September - The Cullman Grotto
Transcription
September - The Cullman Grotto
The FLOWSTONE Vol Vol 20 Issue 9 September 2013 Farewell Sequoyah Caverns A Monthly Newsletter of the Cullman Grotto of the National Speleological Society September 2013 Cullman Grotto Flowstone CULLMAN GROTTO FLOWSTONE Visit us online @ September 2013 Volume 20, Issue 9 www.caves.org/grotto/cullman/ or www.cullmangrotto.com Inside this Issue 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The Flowstone is published monthly by the Cullman Grotto of the National Speleological Society. Items submitted for publication must be received by the 20 th of each month for inclusion in the following month’s issue. Echo Chamber The Cullman Grotto will exchange by request with any publishing grotto. Republication of items within The Flowstone is allowed provided credit is given to author and source. TAG Calendar Sequoyah Caverns War Eagle: August Grotto Trip Membership to the Cullman Grotto is fifteen dollars ($15) per year for individual or twenty dollars ($20) per year for family. Dues are payable at the first grotto meeting of each year (January) and includes subscription to The Flowstone. Subscription rate for non-members is fifteen dollars ($15) per year. The Cullman Grotto meets on the first Monday of each month unless the first Monday falls on a holiday or otherwise noted. In those cases the meeting will be held on the second Monday. Meetings begin at 7:30 p.m. and are held at the old L&N train depot, Arnold St., Cullman, AL. All visitors and prospective members are welcome. Conley Hole Conley Hole: September Grotto Trip Minutes Official Grotto Address Cullman Grotto c/o Harold Calvert 123 Co. Rd. 250 Cullman, AL 35057 [email protected] 2013 OFFICERS Chairman: Harold Calvert 123 Co. Rd 250 Cullman, AL 35057 (256) 287-9770 [email protected] Front Cover: Decorations Sequoyah Caverns . Photo by: Evon Fowler in Newsletter Exchange The Flowstone Perry or Sharon Clayton 1628 Edmondson Rd Hanceville, AL 35077 [email protected] APPOINTMENTS Vice Chair: Perry Clayton 1628 Edmondson Rd. Hanceville, AL 35077 (256) 595-2548 [email protected] Secretary: Sharon Clayton 1628 Edmondson Rd. Hanceville, AL 35077 (256)352-0235 Treasurer: Tracy Calvert 123 Co. Rd. 250 Cullman, AL 35057 (256)287-9770 [email protected] [email protected] Advisor: Victor Bradford 8333 US Hwy 31 Hanceville, AL 35077 by carrier pigeon only Safety: Scott Murphy 156 Mount Tabor Road Hartselle, AL 35640 (256) 531-3230 [email protected] Membership/ Library David Drake 110 Co. Rd. 1386 Falkville, AL 35622 (256) 739-0811 [email protected] Webmaster Kuenn Drake 100 Co. Rd. 1386 Falkville, AL 35622 (256) 739-6915 [email protected] September 2013 Cullman Grotto Flowstone ECHO))))) CHAMBER NSS Headquarters Weekends Work The NSS Needs Your Help! By: Lynn Buffkin (Roswell, Georgia) [email protected] Scientists Discover Five New Bat Species in West Africa September 5, 2013 / Senegal, Africa By Maureen Handler (Sewanee, Tennessee) [email protected] WE NEED YOU! Now that the holiday weekend (and OTR and CaveFest) are over, it's time to turn our attention back to the NSS Headquarters. We will be back down in Huntsville this weekend. We are going to do preparation work for constructing the tornado shelter. We've got concrete to cut and a couple of block walls to cut for new door installation. As always, there is painting and a little more demo work to do. This work weekend will be from Friday January 6 through Sunday January 8. The NSS will be buying dinner and beer on Saturday night. Also mark on your calendars, a BIG work party! From Thursday September 19 through Sunday the 29th, we will be constructing the tornado shelter. This will entail pouring concrete footers, building block walls and pouring a concrete ceiling for the structure. LOTS of help will be needed for this. No experience is necessary; we'll teach you all you need to know. We are looking for some skilled landscape architects and/or environmental engineers that would be willing to help us create an amazing space that is both sustainable and functional for our new headquarters property in Huntsville. The property includes 94.38 acres of beautiful tree canopy with a pavilion, picnic area and playground that includes 3 caves on the western side of the property. We are looking for folks that would be willing to volunteer their skills and expertise to help us combat some drainage and terracing issues, create hiking trails, educational markers and some amazing spaces for people to camp and socialize. We fully support all efforts to integrate new and innovative ideas that showcase our commitment to conservation. Come on down and join the fun. Come see the new headquarters being built!! We would like to begin this project as soon as possible so that it will be installed and completed before Convention in 2014. