September 2000 Near Normal News
FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND
Jim Jacobs
Let me begin by apologizing to everyone. This issue of the NNN is late, and comes to you after the September
meeting. In the history of the NNG, this is the first time this has happened.
When the NNG was young, we met every other month. In order to build interest in the meeting, and to remind
everyone when the meeting was going to be, I mailed the NNN about a week before each meeting. This worked out
well. It got the information about the meeting to everyone in a timely fashion. Even when we began meeting every
month (well, almost every month), it still worked well. (I wasn't about to try to put together an issue for every
meeting.) When Brian Braye came aboard as co-editor a few years ago, it helped spread the load, and of course,
Brian brought with him a wealth of knowledge of graphics, art and layout. We've worked well together, putting
out six NNN's a year on time.
This one is late, and it was NOT Brian's fault. It wasn't really my fault either, it was just a case of bad
timing. Marty and I moved, and we spent just about every minute for two weeks packing, sorting, dealing with buyers
for our house, getting our new house set up, sanding, painting, etc. During all of this, my computer was packed
in half a dozen different boxes. Just didn't have the time or the means to put together a newsletter. Anyway,
here it is…I'm sure you will enjoy it, even if it is late.
IN THIS ISSUE:
· DANA WARN investigates efforts to make Mammoth Cave bat-friendly again (courtesy ABCNEWS.com)
· MARC TIRITILLI and STEVE TAYLOR discuss their efforts to make LED caving lights.
· DOUG STRAIGHT raises the question, "Are European ropes easy to cut?"
· STEVE TAYLOR reports on the caving weekend with the Mark Twain Grotto
· LARA STORM may have moved to New York, but she's still caving and still writing. Surprise?
· TROY SIMPSON comes through with his take on Illinois Caverns and the chances of the Near Normal Grotto
hosting a national convention.
Back to Top
ANCIENT BAT CLUES
Dana Warn
(courtesy ABCNEWS.com)
Aug. 8 - On a ledge beside a cave trail that millions of people have traveled, Rick Toomey recently discovered
a cache of bat fossils, some 10,000 years old.
The site was riddled with bat guano, mummified bats, bat skeletons, and distinctive brown ceiling stains that
marked where the bats once hung.
He hopes that ancient bat relics like this one may hold clues to ways of restoring habitat for today's severely
endangered Indiana bat populations.
"If we don't do something soon, we will lose them in our lifetime," says Toomey, a paleontologist
and curator of the Illinois State Museum.
Something Old for Something New
Indiana bats hibernate in thick, fuzzy masses on cave ceilings-living, breathing bat carpets. Since the animals
hibernate in densities near 350 bats per square foot, researchers can estimate the number of bats that occupied
the cave based on the space they used.
In caves where there used to be millions of Indiana bats, now there are none. The entire existing population
of this endangered bat is smaller than the populations of a single cave a few hundred years ago. Most of the current
population lives in eight caves and one mine scattered throughout Missouri, Kentucky, and Indiana.
Only a few hundred thousand Indiana bats still exist, and the population dips lower each year. These furry
insect eaters help control insect populations, and many other forms of life depend on the nutrients they bring
into cave systems.
Toomey focuses his studies at Mammoth Cave in central Kentucky where millions of hibernating Indiana bats once
spent each winter. For tens of thousands of years, the site likely hosted the largets Indiana bat population in
the world. Toomey says the creatures started disappearing from the cave just 200 years ago.
The bats were once so numerous at Mammoth Cave that Toomey even found evidence of their predators. Researchers
came across layers of raccoon droppings composed entirely of bat remnants. It seems that when the bats hibernated
in enormous colonies, raccoons could just reach out and feast on the hibernating bats. The caves were a huge snack
storage facility.
Now these winter visitors have vacated Mammoth Cave. Why did the bats leave?
The Ideal Bat Refrigerator
Indiana bats have very specific climate requirements for their hibernation sites. They need a cool, stable, humid
environment-warm enough to protect them from freezing, cold enough to conserve energy.
"There is a very fine line in between," says Scott Pritt, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Coordinator for
the Indiana Bat recovery effort.
A single awakening, perhaps due to noise or a temperature change, can cost the bats 60 days worth of stored
fat. Without adequate fat stores, they won't make it through the winter, or their migration to summer habitat.
Pruitt says although they tried protecting the bat's currently used hibernations sites from human noise and
airflow changes, Indiana bat populations continue to plummet. The problem is both Indiana bats and humans prefer
large caves with multiple entrances.
"These bats can use less than 1 percent of caves," says Merlin Tuttle, director of Bat Conservation
International, "but these caves are the ones humans most like to explore."
And todays's spelunkers are hardly the first to trample on the bat's preferred habitat.
Complex Human History
During the War of 1812, miners scoured Mammoth Cave for salt peter to make gunpowder. Cave passages were widened
to fit oxen, and entrances were blocked to make the cave warmer for the miners.
In 1815 the cave became a tourist attraction, and tunnels were rearranged to people could walk, rather than
crawl through the cave.
