miss ing pit - weebly
TRANSCRIPT
MISS ING PIT
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A
aNo Spuds Passage
Entrance
A a
57' 37' 9''
Entrance
KnobularExtension
LowerLevel
Not Surveyed
Not Surveyed
First Pole Climb(13')
Second Pole Climb(16')
Flagging Tape Trail(Please Help Maintain)
682 Feet T.H.C. 115 Feet T.V.E.817 Feet Traverse
Entrance Elevation: 1590 Feet
(Surveyed Passage Only)
Special Thanks To:Kristen Ingvoldstad (the 'Ing' in Miss Ing)John KlayerJosh PrattLuke PrattVarie RustinT Schliesser
Carol Wings
Compass, Clinometer, and Tape SurveySurveyed January - March, 2002 by:Scott Carmine, Tom Moltz, Ed Pratt
Drafted By Tom Moltz 2003
20 Feet
Copyright Tom Moltz February 2003
North(mag)
Legend:1976 NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols(except as noted below)tt - To Tight
BlindPit
Not Surveyed
WALKER COUNTY, GA - GWK550
Pit Depths:Entrance: 15', 38' (Rig as One)Blind Pit: 21'
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By the grace of God and my wonder-
ful wife Carol I was able to get out
exploring a little bit this year. I'll just
fill you in on some of the highlights.
Three new caves near Flowing
Stone: Early in the year, between
John Klayer, Scott and Kristen Car-
mine, Karl Sloka and me, we got into
3 more new caves on Pigeon Moun-
tain in the quarry area where Flowing
Stone cave is.
The first we named Dog Not Well. I
think it was about 50 feet with a 30-
foot pit.
The second one was less than 50 feet
away from Dead Dog. It was 33 feet
deep with a 20-foot pit. It had a large
dog skeleton with a red collar, at the
entrance.
The third one was nearby and just
above Broken Rib Pit. This thing was
not intended for human visitation.
Scott found it and went in a short
distance. He wanted me to try to go
farther in. I was compressed in a nar-
row diagonal slot to tight to get full
breaths of air and there was no floor
below my feet. Scott could just barely
get close enough to help me out. I
whimpered out and don't plan to go
back.
Scott was able to get in with a hand
line. It was a little over 30 feet deep
with a 10-foot pit at the bottom. We
named this one Collapsed Lung Pit.
Et XXII Brute
The 15th of March (Ides of March)
Ed Pratt, John Klayer, Tom Moltz,
Scott and Kristen Carmine got back to
a good lead Ed had found before he
messed up his back. It was great to
have the Iron Man (Ed) back in ac-
tion.
We did considerable shaving on the
wall of a narrow slot to get back to a
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)
1748 Clarendon Avenue Lakeland, Fl 33803
Email to: [email protected] 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 , Ed Pratt or Tom
Kiddy Trips:
We did two of these this year. On
the first trip, we did the standard Big
Mouth thing. Carol & Tom Moltz,
Autumn Orman, Travis Guy, Robby
& Andrea Guy, Minter, Andrea, Evan
& Sarah Goodson, Kieth and
Madeson Griffin, Ed and Josh Pratt
camped together at Sequoyah. We
had a large group for the cave trip
being joined by eight others at the
campground. The youngest was one-
year old.
At night around the fire I told the
story of the Bear-Cat Gator. It's too
scary to repeat here.
On the second Kiddy trip a bunch of
us joined by a bunch of the Missis-
sippi folks did a scary low stream
crawl. It was really wet and some-
times we were halfway submerged in
cold water.
We also did a Pettijohns trip and
fished at the nearby trout farm.
We did a lot of other exploring dur-
ing the year: John found a nice pit
near Lost Glove. I found three other
small caves. I helped Scott Carmine
Brian Williams pushing leads in Georgia.
pit. Ed squeezed through and rap-
pelled a 36-foot drop. The top of this
thing is a little ugly to negotiate. Ed
got stabbed in the back by a sharp
rock sticking out on the way out.
