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Subject: CaveTex: Trip Report - TAG & NSS Convention
Resent-Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 11:22:06 -0500
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Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 11:34:08 -0500
From: Dennis & Sharon Welch <[email protected]>
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
To: Cavetex <[email protected]>
The following is my trip report for the NSS Convention and TAG. Please
feel free to repost or forward. It is quite long, but covers many caves
and several days. I have many photos from the trip, but I have yet to
edit them and make them small enough to send via email. The photos will
also be available for newsletters.
Trip Report
N.S.S. Convention & T.A.G. Caves
/Dennis & Sharon Welch, Maverick Grotto, Visit:/
Hooper’s Well, Limrock Blowing Sink, Shelta Cave, Sinking Cove
Cave, Tumbling Rock Cave, Neversink & Valhalla
/July 2^nd – 10^th , 2005/
By Dennis Welch
/The following is an account of the Welch’s first trip to a National
Speleological Society Convention and first trip to cave in T.A.G.
(Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia). The convention took place in Huntsville,
AL from July 4^th through July 8^th and was hosted by the Huntsville
Grotto (and maybe others, too). Most of the caving was accomplished east
northeast of Huntsville in mostly Alabama and once in Tennessee. We
would like to express a very special thanks to everyone involved in
hosting the convention and coordinating the caving. They all did an
outstanding job, leaving an everlasting delightful impression on us.
This is how the story goes…/
We arrived at the Ditto Landing RV Campground, south of Huntsville, on
Saturday afternoon and headed to registration that evening. We chose to
stay in an RV Park because pets were not allowed on the convention
campgrounds and we wanted to bring along our dog. Registration was a
breeze, as everyone was courteous, friendly and organized. We received
our guidebooks, programs, t-shirts, drink mugs, parking stickers, etc.
and met lots of nice folk from HQ. After picking-up literature on what’s
to do in Huntsville, we headed straight out to the Cave Trip Info
Pavilion where we met Peter “Mudpuppy” Michaud, Maureen Handler, and Jim
Wilbanks. As the story goes, Jim was the first to coin the acronym,
T.A.G. (tag). Upon sharing with them that we were here to see what TAG
caves were all about, we let them know we didn’t have much vertical
experience. Mudpuppy and Maureen took us under their wings and steered
us towards an easy pit for Sunday after church.
Sunday afternoon, we solicited a couple of new friends, Dale Purchase, a
cave diver from Michigan, now living in Florida and Texas’ own Ernie
Garza from the UT Grotto to join us. We all headed out to Hooper’s Well,
a 90’ drop, located near Monte Sano State Park east of downtown
Huntsville. The rigging was straightforward, but the entrance was a bit
restrictive with a pack on. Once on rope, it was a simple, straight drop
to the floor. We used a fairly new rope and it was fast! All the way
down, the walls were either beautifully scalloped or covered with
flowstone. Perhaps 40’ down, there was a huge stalactite about 25’ long
and quite amazing. Over a dozen salamanders were on the walls near the
floor. Other than organic debris, it was great to see that there was no
man-made trash in the cave. There was really nowhere else to go in the
cave, so after Ernie took a few pictures (he was the only one who
remembered to bring his camera down the drop), we each “frogged” up the
rope. Back on the surface, there were three others waiting to bounce the
pit and we met a half dozen more on their way while on our hike back to
the cars. It was a great start to our week in TAG.
Back at the convention campgrounds, we wanted to see what cave we should
try next. The Cave Trip Info Pavilion was abuzz with activity. By the
time we left for the evening, we were put in charge to lead a group to
Limrock Blowing Sink cave on Monday morning and a trip to Neversink pit
on Tuesday evening. The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc (SCCi) owns
both of these caves. Before the week was over, we had been to four SCCi
caves, signed on as sustaining members and bought a piece of Neversink.