Later a doctor built huts inside the cave to house tuberculosis patients, thinking the cave air would hae curative
properties. But their stay underground in the cold, humid air proved disastrous, and all the patients -and the
doctor-eventually died of tuberculosis.
Not only would the commotion from these past projects have bothered the bats, Toomey says changes in airflow
patterns resulting from these cave alterations likely upset that perfectly balanced cave climate the bats need
to hibernate.
By understanding where and how the bats once used Mammoth Cave, Toomey and Rick Olsen, a park naturalist, hope
to adjust the airflow and temperature conditions to make the cave comfortable for them again. Scattered fossils
and guano mark former cave ledges where the bats once hibernated, providing a glimpse of what the cave looked like
before it was reconfigured.
At first, Olsen says the cave was too warm, so they took out the solid gate that blocked a main entrance, and
put in an open gate. But then large amounts of cold air came in through the passages that had been widened in
the intervening centures, making the cave too cold. Now they are using a gate with long vertical bars that bats
fly through, and they have covered half the gate with Plexiglas to reduce the airflow. And they have restricted
an area from tours in the winter.
In some areas the cave is just a few degrees off, in others it is even further from the ideal range. Now Olsen
says they are working on finer details, like re-engineering stairways in the cave to increase airflow.
In the last few years three Indiana bats have been sighted around Mammoth cave, but so far none have come in
to hibernate, Olsen says.
Moving into Summer
But the cave fossils may not hold all the answers.
Even if the bats eventually return to their old hibernation haunts, simply surviving winter isn't enough. After
a long hibernation, the bats still need enough energy to migrate to their summering areas in mature forests where
they raise their young under bark peeling from the sides of large trees.
Some scientists are concerned that population declines also stem from something that happens to the bats during
the summer. Hibernating populations in certain caves are dropping much faster than in others. So Pruitt says
scientists are using new DNA tests to determine where bats from these fast-declining caves spend their summers.
They will then analyze the bats' summer homes for potential problems.
"We may think we know what is best for a bat, but only a bat does," says Pruitt. "Until we can
stabilize the population, it is not a rosy picture."
Reprinted by permission of ABCNEWS.com
Back to Top
LED HEADLAMPS - Two articles
Marc Tiritilli and Steve Taylor
When I'm able to attend grotto meetings, I usually have a report on the latest developments in the world of
LED headlamps. It's time to put some of these into print. Early this year, I retrofitted an MSA headlamp with
20 white LEDs for Steve Taylor. The idea was to make something that could fit into the existing assembly without
significant modification. We first set about choosing the LEDs. They come in a wide variety of sizes, efficiencies,
beam angles and prices. We originally wanted to use thirteen wide angle LEDs for a soft diffuse light with seven
narrower focus elements for emphasis at the focal point. This was a great idea except that the wide angle models
cost nearly six bucks apiece! We opted instead for a cluster of twenty LEDs each having a 20 degree beam. These
were mounted on a circular circuit board which was attached to the base of a bayonett style bulb. To fit the assembly
into the headpiece, the reflector was removed.
The next step was to find a way to power the unit. LEDs have a certain "breakover" characteristic.
Not enough voltage and they don't conduct at all. Above a certain voltage, 3.6 volts in this case, they act almost
like a short circuit. A little too much voltage and they will fry. Even 4 volts will fry a single LED, while
4.5 volts will safely drive a group of 20. As luck would have it, we found that 4.5 volts--the equivalent of 3
alkaline cells or 1 "flat pack", puts a decent amount of current through the cluster without overloading
it. The nice thing is that this method 100 percent efficient. There are no resistors or other intervening electronics
to dissipate power. The LEDs are connected in parallel (all positive ends connected together) straight to the
batteries. A word of warning here: 4.5 volts drives about 300 milliamps through a cluster of paralleled white
LEDs. It doesn't matter if you have 1 LED or a hundred, that's the amount of current they will see. It is imperative
that there are enough LEDs to share the load so that no single LED gets more than 30mA (the maximum current before
burning out). Usually, this number should be kept under 25mA. Many circuit designers have gone to great lengths
to regulate the current to each individual LED since the breakover voltage varies from part to part. While this
method is entirely "correct", it is very complex. In practice, simply paralleling the LEDs and regulating
the overall current has proven effective.
Our solution uses three AA batteries in a 4-cell plastic battery clip with a "dummy" battery in the
fourth slot. We used an old, dead battery wrapped in aluminum foil for this purpose. Steve likes this setup because
it is compact and "expendable". The case is fairly rugged, but if it breaks, another one can be bought
at Radio Shack for $0.79. The AA batteries are also easy to procure compared to the flat pack types. With this
arrangement, 10 solid hours of good light were obtained from just one set of AA alkaline batteries. The downside
of this arrangement is that there is no control over the light output. It cannot be dimmed and the light steadily
fades as the batteries drain. Even so, this is no worse than most conventional headlamps. The LEDs however, remain
white unlike light bulbs which glow more and more orange as the batteries weaken. (See the other article for Steve's
comments.)
