TriTrogs October General Meeting

Attendees- Ken, Peter, Mike B, Lisa L, Matthew W, Jacob, Carlin, Mark L, David P,

Mark D, Chuck, Duke
13 total (Please remind me of additions/corrections)

Many were late to this meeting which started shortly before 8pm.   Apparently everyone attending the event at the PNC Arena drove 2 separate cars, thus leading at least 4 driverless cars to cause accidents and delaying many of us innocent (?) cavers who had to come from west of Raleigh. 

Old business

Lights were purchased for the grotto loaner gear

We have 4 helmets and 3 princeton tec quad headlamps for members to borrow

$85-86 Cost for the new lights

Canopy news- to replace the one eaten by the Derecho storm at Convention-

some too small and some way too large

sierra trading post is a place to check

Pete's canopy also destroyed at convention

replacing parts shouldn't part of the equation

(Mark arrived 8:02 and thus the quality of the minutes should improve dramatically from this point forward.  ;-) Thanks to Ken for getting them started.) 

No update on Craig H who was in auto accident.  Many of us met him at Grand Caverns some months back and last month we all signed a get-well card for him.
 
 
Trip reports
TAG in GA - vertical caving is the draw. Lost Canyon Cave just issued new permits, has two 100 ft drops. Flow stone pit, dug opening to 220 ft pit, another cave with multiple drops.
Cold Sink cave-  Ken, Carlin, Jacob, Stephanie, and others, got to survey out past "L" stations. M survey this trip. Knew part of the cave and had to find old markers to navigate parts of it. Traverse, swing parts, some of cave nice and lots of duck unders. U shaped tubes. Opened to 8 ft ceilings. Stephanie's first survey - she learned quickly. M survey starts some walking passage, and we may be done with belly crawl surveying there! Leads in many directions! 10 to 20 ft heights, found pan flute formation, starts to look like parts of Hancock. An hour and 15 min walk to get out. Surveyed 650 ft on Kens team. Crawl way to heaven a pain.
Jacob and Carlin surveyed a tight wet drain lead. Stream not flowing this time so a little drier. Traversed a pit 18 ft deep, and another 15 ft pit. Checked new pit, 12 ft that opens for 10 ft w small drain. All leads now cleaned up to M survey section. They then focused on sketches. 3 loops closed. About 14 hours of caving. Soup at Tanya's for midnight dinner. Carlin confident we will reach 1 mile.

Sunday up late ate at country club for breakfast at 10 am
Failed to find 2 caves they were looking for. Hiked all over hill of Cold Sink looking for another entrance. Water coming from hill, in the cave finding nuts far back in latest survey, also near road.
 
David went w Ava to Tawney's cave, met Mike and Monica Grauer who had not caved before. Visited Tawney's and one other cave, not many bats at ranch now due to WNS
Formation room near start, very nice, white, active, stream crossing, moon room large echoing room. Showed map at mtg.
One junction hard to find in breakdown, but found easier way eventually. Saltpeter mined there once. Hour and half to do whole cave
Other entrance closed by land owner went back through to start entrance
 
Mike and Lisa went to Whitesides , John Plyler went too, older woman new to rappel did well, was fascinated.
 
Peter and others went to New River Gorge Bridge Day, climbed rope, etc. Rob H has video on YouTube
 
Upcoming Trips
11/3 cave photography
11/17 Worleys / Hancock
11 /18 Rowland creek vertical
11/22-25 TAG trip??
12/1 Holiday Party
12/9 Linville caverns conservation (CANCELLED)
12/28-30 survey/ridge walk Smyth county
 
 
Break 9:09
 
Program Vertical Caving- Peter Hertl gave the program which included a handout with vertical tips and reminders.  
 
There exists NSS training for Vertical skills.
Grotto once had very active and even well known vertical caving group and it seems to be resurgent

Focus on going with experienced rigger. After that, what do participants need to know? Know your limitations and comfort zone and notice limits of others. Good health, nervous?, experience? , fatigued, sober, good judgement?, don't get into a rescue situation!
First aid training always good to have.
Situational awareness. Understand environment. Helmet even more important on rope. Be aware of what and who is above, rocks, mud, gear can fall
First step hardest and most likely to have problems where rope is against edge.
Look at rigging. Ask questions.
Have knot in bottom of rope!
Have safety in place before approaching edge.
Have up gear on and ready to go. May need at any time.
Practice changeovers! (Practice Above Ground!)
Have bottom belay for all but first descender.
Pad or tube on rope at edge point may be in your way to some extent, have to pass it- best to have a 3rd ascender attached.
Can have 2nd system at top to rely on while passing edge.  Speed is not an issue, safety is main concern.

Meeting Ended at 10:09 with the Museum Staff ready for us to be done!  A good meeting despite the late start.   A few of us scarfed down a late dinner and good brew at Armadillo Grill afterwards.   

September 2012 Tri Trogs General Meeting

Sept 25, 2012

Attendance:  7 Cavers:
Carlin, Ken, Martin, Ava, Mark D, Jacob, and new caver David Perry!  David shared an extended introduction saying he grew up thinking about caves, drawing caves, etc but only recently visited his first wild cave in Indiana and was hooked! His relative Clay Perry was a famous early caver who popularized the term "spelunking."  The cave David visited in Indiana was Dog Hill cave, some flowstone etc
He will be going w Ava to Tawney's soon and they want to find Doans cave too and ridge walk.  Everyone is glad there is no hunting on Sunday in VA.