Early Monday, we again headed for the caver’s campground. The other
cavers joining us for Limrock were Don and Sid Formanek, Kelly Jessop (a
cave diver on his first dry cave trip and a brother to Sid), Steve
Johnson, and Bob Straub. Arriving at the cave entrance, we were
impressed by the cool misty breeze blowing out. Bob led the way as we
were off on another underworld adventure. We had snagged the map from
the Convention Guidebook which helped us some, but we were often unsure
of which way led to the driest route. This cave offers several
opportunities to get wet. For part of the cave, a stream passage flows
two to three feet deep, but we wanted to stay as dry as possible. Our
route intersected the stream in several places and we eventual had no
choice except to follow the water route. The cave did offer a bit of
several types of horizontal caving. We got to stroll, stoop, duck-walk,
hands-and-knees crawl, and belly crawl. There were up and down mud
slopes and scrambles over and around breakdown. Surfaces included mud,
gravel, rock and wall-to-wall rimstone. A long stretch was with raised
mud banks delineating a small stream that had a base of flowstone. Very
cool! Much of the passageway was 20 to 30 feet or more wide and seven or
eight feet high. For whatever reason, there were very few places where
water was seeping through the ceiling and therefore, almost no available
water for speleothem development. We always paused at the waterfalls,
one falling from a 70-foot dome. Throughout the entire cave, the walls
and ceiling were very sculpted with nearly all the speleothems on the
floor. We saw a few bats, cave crickets, and beetles, plus a big stream
crawfish along the way. We had reached about the three-quarter point
when we ran out of time and headed out. All of us had a good time
exploring the cave.
We got back to the convention before 1 P.M. because Sharon had the
opportunity to take a sketching class from Pat Kambesis. After about two
hours of intense classroom instruction, they all went into Shelta Cave
under the N.S.S. headquarters and practiced their newly learned skills.
It will be so nice to have a well-trained sketcher to go along with the
survey gear she bought me for my recent birthday. Meanwhile, I went
shopping at Inner Mountain Outfitters. Afterwards, I relocated the RV in
a wind, hail and rain storm from Ditto Landing to the U.S. Space and
Rocket Center Campground where they have full hook-ups and are closer to
the convention. Returning to the caver’s campgrounds, we enjoyed a fine
meal from Lawler’s BBQ as the start to the “Howdy Party”. The band soon
had the crowd movin’ and shakin’ to their oldies sounds. We met lots of
great people from all over the country and beyond. I hope some of them
come to Texas so we can show them our caves. That would only be fitting
for the numerous invitations we received to come and cave in their neck
of the woods.
Tuesday morning, we were honored by Mudpuppy with a “secret” trip to
Sinking Cove Cave, just across the border into Franklin County,
Tennessee, and another of the SCCi’s caves. We planned to do a “through
trip”, so our arduous hike over the mountain to the cave was lengthy and
just about did us in. Arriving at a beautiful sinkhole setting, complete
with a pretty little waterfall and at least two entrances to the cave,
Mudpuppy rigged a 20-foot hand line for us all to use on the steep muddy
slope down into the sink where we shot several pictures. It was quite
refreshing to reach the cool breeze coming out of the entrances. I think
we were told there are about 12 entrances total, including a pull-down
through trip. Joining us for the trip were Mike, Bill, Tony, Kyle,
Allan, Brits, Cookie & Les, Luc, a Canadian, Mary, a.k.a. Thumper & Bob
Straub. So, off we went into the dark vast unknown expanses of Sinking
Cove and began wading a stream passage within sight of the entrance.
Actually, Mudpuppy had been on more than 20 trips through this cave and
knew the route well. He had prepared us for the through trip by telling
us about the intermittent wading through up to thigh deep water on most
of the journey and waist deep for the last couple hundred feet before
our exit. This cave was a blast and oh so beautiful. We saw the most
amazing colors and formations and plenty of them, often causing visual
overload. It was such a treat to have experienced this wonder of nature.