I promised Steve a control mechanism from the beginning, but I've been picky and have been trying a variety
of circuits. I was originally looking for a pulse width modulated regulator such as those used with incandescent
light bulbs. They work by chopping the flow of power from the batteries into a stream of pulses. This is done
fast enough so that the bulb appears to glow steadily. (TV screens operate in the same way). By varying the ratio
of on time to off time, the bulb can be dimmed. The problem for LEDs is that even these short pulses can push
too much current.
I eventually turned to circuits that control current directly and opted for a simple circuit called a transconductance
amplifier. It operates by providing a steady current for a given input voltage (.070 volts in this case) that
is much less than the battery voltage. By changing the input voltage to the circuit, the output current through
the LEDs is changed in proportion. For any particular setting, the current is held constant regardless of the
load or the battery voltage. While there is enough power left in the batteries, they will deliver whatever the
circuit tells them to.
The end result is a small (thimble-sized) circuit with a dimming knob that can change the light output smoothly
from fully off to fully on. The circuit will regulate battery voltages up to 16 volts providing more protection
to the LEDs. Since higher voltages can now be safely used, more current can be delivered to provide more light.
For the 20 LED cluster, the maximum output level is set at 425mA or 21mA per LED. So long as the batteries are
above 4.8 volts, this maximum level can be delivered with no fading as the batteries drain. By replacing the dummy
baterry in the old pack with a live cell, the new six volt system will provide more light at maximum and will burn
longer overall.
This all comes at a price, however--efficiency. Some of the power is lost as heat through the circuit. This
is how the excess energy is dissipated. Even so, the loss is more than offset by the addition of another battery
into the power source. There is a point of diminishing returns, though. The higher the battery voltage gets above
the LED threshold, the more power has to be dumped off and the lower the efficiency.
The transoconductance amplifier is easy to build and contains only eight parts. Total cost for the circuit
is about $20. It can be used to regulate just about any arrangement of LEDs including series circuits and LEDs
with lower voltages such as red or yellow. I'll have circuit diagrams for you in the next newsletter.
The search goes on for an even better solution. As it turns out, Maxim Electronics has just come out with a
new chip that combines both technologies--current control and pulse width modulation--and is specifically designed
to control white LEDs. I haven't had a chance to evaluate it yet.
I get a lot of questions about retrofitting Petzls--especially Zooms and Megas. The problems involve the reflector
and the switch. Brett Bennett has come up with some excellent solutions to two problems that had me stumped.
By using an Exacto knife to gouge a groove where the reflector meets the bezel, the reflector can be popped out
with some coaxing and encouragement. The great thing is that it can be put back in to maintain the functionality
of the lamp. Modifications are best when they are reversible (or is it backwards compatible?) For the switch Brett
used a piece of circuit board (any thin, rigid, non-conductive material will work)with a small hole cut in the
center to engage the switching mechanism on the outside of the bulb socket. He then cut up an old plastic flashlight
to make a ring that rides just inside the perimeter of the housing. It was cut to just the right depth so that
when the bezel is screwed in, the ring pushes on the board which pushes on the switch. Very clever and very effective!
(See exploded view of headlamp.) Once again, no permanent changes are required. At this point, the LED cluster
is simply screwed into the bulb socket. Brett also found a better way of making a circuit board for the LEDs using
a Dremel. Way to go!
To power the units, the original 4.5 volt setups work well. If control electronics are desired, I recommend
at least six volts. For the Zoom, this can be accomplished with a 4-AA flat case that fits into the original compartment
perfectly. The circuit rides in the case also. A small hole is drilled in the side of the case to allow the adjustment
knob to protrude. If the circuit is removed, the hole is easily covered. On the Megas, larger battery packs can
be accomodated. Two parallel packs of 4-AAs would be a great option. Here too, a small hole is needed for the
dimmer. As for Duos, they can be converted, but there's no going back--the reflector is permanently altered.
Currently I'm evaluating some of the newer batteries on the market. It looks like the lithium AAs will be worth
the extra cost--they last significantly longer, can be drained lower, and are much lighter than alkalines. The
titanium batteries lie somewhere in between. If you're going to spend more on batteries, I recommend going for
the lithiums. I'm still in the testing phase and will let you know what I find. Until then, see you underground
(by the soft light of white LEDs).
--Marc Tiritilli
********
USER EVALUATION OF THE mtLED LIGHT
Steve Taylor
I have wanted an LED caving light ever since a few homemade models started popping up. A year or two ago I
went on a multi-day caving/camping trip during which someone had a multi-LED headlamp made out of a Petzl Duo.
I knew then that it was too cool of a toy to NOT have one. So, I talked to the NNG electronics expert, Marc Tiritilli,
and he agreed to make an LED light for me. It was to fit in the housing of an old MSA miner's lamp that I had
had lying around for 8 years or so. Here I'm calling it the 'mtLED Light' (mt=Marc Tiritilli, of course!), just
for the fun of having a fancy sounding name.
