BLUE
RIDGE GROTTO of the NSS
Monthly Meeting Minutes – Jersey Lily’s Salem,
VA
June 18, 2021
Attendance:
Marian McConnell – Chair Lauren Appel –
Vice Chair Dave Socky –
Treasurer
Mary Sue Socky – Secretary John Fox Carl
Cornett
Susan Burr Tom
Beaman *Mary
Lou Holland
Kevin Johnson *Carrie
Doupnik Trish
Geiger
Karen Kastning *Larry
Manning *Brianna
Bennett
* Ian Pelletier (* denotes guest)
Order
of meeting was modified since Dave Socky had to leave early for a cave
trip.
First
In-Person BRG Meeting in over a year!
Meeting called to order 6:39p by Chair Marian McConnell.
After
introductions, we saw the program “Exploring Bell’s Cave, NY” by Mike Sandrone. Both Trish Geiger and Dave Socky have been in
Bell’s (aka Gage Cave), so they added to the description. This was a very wet cave with so little
airspace that the video made several viewers claustrophobic. It won an Honorable Mention in 2020 NSS Video
Salon.
Recent Cave Trip Reports:
5/22:
BRG trip to McClung Cave, WV.
Susan Burr, Doug Feller, Jeff Huffman, Larry Manning, Mystik
Miller. Some people did NOT like
HATED the canyon! Rest of the cave was enjoyable.
Susan said the group went to the Liberty
Bell, Aragonite Room & the Totem Room areas. I think we were in the Wind
Tunnel Passage at some point, but not 100% sure.
5/22: McClung
Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky,
Bob Alderson, and Bill Koerschner. Also, Phil Murray and Dave Berman went back
to Seven Fingers to retrieve a rope and cable ladder they had left in the cave
years ago. So, there was a total of 10 people in the cave that day. We did
cleanup survey in the Breezeway section. The upstream section down the pit that
is off of the Geezer Deluxe connector. We then finished the side passage off
the Beetle Run passage. We then did the downstream crawl which is the water
from the Beetle Run passage. It was a long crawlway in water, but we could mostly
stay dry. 63 stations set (probably 70 shots). We surveyed 1150 feet with 165
feet of new cave on a good 12.5-hour trip.
5/25: DiLeggi
Dig, VA. Participants included Dave Socky and
Martin DiLeggi. This was a dig Martin had found in the middle of a stream bed
near Purgatory Mountain in Botetourt County.
The entrance is a 3 x5 hole going down into a small room with rock and
debris. A crack on the left goes down at a steep angle with air blowing out. It
is wide, but only 5 to 6 inches high. Rocks dropped down bounce for a way and
then it sounds like they drop into a room. We dug for a couple of hours, but
bedrock is blocking the way, so technical digging will be required. It looks real good!
5/26: Big Hill
Pit, VA. Participants included David Socky,
Mark Hodge, Keith Sweeney, and Rick Lambert. We broke through to the lower
canyon after about 4 sessions of digging. Keith went down first on rope, which
was needed. Once through the narrow canyon, the cave got bigger, but then
turned into a two-foot diameter 10-foot pit with a 10-inch solid rock drain
going straight down at the bottom. Too much rock to dig. We surveyed out. The
cave was 75.3 feet long and 51.4 feet deep.
5/29: Maxwelton
Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky,
Carl Amundson, and Nikki Fox. We went in on Friday about 6pm, and were at camp
by 10pm. Water levels where low. It was supposed to rain, but not a lot. We got
up at 8:30am on Saturday. We surveyed 750 feet of virgin cave from one lead off
of downstream Sweetwater, but the passage ended up reconnecting into
Sweetwater. It was a good 45-hour trip.
6/2: Island Ford Cave, VA. Trish Geiger, Carl Cornett, Cyndi Hutchison,
Mary Sue Socky tried a small, easy trip to IsF to see if they could still do
it. Made it to the boiling spring, and
back. On the way out, Cyndi slipped in
the stream canyon and bashed her shoulder but she’s healing up. Thank you, Trish for helping us!
6/4: McClung
Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky,
Joe Zokaites, Bill Koerschner, and Stephanie Petri. We surveyed 885 feet on an
11-hour trip. Got into new cave (but not virgin) after surveying a connector to
the Dad Crawls. The new walking passage is only 20 feet below Minilithia. We turned around at a dome with walking
passage.