Sadly David plans to move to CA next year

Old Business - Grotto loaner lights to be replaced soon.  Ava to work with Mike B. 
New business Agreed to purchase a new canopy to replace the one destroyed by the Derecho storm at Convention.   Not needed until Spring so time to shop sales etc.   Marting suggested Harbor Freight for cheap, quality ok. Other suggestions, REI garage sale, on line sources, etc. Ava and ken will shop specs and prices and report back on price range. 10 x 10' Or so, desire one much lighter and easy to transport than old one.  

Howard offers his place for holiday party!  Details TBD

Ken discussed an article in VA Region Record from this summer on bat trends in VA. 4 yrs of WNS in VA. not all species affected same. Most common species are affected most so total bat counts way down. East small foot rare to Start with so hard to gauge impact.

No grey bat deaths observed . Endangered big nose seems immune. Some species get it but don't die

Bat counts dropped around 80 % since 2009
Fungus found on only one Indiana bat in VA. Some bats found in previously uninhabited caves. Passed article around for folks to see further details and statistics.
The situation for Bats described by the article sounds grim overall. They are not finding banded bats again, so hard to track them.  Not returning to same place

There was also an article in today's N and O about artificial cave in TN being used to study bats and try to provide a cleanable roost for them.  It is close to natural caves and we discussed our doubts that this approach will work with the bats freely visiting natural caves nearby.  

One other item of new business- Carlin and Ken went to VAR meeting recently- one member of VAR was hit by his own tow truck w serious injuries. Get well card passed around for all attendees to sign and send to Craig. Last Monday was the accident.  

Trip Reports
Rob Harris went to Old Timer's Reunion.  He also went caving but nothing special, Ava reports. 

VAR Jacob, Tonya, Carlin, Ken, Ava, got there about midnight and led trip signups were full. Did Bells Valley caves wet and dry along dirt road (which passes for freeway in that area) Dry was 300 ft long lots of critter scat.  Cave was fun and  quick. All but Tonya went to wet cave. Critters, rim stone, enough water to swim. Chest deep water. Looked for another cave didn't find. Found snapping turtle. Carlin shared some pictures and video .

That night at VAR good band and program, slack line, on way home Sunday visited Devils Marble Yard rock play ground above ground builder field.   No one knows how this unique field of small, sharp boulders was formed. 

Upcoming trips9/28 Group of TriTrogs going to Common Ground theatre in Durham to see play of Harold and Maude. Call for reservations, 919 698 3870 at theatre. Play runs for 2 weeks.

Oct 4 tag fall cave in. Pete and Carlin going Fri-SunTavelling Thurs and Sunday. 9 hr drive. vertical cave, plenty of horizontal caves too.

Oct 20 cold sink survey
Oct 20 Tawneys sport trip. Ava waiting list. 6 on for now, beginners, near Blacksburg at bat ranch. Walk from camp.  Want to keep the numbers low but if another leader goes could form 2 groups. 
Nov 17 Worleys VA survey.  Also Hancock bat count or lovers leap survey that weekend
Forearm pad may help in the remaining Worley's tight survey
Nov 18 Rowland creek vertical spot trip Dave
Photo trip Diana and Matthew W. maybe wet Bells Valley Cave?

TAG (TN, AL, GA area) at Thanksgiving?
We studied the just published map of Rowand Creek including the drops and interesting features

Break at 8:52
Program Nova Science Now video on earthquakes in the midwest that centered on cave study and geology

Post Meeting gathering was at Boylan Bridge Brew Pub.   Everyone agreed it was an excellent place, which featured decent original craft beers and the best hamburger in the Solar system, if not the Universe. 

Next meeting October 23rd.  (4th of 5 Tuesdays)
November meeting will be Nov 27, right after Thanksgiving weekend.
December meeting will be the Holiday Party

TriTrogs General Meeting, August 2012

8-28-12, 7:30 pm

Attendance 9 Troglodytes:
Diana G, Carlin K, Ken W, Mark D, Mike B, Ava P, Peter H, Matthew Weiss, Martin Groenwegen, Mike Grauer

Introductions included the Month of each persons birthday which was used later to divide up into teams for the program.   

Old business- Pay dues to Ken tonight. All the shirts from convention are now gone.

Library now has convention guide book including cd with maps. Diana has old NSS journals if anyone wants them.
New business Bugfest Sept 15volunteer w Peter!! At museum here.   Separate e-mail was sent.
Help w display, greeting visitors etc

Program
Things to look for in photographs and how to pick the best photo to present or share
We did the program first so that Ken could process the results during trip reports.  
See handout from Ken for tips:
      Under/ over exposed, have something interesting in each 3rd of the photo, etc 
The program involved several stations which each had about 4 pictures of the same spot in some cave.   The teams of about 3 participants each ranked the photos for best to show.  Some seemed obvious but some were open to a fair amount of debate

Trip reportsMike B above ground at Whitesides did single rope technique practice, climbing and rappelling
In fog for part of it. 700 ft cliff in w. NC. Just above GA border. nice pics shown

Ava told about white limestone cliffs in France, sea caves 10 or 15 little caves only went in 100 ft or less. Few good pictures and her professor didn't want to cave

Carlin and Ava reported on Copenhavers Cave.  Good fun pictures, cleanup, cave on farm w lots of metal, barb wire etc. cable ladder for waterfall, entrance is. Much nicer now, hauled buckets of trash up the waterfall.  2.5 pickup loads hauled to dump, time to explore cave after clean up done
     Visited Worleys Cave (VA) next day good pics of monorail worm, bristle tails, salamanders,
Cleaned up 4 leads and explored 2 other. Super man squeeze with one arm up and one down. Solid rock tube. Lots of passage after tight crawl needs survey!