When the eagerly anticipated product finally arrived, I wasn't disappointed.
It runs of 3 AA's. I did 4 caves over two days, for a total of about 10 hours, without switching batteries
- there was still plenty of caving light left in the thing (though, by then end of the fourth cave it was dimmer
than someone else's Petzl Zoom with a standard bulb and fresh batteries). Without changing batteries, I used it
for another four hours or so (same batteries) at home in my light table (the ballast for my florescent lights had
gone out) until I fixed my light table. Since then, I changed to fresh batteries and did some caving in three
Indiana caves over a couple of days, without noticing any decrease in brightness.
I really, really like the light output. It puts out a really white light, with just a hint of blue. It is
an even light across a broad 'spot'. It's almost too bright when writing survey notes in a book (on the white
paper, so close, it's pretty intense) - but I'm not complaining! With fresh batteries, I even had someone snap
at me when I shined the mtLED Light right in their eyes. It is brighter, and much more even, than a Petzl Zoom
or Mega (standard bulb) when walking about. Of course, the battery life/light output ratio is much better, too!
However, it isn't suitable for shining your light across big rooms as an intense spotlight - I can't make out
objects 70-100 feet away very well (the bright halogen of the Petzl Duo does better at this, for example). Of
course, if it were THAT bright, I'd be roasting the cave crickets when I tried to do bioinventory stuff!
The way I have it set up right now is with batteries in a belt pack - and I'm not used to that. I'll be much
happier when I chop the cord and mount the 3 AA battery pack on the back of my helmet.
Using the MSA headpiece seems like a good choice so far--it is well made and rugged, which allows me to treat
the light like the rest of my cave gear - I dump out my dirty stuff on the ground after getting home from a trip,
and the light dumps out and bounces with everything else.
The absolute best thing I can say about the mtLED Light is that it works so well that I really don't notice
it in the cave - that's what a light should do! Another plus of the light is that it is fun, and a bit of a conversation
piece. I don't see the limitation as a spotlight for big rooms being a problem, for no light does everything.
The cost of LEDs is still fairly high (when you get a big cluster of them), so this light is not suitable for a
new caver, or cavers on a limited income. By the time Marc adds the voltage regulator (which should give significantly
longer burn times), there will be about $70 to $100 sunk into my new light - for me, I'm sure it will pay for itself
many times over (perhaps literally, in savings on batteries).
My personal opinion is that the currently available commercial models are still too big, cumbersome, and expensive,
and they lack the kind of ruggedness that caving demands. Perhaps someone will be making a good, commercially
available LED light in a couple of years. In the mean time, I would recommend a Petzl Duo, Mega, or Zoom as a
first commercial purchased electric caving light (or maybe you can work out a deal with Marc...). If I were willing
to spend a bunch of money, I'd have a LED light build second one built using a Petzl Duo as the housing - the LED
array would replace the 'standard' side of thel Duo, but it would still keep the bright halogen spotlight.
The mtLED Light will be my primary caving light (as soon as I move the
batteries to the helmet).
--Steve Taylor
Back to Top
HORRIFYING THE BRITS
Doug Strait (Antioch, Tennessee)
dlstrait@bellsouth.net
The following letter (posted to Tag-Net) recounts Doug's experience with two British cavers, and the difference
between their rope and his. I know that they often use thinner rope and use lots of rebelays, but I was not aware
that there is such a difference in abrasion resistance. I wonder if this is just a characteristic of the brand
of rope that they had or perhaps the rope was old and worn. Anybody know much about this topic?-Ed.
In addition to the trip reported by David Cole yesterday, I had the pleasure of caving on Monday with Colin
and Dave, the two visiting Brits mentioned in David Cole's post. Fun guys. I showed them 3 Tennessee pits. It
does seem that my rigging techniques make them very uneasy. It seems that they have a fetish about rope never
touching rock. At each pit only one of the two chose to descend; some excuse about limited time and such. I suspect
that they wanted to insure that one of them survived to tell the sad tale of the demise of the other in the Americas.
They will be passing back though TAG late next week and I am looking forward to horrifying them further. They
will probably report back to their club in England [West Midlands Cave Exploration Group] that they spent 2 weeks
caving in America and narrowly escaped with their lives. On a technical note, as David Cole mentioned in his post,
I had occasion to cut one of the 10mm ropes of the Brits [rope is of a German manufacture] and found that it only
took about 5 seconds of sawing it on a sharp limestone flute. I have done the same thing with various American
11mm and have needed at least 2-3 minutes to accomplish the same. It seems to me that nylon is nylon. Can any
of the rope knowledgeable people on TAGNET explain the great difference in abrasion resistance between American
and European ropes? Yes, the Europeans prefer the softer laid ropes and thus this is a factor but there must be
more to the story. Now that I have had the opportunity to cut a European rope with nothing more than my hands
and a sharp rock, I thoroughly understand why European style rigging has evolved as it has.
