trips
• TBD (July?) – Hancock Cave (Mark)
• June/July – Scott Hollow Cave (Matthew W and Mark D)
• Aug 25-27 – Annual Grotto Trip

Program

Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla: Exploration with Lisa and Mike

Stephan Francke, Ken Walsh, Mike Broome, and Emily Graham were in attendance.

The meeting began with brief noncommittal conversation about how to get the banner and canopy to Convention.

Annual Grotto Trip

Based on the Blue Meadow Campground availability and the officers’ schedules, we agreed on the last weekend of August. Stephan made the campground reservation.

Upcoming Programs

It’s May, so we need five more programs for the year. Ideas include Peter’s Mexico trip, hydrology of a specific cave, things to do underground with webbing, worst-case scenarios, cave pack solutions, and how to find your way back to the car after exiting the cave.

Online Platforms/Communications

We seem to be leaning towards trying a newer platform. Deciding which one will be the fun part. During the monthly meeting, we’ll take suggestions. Any official announcements concerning grotto business will continue to go through email.

Membership Contact List

Wouldn’t it be great if we automatically had the contact information of the people we’re going caving with each weekend? So, how do we make that happen? How do we get consent from members?

Other

Mike paid the bill for the website.

Introductions

In attendance: Ken, Stephan, Diana, Emily, Peter, and Ashwin

Business

• Zeke will host the June meeting at a location to be announced later.
• Is there interest in a TriTrogs Discord channel? Also, what is Discord? Ken proposed looking at Discord as an additional method of grotto communication as more people are depressed by the idea of checking email these days.

Past Trips

• Emily, Piotr, and Ken continued the survey in Perkins. After all the rain the previous day, Ken chose to park at the top of the long dirt road leading to the property. The rain made for a very drippy, muddy trip. Piotr rallied even though the angles were steep and all the stations Emily set were too low. When they emerged to find it snowing, Emily’s spirits soared until she remembered that they had to hike all the way out.
• Peter recently returned from his annual trip to the Florida panhandle worm fest. He didn’t do any caving, but he was introduced to a cave diver and got to tag along (above ground) to the site of an exploratory dive. He also met a photographer and a captive albino crayfish.
• Stephan, Ken, and Emily mustered up the courage to clean out sinkholes for the VAR Earth Day event. The gusty winds nearly blew Stephan’s tent into the nearest sinkhole before he could pack it up. As promised, the rains came and went for much of the day. Two tractors and lots of people helped remove dozens and dozens of rolls of wire fencing. It took only an hour and a half to clean out the first sinkhole. Lots more interesting stuff came out of the second one. The tractor removed a tree from a small hole from which air was blowing right next to the second sinkhole, but we didn’t get to explore it.

Upcoming Trips

• May 19-21 – Spring VAR
• June 26-30 – NSS Convention
• TBD – Hancock Cave (Mark D.)
• June/July – Scott Hollow Cave (Matthew W., Mark D.)
• TBD – Annual grotto trip

Program

That Sketchy Group in the Park
Ken showed us the basics of being a sketcher on a survey team, making use of an amoeba-shaped walk-through sculpture and a break in the rain to let us attempt it ourselves.