March 2011 TriTrogs General Meeting

3/22/11
NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Attendees: Ken Walsh, Mike Broome, Lisa Lorenzin, Howard Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Martin Groenewegen, Melissa Sweazey, Rob Harris, Mark Daughtridge, John Plyler

General socializing 7:30 to 7:45
Meeting start 7:45

Trip Reports
Last weekend Mike & Lisa went to Butler cave pancake weekend, dug down 8 ft total, came back deciding those leads were not interesting. No blasting was done. Digging in the direction of a known cave.
Also did a commercial cave trip in Cueva Clara in Lares, Puerto Rico, which they enjoyed. Some nice formations. Mostly dry. Wild tours also available but other sightseeing beckoned.

Wiley PTA Science night thanked Ken and the Tritrogs for participating. The kids learned a lot. Ken brought the posters for us to peruse during the break, which seemed well done with interesting facts about bats.

Upcoming Trips:3/26 Lover’s Leap Vertical Survey
4/23-24 Grand Caverns Restoration
4/23 -24 Rob going to Blacksburg caving party that people are welcome to join him for, will include some caving
4/29-5/1 Spring VAR, Durbin WV

5/14 Vertical Training?? - who’s interested? students: Bryce, Ken, Rob, Martin, Melissa, Mike & Lisa for another date Suggested instructors John Plyler, Pete Hertl, Diana, Mike/Lisa. Mark D will continue to pursue putting this together
5/28 (Sat workday, 5/29 Sunday caving) - Memorial Day weekend Butler Expedition Weekend
5/26-28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/25? Grotto Trip ? Crib cave? Others??
? Gilley’s - Mark Little investigating, though busy with non caving stuff now. Part of Appalachian Caving Conservancy (ACC). In VA near Smyth Co, large passages, horizontal
Missouri VOR also coming up, google for info if interested

T-shirts. Martin will check into finding an artist. All are encouraged to submit ideas for design etc.
Howard will get preliminary pricing.

Break 8:16- 8:25 General mayhem ensued. (not really)

Program : Cave Map Reading, led by Ken Walsh

The book “On Station”, with key codes was recommended
Handouts given with descriptions of several cave map symbols.
Ken then proceeded with a well done presentation projected from a laptop which explained symbols and concepts. Ken will post the presentation separately on the TriTrogs website.

Topics and map symbols/notations covered included:
Strike and Dip - tells the tilt in relation to the earth's surface
Slope- crows feet on map widen to bottom
Also explained:
Ledge, Passage height, Ceiling Change, depth below datum (entrance),
Height above datum, stalactite, flowstone wall, Drapery, flowstone, water depth, pool, Rimstone dams, tick marks to show direction facing for cross section call outs.
Breakdown, cobble, dirt or clay, intermittent sump, stream, ceiling height, pit depth etc

The presentation concluded with a very fun exercise with 3 teams competing. Mike, Bryce and Howard won delicious locally made chocolate bars. All 3 teams struggled to piece together a map and then plot a trip through the cave based on verbal instructions given before the cut up maps were available. Understanding the meaning of the symbols and discovering a path to go past interesting features gave the exercise the feel of actual caving as well as re-enforcing our new knowledge about map reading.

The traditional after the meeting gathering was outdoors at Armadillo Grill with all meeting attendees making it for the nice weather.