Back to Top
THE GREAT FALL 2000 MTG/NNG CAMP OUT
Steve Taylor
Barb Capocy (of Chicagoland, Central Indiana Grotto) and I drove Friday (8 September 2000) evening to the predesignated
meeting spot in the Onondaga Cave State Park campground. Our drive started, really, from Chicago. Barb got to
Champaign a bit later than we'd hoped, but we made the best of it with a rapid loading of gear from her truck to
mine. The monotony of the drive was broken only by the incredibly bad hamburgers (cold, really!) we got at the
McDonalds just west of Six Flags, on the south side of St. Louis. When we arrived close to midnight, finding the
camping spot with little trouble. I spotted someone puttering about their campsite with two lights on their head,
so I figured it must be cavers. But sleep was a priority over socializing, so we just crashed.
In the morning we soon were chatting with Mark Twain Grotto members Mark Jones, Bill Shaper, and Jim Roberts.
Just a bit further down the campground were four more cavers associated with Mark Twain Grotto, and Patty Daw
(MTG, but soon to be, I presume, Sandia Grotto in New Mexico) was to join us some time in the afternoon. We discovered
that I was the only Near Normal Grotto member who made it to the camp out. I think this is a real shame, especially
considering how much effort was put into it by Julie Angel and others. But we all wiped our tears away and proceeded
to finish breakfasts and pack gear for a caving trip.
Bill had in his head where we might be able to locate a couple of caves, so we took off in pickup trucks, happily
rolling along classic ozarkian gravel roads (I was quickly confused on the route). At one point, Bill realized
we had overshot a turn to a side road, and the lead truck he was in began backing up down the road. Soon, the
other trucks were following, all of us backing up. About this time, Barb had a realization and asked me if she
was the only female at the camp out. I noted that we were in a caravan of pickup trucks driving backwards down
a dirt road, and how it seemed highly unlikely that any woman would be party to such activities. We got a good
laugh out of it, anyway.
After some time, the roads got smaller and less passable, till we came to a gate. Bill, who was the only one
who knew the caves of the area very well, seemed a tad disoriented, as they had made a number of new roads and
added this pesky locked gate since his last visit. He trotted off down the road to scout whilst the rest of us
either packed and organized gear or participated in the necessary "milling about" rituals that precede
all good caving trips. (This is not an original concept of mine, Arnie Weisbrot of the "Gangsta Mappers"
(largely a West Virginia Group) has written an article titled "The Milling-Around Theory of Speleogenesis",
which can be seen on the web at: http://www.psc-cavers.org/gangsta-mappers/milling.htm. Anyway, part of the milling
about included discussing some local who had just a day or two ago killed two government people who were trying
to get access to his land the next county over. He had killed them with an AK47, and had disappeared into the woods,
not so far from where we were. As we speculated on the likelihood of his using caves to hide out in, Bill returned
with the sad news that we would not be going to the caves here, because he couldn't be sure where we were.
Fortunately, Bill is a seasoned caver with a 'plan B'. We drove off (forwards) to another spot where we would
search for the AK47 guy in Bear Cave. A walk along a clear Ozark stream and a hike along a bluff soon led to the
entrance, affording us a cool place to get our lights going and adjust gear. We had fun exploring this cave, probably
spending a few hours in it. Afterwards, some folks explored nearby Sewer Cave, while some took off for a Cathedral
Cave tour and others just lazed about at the entrance. After the Sewer Cave affair, we took advantage of the stream
to clean up some gear before driving on.
During the drive back towards civilization, we passed a van on the side of the road where people were taking
their cloths off. This, we surmised, must be cavers. After that realization struck, we backed up (again) to chat.
It turned out to be Gary Gibula of Sub-Urban Chicago Grotto and Lawrence Ireland of Ozark Highlands Grotto. They
had just returned from a trip to Flemming Cave. After chatting a bit (and getting a favorable review of that cave,
accompanied by navigation instructions to find the entrance) we left them to their business (which included and
evening concert by "Schwag" a Greatful Dead-esque band, which Gary Gibula is a member of).
Off we drove, to "The Hen House" in Burbon, Missouri, where we had a fine lunch that included a spunky
waitress that gave Mark Jones a suitably hard time. After lunch, we drove back to the campground to check on the
Patty Daw status. Patty was there, and we all stood around and chatted a bit. Some talked of more caving, others
talked of spending the afternoon slumming. In the end, Mark, Jim, Barb and I headed off to search for Flemming
Cave. We found the spot in the road and soon had changed into are caving attire and had headed up the hill in
search of the entrance. Gary's directions were excellent, and we wasted little time locating the entrance. We
rigged some webbing and a cable ladder to make the climb out easier (upon recommendation of the previous group)
and then slipped into the darkness.
This cave turned out to be a real treat - though there was clearly significant formation breakage, it looked
much more pristine than Bear and Sewer, and had the added benefit of being new to all members of our party. We
looked at all sorts of tiny little crystals and helectites, admired lots of soda straws, and poked about in breakdown.
Eventually we found a lower level with a crawlway that extended deeper into the hill. This was a great little
cave to visit. Fully satisfied, we returned to camp, where we made the others feel bad for choosing to slum in
camp. A few beers were then consumed, and some went off to hear Eugene Vale give a talk, whilst others just ate
dinner.