Program part 2Discussed pictures we all agreed on and why
And more discussion on those w less consensus


Upcoming trips-- see grotto calendar on the website http://www.tritrogs.org/trip_schedule_new.html
Labor day OTR (Old Timers Reunion)
Rob and Peter going? Worthwhile but far away.

Fall VAR (Virginia Area Regional) in Rock Ridge County Va, near Lexington VA.
 Sept 21 - at least 4 Tritrogs are going
Perkins cave tour on a separate trip that weekend in sw VA- 28 miles of cave

Oct 4 tag cave in regional 9 hr drive. Carlin going. In GA near AL- lots of vertical caving
Worleys survey some time in fall
Oct 13 or 20th cold sink ?
Photography trip?  interest expressed in doing another trip to phocus on fotography skills soon.  

Due to a somewhat shorter meeting with lighter attendance and the format of the program we did not take mid meeting break but afterwards several went to Armadillo Grill.

July 2012 Meeting Minutes

(recorded by Ken Walsh while Mark D. is on vacation)

Zeke, Diana, Jacob, Mark L., Carlin, Ava, Rob’s head, Martin, Matt, Michael, Ken, Riley, and Nick were all at the meeting.  Carlin knew everyone, so he skipped the introductions.  Martin shared that the June get-together in Chapel Hill didn’t have many attendees.

Ava announced that she has one medium and one small TriTrog t-shirt left for sale.  If no one is interested in the small size, Linda Waters will squeeze into it.  Remember how she fit into 4-inch cracks in Hancock Cave.

Dues are $7.50 for the remainder of the year and should be paid to Mark Little.  Mark planned to discuss the money from the grotto trip during the break.

Matt talked about his trip to Worleys Cave to test out his new camera.  He made a very long photography trip to the back of the cave but left the CFL inverter closer to the entrance.  His new camera worked very well, and he offered to share photos at the next meeting.

Carlin found Piercys Mill Cave and Piercys Cave to be simple caves.  Everything was huge walking passage, and the rimstone was worth taking pictures of.  He and his group (Rob, Todd Mailbox, and Janney) returned at 2:30 AM from the caves.

Martin shared a trip report about the Annual Grotto Trip to Breathing Cave.  The hike was estimated as 1.65 miles to the cave, and we arrived at the entrance at 12:30.  Martin’s photon cannon broke while in the cave, and he found a jacket and gloves in the cave. 

Ava went with Tanya, Patrick, and Madison to Patton Cave (she knew it sounded like Paxton) at Convention with a very large group.  Some were very slow moving.  Ava found two cave salamanders and huge pools of larval salamanders in this huge borehole.  She also saw lots of pretty stuff but lost her camera the following weekend.  Whoever found it now has many salamander photos.

Ava also related a trip report for the second day of the grotto trip, a short hike and splash at Roaring Run Recreational Area.  We got to play in a lot of waterfalls, but Ericka got stung fifteen times by yellow jackets. 

Rob shared a trip report from Acme Mine.  It was really cool.  He only saw a small part of the caves and looked out the mine entrance down to the lake.  The mine was very windy and the cave has no natural entrances.  It began as a limestone mine cut into a grid, but it intersects the caves.  Carlin later shared a photo of the entrance.

Diana went to Wolf Creek Cave with Ken on a photography trip with Bill Storage, Andrea Futrell, and Doug Medville.  A dry riverbed leads into the cave for a ½ mile, but the cave had a stream running through it.  Diana reported that it was quite nice in the back, and Ken shared a photo taken during the trip.

Ava and Rob visited the commercial Linville Caverns and found it to be a pretty cool cave.  Their tour guide had the heaviest NC accent.  Unfortunately the entire cave was green with moss, and they did not find the secret entrance to Linville Caverns.  Others shared the story about escaped prisoners and how back entrances were discovered.

Carlin then shared a slide show from the grotto trip to Breathing and Paxton Caves.

Carlin also shared a trip report from the Cold Sink Cave survey, noting that the survey is now more than 3000 feet.  The survey is way past the pit now.  Carlin finally has a disto and is itching to use it.  We are not at a mop-up stage in the survey yet.  The last team surveyed 700 feet straight, and it’s still going.  The last trip ended at two connected rooms.  There is a climbing lead, and the main route runs hands-and-kneesy for a ways.  The passage above the main route is like a mine tunnel and should be able to get good passage.  The team stopped because Carlin needed a break when they got to the big room.

Mark L. shared another trip report for Breathing Cave.  When the climbing got tough, his group left the cave after the thunderstorm.  Carlin noted hundreds of frogs in the headlights during the drive back to camp.  And lots of deer.

Upcoming Trips:
Cold Sink Cave survey 7/28
8/4 Ava and Carlin on rope
Copenhaver’s Cave Cleanup Trip 8/11
8/12 Second day
8/30-9/2 Old Timers Reunion
9/21-23 Fall VAR
9/22 Perkins Cave Tour
10/4 TAG Fall Cave In  (GA)
Cold Sink Cave survey in October with Dave

Ken shared a presentation about karst terrains based on the map at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1154/.

TriTrogs General Meeting

Mayan 22, 2012

General socializing 7:30- 42

Attendees: Carlin K, Ken W, Mark D, Martin G, Mark L, Mike B, Lisa L, Bryce S, Peter H, Steve S

Old Business- none

New Business-

Grotto trip and convention 

Rob bringing mom to grotto trip

Matt Lubin hosting in Chapel Hill for June mtg.   Informal meeting only!. June 26

Grotto trip July 15. Camping at $19 per site w2 tents/8 ppl per site At least 19 going. Mike B will help with head count since Ken is out most of June. Group breakfast Saturday and dinner Saturday.  All food otherwise is on your own.