As long as we kept moving, the wading kept us cooled off without getting
too cold. If we took a break for too long, some of us began to feel the
results of soaked shoes and clothing. Polypropylene undergarments really
made a big difference, yet our feet were completely numb by the time we
exited. Upon nearing the exit, we had no choice but to wade through
water up to the tops of our legs. Short little Sharon was in it up to
her waist and it was really cold. There was lots of howling from many in
the group. At one point, while trying to assist Sharon through a
rock-strewn section of the stream, I tripped on a rock and fell almost
completely in the water, nearly dragging her down with me. Everyone
seemed to get a good chuckle out of me trying to drown my wife. Since we
all were so wet already, a couple of the gang decided to continue in the
stream to the exit through even deeper water. However, most of us
crawled up and out a closer dryer tight little hole along the way. We
all laughed and cut-up about the experience, took more pictures and made
the short hike to our vehicles. What a cave trip! We won’t soon forget
this one. Then it was back to meet-up with the other couples joining us
for some vertical.
Due to our nearly late arrival back at the convention campgrounds and my
poor communication of specifics, we missed meeting the others that were
to join us for Neversink. Therefore, we visited with new and old friends
and watched the auction. We were astounded by the prices some things
sold for.
Recommendation: bring way more caving clothes than you think you will
need. Due to overcast skies and afternoon and evening rain Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday, our dirty, wet caving clothes and gear were not
drying out to re-wear. We had even tried tying our boots to the front of
the Jeep on the way back from each trip to get them to dry out. The rain
in route only got them wetter. On the drive to the next cave, we
resorted to using the defroster to dry our soaked gloves and pads from
Sinking Cove with the air conditioner running full blast to compensate
for the heat.
On Wednesday, we joined up with Mudpuppy, Hazard (another local guide),
Phil Davis, Bob & Mary Anne Robins, Kevin Branscum & Genevieve Mattar,
Bob “Nuke” Thompson, David Lilly, Daniel Veelik & Beatriz Farfan, Todd
Armstrong, Nina Pietroiusti, Sid Formanek, and Ray Kutnar to do Tumbling
Rock Cave northwest of Scottsboro. This cave was drier than Sinking
Cove, with a smaller stream and more passageways above, clear of the
water. We saw a wide variety of colors and formations, had great time
and especially enjoyed the beautiful King’s Shower & Topless Dome.
Please see the 2005 N.S.S. Convention Guidebook for an extensive
write-up on this cave.
Mid-afternoon, several of us left Tumbling Rock and drove to nearby
Neversink Pit. Daniel Veelik & Beatriz (Betty) Farfan, a married couple
from the Southern California Grotto, joined us for the drop. Bob & Mary
Anne Robins, Sid Formanek, Todd Armstrong and David Lilly came along to
assist and to see this picturesque pit. Thanks go to young, strong Todd
Armstrong from Ontario, Canada for carrying the rope up to the entrance.
We all were awed by the size of the opening and the beautiful ferns and
other vegetation on each shelf as the pit descended out of site. Without
being quite exposed, it was impossible to see the floor from above. It
was a long way down. I rigged a rope at the obvious rig point and off I
went 162 feet to the floor. Wow, what a view! There was a lot of rope on
the floor so the rope I thought was 200 feet was obviously longer. Just
how long was it? Once I was down, I pulled out my camera and began
exploring, shooting photos of the others rappelling, the beautiful
waterfalls and a salamander. There was no additional passageway to
explore, just a muddy debris covered floor. After additional photos of
the pit-boppers, Sharon started “rope walking” out of the pit.
We both recently purchased these climbing systems and had yet to use
them in a free climb. We found that they still needed some fine-tuning,
but we made it out of the pit with only minor challenges at the lip.
Neversink is famous for its astounding beauty. It did not disappoint!
The Convention had arranged a free tour of the Space and Rocket Center
in the early evening, but the four of us missed it because of the late
hour of our return to Huntsville. Additionally, there was a free beer
party afterwards at the campground. Sharon and I skipped it and headed
back to the RV to get cleaned up and relax. All this caving was starting
to take its toll on our ancient bodies.
Thursday dawned to beautiful sunny skies. Our agenda for the day did not
begin until an 11:00 A.M. Vertical Section Workshop. It was a welcome
morning off to start the day more relaxed, not scrambling to get to the
campgrounds in time to join a cave trip. This gave us a chance to dry
and sort some of our gear. Now, about that long rope, we took the
opportunity to measure and mark it. Turns out it was about 295 feet.
Wow, what a treat. Now we can go do Valhalla with one rope.