6/9: Vacation
Cave, PA. Dave Socky reported: I went caving in
Pennsylvania! Traveled up to visit with Dave Collings and helped map Vacation
Cave with Johanna Taylor Neller. It was a fun cave that was 546 feet long and
contained three small “lakes”. The cave ended in a really cool breakdown room
with a couple of dead-end side leads. It was a fun 6.5-hour trip and nice to
finish surveying the whole cave in one trip.
6/12: McClung
Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky,
Joe Zokaites, and Carl Amundson. Marissa Loftus, Mystik Miller, and Gabby
Zawacki. Nick Socky, Eli Meyer, and Chad Casella. Greg Springer, Silas
Springer, Chris Coates, and Sydney Hansen. Dave Knox, Eric Steinberg, and Alex
Faunce. Ludington: Nikki Fox, Steph Petri, Rob Wardell, John Cantrell, diggers:
Hunter Campbell and Ben Schafer. This was the great dig to start working on
connecting McClung to Ludington. We also surveyed in Crystal Canyon (two
teams), surveyed near the dig plus the dig itself (Nick's team), and one team
in Seven Fingers (Greg Springer). There was also a team in Ludington - one to
dig (Hunter and Schafer) and survey from the dig (Nikki, Steph, John, and Rob).
The Ludington dig didn't make a lot of progress - it was wet, muddy, and very
tight. Hard to dig and very cold. They were only able to dig for 3 hours. The
McClung dig was better. Mtn Dave was able to break through the breakdown into a
larger passage, but the way on turned back into a dig. But about 70 feet of
progress was made. There was good air. A total of 3532 feet was surveyed in
McClungs on a 13.5-hour trip.
6/16: Lowmoor
Cave, VA. Dave Hubbard and David Socky. This
was a trip to show Dave Hubbard points of interest in Lowmoor. There were probably 100 to 150 clustered bats
at the first mine overlook. We then took a quick tour into Lowmoor proper. We
just went to the Devils Kitchen and back. We entered & exited via the Sofa
mine entrance.
6/16: Jordan
Mines Cave, VA. Participants
included Dave Hubbard and David Socky. Dave Hubbard wanted to visit this cave
to check for biology. We found lots of scat, millipeds, spiders, and even some
cave beetles. We explored the whole cave, which got really muddy and wet in the
back end. There was a funky climb-up with a thick knotted rope (which was
needed). At the top, we could see the rope was rotted
most of the way through. We spent about 3 hours in the cave.
6/18: Marian McConnell and Mary Sue Socky met with
Dr. Karen Powers of Radford University to show Karen sites for her Cave Rat
Population study. Rats are live
trapped with apples and released. They
took her to sites around the Catawba area of Botetourt Co VA: Catawba Murder
Hole, Friendship Cave, Percolator Pit, and Thomas Cave. As of June 25, Dr. Powers and her students will
be working with Sharon Mohney on her Botetourt Co.VA/Timber Ridge property, in Black
Forest Shaft and Mariah’s Cave.
Sharon has photographed cave rats on game cameras in her caves. Dr. Karen Powers was delighted with the sites
and help BRG members and landowners have offered.
June 2021: Lauren Appel and friends visited the
carbonate hinterlands of Kentucky, where they visited Mammoth Cave
National Park, Diamond Caverns, Crystal Onyx Cave, Hidden River Cave, Onyx Cave, and other area
attractions.
UPCOMING
TRIPS
·
Tomorrow Sat. 6/19/2021:
Breathing Cave, VA. One mile hike to
entrance. Email Susan Burr pondlady97@gmail.com to sign up.
·
July 2021 Grotto
trip – will be held on two different dates:
o 7/17/2021 –
BRG trip to Island Ford Cave. Beginner Trip. Contact Mary Sue Socky sockymss@cox.net for info.
o JULY ?–
Susan Burr pondlady97@gmail.com will coordinate an advanced BRG trip. Cave and trip date
TBD.
·
Aug 7 – Grotto
Get Together at the Rowland’s Mill Falls Farm, Big Island, VA.
BUSINESS
MEETING
6/18/2021 BRG Treasury
Report, – Dave Socky, Treasurer
Cave Bucks $
196.00
Conservation $
0.00
Equipment $
133.87
General $ 3,385.98
Total $3,715.85
*Cave Bucks:
All Cave Bucks donations are voluntary;
funds go to cave conservation programs.
In addition, Dave Socky
made a $5 donation to Cave Bucks for his recent cave trips.