Get gear from Mike if you need to borrow grotto gear.

Trip Reports-

Spring VAR Peter went alone, ~300 ppl there, commercial livestock farm, on top of karst, went to Norman cave, @20 miles away, good leader, in at 10 am, 20 mile system w Bone cave. Booming waterfall, 20 ft falls, walk in water most way, calf to waist deep, small falls/rapids.   Did not get to Great White Way, went to caramel room with large flowstone formation

Group varied in fitness , WV room near entrance was nice- formations broken, some by breakdown, recent earthquake likely.  Out around 4 pm.  About 10 ppl on the trip

Mike and Lisa went to all you can eat pancakes and caving in March- digging, leads, looking for new cave, Owl cave, Teedle dum dig. Rube Goldberg 3 tiered haul system with track, zip line, raises 60 ft, moves dirt and rock rapidly, got 6 ft further but no breakthroughs, can see intersection beyond hole, but later trip still did not open up. Lots of air flowing. Good home brew beers!   Pancake weekend at Butler Cave Conservation Society (BCCS)  next weekend another work weekend (Mem day)

Martin went to dig, about 700 lbs of rock at Grand Caverns. Damage found to some formations?  Buckeye is closed

Upcoming trips-

Cold sink June 8-10, near Marion Va.  Pushing leads, survey

Pre-convention June 22-24. Five camps with trips on the website- sign up there. $20 to WVACS to go Convention. Campground opens Sunday night at state fairgrounds, may be able to set up on sat

   VPI. Catawba murder hole.

   Poor Farm RASS  WWAS

Convention June 25-29. Tanya's talk is on Monday  

6 or more signed up from Tritrogs

Post convention Catawba murder hole

Karst hydrology

June 30-July 1 BCCS expedition weekend

Peter wants to a practice vertical at his house before convention!!

Grotto trip July 13-15. 4 hr drive fr here, 1 hr from campground to cave + 20 min walk

    Ice cream nearby!!

Cleanup Aug 11. Copenhavers cave, 1500 ft, wet, zen garden room is interesting climb.  Will get muddy. 

BREAK

Program

Puzzle on grotto timeline-  The whole group collaborated to solve clues to put tales and pictures in chronological order.   An excellent glimpse at our history as a Grotto as well as a fun and intriguing logic puzzle.  The grand prize shared by all was to extremely tasty Escazu chocolate bars! 

We then adjourned to a familiar Mexican Bar for tasty Armadillo tacos for dessert.  

Tritrogs General Meeting

April 24, 2012

Nothing remotely interesting happened prior to 8pm at which time the intrepid grotto secretary arrived and began taking notes. Rumor is that introductions included each person mentioning a cave on their "bucket list" they really want to get to someday.

Attendees: About 14? Including the disembodied pixelated head of Dr. Rob Harris live from Charlotte, Ken Walsh, Peter Hertl, Carlin Karchner, Ava Pope, Martin G, Bryce S, Jacob, Matt Lubin, Riley W, Mike (sorry I missed Mike's last name), Nick, and eventually Mark D


Old Business and New Business
If any, this happened before the legendary scribe arrived.

Trip Reports

Bryce showed photos of Atwells tunnel cave with cool custom lighting by Matthew Weiss .
Great photos, Lots of water, chest deep pools, stream, nice formations cool shadow effects, Digital DSLR camera. Dodge and burn photo process technique.

Grand caverns- Ava, Jacob, and others at Grand restoration trip, re-glue formations, re-pave walkway in cave w gravel, bucket bruises etc from carrying many loads of gravel by hand. Nice dinner by Andy R. afterwards
Rest day next day. Cleanup done every Easter.


Carlin reported on Cyclops cave. 15 salamanders seen. Ava very envious of reported salamander sightings.
4 guys went, nicely decorated, in for 16 hrs, surveyed in downstream section, zip line rigged across lake and waterfall. Surveyed about 400 ft. Survey ends in walking passage.

Jacob shared about several folks going on cold sink survey. Off the old map now to new mapping! Ava and one other crossed crossed 20 ft wide 18 ft deep pit with makeshift harness, passage opened up, Survey station G17 lead goes to an intriguing big room. Picture shown of overlay on Surface map- new survey with original survey which is off by about 30 ft. Discussed magnetic declination gps error etc, Orange is the correct/newer line on his overlay to google earth map.

Rob went to Newberry-Banes /Pig hole- 170 ft entrance pit, rappel led in, entrance ledge, near Virginia Tech area, 190 ft drop, 2nd longest in Va. Rope walker system heavy and pain to take on and off, would prefer other system, banged up a bit

Sunday, Ava went to Sugar Grove area of Smyth County, VA: quarter square mile with 12 caves, Tanya is presenting on this area at NSS Convention!

Carlin, Ava, Mark D and about 25 others (many non cavers) attended a talk at UNC by Roger Brucker. A few of us had dinner with him and his wife Lynn beforehand. We met 2 of their poodles, saw their cool van/RV. cool guy, He spoke about Floyd Collins and writing the famous book, and about exploring around Mammoth Cave, KY and linking it up to other systems to form the world's longest cave and still growing as more is surveyed. (More than 360 miles currently.)

