MGG GROTTO MEETING MINUTES

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2 ***********EDITOR S NOTE************ TOM MOLTZ is so busy this year that I will attempt to help by writing his column. Tom has been familying, working, and caving nonstop this past Year. He has explored, surveyed, and Mapped many caves (with the help of his grotto members and TAG caving buddies, but this is Tom s column so I must try and concentrate on Tom) at an amazing rate. He continues to lead trips when asked, complete the grotto correspondence, and aid the grotto chair and vice chair with their many duties. I would like to submit some remarks received from one of the many trips Tom lead to let you see how helpful he has been in assisting other cavers. After a trip to Glory hole in January of 2001 Tom, Did you put a rock in Ben's pack too? -Suzanne Note from BEN *Note: After breaking out my cave gear for a good cleaning, I found it necessary to make a few slight revisions to my "thank-you" note to Tom..... Tom, (you sneaky little #*&!) Both personally and on behalf of the grotto, I'd like to express my sincere thanks (I'd like to express a lot more than just thanks!) for your efforts and the efforts of your colleagues in guiding us (like cattle on a halter) through what I'm sure you're tired of hearing is the most spectacularly decorated cave we've had the privilege of seeing. (and even bringing home with us!) We try to be in the habit of getting thankyou cards to those who help the grotto, (seems you like to give out mementoes as well) so I'd appreciate it if you could send snail-mail addresses for your group, as we'd like to get something out to all of you. (yeah, like the ROCKS you sent home with us! ) Thanks again for a wonderful day underground,, (you guys are truly professionals at what you do) Ben C. Ewing chair, ASS (Athens Speleological Society) NSS, GSS, SCCi MGG GROTTO MEETING MINUTES Meeting Time & Place: October 8, 2000 Sequoyah Caverns during the TAG Fall Cave-In Attendees: Andrea Goodson, Minter Goodson, John Klayer, Carol Moltz, Tom Moltz, Autumn Orman, Jerry Reeves, Varie Rustin, Buddy Welker Note: Don Going did not get the word on a change in meeting place and was disappointed to miss the meeting after showing up at the regular campsites. Meeting : John brought the meeting to order about 10 am est. Tom reported that the grotto had about seven hundred dollars, three hundred of which is designated for the Rock House conservation project. Tom gave an update on the status of the Rock House project. We are waiting on the owner to find the time to meet us at the cave. Someone mentioned the fact that we had repaired the gate at Glory Hole. Minter encouraged people to send material for the newsletter. All members attending received a newsletter, which Minter and Andrea had just finished. This newsletter received a lot of positive comments. The front page featured several pictures of John. It was said that in case John didn't survive his surgery that this would be a memorial to him. Andrea made a motion that we donate two hundred fifty dollar to the SCCi. Varie suggested during discussion that we wait till we have one thousand dollars to buy an honorary entrance. The motion to donate two hundred fifty dollars was approved and a check for that amount was given to the SCCi following the meeting. John and Minter were assigned the task of picking out our honorary feature on the SCCi's map of Cemetery Pit. Andrea started discussion on the possibility of reducing dues. After it was decided that the grotto would have enough to operate on if dues were reduced, a motion was made and passed to reduce the annual dues to five dollars. Minter stated he wanted trip reports and maps. He suggested Tom submit one on Missing Section and Jerry Reeves gave a report on Dug Well. After discussion it was decided we would try to get campsites #15 and 16 for TAG next year. Elections were held with the following results: Chair, John Klayer Vice Chair, Buddy Welker Sec/Treas, Tom Moltz Members paid John for campsites. We would like to welcome the following new members to Middle Georgia Grotto: Evan Goodson, Sarah Goodson, Travis Guy, Autumn Orman, and Brian Williamson TAG Campsites Wow, this was close! I just read my June NSS News and saw the announcement for TAG. I called. Only 4 campsites were available. Only one in the quiet zone, Site #2. I made the reservations, MGG has Site #2 and Site #54. Site #54 is near our ancestral MGG hallowed ground on top of the hill across from the sauna and showers, I'm not sure where Site #2 is - but it is in the quiet zone. I hope this pleases you with children. Your humble Chairman, John I'm trying, I'm trying, (sigh), so hard. Contact John Klayer for more information. Letter from the Editor My assistant and I are asking for articles and trip reports to go into the newsletter. If you have any other information you would like printed, SEND IT IN! To: Minter Goodson (Editor) 836 Orange Park Avenue Lakeland, Fl to: goodson_m@firn.edu Credits Please do not use any articles, artwork, or photos in this newsletter without the author's, artist's, or photographer's permission (With the exception of NSS internal organizations.) All rights reserved. All Artwork and Articles are credited. All without credits are the work of Andrea & Minter Goodson or Tom Moltz. COVER (from left to right) (top) Tom Moltz, (bottom) Buddy Welker, John Klayer, Carol Moltz, Andrea Goodson, (top) Ed Pratt,(bottom) Varie Rustin All Photos during TAG 2000 except Tom thanksgiving 2000 and Ed s Glory 2001