The next morning, our group shrank further after breakfast (again, at "The Hen House" in Burbon).
Bill had arranged a permit for Mushroom Cave in Meramec State Park. He needed four people, and we barely achieved
that with Bill, Jim, Barb and I. Patty had to leave to pack for her move to New Mexico. Mark had to opt out because
of a swollen knee. We had fun with his knee, and even took some pictures with a measuring tape for scale (later,
his doctor indicated that it was "Housemaid's Knee" and extracted 7 cc's of fluid). And remember the
AK47 psycho that was waiting for us in the caves? Well, it turns out they found him dead in the woods, so we knew
that today's caving would be "machine gun free".
Anyhooo, the four of us took the MTG/NNG venue over to Meramec, where we soon had our permit and appropriate
signatures. In the parking lot, however, we met Donald and Theresa Marsan from Hillsboro, Missouri (and members
of a St. Louis grotto, MMV I think) and Theresa's mother. They asked if they could join us, which we were agreeable
to. We also talked to some Stygian Grotto members who were lingering in the parking area waiting for some other
trip to Commence. Our group of seven headed up to the cave (after changing clothes in the very public parking
lot). This cave is one I'd highly recommend for any experienced cavers - lots of pretties (formations), critters
to see (three families of springtails, two species of salamanders, bats, flies), historical features (from the
mushroom farming days), and sporting (but totally optional) crawlways to explore. We spent a few hours and saw
nearly all of the cave.
After this, the MTG/NNG camp out finally dissolved - all went on their merry ways. Barb and I hosed down our
caving gear at a car wash, then stopped off at Mastodon State Park (south of St. Louis) on the way back, where
we got a slide show and toured the museum - very interesting stuff and even cave related. Bones-o-rama. Then
came the long drive through the corn, and the end of another fine caving weekend. Wish y'all could have been there!
Back to Top
SURPRISE CAVE
Lara Storm
I drove an hour south from Troy to Kingston where I met Steve, and then drove another hour south on route 209,
parallel to the Shawangunk mountain
range, which provided us with some beautiful scenery. A narrow road cut off into a forest to the left and led
us past Rhodes Cave (somewhere up the hill
on the right) and to a small pull-off on the left where Steve took me down to see some resurgences one for Rhodes
Cave, and the other somewhat of a
mystery. Soon we pulled into a relatively large parking area where we were to meet up with Les. His car was there,
but he was not in sight. Eventually we
decided that he must have already gone up to the cave.
The cave is about 100 feet up a fairly steep hill. A stream runs next to the trail. At the top of the hill the
stream runs fairly horizontal over the
broken up rocks and bedrock. At the edge of the hill the stream follows the bedding, which dips at about 25 degrees
downhill. Geologically, it was a very interesting sight. Since the cave was formed in the same bedrock outcropping
at the surface, it was a preview of
the passages to come. The entrance to the cave, which looked like a mere crack between two large slabs of bedrock,
was guarded by a small gate. Les
having been there beforewent in first, I went second, and Steve went last to lock the gate behind us.
Les admitted that despite 7 years of caving he was still quite claustrophobic. He was, of course, pleased to hear
that I loved crawls (that's sarcasm). I
slid in under the opened gate, and then slid down and back into the direction I had just come. Once we were all
inside (the rain room, I believe), Steve
gave us the option of the climbing route or the crawling route . . . we did the crawl. < note from Steve: this
was the first room, just above the Rain
Room. The option was to make the 8 foot climbdown, under lots of dripping water, into the Rain Room or crawl through
the small hole at the end of the
room and avoid most of the dripping water. There was no option about rigging the pit.> We weaved our way carefully
through small cracks and holes that, in
general, appeared only to be spaces between breakdown blocks. This "corkscrew" led us to a largish room
at the bottom, the Lower Entrance Room.