Upcoming Trips:
Pete and Rob planning to go to VAR 4/27-29

5/4 SERA - AL
Jacob wants to cave somewhere the weekend of 5/4 if anyone interested but perhaps not as far away as Alabama

JUNE 22-30 pre convention, NSS Convention (25-29) and post convention activities

July 13 grotto trip to Breathing Cave! Riley working on food, borrow helmets etc now from Grotto as we could run out

Aug 11 Copenhavers cave cleanup trip

Some in group interested in organizing a Mammoth Cave group trip

Break

Program
Knots with Carlin

Showed 2 good books - Alpine Caving Techniques and On Rope

Old saying to avoid: "If you don't know your knot tie a lot", Not a safe way in many situations!!

Knots used for General caving, set hand lines, rig etrier etc, Rig traverse such as in Cold Sink Cave etc.
End knot, mid line knot, seat harness made of Webbing

Demo followed, then practice

Lot of knots have multiple names.
Discussed and practiced several knots:
Water knot on webbing
Figure 8 on a bight
Barrell knot (1/2 of double fisherman's)
Double cows tail with knots about forearm length between
Butterfly (also called Alpine Butterfly)

Being a very knotty group we stayed past time the Museum staff wanted to go so at 10pm we took the ropes outside. Having already eaten the fearless note taker departed with presumptions that the group proceeded to a local watering hole perhaps to continue tying knots and rouse the suspicions of other patrons.

TriTrogs General Meeting

NC Museum of Natural Sciences
March 27, 2012

General socializing 7:30 to 7:39
Meeting start 7:40

Attendees: 13 Cavers: Carlin Kartchner, Avery Chipka, Martin Groenewegen, Ava Pope, Riley Warhime, Hovering Head of Rob Harris (live via ethernet), Nick Henderson, Mark Daughtridge, Bryce Schroeder, Peter Hertl, Ken Walsh, Ryan Zelstead, Jacob Jackson

During Introductions every one told what State they were born in. Newcomer Avery just moved here from Florida and is a veteran cave diver and mentioned that it’s theoretically possible through a network of caves to swim all the way across that state underground. Surprisingly few of the TriTrogs are originally from North Carolina.

Old Business-
none
New Business-
None
(Officers are trying to handle any actual business outside of the grotto meetings.)

Trip Reports-
Vertical Practice- about 9 cavers attended to learn and practice good techniques new to some- frog, rope walker, rack rappel, change over, etc. Included a rope on a pulley for continuous climbing. Hope to do again before convention.

“Memorial Day Cave”- (Carlin) cleanup, survey, ran out of gear to get to top, awesome looking lead up there. Too exciting of a climb, strait as a traverse. But got to old brittle flows tossed hammer as a grappling hook, tether to drill caught fall sixty feet up then. 200 ft climb led to 10 ft of passage. Long crawl w pack eating crack, 125 ft drop Other interesting passages. Just shy of 20 miles of cave so far

Wilderness First Aid- Up early for Martin, Class was worthwhile and enjoyed by Martin, Mark, Ken, Peter and Matthew L. plus 4 climbers. CPR training needed to round out, Avery CPR instructor, Avery and Martin to discuss options for group CPR training and rates

Ava- subway in NYC has soda straws forming on the ceilings

Norman Cave- (Rob) beginners, good group, cold water, some folks got cold, great white way target didn’t get to, WVACS was good place to stay

Upcoming Trips-
March 31-4/1 small cave in Smyth county fluorescent light on inverter, photo trip, 1461 ft cave, still confirming trip w/ land owner, Contact Bryce or Matthew Weiss if interested. Day trip

March 30-Apr 1 Cave Rescue Class Harrisonburg, VA See www.er-ncrc.org See Mark D. Class reported as full

Apr 7–8 Grand Caverns Restoration Cleanup Weekend See Ken, clean formations, trash, change light bulbs etc Ava, Matthew Lubin, Bryce and Ken likely going. About 40 cavers total. Leave Friday night
4-14 Cyclops cave survey, Vertical 6 miles mapped so far, 11 short rope drops, waterfalls, re-belays, tyrolean/zip, to survey bottom of cave
Apr 20–22 Cold Sink Cave Survey- See Carlin. Jacob, Ken, Dave also going. Dress warmly. Vertical not required, but optional. Multiple survey teams. Leave/return times TBD by group.

Apr 27–29 Spring VAR Poor Farm Festival Grounds, Williamsburg, WV See varegion.org
Good gear vendors- Avery going.

5/5 Dave Duguid, going on family trip w/ Dawson age 11. Others welcome. Zip line next day?, Cave TBD

5/4-6 SERA Summer Cave Carnival
May 25–28 Kentucky SpeleoFest
June 24-29 NSS Natnl Convention Lewisburg/ Greenbrier Cnty WV (5hr drive) See nss2012.com
July 13-15 Grotto Trip- good for beginners, fun, see Ken
Early Aug- Copenhaver’s Cleanup 8/11-12

Discussion:
Busted Turtle Cave map now published, Smyth county VA, (pit above Cotton)

Break

Program – Peter Hertl on Biospeleology, PhD Dept Entomology NCSU
Basic Cave Biology
Books- used book stores- The Live of The Cave by Pulson, from 1966, still one of the best overviews $20 or less fun even as coffee table book good illustrations
Cave Live, by Culver, very technical, no photos, less fun

Distribution of caves- cool map of caves with bio distribution
Terms
Trogloxene- cave visitors, must return to surface (bats etc)
Troglophile cave lover can live whole life in cave but can also be outside
Troglobite, cave dweller ONLY.
Troglodyte- humans only cave dwellers stayed near entrances, example of trogloxene
Accidentals- like busted turtles, snakes, etc, deer, cattle etc. snakes may live a while but don’t thrive