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression on the NSS membership and for every person and organization that will ever visit our property. The address is 6001 Pulaski Pike, Huntsville. If you need more information, just call me 423-6055569. If you are interested in helping with this amazing project, please contact Lynn Buffkin at 404-384-1661 or email at [email protected] An international team of scientists have recently discovered five new species of bats in West Africa. The team, made up of researchers from the Czech University of Life Sciences and the Academy of Sciences, Charles University in the Czech Republic and England’s University of York, discovered a wealth of unexpected diversity among Vesper bats in Senegal. During seven expeditions to the Niokolo-Koba National Park in south-eastern Senegal the researchers studied 213 vespertilionid bats. Through subsequent genetic analysis of the species, the scientists discovered that although five specific species of bats looked similar to other species in Africa, Pipistrellus hesperidus, Nycticeinops schlieffenii, Scotoecus hirundo, Neoromicia nana and Neoromicia somalica, they were genetically different. The fact that these Senegalese bats are unrelated and are different to their cousins in other parts of Africa, suggests that West Africa may have been isolated in the past and formed a refugium, where populations gradually diverged and even acquired new chromosomal configurations. “This exciting finding confirms that West Africa may represent an underestimated bio-geographic hotspot with many more species to discover. Nancy Irwin, University of York Department of Biology 2 September 2013 Taxonomists are now working on describing these new species — Vesper bats (Vespertilionidae) are already the largest family of bats with more than 400 known species. Their research is published in Frontiers in Zoology. New Compass Update Adds Cave Survey Reconstruction Tool September 3, 2013 Cullman Grotto Flowstone calculated too. Once the process is complete, the resulting data can then be saved as a Compass DAT file. Available for Windows, Compass is free to try, and full registration is only $25.00. For more information or to try it out, visit the Compass Cave Survey Software website. Carlsbad Cavern Coming to Google Maps Street View July 2, 2013 create interactive, panoramic images of the cavern. “We are anxious to see the images of the cave and for people to start exploring from home. Hopefully, this will encourage more people to come see what lies underground at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Photos can pique your interest, but there’s nothing like seeing the real thing.” -- John Benjamin, Carlsbad Cavern National Park Superintendent Carlsbad Caverns was included as part of an effort to photograph national parks across the country. Could this mean that we’ll be hearing similar announcements from the likes of Mammoth, Wind, Jewel and other National Park Service caves in the near future? Let’s hope so. The images are expected to go live on Google Maps later this year. Compass, the popular cave survey software, has just released an update that adds a survey reconstruction tool to recreate old surveys from paper maps. Used in situations where original survey data of difficult to reach sections of a cave has been lost and all that is left are paper maps or sketch maps, MapToDat allows surveyors to reconstruct the original cave survey data without resorting to the use of rulers and protractors. To begin the feature, one simply loads a scanned image of the map into the program and then clicks on the survey stations in the map. With that information MapToDat automatically calculates compass angles and lengths for each shot. If station elevations are available, inclinations and slope-lengths can be New Mexico’s Carlsbad Cavern is slated to become one of the first caves in the U.S. to be featured on Google Maps Street View later this year. The service, which allows users to take 360-degree virtual tours of many places around the world, first went underground in February 2012 when it released images of Japan’s Akiyoshi-do Cavern. Soon, Google Maps will do the same for Carlsbad