3 Glory Hole Cave Trip By Ed Pratt Date: January 20, 2001 I have been in a lot of caves. I have been in taller caves, caves with bigger rooms, longer caves, but never a cave of this beauty. There are rooms full of calcite formations from top to bottom. You can spend hours in one room just looking around and see something different everywhere you look. Move a few inches either way and you start the whole process over. It would take months to thoroughly explore a single room of Glory Hole. The group I went with to Glory Hole was super. Everyone was conscientious about where he or she stepped or where they stood. I think I can safely say that we did absolutely no damage to the cave. I went with seven members of the Athens Speleological Society, two cavers from Florida, Tom and Tom s brother, Jim. Glory Hole is so sensitive and precious that you always have to be aware of everything around you. Not every passage is full of priceless calcite deposits. But enough are that you can t begin to describe the beauty without being there. I decided to bring my camera to Glory Hole because I was told by several people that this was a world-class cave. Bringing your camera might sound like an easy task but put your camera gear in an ammo box, drag that box down about 50 feet of vertical chimney and you start to hate that ammo box. Drag that box through about 500 feet of crawl space where there was more slithering than crawling and you start to question your own sanity. Repeat the crawl space about three times for a total of 1500ft of slithering and you have no doubt that you are certifiably insane. But the effort was worth the task a hundred times over. Even the VERY tight crawls. There is a formation in Glory Hole that is unique in the entire known universe. I am proud to say I was the 35th person alive to see the Granny Star. Glory Hole was discovered in 1958 but the Granny Star wasn t found until The formation is unique in the entire know world. The discoverers named the formation after Granny who owns the land where the entrance to Glory Hole is located. Granny is a super lady that I wish everyone had the chance to meet. To get to the Granny Star you first have to drop straight down a 10ft passage originally meant for mice. There is just enough room for your body to get through. Because gravity is your friend at this point, getting down is no problem. Getting out is a bit of a witch for us long legged types. I managed to squeeze back up the 10ft of vertical with one arm in front and one in back. Going out friction is usually your friend and gravity is your enemy. Sometimes you find you friends are really you worst enemy. When you get to the top you have to transition from vertical from horizontal. Normally, this isn t too bad. In this particular instance it can get a little hairy. Right after the transition to horizontal my right thigh got stuck in a narrow crevice. Meanwhile my feet were trying to make it past a very narrow passage. It was one of those mental things cavers often have to face. If you panic you die, or at the very least face some humiliation. There is no choice but to relax and continue. You know that if you made it in you can make it out. I relaxed and asked Buddy, who was behind me, to remove my left boot. That gave me enough clearance to get my left foot past the obstruction and push. My right thigh will be bruised for a week but I d do it again in a heartbeat. Especially after Tom lets me take a rock pick to that narrow crevice. See the pictures at AlbumIndex? u= &a= Ed Glory Hole Cave Trip By Tom Moltz During the leisurely spelunking in Glory Hole we took time to admire the Pentameral Symmetry of the Ambulacral Grooves in the Econoderms protruding from the walls. The Granny Star Photo Ed Pratt 2001 The Southeastern Cave Conservancy has signed a caving lease for the Sinking Cove area, re-opening the area to cavers. Information is available on the SCCi web site at Scottsboro Mountain Access There is a now a combination lock on the gate leading to Scottsboro Mountain, the popular caver camping spot just outside Scottsboro, Alabama. Any and all cavers are welcome to camp there at any time, and the 4 -digit combination is (1865 is the year the Civil War ended; if you forget it, just ask any local.) There are actually three locks on the chain, the other two belong to the power and cable companies. So we -- >MUST<-- link all three locks together so that any lock will open the gate. I'm worried that someone will mess this up, but we'll give it a try. Again, the locks should be linked together in a chain, not side by side is the combination. Do not leave the gate open overnight, close it right after you and your friends come through.