Cave zones, entrance, variable temps, sunlight, green vegetation, can be large, often very small
Twilight zone less light, minor temp changes, minimal plant life
Dark Zone, no light, constant temp

Diff Habitats- Streams, pools, may or not be surface connected
Cracks, crevices,
Organic debris
Mud/soil
Rock and formations- bacteria live in rocks miles underground. Crystal cave biologist searching for bacteria w/I crystals (see Nat geo video)
Temperate – little organic matter, seasonal bats, no flooding, only periodic flooding, low temps, hard living, low #, many adaptations, old guano hard and dry from former large populations of bats
vs Tropical caves- much organic matter, year rnd bats, much guano, rainy season floods, high temps, easy living, high numbers and few adaptations (many roaches etc)
factors for life- darkness, limited food supply, conservation of energy, pre-adaptation before they got into caves
Food pyramid outside vs inside caves
Food web based on plants outside, but no plants in cave.
In cave starts with material washed in from outdoors, bat guano, etc. no energy originates in cave.
Populations sparse and spread in caves
Typical modifications white, reduced eyes/eyeless, slow metabolism, omnivore/predator, elongated appendages- to detect predators or prey
Pigments for warning, attracting mates etc, protection from solar damage, camo, etc. pigment production takes energy so natural advantage to have no pigment or eyes.
Birds, shrews etc burn lots of energy and need much food and do poorly if in a cave

Preadaptation- echolocation in bats good example. Developed for foraging outside for nocturnal flight and finding prey
Other characteristics- nocturnal, non visual sensory systems, touch/chemo sensation/smell, tolerate or need moist environment- mostly damp in east/tropics, live in the region, slow metabolism, live in cracks, crevices or soil, feed on detritus, predators
What lives in caves?
Bacteria
Fungi
Tartigrades- live in soil, interstitial liquids, water bearers
Mites- in all soil
Many others
We generally can’t observe the above.

Fungi- may see them growing on organic matter, wood, extend mysillium out looking for other sources (looks like veins in lungs etc)

Terrestrial arthropods- many legs and crunch when squashed exoskeleton
Centipedes are predators some have poison jaws, one pair of legs per segment may see in houses
Red colors may warn of poison to other predators can get 30 in long in tropics
Millipedes, most feed on detritus, bacteria, fungi 2 pairs of legs per segment.

May be lots of very small entrances for critters much closer to what appears to us to be deep into the cave- tree roots etc from surface
Some true cave millipedes- white, antennae (not seen on outsiders)
Arachnids- spider like things. Includes scorpions, pseudoscorpions (very small)
Meta Americana a troglophile, - very sparse webs, wait and grab strategy, usually closer to entrance, small flies drawn in w/ airflow

Daddy long legs- in twilight zone in huge mass of 100 or so and come in and out of the cave
Can find mites on spider legs or other insects, could be feeding or just traveling with them
Ticks have 8 legs but very rare in a cave

Raccoons just visitors and would stay w/i twilight zone mostly.

Small Insects:
Cave Silverfish, very long antennae
Collembola feed on detritus, feces, fungus
May notice in large colonies. “Springtails” that they jump with. May see them on water surface 1/3 size of a grain of rice

Cave beetles, most are outsiders. Most predatory. Metallic, shiny, black in gardens, can be more reddish in cave types. Very small, feed on cricket eggs etc. have to look hard to find them

Cave crickets, related to camel crickets which can live in caves, like moisture, long antennae, very well adapted because like dark and wet

Aquatic cave invertebrates:
Isopods- pill/sow bugs example terrestrial isopod. All others live in water
Very small, white, long appendages, no apparent eye ¾ inch body length or less
Wait and stare at water a long long time to see them. Move slowly
Amphipods- small aquatic crustacean, very small < ¼ inch look a bit like shrimp, sea monkeys, brine shrimp

Crayfish- water flows into/out of cave- crayfish can transition into cave from either direction, feed on organic matter, fish, etc, can be far back in caves but still brown. Wander for miles as long as find food. Lots of species of crayfish. Some nocturnal

Troglobitic Crayfish- eyeless, pigmentless, very long antennae, extended more delicate claw
Do a lot of sitting around. Sit and wait for prey, don’t draw attention from predators

(Peter’s HS biology teacher was cave biologist. )

Kentucky Cave Shrimp

Cave dwelling vertebrates w/ backbone
Bats, rats, birds, amphibians, fish
Rats- tame same as pack rats/woodland rat, find nests sticks, film cans, beer tab, wrapper
Can be far back but usually near entrance
Less common now than past. Rodent diseases may have decimated, fairly cute so not hunted by people much

Only true cave dwelling bird is the South American Oilbird/ or Watchita (spelling?), see glow of their eyes like raccoon eyes, high nest above cave floor, over water . Can echolocate. Audible click
Oilbirds feed on seeds of tropical fruit trees. Wide ranging, spread seeds, vital to rare seeds. Sprouts in bird guano within cave even back in dark, grow a bit white/green and then die w/o light

Salamanders
Texas Cave Salamander one of most adapter.
Some highly/exclusively aquatic
Wait patiently for slightest vibration in the water and attack quickly
Were first discovered from wells

Tenn Cave salamander paddle like tail

Spring salamander in VA, NC, etc,
Neotenic- adults keep juvenile characteristics- such as gills normally lost in adults outside of caves
May only be white in larval or adult stage

Slimy Salamander- lays eggs on land, are accurately named. Can be up to 4 inches
Cave fish – (mammoth cave picture), just hover and wait
Chemosensory, lateral line- sensitive to vibrations

Threats to cave biota:
Mining and development
Siltation- dirt particles from land moving equipment
Pesticides, chemicals, fertilization
Pollution, industrial, human, animal waste
Sealing cave entrances- gating much better- all energy must come in from outside
Cavers

Leave No Trace and watch where you step!!!