Cavern National Park, enabling people to explore hundreds of points along the Main Corridor and Big Room tour routes. To get the images, a Google Maps team visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park on June 17th. For each spot in the cave where images were collected, the team snapped four photos, one in each direction, which will later be stitched together to TAG Calendar September 7 Grotto trip Conley Hole Meet at Library at 7AM September 9 Grotto Meeting L&N Train Depot, Arnold St 7:30p October 10-13 TAG Fall Cave-In Lookout Mountain, Georgia October 19 Bridge Day Fayetteville, WV 3 September 2013 Sequoyah Caverns By Evon Thompson September 23, 2013 Cullman Grotto Flowstone Sam Houston lived with the Cherokee Indians for some years and the story has been passed down that he married one of Sequoyah’s daughters. Early white settlers held square dances and old time "singings" in the Caverns for many years and explored them by torchlight. It was sad to hear the news that Sequoyah Caverns was closing to the public on September 3, 2013. Although I had been to several TAG Fall Cave-Ins at Sequoyah Caverns, I had never toured the cave. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to visit Sequoyah Caverns before it closed, Greg and I headed up to Valley Head, Alabama on August 22, 2013. Historical background: In 1841, Abner Ellis moved his family to the area where the cave is located. In exploring the property, Ellis and his wife discovered the Caverns. During his exploration of the Caverns, he found salt troughs, cooking pottery and other artifacts in the large entrance room. Because of this, and the smoke blackened walls and ceiling, he named it the Cherokee Cooking room. Youth would congregate at Ellis’ home, located almost at the mouth of the cave, and would explore the Caverns with him. Artifacts were carried away by these young explorers and those that followed them. It is a known fact that both the Cherokees and Creeks lived in the cave. Names, initials and dates going back to 1824 have been found on the cave walls and formations. On one large column, now named the Sam Houston Column, is inscribed "Sam Houston, 1830". This is believed to be authentic, and could well be, as The cave is shown on official TVA maps as Ellis Cave after its original owner. However, in 1963 when its present development was started by Clark Byers and Alva Hammond, they named it Sequoyah Caverns after the famed Cherokee. There is no definite proof that he ever entered the Caverns. He did teach and live in the area and in all probability visited with the members of his tribe that lived there. The property has remained in the Ellis family and is currently owned by a direct descendant, John Jones. Our tour: While waiting for the next tour, we checked out the log cabin and I was able to get within two to three feet from the resident peacock for some good photos. alphabet. The cave is known for its “looking glass lakes.” They are scattered throughout the cave. The cave has a lot of magnesium, which layers the bottom of the lakes and makes it reflective. Since magnesium is black, it was surprising that it was so reflective. The cave is filled with a large variety of what we cavers like to call “pretties:” stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flowstone, “bacon,” rim stone dams, waterfalls, old signatures, and fossils. I am thankful that we were in a very small tour group since we toured the cave during the week and, therefore, had a lot of time to take photos. Sequoyah Caverns opened to the public in 1964, and was named after Chief Sequoyah, a Cherokee Native American, who created the Cherokee 4 September 2013 Although it is sad to see a beautiful cave closed to the public, the cave will have a chance to “recover” from all the human traffic. One of the highlights of our trip to Sequoyah Caverns was meeting the owner, John Jones. It was pouring rain when we exited the cave and was in no hurry. After the other tourists left, we were fortunate to spend an enjoyable 20-30 minutes talking with Mr. Jones. He was warm and friendly and seemed so much younger than his seventy-nine years. Mr. Jones does not plan to lease the cave to anyone else. He did say that none of his grandchildren have shown an interest in keeping the caverns open to the public, but if any of his grandchildren should change their mind in the future then it would be open to them. In the meantime, I have great memories of attending TAG Fall Cave-Ins at Sequoyah Caverns, a trip through