4 Editor s Note The following are brief descriptions of the Georgia caves mapped on the following pages. The descriptions and Map Drafts are by Tom Moltz. GWK513 Smalley Cave County: Walker Date first entered: 6 Oct by Buddy Welker The cave is in a well defined sink with 8 foot high rock walls on either side of it. It is located on the east side of Pigeon Mt. The entrance is only about 15 feet in elevation above the field below. It is on private property. The entrance is on the north side of the sink. It was accessed by moving a couple of rocks. It is only 8 inches wide but is undercut enough on one side so it would not be too hard to enlarge. One of the passages in the cave is less than 8 inches wide. Length: horizontal 96 feet Traverse: 125 feet Total Depth: 44 feet Number of pits: 1 Deepest pit: 29 feet GWK518 Autumn Bluebird County: Walker Buddy Welker first entered this as a lead on 9/26/00 going about 15 feet. Tom Moltz and Buddy dug it open on 10/05/00 gaining access to continuing cave. Harvey Boyd checked the sump on 1/13/01. Length: horizontal 49 feet Traverse: feet 55 Total Depth: feet 11 GHO 519 Klayer Lost Section Cave County: Houston Date first entered: 13 March 2000 John Klayer and Varie Rustin found the entrance while riding down the road. It appeared the entrance might not have been very visible before. A large rock looked as if it had recently fallen from the entrance. Tom Moltz, John Klayer, and Varie Rustin explored and surveyed the cave. There is a lead at the end blocked by a large bolder that has fallen from the ceiling. It looks like there may be going passage beyond the rock. The entrance to the cave is on a road bank. It is interesting to note that the opposite side of the road has a small continuing passage that looks to open up several feet in. This may be worth digging on and is probably a continuation of the cave. Length: horizontal 158 feet Traverse: feet 158 feet Total Depth: feet 3 feet GWK521 Bluebird Spring Cave County: Walker Date first entered: 1/13/01 Harvey Boyd and Woody Jasper dove the spring looking for a way into the cave. The entry was finally made through a small hole that was opened up on a previous trip. Woody surveyed the cave finding a slot under a ledge with some water flowing in and said it was a possible dig. About 20 feet of the cave can be explored with normal cave gear. Length: horizontal 53 feet Traverse: 59 feet Total Depth: 11 feet GWK 522 Geriatrics Cave County: Walker A Georgia State employee told us about this cave. He said some DNR people found it and made it about 80 feet into the cave. It ended with a protrusion from the wall blocking a crawl. On 07 October 2000, Buddy Welker and I broke off a little of the protrusion and made it by. I continued on a short distance. Buddy checked out the rest of the crawl making it about 80 to 90 feet past the protrusion. The cave entrance is in the bottom of a well-defined sink. It starts out walking size and soon goes to a crawl with airflow. It ends with a tight hole going straight down. It is not a good lead being too tight to work in. Length: horizontal 188 feet Traverse: 188 feet New 75 Pit: Dug Well By Sharon Faulkner On a beautiful Saturday morning in early March, after a breakfast at the Liberty Restaurant in Scottsboro, Jerry Reeves, Chuck Constable and I headed out to ridgewalk and to check out some leads Chuck Smith had given to Jerry the previous weekend. We reached the parking spot for Kennemer Cave and due to the rain the night before, the large mud puddles were extremely wet and muddy. To make a long story short Chuck and I both got stuck for a short time. The truth is Chuck got stuck first, and to show Chuck that I can do anything he can do, I got stuck too. After getting both vehicles unstuck we got our gear together and headed to the woods. We did follow up on Chuck Smith s leads, but Chuck Constable had the find of the day. Chuck found a small sink with a fist sized hole blowing a fair amount of air. He started to dig on this hole when Jerry noticed another small hole on the opposite side of the sink, about six feet away from the first one, covered with rocks. We moved enough of the smaller rocks to be able to see that we had a pit under us. Throwing down rocks we were estimating it was about 65 feet deep. We still had a lot of work to do before any of us could fit down this hole. We took turns digging, prying rocks loose with a crowbar, and using a small sledge-hammer on the bigger rocks. After an hour or so of this we finally had a deformed looking, triangular shaped hole that at it s widest point is maybe two feet wide. Chuck went down first, pulling the end of the tape measure with him. The pit measured 75 deep. You have a 12 climb-down after that, for a total vertical extent of 87. He got to the bottom and yelled for us to come down. Jerry started to go down but due to the fact that there was still a lot of loose rock that would fall when you touched it, we

5 decided it was safer for only one person at a time to bounce it. I was the last one to bounce it as I planned to sketch a map of the cave when I got down. The pit is nicely decorated with flowstone formations over 20 long, a nice 40 dome at the bottom of the climbdown, gypsum flowers and popcorn covered walls. After admiring the cave formations I proceeded to sketch a rough map, and climbed back out. Good find Chuck! We continued on our ridgewalk with Chuck finding a 37 karst feature, and we each found a few more little dud holes. We also qualified one of Chuck Smith s leads. We finished up our 8 hour walk-a-thon about 5:30, and topped off an already good day with dinner at Buena Vista. Way to go Chuck!