After the meeting- Armadillo Grill (no Armadillos or Cave Biota were harmed in the making of after meeting festivities.)

TriTrogs General meeting

NC Museum of Natural Sciences
February 28, 2012

General socializing 7:30 to 7:35
Meeting start 7:35

Attendees: 21 Cavers: Carlin Kartchner, Mike Broome, Martin Groenewegen, Ava Pope, Mark Daughtridge, Howard Holgate, Hayden Holgate, Matthew Weiss, Ken Walsh, Bryce Schroeder, Peter Hertl, Bob Massengle, David Dicehurst, Rob Harris' hovering head (via laptop), Riley Warehime, Nick Henderson, Jacob Jackson, Michael Caslin, Grant Molnar, Steve Molnar, Jordan Kendal

Introductions included each person's favorite cave and favorite beer if any.

Old Business-
T Shirts, patches or stickers- If interested in forming a committee to pursue see Carlin
Grotto donation of $200 to the Friends of the Museum has been completed!

New PO Box now posted on web
Payment of 2012 Dues - Mark L not able to attend, Ken collected dues
$15 for year Dues. Reviewed briefly what they are used for

Vertical Practice was set for Sunday March 4 after checking weather forecasts
Pete, Ken, Pete, Martin and Mark L have equipment for beginners to learn on. Pete targeting March.
(Addendum to minutes- practice was held Mar 4 with several exprienced and a few new climbers/rapellers attending and much was learned with hopes to do it again soon. Held at Peter's house with a static rope and another on a pulley for continuous climbing as fed by belayer)

New Business-
See article on flu affecting bats, different from WNS
Next month's Program will be on cave biology!
Let Ken know program ideas


Trip Reports-
Paxton’s Cave, Covington VA, 1-28 - Mark, Peter, Matthew W went, explored all new territory from 1-1 trip mainly in Helictite room, more details in program with photography

Feb 11 Survey Trip to Cold Sink Cave- Carlin’s project to Survey, started b/f Tgiving, continuing survey near Marion. 2 teams, down tight passage, squeeze skills valued. Dig section has water flowing, no crawling in ice cold water this trip. Snow outside, 450’ surveyed, 1300 total now, Dave Duguid also committed to it. Old bolt traverse rigged, may be ok, needs backing up, pit rigged already to traverse, need to explore expecting only 15ft, potential unfinished leads from old map. New virgin cave discovered. Digging works best with actual tools. Prolonged crawling 50 ft of very tight opens to 12 foot ceilings, vertical only needed for the next trip, most not needing vertical

No Others


Upcoming Trips-
Mar 8 – 11, Germany Valley Karst Survey, Vertical Required! See Carlin for details, (2nd weekend ea month)
Mar 9-10 Norman’s trip- See Rob Harris
March 17-18 Wilderness First Aid, Umstead Park, Raleigh, Special $55 pricing for TriTrogs!! Mark D, Pete, Ken, Matt L currently signed up. Room for more!! See Mark D.
March 30-Apr 1 Cave Rescue Class Harrisonburg, VA See http://www.er-ncrc.org See Mark D.
Apr 7–8 Grand Caverns Restoration Cleanup Weekend See Ken, clean formations, trash, change light bulbs etc

Apr 20–22 Cold Sink Cave Survey- See Carlin

Northern High School Adventure Ed looking for simple cave to do cleanup. Worley’s in TN suggested, Tanya M knows conservation opportunities too. 4-21to 22, 5/5-6 dates preferred See Ben Gaspar

4/27 – 29 Spring VAR Poor Farm Festival Grounds, Williamsburg, WV See varegion.org
Good gear vendors

May 25–28 Kentucky SpeleoFest

June 24-29 NSS Convention- Lewisburg/ Greenbrier Cnty WV (5hr drive) See www.nss2012.com consider going beyond stated dates for geology, history, etc sessions,

July 13-15 Grotto Trip- good for beginners, fun, see Ken
Early Aug- Copenhaver’s Cleanup

Break (lots of side discussions on training sessions, trips, paying dues, etc etc etc)

Program-
Matthew Weiss photos of Worley’s (TN), lighting w/ inverter power. Also photos from the elusive Helictite Maze, Paxton’s Cave
Showed pics of Inverter for lamp he built and discussed power and light details capabilities. Cool pics with light in position in Worleys, TN, some with outdoor floodlight straps, good for easy passages, water/stream pics, wall texture
Has voltage meter etc
Nice formation pics, flowstone, 20ft high
Nice effects, flowstone w/ water in foreground
Olympus stylus point and shoot with night setting, 10 sec open
"Super photon cannon” light source
Large rooms show up well
Use painting technique of moving light around with, red glow from outdoor floodlight bulb
Boy scout guide was amazed to see room he’d not really seen as well on many prev trips
Wedding cake, bacon formations
Post manipulation of photos is cheating! says Matthew

Paxton’s friendly dog and cat shown as favorite features of the cave! Position of light matters
New breakdown, freshly cleaved, awesome formations, earthquake fractures in formations.