The Vertical Workshop was a basic practical familiarization course on
some of the equipment and systems that are popular in various parts of
the country. It was not intended to be a vertical skills training class.
However, safety was emphasized and we picked up several useful tips. The
workstations included basic knot-tying, rappelling on a rack, rappelling
on a Petzl Stop, climbing and descending a cable ladder, climbing and
down-climbing with three prusiks, climbing and down-climbing with a
frogger, climbing and down-climbing with a Mitchell and climbing with a
rope-walker. In addition, they made us one-year members of the N.S.S.
Vertical Section and gave us a 12-page handout on knots, equipment and
their recommended uses. Our favorite was the Mitchell due to its
versatility. It would be great for down-climbing into Texas’ numerous
bad-air pits, ready to ascend instantly. It was only the cost of the
system that discouraged me from buying one. The class was quite rushed,
yet we are convinced they achieved their objective of exposing us to the
various equipment choices. Even though the class was fun, I am not sure
we will do it again. The class inspired Sharon to stop by I.M.O.
afterwards for a length of rope to practice knot tying. Also, we stopped
by the SCCi’s room, becoming members as mentioned above and to attempt
to get a permit to Valhalla for Saturday.
The evening activities were for us all to go the Von Braun Center’s
Concert Hall for a photo salon. We were disappointed to miss this
opportunity to view some of the world’s best caving photographs, videos
and multimedia presentations. Instead, we had a nice sit-down supper,
went back to the campground to visit and burn some pictures to a cd for
some friends and then back to the RV Park to call it a night.
Friday, we spent the day taking a class called “Speleology for Cavers”,
presented by Steve Stokowski (SS), Larry Spangler (LS), Fred Grady (FG)
and Bill Elliot (BE). They covered mostly rudimentary, but some detailed
specific information on Basic Geology, SS; Karst Geomorphology, LS; Cave
Paleontology, FG; Cave Morphology, SS; Karst Hydrology & Groundwater
Chemistry, LS; Cave Formations & Minerals, SS; Cave Biology, BE; Cave
Sediments, SS; and Cave Meteorology, SS. This was a lot of “ologies” to
cover in seven hours and each of the speakers was rushed to get through
their topics. We did become familiar with a ton of information we had
not yet been exposed to. The class drug on at times, however, most of
the topics were interesting and educational. It was well worth the time
and expense for the presentations and materials we received. Sharon’s
favorite was the information on cave critters, while I enjoyed the
geology/chemistry/geomorphology the most. We look forward to studying
the handouts in more detail.
After the class, we headed back to the caver’s campground to visit and
finalize plans for Saturday’s cave trip. We made one last stop by the
Texas area of the campground to hangout with the Texas cavers. We only
knew a few of the ones that were present, yet had a great time
listening, talking and laughing.
Next, we went to the Von Braun Center for the Convention Banquet and
Awards Presentations. We bumped into some new friends from the Central
Indiana Grotto, Bill & Nancy Greenwald, and sat at their table. The food
was good and plentiful, with many choices. We really enjoyed the awards
portion of the event. The best part of all was getting to know our new
friends and hear more about Midwest caving. We look forward to caving in
Hoosierland with Bill, Nancy and other C.I.G. members. When the program
was over, we drove back to the RV Park to get a good night’s sleep.
On Saturday morning, we met Daniel Veelik, Betty Farfan, Scott and Jenny
at the convention campgrounds to caravan out to Valhalla, our final SCCi
cave for the week. Will Heltsley, Rich, Lindsey and Frank were already
there when we got to the gate for the two mile four-wheel drive road to
the cave preserve parking area. They had two-wheel drive suv’s, but made
it just fine because it wasn’t that muddy. The cave is only about a
200-foot hike from there. When I got to the top of the pit, Will was
already busy rigging the drop with my rope. You see, as it turns out,
Will had previously locked-up the permit for Saturday morning, but I had
the rope long enough to make the drop. Therefore, we all joined up to do
the cave together. Ten cavers is a rather large number for one rope and
a deep pit. While the last of us rappelled down into the pit, the first
few had already begun exploring the nearly one mile of cave passage
below. When all were down, most of us joined together to try to find a
specific room shown on the map. Even though we had this map of the cave,
it wasn’t very detailed, with leads heading off at several places that
were not depicted on the map. Jenny and Will did a masterful job of
keeping us on the correct route. Our journey took us along some very
cool, yet challenging passageways. We had to make three up or down
climbs of 15 to 17 feet, assisted by handlines already in place. Other
times we had to crawl. Sometimes we had to straddle a deep fissure
through winding passageway. This was turning out to be so diverse and an
awesome experience. The trip was rewarded with finding Rain Drop Falls
and the 200-foot Mega Dome at the end of the route. It was so high, our
best lights could barely reach the top. The mud-covered floor was
decorated with formations of mud from the dripping splattering water.