Committees:
NEWSLETTER (Dave & MarySue Socky) got out the June 2021 Carbide
Dump. Thanks for your support; please send in articles, photos, and
reports! FYI, there will be NO August
newsletter.
MEMBERSHIP –BRG currently has 55 members and 5 subscribers
(total of 60) for 2021. Best of all, new
folks are interested in caving! Congrats
to Carrie Doupnik, NSS # 71075.
ROCKS –Dave
Socky and Dave Hubbard recently surveyed and inventoried Lowmoor Cave, VA and
Jordan Mines Cave, VA.
Kevin Johnson reported
that a cave was uncovered during excavation and blasting at the CarMax site
next to where he works on Peters Creek Road.
Kevin will try to uncover more info.
SAFETY & TECHNIQUES – (D. McConnell) Dan will be getting a hip replacement
July 7, 2021. Once Dan’s feeling better,
he hopes to set up future vertical training sessions at River Rock Climbing
Wall.
MEMBERSHIP PROPOSALS – None.
OLD BUSINESS –
·
Grotto
meetings –have returned to Jersey Lily’s Roadhouse/Salem.
o
3rd
Friday of each month. Meetings start at
6:30p
o
Future
meetings will be held in our old meeting room, beside the now SMOKE FREE
BAR!
o
Sorry,
but we must discontinue the Zoom meetings.
Holding a hybrid meeting is not feasible.
·
Save
the Date: Saturday August 7, 2021. Grotto
Get-Together @ the Rowland family’s Mill Fall Farms, near Big Island, VA . Rain date is August 8.
o
Dave
Socky will send another survey/RSVP to BRG members to see who and how many will
attend.
·
Treasurer paid
annual dues/donation to West Virginia Cave Conservancy ($50) and ACCA
($25).
·
Porter’s Cave
Re-Gating –during Fall VAR - is still in the works. There is some concern that materials prices
will rise due to pandemic shortages. Is
there still time to request a grant if prices have risen?
NEW BUSINESS –
·
BRG Webpage has been updated: In-person meeting info, and a link to the
Caver Alert Info Sheet has been added.
o Please use it
https://ncrc-er.caves.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Caver_Information_Sheet.pdf
·
The West Virginia Cave Conservancy (WVCC) has a new
cave - Haar #2 Cave, Tucker Co. WV.
·
Al Stewart wishes for his collection of hardcover cave
books to be auctioned off to members of the Blue Ridge Grotto, with proceeds
going to BRG. A list of the titles will
be published in the CARBIDE DUMP.
Announcements:
§ Karen Kastning has been
contacted by an old caver, Frank Mullett. Frank, (who is in his 70’s) and a friend are
trying to do some cave trips, visit VA/WV caves that Frank remembered in his
caving career. Can anyone help? Marian McConnell offered to be a contact and
possible trip leader.
§
The NSS is planning an on-line auction during Convention. Details will
be announced soon.
§
OTR 2021 – WILL HAPPEN!!!!!
§ Pandemic
Caving –Let’s be healthy going underground.
Rules have been posted in the Carbide Dump.
§ Summer cave closures
for bats (maternity colonies). Other
caves may be open for summer visitation.
Please respect all cave closures.
VA - Summer closure dates - Apr.15 - Oct.15 WV - Summer closure dates:– May 15 - Sept.1
2021 CAVER
CALENDAR:
·
July 16, 2021: BRG
meeting, 6:30p, in our old meeting room @ Jersey Lily’s, Salem, VA.
·
July
25 – July 30: 2021 NSS Convention will now be virtual only.
·
Aug 7: Grotto Get-Together at the Rowland’s
property near Big Island, VA (Bedford Co.)
·
Aug 13-15, 2021: Karst
O Rama @ Great Saltpetre Cave Preserve, Mt. Vernon KY
·
Aug 20: BRG meeting,
6:30p, Jersey Lily’s-Salem.
·
Sept 2-6: OTR,
Dailey, WV.
·
Sept 17: NO BRG
meeting! Go to Fall VAR!!
·
Sept 17-19, 2021:
Fall VAR @ RASS Fieldstation in Bath Co., VA
·
Oct 1-3: NCRC
Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR), Martinsburg, WV.
·
Nov 2-3: NOLS
Wilderness Medicine course, offered by Roanoke City Parks and Recreation ($230)
Meeting adjourned 8:19p.
Cold Beer!
Minutes
Submitted by
Mary Sue Socky, Secretary,
Blue Ridge Grotto of the NSS