With Howard Holgate presiding, the meeting began with a listing of upcoming trips:
- Anyone interested might still be able to make the last three days of the NSS Convention in Indiana if they hurry.
- Ken is planning a novice trip to Buckeye Creek Cave July 28.
- Keith and Lea Turner have invited the TriTrogs to join them for Wormfest with the Kentucky cavers, staying at the WVACS field station near Renick. It will be held August 17-19.
- OTR is coming up Labor Day weekend (Aug 30-Sept 3). Details at www.otr.org.
- The Fall TAG Cave-In will be held Oct 4-7.
- October 12-14 marks the dates for the Fall Joint VAR/MAR cosponsored by the Philly Grotto and the Triangle Troglodytes. Several hundred cavers are expected to attend, and the TriTrogs are responsible for making sure that anyone wanting to cave Saturday can find a trip. Lisa Lorenzin is coordinating trip leaders and the caves, so contact her now to ensure you can be paired with the cave trip you want to lead.
New faces at the meeting included Lee Marchman whose last wild cave trip was about 25 years ago and Ray Solo, a cave diver from Durham. Old faces at the meeting included Howard Holgate, Dave Duguid, Vincent Santagata, Matt Jenkins, Hayden Holgate, Mike Broome, Hilarie Nickerson, Ken Walsh, John Plyler, Linda Waters-Lindquist, Diana Gietl, Mark Little, Melanie McCullough, and Brian Bolt.
Trip Reports began with Ken’s description of caving with the girl scouts during their summer caving camp. He met them during their wild tour of Appalachian Caverns, taught them a little bit about sketching cave maps in Renfro Cave, and showed them how to clean graffiti in Worley’s Cave.
Dave Duguid and Diana Gietl described their photography and exploration of Rowland Springs Cave. Diana shared her preliminary photographs and described that she’d like to take a fall trip there to capture the natural light from the entrance. Dave Duguid described the survey down a pit into a stream passage. When the stream ended, the team headed up a slope into a fair-sized trunk passage where they stopped the survey and exploration. Good thing we surveyed down the pit on the way in.
Mike Broome discussed his non-caving trip to El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He, Lisa Lorenzin, and Peter Hertl rappelled and climbed the half-mile cliff in June. Mike talked about standing on the edge and the speed bumps along the rope splices. Pete Hertl climbed the rope in 67 minutes 3 seconds. Mike offered these teasers and promised a presentation about the trip in September.
Linda Waters-Lindquist offered to re-solder Ken’s carbide lamp.
Ken added an upcoming trip before the break. On August 11, he’ll lead a survey trip to Hancock Cave. Dave Duguid will lead a survey trip to the nearby Rowland Springs Cave on August 12.