A bit of walking led us past the Shower Dome. We peeked inside on our way to the Wave Tunnel. Looking for a hole
in the ceiling that would lead us to the
Wave Tunnel, I was amusingly confronted with a belly crawl that was conveniently tipped downwards at a 25 degree
angle. We slid down the inclined
tube before emerging at the base of the Round Room. Here we took The Chute and again went downdip, this time in
a crawlway
that was filled with sand. At the bottom of The Chute we took a right and upwards turn (instead of a left and downwards
turn that wouldve led us to a
sump). Belly crawling at a 25* incline proved to be hard work, and I began to wonder what amount of incline it
took for a passage like this to be
considered a climb rather than a crawl. At this point we were in the Wave Tunnel. It would've been a much easier
accomplishment had I not insisted on bringing my pack and wearing it. We didn't follow this passage to the end
though. Instead we cut off to the right and back into the downward slanting passage that had brought us
to the start of the sand chute. After this, I believe we walked the length of the Lower Formation Room(s) to the
southwesternmost sump. We admired the
plentiful debris littering the floor of the cave here, glad that the water was not up. We took the left hand loop
of the Lower Formation Rooms to see the Fossil Pits, where a small lead called the Mud Tube began. Les was content
to sit and wait while Steve and I got slimed in the tight tube. The first part of the tube was
horizontal, but near the end I saw Steve disappear into a narrow crack in the ceiling. It followed the bedding
down to the top of Mystery Dome. We peered at
the blackness below us, resisting the gravity that wanted to pull us down the slippery incline. Apparently there
is a ledge that can be skirted around the
dome to a safer area, but we had no need to do the Deadmans Traverse Heaven was much more easily reached by heading
northeast and up. As you might have
imagined, Heaven was heavily decorated with beautiful wet flowstone, dripstone, draperies, and stalactites and
gmites. Our last destination was the New
Discovery, which cuts off of the Lower Entrance Room, but first we poked into the Chockstone Passage (a canyon
with numerous boulders trapped above, between
the two walls of the passage). From here we got a second view of the Lasso Passages. Steve pointed out the rock
that had been lassoed to get up into the
passage for the first time, and explained that, even though it looked secure from the bottom of the canyon, it
actually sloped downwards. On the way back
to the Lower Entrance Room, Steve pointed out the hole that he referred to as the low road to hell. Soon we were
trekking our way down the New Discovery where we saw more formations and fossils. Steve let me lead out, and I
struggled to find the correct way back. He guided me in some areas where I seemed to be a bit off from the right
path. The Rain Room again showered us with cave kisses as Steve pointed out the hole overlooking the pit we had
bypassed with the corkscrew. Soon we were out. A 5 hour tour was a relatively decent trip in the cave. We had only
neglected a few of the passages, Hell especially since it is wet and
miserable. One thing I know Ive learned from this trip cotton is not for New York.
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AN ESCAPE FROM GLACIAL LANDSCAPE
Troy J. Simpson
During the May grotto meeting (actual meeting time in June) it was pointed out to me that I had a pretty good
tan. Now for most people this is a compliment, but at a grotto meeting that means only one thing… somebody hasn't
been spending enough time underground. I scrambled around for a response and tried to counter the comment by
saying that as a track coach, I'm always outside. Yeah, that almost worked. I tried again and came up with "I'm
a naturally dark person." Once again I was thwarted with heckles and knew that it was a no-win situation.
After finally coming to grips with the fact I needed to go caving, it was decided that a pilgrimage to Illinois
Caverns was in order. Jim Jacobs was the first to decide to make the pilgrimage, with John Schirle quickly following.
I have the unique honor of being perhaps the furthest active NNG member from Illinois Caverns. What this means
is, that preparing for a trip is often liked to preparing for an expedition. No, let me clarify that, expeditions
tend to pack less. Unfortunately Caving Sherpas are hard to come by and not to mention expensive, so that leaves
the preparation to me. I dust off the Illinois road map and check the distance from Watseka to Illinois Caverns.
Better add a few more stores of food, just to be on the safe side. John Schirle gives me a call a week before
our target departure date and we make the executive decision to expand the trip to Friday and stay in overnight
at a nearby camp. It is soon Friday and after a two-hour drive I arrive in Mt. Auburn to meet up with John. Almost
three hours later we arrive at our destination and a good night's sleep.
The next morning, we arrive at Illinois Caverns at 9:00 a.m. and get a chance to talk with the park ranger and
enjoy listening to the stories of some of the more "colorful" spelunkers (note: I said spelunkers and
not CAVERS!!) that visit the cave. Jim and Marty Jacobs soon joined us with grandson Ryan and we were on our way.
This trip had several motives besides working on my "tan." Jim used it to experiment with a new headlamp
and I wanted to get some good photos to use for my cave education presentation. After taking a few minutes to
get geared up, we were on our way down the steep stairway into Illinois Caverns. Once down in the cavern, we
noticed a helmet lying at the base of the stairs. We didn't think much of it and left it where it was and moved
into the cavern. We later found out it was the helmet of a teenager in a group that we would run into. This once
again reminded us the need for safe caving education before entering the subterranean.
As with any return trip, I often take more notice of the features of the cave. As Jim had mentioned in his
article, I was often (and I do mean OFTEN) stopping to examine features more closely. John and I were fascinated
with the incised stream channel that graced the ceiling on the main passage. This channel would eventually evolve
into the passage we were now walking through. We continued to press on through the cave and made our way to the
"Lunch Room" to take a short break and explore the series of rimstone dams leading up to waterfall.
After taking a few photos we made our way back to the main passage and continued on. One feature along our journey
was what I would best describe as a suspended flowstone. It looked like a half a mushroom growing out of the side
of the passage wall, just hanging about 5 feet above the floor of the passage. The neat thing about this feature
is that we could go underneath it and see how the calcite over time created layer after layer. It was a true cross-section,
just like rings on a tree. It also gave us an idea of where the stream passage once was before being eroded and
leaving this hanging formation. A very rare look into the past!! We later were again reminded about the past
environment as we reached the Crinoid Calyx located near the Waterfall. Here we gazed at the ceiling, noting the
variety of fossilized creatures entombed in the limestone. It is hard to imagine that this was once the shallow
shoreline of an ancient sea. Surf Illinois??