the caverns, and meeting an awesome landowner and “keeper of the cave.” Cullman Grotto Flowstone War Eagle: August Grotto Trip By Sharon Clayton Most of the Cullman Grotto got a year’s worth of caving/rappelling/canyoneering packed into only 1 week in July. But the folks who were left behind at home were itching to get back underground in August! We decided on a trip to War Eagle as a good mix of vertical and horizontal caving. Plus, at least a few of our folks had not yet been there. It’s one of my favorite caves, so there was no argument from me about a return trip. As a rarity for me, I ended up being first down the rope after the guys got it rigged. I had a slower rappel than usual, due to some sticky squeakiness on the rope. But at least it did indeed reach the ground! I provided belay for a few of our guys before getting shed of my gear & ready to explore. Due to the large amount of rain we had been getting the last part of July, we really expected the water in the cave to be up as well. This was not the case, however. The moon pools were completely dry and areas in the stream that I remembered as having been at least thigh deep were only ankle deep at best. Still, the formations were lovely. It’s so much fun to share them with folks who haven’t been there before. We headed down the large borehole passage that leads toward the place known as Formation Row. I had been there once before some time ago on a trip led by Patrick O’Diam, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find it by myself. Perry found the spot that is marked by a number of stone cairns fairly easily. I knew that the passage to Formation Row was somewhere above there, but couldn’t remember exactly where. We crawled around for a bit before Perry & Tollin found a low crawl marked by more stone cairns. Perry, Tollin & I decided to explore it while the rest of the group waited outside. We crawled around for quite a ways, finding lots more stone cairns and some NSS survey markers, but nothing that I remembered as seeing in the place Patrick had taken me. Still, it was 5 September 2013 fun exploring, even if I did wind up with a lot of sand in my teeth! We did finally decide to give up and head back to the rest of our party, knowing they were probably getting a bit cold & tired of waiting. We turned around then and headed back. It was muggy as heck & threatening rain when we got up to the top, but we were able to get every one up top with no trouble. Brian got a lesson in rope coiling, and I got a lesson in letting Perry “help” me down the hill <ahem!!!>. All in all, it was a great way to spend a Saturday in August! Cullman Grotto Flowstone door. Perry and I nearly got eaten by dogs, trying to find someone to ask. We waited by the car hoping someone would be there soon to ask. Also the discussion had begun about alternative trips. Cagles and South Pittsburg were discussed along with a side of Cedar Ridge Crystal. Any of the three would have been good enough, but we had our sights set on Conley hole. Kuenn hopped in the truck, said “I'll be right back. I am going to look for an alternate route to the cave”. He returned in a half hour and said “load up, we have a pit to do". He had acquired permission to go from a different direction. The new route to the cave was longer, but much less steep. And there was a trail! The land owner was nice, even for a "Tennessee fan". He even sent his son to show us the way. Conley Hole not stretch a bit. Climbed like a steel cable. John’s new rope was lightning fast also. He accused us of trying to glaze it; we told him if he was going to sell these ropes they needed a thorough testing. It did well both rappelling and climbing. Both Bo's rope and the old grotto rope were slow and sometimes squeaky. But they did the job. I think the new smaller and lighter ropes are the way to go. They handle the job well. Time will tell if they hold up well over time. After a short time several of the group were on the bottom, checking the cave out. It was time to get some of us back on top and let others come down. Perry got on rope and was about halfway up when I stepped up to Johns rope. I looked up to see the status of all ropes and saw a large shadow about the time I heard several frantic screams from the top. “Rock, ROCK, ROCK!” By Harold Calvert Well let me tell you, I didn't waste any time moving! There were several comments about my "sprint speed". A large rock had been dislodged and fell right where I was standing. Perry said he heard the whoosh as it went