Very unique! Although I don’t remember the portions of the cave we
explored having a lot of speleothems, the journey through it was the
real treat. There was lots more cave to see and explore, but that will
have to wait for our next trip. And we will be back! We spent three to
four hours exploring the passages and then decided it was time to start
the slow process of getting everyone out. I took about 20-30 minutes per
person to get on rope, make the climb, negotiate the lip and slope
beyond and get off rope. All the while, the cavers at the top were
steaming in the hot late afternoon/early evening sun, while those
waiting at the bottom were donning polypro and plastic bags in an effort
to stay warm. No one had any significant challenges using their climbing
systems for the trip up the rope. My ropewalker worked much better than
I did, but I made it in the second fastest time, although there was no
world records set with this bunch. I really, really like my ropewalker
system and am very glad I got it. Becky Jones at Gonzo Guano Gear,
Llano, Texas, where I bought most all of our gear, did an excellent job
of helping Sharon and I get just what we needed. The tune-up I did
before the vertical workshop made all the difference. A special thanks
to Maureen Handler for helping Sharon adjust her system the initial time
she put it on and to Becky for further tweaking it at the workshop. We
all had a great time at Valhalla and were so glad we saved this cool
pit/cave for last.
Prior to heading back to Texas, we spent one more night at the Space
Center campgrounds. Sunday morning, we attended church and then went to
dinner with some old Texas non-caving friends who live in Huntsville. We
learned that Hurricane Dennis was bearing down on Alabama, so we hurried
our departure west and only got a few sprinkles. Our hearts poor out to
all those who attended the post-convention cave camp at Maureen’s and to
all the victims of damage from the storm. I hope all the cavers escape
unscathed.
Before closing out this report, I must thank every one of you who helped
us have a wonderful time at our first convention and our first trip into
TAG. We had a great time thanks to the dedicated servant spirit of the
members of the Huntsville Grotto and the many volunteers who put on the
convention and coordinated/led the caving trips. You all pulled this off
with the look as if you had been doing this forever. Everyone was so
friendly and well organized. We met so many delightful cavers and staff.
The memories and relationships gained will be a lasting tribute to your
selfless dedication to caving and cavers nationwide. I would like to
specifically thank Peter “Mudpuppy” Michaud, first, for his friendship,
second, for his concern for us having a safe and enjoyable experience in
his back yard, and third, for the professional way in which he led our
caving trips with enthusiasm and compassion. Maureen Handler also
deserves special thanks for her friendship and selfless service at the
cave info pavilion and her pragmatic approach to seeing we all found
just the right cave and trip for our skill and desires. Thanks also to
Bill Steele for his plan of attack on which caves to see and do in TAG
and in which order based on our limited experience. I also wish to thank
the Southeastern Cave Conservancy for their tireless efforts in
protecting caves throughout the southeast. It is with great admiration I
applaud your dedication. All of you…THANKS! Please keep up the good work!
We are really looking forward to next year’s convention in Bellingham.
We hope to see each of you there again!
Dennis K. Welch,
The caving Christian
NSS, NSS-CDS, CRF, ACCA, SCCi, TSA, TCMA, MGT, CGT
NSS # 53060
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://www.maverickgrotto.org/
_http://www.tcmacaves.org/_
http://www.cavetexas.org/
http://www.scci.org/
http://www.cavern.org/
http://www.cave-research.org/
http://www.nsscds.org/
http://www.caves.org/