Brian Williams new cave:
I'm not sure what he named it, but
Brian found a really nice cave. It has
a 53.5-foot pit and a few hundred
feet of passage. Scott Carmine,
Minter Goodson and I were fortunate
enough to help Brian Survey it and
work on a grim lead at the end.
Maybe Minter can tell you more
about it.
and Damon Keys in a tight wet nasty
lead in a cave they found. I helped
Scott survey some really cool going
stream passage he has, and it continues
to go. Lots of other ridge waking and
caving went on during the year.
Am I giving fewer details as this
report goes on?
Sorry...got to go explore.
Please remember Bruce Brewer’s
family (mother) Angela Brewer
Moran, and (stepfather) Jim Moran
in your thoughts and prayers.
“Bruce was a good guy. I will always
remember his smile and the twinkle in
his eye!”
Minter Goodson
Contact Allen Mosler
for more information on contributions
to a scholarship in Bruce’s Name or
other concerns.
Bruce
listening
to the
land
owner’s
concerns
on a trip
in Glory
Hole.
Bruce
was very
active in
south
Georgia
caving .
Photo 2002
When I get the fancy laser and the good
plates, you'll see me back on my belly
slithering towards the Granny Star again.
Bruce Brewer
Over the last few weeks, many people
have been working on ways to honor and
remember Bruce Brewer. I have been
working on a display of his photography
to present at TAG. During my visits with
Bruce's parents, they expressed a desire
to receive pictures of Bruce himself cav-
ing. Since he was a photographer, he was
usually the one behind the lens instead of
in front of it. Please consider sharing
your pictures with his parents. It would
mean a lot to them.
Some of you have inquired about a
plaque to be placed in Climax Cave
where Bruce died. We have found a place
to have a plaque made and are asking for
donations from those of you who would
like to honor and remember Bruce in this
way. The cost for the brass plaque
is$260. Any extra funds will be donated
to his scholarship fund.
Send pictures or donations to:
Flint River Grotto
c/o Allen Mosler
71 S. Spruce Ln
Havana, Fl. 32333
I will also be at TAG. Allen Mosler
As many of you know, Bruce was an
instructor at Florida A & M University.
His parents have set up a scholarship
fund there in his honor. The following is
a copy of the letter regarding this fund:
Speleoholography By John Klayer
A few years ago with the help of
Buddy, Minter, Tom and Varie I made
a few holograms of some small forma-
tions in Glory hole in south Georgia
using a Helium Neon laser. I made a
few more attempts with dismal results
in the same cave since then using vari-
ous diode lasers. The most disappoint-
ing was the attempt to shoot the Granny
Star. I haven't been back to Glory Hole
to try it again in the last few years but I
haven't quit. I just need to overcome
some laser and film obstacles before
belly crawling back to the Granny Star
dragging a bunch of equipment again.
The Helium Neon laser has been the
workhorse of holography for the last 40
years but to have one with any decent
power requires a wall outlet which
couldn't be found anywhere in Glory
Hole. The promising new kid on the
block is the diode laser able to put out
high power just using simple batteries
but it is unreliable, sometime working
great and sometime putting out garbage
unless some sophisticated controls are
added to it. I heard thru a holography
forum about a company that will ex-
change a bunch of my money for a di-
ode laser that has all the fancy controls
added. I've been waiting since July for
delivery of one. An email from them
last week said it is on the way.
The other problem is the film and
plates. The company all holographers
depended on for decades decided to get
out of the holographic film and plate
market a few years ago. One other
company that existed briefly made a
good product before going out of busi-
ness. There is a Slavic company's prod-
uct that is becoming the standard but
I'm not real pleased with it. What I'm
waiting on is a holographer from
France to get back into production of
his plates. He shut down his production
facility in France and is moving the
operation to Canada. I keep hearing this
will happen soon. Everything I learned
about his product says that it is the best
material that ever existed.
FLORIDA AGRICULTURE and
MECHANICAL UNIVERSITY
To who it may concern:
Bruce Brewer was an alumnus of and
a valued photography instructor in
the Florida A&M University School
of Journalism and Graphic Commu-
nication at the time of his tragic
death.