by. After this, we were more careful; all the ropes were either climbed or rappelled at the same time. It’s been a long time since we were at Conley hole. It’s good to be back. Our trip started early, waiting at the library for Montgomery grotto to arrive. We had agreed to leave Cullman at seven because of the long drive. That put the Montgomery grotto getting a real early start, around 4:30. Once everyone was there, we were on the way. The trip there was uneventful, but was long due to there not being a good straight way there, many twisty back roads lead to Viola , Tennessee. When we arrived, however, there was a problem. The house we always asked permission was empty, no one home. So was the house next Once at the pit, everyone went to work rigging. With such a big group, four ropes were planned to rig. The grotto rope, along with our new canyon rope was rigged. John brought his new rope, lime green, and rigged a nice spot. Bo brought one from MG and rigged in the fourth spot. Most of the group went down several times, I tried all four ropes. Several of the Montgomery group were climbing with Mitchell systems. They got tired of being passed on the way up. They may be converting to ropewalker soon. After everyone had their fill of climbing, it was time to fill our bellies, we were starving. We made our way over to Kimball for some Mexican food and many stories to tell. The new grotto rope was fast, it is a 9.2 mm canyoneering rope. Surprisingly it handled well and did 6 September 2013 Cullman Grotto Flowstone morning, though! So we were really hoping we would not have any trouble getting permission to park & hike up to the pit. We did have a backup plan in place, but still, we all had our fingers crossed, especially those of us who had only seen pictures of Conley Hole and never visited it in person. The two grottoes of Cullman and Montgomery are a good fit; we always have good trips together. Good friends and good times, isn't that what it’s all about? With this I'll say "Let us go down from this place". Conley Hole: Grotto Trip September By Sharon Clayton Scheduling in September got a little bit turned around, due to the Labor Day Holiday. So we ended up having our grotto trip this month on the Saturday before Grotto Meeting, instead of the Saturday after. We also decided to change up our proposed trip site, due to some scheduling conflicts in October. It was decided that we would make our attempt to visit Conley Hole this month. When the Montgomery Grotto got word of this, they asked to come along. We were tickled to have them with us. They did have to get up well before dawn even thought of cracking Saturday Things began to look iffy when we pulled up to the house Harold said was the usual parking spot & were greeting only by a very unhappy dog. Perry and Harold knocked, but it appeared no one was home. Harold was loath to give up so soon, so he suggested we wait a few minutes. Kuenn and Perry decided to drive around a bit and see if there might be an alternative place to park and hike up. They struck out at the first few places they tried…apparently everyone was out and about this lovely Saturday morning. Kuenn suggested we try one last place before returning to the group. That one turned out to be the jackpot. The owner was home and very friendly. He talked with Perry and Kuenn for a while, and then suggested we park in his yard and use a trail on his property as an easier route up to the pit. His only request was that we not kill any rattlesnakes we might come across on our hike. (?!?!?!?) Well, it was his property…I was just hoping we wouldn’t come across said snakes at all! were 10 of us in all, and we had 4 ropes with us. We ended up rigging all four in a ring around the pit. Kuenn went first down the 9 mil rope to make sure all the ropes were on the bottom and in a safe landing zone. Then we all started making our descents. Perry took some time out to explain the workings of the rack to our young guide. He was very interested and seemed to enjoy watching us go over the edge. He requested we bring him up a rock from the bottom if we could. This was funny, since he also said he liked to drop rocks down in the hole some times and listen to them fall. We joked with him that we may just end up bringing him a rock he had dropped down there! When we got back to the house with the rest of our crew, we found the gentleman’s son waiting for us. He was to be our guide for the afternoon’s hike. He was a really nice kid who knew the area very well and was eager to