After the meeting- Food! Drink! Merriment! at Armadillo Grill

TriTrogs General meeting January 2012

NC Museum of Natural Sciences
January 24, 2012

Previous meeting: November 22nd (Minutes available online)
Last “meeting” Holiday Party Dec 10th

Attendees: 18 Cavers: Howard Holgate, Greg Dahlin, Mark Little, Norm Bedwell, Jen Bedwell, Mike Broome, Lisa Lorenzin, Martin Groenewegen, Matthew Weiss, Michael Caslin, Carlin Kartchner, Peter Hertl, Ben Gaspar, Ken Walsh, Mark Daughtridge, Matthew Lubin, Bithika Khargharia, Amar Chawla

General socializing 7:30 to 7:41
Meeting start 7:41

Old Business-
Discussed T-shirts and posting a voting mechanism on line.
TriTrogs are making a donation to our host, the museum. It’s ready just need to send it- Mark L
Vertical- Pete almost ready, needs a brief work day to setup new ropes etc
Pete, Ken, Pete, Martin and Mark L have equipment for beginners to learn on. Pete targeting March.
Review of Treasurer’s Report (Mark L) No questions were raised.
Payment of 2012 Dues (All, we hope) Many folks paid for 2012, please contact Mark L if you still need to pay dues for this year.
Join the NSS! Why to join, etc- A few folks mentioned good reasons to join such as the NSS Journal with great photos etc each month, contributing to conservation, eligibility for benefits such as some activities/caves that require it and discounts on others like convention etc

NSS Annual Report/Info Updates (Mark D) brief mention of how we update our officer info etc each year and the need for a new paper mail address to give them.
e-mail from Student, Amy Y. looking for March 10-18 cave trip (conservation) near Great Smoky Mts NP Ken and a couple of others have responded, mainly referring them to other grottos such as the western NC grotto Flittermouse.

New Business-
Elections deferred to later in the meeting as a few members had called to say they were on the way.

Upcoming Trips1-27 Paxton’s again Mark D to lead, Pete, Greg, Matthew, Martin interested, maybe not this wknd though, some prefer 2/18
Feb 11 Survey Trip to Cold Sink Cave- stay at Tanya’s house in Marion VA, tight spaces/crawls for shots coming up. Possible digs/leads Carlin leading
March 29-Apr 1 Cave Rescue Class Harrisonburg, VA See www.er-ncrc.org Just the orientation, but full weekend
4/8 Grand Caverns Restoration –Easter wknd
Ben Gaspar- educator w/ Northern High School Adventure Ed , took 8-9 high school seniors to simple cave , looking for another to do. Worley’s in TN suggested, could do cleanup during the trip, Tanya M knows conservation opportunities too. 4-21to 22, 5/5-6 dates preferred

4/27 – 29 Spring VAR Poor Farm Festival Grounds, Williamsburg, WV See varegion.org
6/24-29 NSS Convention- Lewisburg/ Greenbrier Cnty WV (5hr drive) See www.nss2012.com consider going beyond stated dates for geology, history, etc sessions,

Program (this month the program consisted only of trip reports over the 2 months since last meeting, as there was enough to discuss for the meeting after that interval)

Trip reports
Paxton’s - 10 TriTrogs descended on Paxton’s Cave near Covington, VA on January 2nd. Throne room had cool helictites, a small translucent drapery, and an impressive small bacon formation. Also a stalagmite that reportedly is crystallized enough to reflect very bright light for a second or so after they are extinguished. Without a powerful flash we didn’t get it to display this trait. We also visited the big room, found some cool fungus, and explored the breakdown room but failed to find the helictite room. It was cool to come out and find snow on the ground. The maze of this was fun challenge for navigating back to the waterfall entrance too.


Burnsville cove- Lisa & Mike, layers of limestone, looking at exposed rock, geology survey, no drilling, are looking @ road cuts etc. old books disagree about how formed. USGS geologist there. Butler cave and others in area had sandstone cap, multi layer, showed them 6hrs on surface 1hr underground tidal flats, fossils, where layers of cave ceilings and floors emerge aboveground outdoors, will name some rocks after the area possibly.

Carlin- Thanksgiving wknd, went to Santee Lakes State Park , SC found some sinks, ridgewalking, were ½ mile off from where cave turned out to be. Cave closed by USFS. Very wet at entrance, largest cave in SC? Other sinks nearby.

Carlin reported on Germany Valley- camped in cave, had a great lead climber who helped set up water collection system. Huge room with 300 foot ceiling, 600 ft below ground, lead in nearby dome room explored too. Carlin’s 1st camping trip underground. Need experience and vertical experience w/ re-belays etc. for this cave
On way back stopped by Smokehole caverns commercial, didn’t do the tour; Luray- did do the tour, wishing well impressively full of coins, donated to charity

Carlin also showed pictures from a southwest cave he’s been meaning do for a while, Southern AZ, near Mexican border, Alan Pressler only one he knew who’d been there. Very deep, Havelina droppings outside, not sure if animals inside cave such as rattlesnakes. Large bat- Townsends? 7” or so? Nice fossils, one team member studying climate change/cave research, one mine engineering, so good info. Dolomite rock. Found scorpion in the wall crack. Found fox skeleton in cave
Very tricky vertical pit, tight, 325 tied to 125, with decent place to do knot crossing.

N. Raleigh hole discussed on e-mail turned out to be small and probably from storm drain leak

Michael and Matthew described Worley’s TN trip with great pics with portable flood light

Election of Officers (Howard)
With the last 3 members now present we quickly elected a new slate of officers for 2012:
Carlin Kartchner- Chair
Ken Walsh- Vice Chair
Mark Daughtridge- Secretary
Mark Little- Treasurer
Mike Broome- Web Editor

Meeting done at 9:30
After the meeting- Fox and Hound at North Hills, courtesy of Matthew Lubin! Thanks! About 10 folks went and enjoyed free wings, pizza and non-free beer.