What was nice about this trip was the fact we really had no objective to reach, just to enjoy the features of
the cave. This meant that whatever caught our fancy is what we checked out. Cascade Canyon was one of those
things that caught our fancy. Now, I have never been through this section and enjoyed the thrill of climbing up
and down the numerous waterfalls that line the passage. The highlight was the chance to see rare amphipods swimming
around in the small pools formed by pocketed flowstone. Of course, I could not leave the Canyon without "finding"
a deep pool of water that plunged me waist high in 50 degree water! It gave new meaning to "shrinking passage."
After spending several hours exploring, we decided it was time to make our way out. As we wrapped up the trip,
I learned a few things… 1. I missed my calling as a "Tour Guide." 2. Start buying up land in Southern
Illinois, for it will be prime oceanfront property some day. And finally, 3. Never go to a grotto meeting with
a dark tan!!
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MY BID FOR THE NSS 2003 CONVENTION
By Troy J. Simpson
I was sitting at home reading the NSS News and noticed a call for bids for the 2003 Convention. I thought to
myself, "Illinois is yet to host a convention, so why not put in a bid." I sat down at my desk and scanned
my map Rand McNally map for ideal spots in Illinois to host a cave convention. Now, my first thought was southern
Illinois would be a good spot to host a convention, but for some reason my eyes kept focusing on Central Illinois.
After racking my brain I was able to come up with some reasons for us to pursue hosting the convention here.
So here is my Top Ten Reasons to bid for the NSS 2003 Convention…
Top Ten Reasons to Host 2003 Convention
10. Real cool motto: "Close Your Eyes and Imagine You're in a Cave"
9. Experience Illinois Caving…start by driving 4-5 hours to Indiana or Missouri
8. Go vertical caving in the potholes along the highway system
7. Anything hosted by a Grotto named "Near Normal" has to be interesting!
6. Explore Ice Caves… in 20,000 years
5. You still have to use the word "Karst" in "Karst Challenged Region"
4. Silo Rappelling, need I say more?
3. Real cool mascot: Caver by the side of the road looking confused at a topo map.
2. Bats are a protected endangered species here, just watch the Chicago Cubs
And the number one reason for the Near Normal Grotto to host the 2003 convention…..
1. Lots of virgin caves for those willing to dig 200 feet of glacial till!
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING
August 25
Brian R. Braye
In attendance: Julie Angel, Leneord Storm, Brian Braye, Dave Carson, Marc Tiritilli, Ralph Sawyer, Troy Simpson,
Leah Elder, Matt Johnson.
President Julie A. opened the meeting opened at 7:15. Dave C. made a Treasurers Report indicating the club had
a balance of $147.15. A motion to accept the report was made by Troy S. and seconded by Brian B. Dave also indicated
he was in the3 process of updating the club NSS members list.
Julie A. talked about the Mereamc trip coming on Sept. 8-10. Opportunities for caving, canoeing, and rappelling
would be the highlites.
The deadline for the Devil's Icebox would be Sept. 7. The trip is schedualed for Nov. 4. You need to be an NSS
member to go on this trip. 6-10 are allowed to go on the trip.
Julie also reported on the picnic meeting in July that was attended by 15.
New business: Brian B. reported that the patches were in and sales had begun. The patches will sell for $3.00 each.
Brian also made a request for articles and pictures for the Sept. issue of the NNN.
Marc T. made a correction about the July issue of the NNN. The cover photo was taken by Marc Tirittilli, and not
by Steve T. as published.
Trip reports: Julie A. reported on the Mammoth Cave Restoration Camp in August, that was attended by Brett Bennett,
Julie Angel, Norm and Chris Rogers from our club, and also Brett's son, Larry Matis, and John Vargo, who most of
the members know. Work was done in the Echo River area and El Gore. There was a reward trip on Thursday of a 1/2
day Mammoth trip, or a through trip from Bed Quilt to Collosal. There was also a Bar-B-Que on Friday evening hosted
by the Park Service.
Troy S. reported on a trip to Illinois Caverns that was published in the last NNN. There are plans for an Armin
Kruger Visitors/Meeting center to be built.
Marc T. talked about a Tennesee trip to Phar Cave where they made a 256 foot vertical drop.
Julie A. mentioned a Sept. 29 to Oct 1 gathering at Rock Bridge State Park. She also noted that theMVOR would be
Oct. 14-15 in Lesterville, MO.
Julie also proposed a Grotto walk in Mathinsen State Park possibly in Oct.
A possible campground for trips wold be the Wartburg Luthern Camp near Waterloo, IL. Hot showers and served food
are available.
Marc T. promoted the Rescue Weekend Basic Training coming in Dec. More info later.
Motion to adjourn the meeting was made at 8:15 by Len S, seconded by Brian B.
A video was presented by Marc T. to the enjoyment of all.
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