6 SMALLEY CAVE GWK 513 Compass and Body Length Survey October 2000 by Tom Moltz and Buddy Welker Accuracy: Azimuth ± 3, Horizontal and Vertical ±5% Drafted March 2001 by Tom Moltz Legend: NSS Standard Cave Symbols 12 Elevation: 945 Feet Horizontal: 108 Feet Vertical: 44 Feet Traverse: 123 Feet Tight! Drain Nm 12 Plan View Small hole into 2 foot by 8 inch slot in wall of sink. 29 Foot Pit Feet Note: Approximately 100 feet west of entrance is a 25 foot long, (non-qualifier) crawl type cave. Flow Stone

7 AUTUMN BLUEBIRD CAVE GWK 518 Compass and Body Length Survey September 2000 to January 2001 Harvey Boyd, Tom Moltz, Buddy Welker (Accuracy: Azimuth ± 5, Distance ± 5%) Nm Elevation: 845 Feet Horizontal: 50 Feet Vertical: 14 Feet Traverse: 57 Feet Plan Legend: NSS Standard Cave Water Sump Water Depth 2 Stream Passage (air) Dug Open Entranc 0 Feet 6 Idealized Water Possible

8 KLAYER LOST SECTION CAVE Tape, Compass and Clinometer Survey (Azimuth & Clinometer ±1, Distance ± 2%) March, 2000 by: John Klayer, Tom Moltz, Varie Rustin Drafted by: Tom Moltz, March 2001 GHO 519 Geologic Formation: Suwannee Limestone Elevation: 330 feet Horizontal: 158 feet Traverse: 158 feet Depth: 3 Feet Dug Fallen rock from ceiling blocks passage Plan View <1 2 1 N m.5 Small Animal 1 US 129 Human Size high lead appears to open up 10 inside Feet Legend: NSS Standard Cave Symbols

9 BLUEBIRD SPRING CAVE GWK 521 Compass and Knotted Line Survey Cave Dive, January 2001 by Woody Jasper (Accuracy: Azimuth ± 5, Distance 2%) Drafted by Tom Moltz, March 2001? Elevation: 830 Feet Horizontal: 53 Feet Vertical: 13 Feet Traverse: 59 Feet Nm Water Line A A Too Tight Possible Dig A A Plan View Feet Upper Water Line Legend: NSS Standard Cave Symbols Water Sump Water Depth 2 Stream Passage (air) Lower Bluebird Spring

10 GERIATRICS CAVE GWK 522 Body Length Sketch 07 October 2000 by: Tom Moltz and Buddy Welker Horizontal error: ±5% Vertical error: ±5% Azimuth error: Unknown (Note: Passage direction estimated) Sink 16 Elevation: 1260 Feet Horizontal: 198 Feet Vertical: 33 Feet Traverse: 204 Feet (Data includes entrance sink) Drafted by Tom Moltz March 2001 Plan View 7 Nm 10 Feet 3 Geritol Crawl Extended Profile Legend: NSS Standard Cave Symbols 20 Feet

11 MGG MEMBERSHIP ROSTER FOR 2001 (WITHOUT ADDRESSES PUBLISHED) ANGELA BAILY BILL BAILY JEFF BOAR DON GOING ANDREA GOODSON EVAN GOODSON MINTER GOODSON SARAH GOODSON TRAVIS GUY JOHN KLAYER CAROL MOLTZ TOM MOLTZ Reg Member Training Contact Reg Member Reg Member CHART Member CHART Member Secretary/Treasurer CHART Member AUTUMN ORMAN ` Reg Member ED PRATT JERRY REEVES VARIE RUSTIN BUDDY WELKER BRIAN WILLIAMSON reg Member Conservation Contact reg Member Tom and Minter leaving the birth canal Glory Hole 2001 Photo Ed Pratt 2001 Athens Speleological Society Glory Hole 2001 Photo Minter Goodson 2001