see just what we were planning to do up at the pit. We enjoyed talking to him on the hike up and learning about his family and interests. Conley Hole really is a beautiful pit. It’s in a nice, shady spot surrounded by trees, and there is plenty of room for multiple ropes to be rigged. That was a good thing, since we had a rather large group with us! There We had a moment of excitement and terror when Jelene and I were making our way over the lip. Just as we were almost to the free-hang (on her side at least…mine was still against the wall at this point) a large rock broke loose and started to fall. 7 September 2013 We both yelled “ROCK!!!!!” and watched in horror as it went hurtling down into the pit, where we knew most of the group was waiting. As I turned my head to see it go down I saw Perry hanging on another rope just on the other side of the pit. The rock went zooming past just inches from him. Yikes!!! Then we heard it hit bottom and just prayed no one was hurt below us. There was nothing more to do but carefully finish our rappels and find out what the situation on bottom was. Thankfully they had heard our call and scrambled for cover. Bo said he had never seen Harold move so fast in all his life! After that incident, the rest of the day turned out to be pretty much uneventful. And I’m okay with that! I did have an interesting moment when I climbed up the 9 mil rope and found that side of the lip covered (I do mean COVERED) in millipedes. There was so many that in places they were just one solid, crawling surface. I tried to avoid them as best as I could, but it was just impossible in some places. Even more fun, when ever the rope would scrape across the side of the rock, hundreds of the little worms would rain down on top of me. It was all I could do to keep from swallowing them or getting them down my shirt. Ick! Perry had loads of fun laughing as I did the bug dance on my way up the lip. Cullman Grotto Flowstone conservation work and clean the pit up a bit. My first trash bag filled up pretty quick, so Kuenn volunteered to finish up with the second one while I climbed the first one out. We did end up with a unique climbing situation this time. Perry, myself, Jeff Lynn and John McCrary all climbed at the same time, each on our own rope. We joked that we were synchronized climbers and should have had a flag or something with us. It was a lot of fun to have that much company on rope! The Minutes from last month’s regular meeting were read. A motion was made by David Drake to accept the minutes as read. The motion was seconded by Harold Calvert The Treasurer was absent due to Band-mom duties, so Harold read the Treasurer’s Report for her. A safety discussion was held on proper use and control of the micro rack. Announcements: NSS Convention: August 5-9 HCRU Cave Rescue Technician Seminar: August 22-25 HCRU SRT Course: Sept. 7-8 Old Business: After a few more rappels from various folks, it was time to head on back down the mountain. Perry and I had fun on the hike down talking about old Indian trails with John McCrary (he knows a LOT about that stuff!). We chatted a bit more with the landowner and gave his son the rocks we had brought up for him. Then it was time to head out and find some Mexican food! All in all, a great trip shared with great friends! Shirts and caps are still around. New Business: Pictures can (and should!) be posted on the Grotto Google site or the new Google Drive site. Grotto Trips: War Eagle : Saturday, August 10. Meet at Library at 8am September Grotto Trip: Conley Hole: Saturday, Sept. 7. Meeting time and place TBA October Grotto Trip: Cedar Ridge Crystal/ Cagle’s Chasm or S. Pittsburgh Pitt. Time & Place TBA Trip Reports: Minutes of the Meeting of the Cullman Grotto of the National Speleological Society Cavation trip reports were given The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm. August 5, 2013 There was a lot of trash on the bottom of the pit, mostly beer cans and other evidence of redneck revelry. We happened to have some trash bags with us, so on my second rappel down, we decided to do a little The regular monthly meeting of Cullman Grotto of National Speleological Society was called to order on Monday, August 5, 2013, at 7:50 p.m. by Harold Calvert, chairman. Ten people were present. 8
Similar documents
January - The Cullman Grotto
better way to close out the old and bring in the new than ON-ROPE. Seven of us met at the library and headed for South Pittsburg’s Cagle’s Chasm and nearby Cedar Ridge
More information