Many of his friends have asked if
any kind of memorial to Bruce is
going to be established. His mother
has consulted me, and we have con-
cluded that there are two possibili-
ties.
The first is the establishment of a
photography scholarship in his name.
To endow a scholarship requires a
minimum of $15,000.
The second is the establishment of a
loan fund for photo students in the
Division of Graphic Communication,
where Bruce taught. Such a fund
does not require an endowment and
can be started with a minimum of
$2,000. Loans typically are limited
to no more than $400 and can be
utilized by students who experience
emergencies such as not being able
to buy textbooks until their financial
aid comes through or whose rent
comes due before financial aid ap-
pears. The interest -free loans would
be available only to photography
majors and must be paid off within
four months in order to keep the loan
fund viable.
If you are interested in participating
in a memorial to Bruce, please send
your check or money order made out
to the FAMU Foundation to: Robert M. Ruggles, Dean School of Jour-
nalism and Graphic Communication
108 Tucker Hall
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL 32307-4800
Angela Brewer Moran, Bruce's
mother, and I will decide, based on
the value of donations received,
which possibility -the scholarship or
the loan fund -should become reality.
We thank you for your love and
respect for Bruce, and we will do our
best to honor his name appropriately.
Sincerely, Robert M. Ruggles Dean Jacob Bailey, our newest caver.
ropes which was acceptable to me since it
was larger diameter offering a firm grip.
I soon discovered it was not a wise and
prudent choice for me to go to the bottom
of this rope without vertical gear. At the
end of a nearly vertical slot was a 10 foot
drop to the floor. I new I would get out
some how even if I had to get Karl to go
back for more gear. I did a body rappel to
the floor to find my self standing next to
another pit.
After tying a couple of loops in the rope
I was able to hand over hand up to the
slot in ceiling. With some fear and diffi-
culty I made it back through the slot. It
was soon decided that we would survey
this cave the next day with the help of
Minter Goodson.
The next morning Minter, Karl and I
went back armed with vertical gear and
survey equipment. The cave vertical ex-
tent was 48 feet and horizontal length
was 95 feet. The second pit had a 12 foot
drop. All went smoothly except getting
back up through that slot. It was tight
enough on Minter going down. It proba-
bly took an hour for him to make that
first six feet in the ceiling, with my
help.
Karl and Vania were pleased with the
opportunity to name the cave and came
up with one that meant a lot to them.
Lord Milo was the name of their dog that
had recently drown while they were out
of town.
White Cliff Cave February 17, 2003
By Minter Goodson The family (Minter, Andrea, Evan, and
Sarah) went to Whitecliff Cave on Mon-
day. It is in downtown Ocala, Florida.
The city owns the cave and allows access
through the FSS.
The cave is in a small quarry across the
road from a city park. The city park is
named Brick City Park. The park is an
old quarry with elevated wooden walk-
ways around the top of the quarry and
paths down to the bottom of the quarry.
The side walls of the Quarry are probably
40 feet tall. This Quarry is much bigger
than the one the cave is located in. We
Lord Milo Cave March 22 and 23, 2002
By Tom Moltz
I was on my way to ridge walk when I
stopped in Ballard's Hardware store in
Menlo. Old Timers sat around an an-
cient wood stove telling their life ex-
periences. You could tell the head old
timer, he occasionally reached in an old
bucket for a chunk of coal to throw in
the stove. He had his heart bypass sur-
gery ten years earlier. With merchan-
dise piled up everywhere, only the
owner can find what you want.
Mr. Ballard had the chisel I was look-
ing for with a price sticker from a few
years in the past instead of the future. I
could have spent the day there settled
into an old wooden chair but I figured I
better try get in another good walk
while I was able. I asked Mr. Ballard to
save me one of those chairs, that I'd be
ready for one soon. He said he would.
This was the perfect start to a perfect
day in which things could not have
gone better. I took a couple of back
roads keeping my eye out for land for
sale. After all, I would want to live
close to Ballard's.
I saw a man clearing brush off his land
which was for sale. It had a house
which I was not interested in so I al-
most didn't stop, but it's good I did.
This was when I met Karl Sloka, a
retired medical pathologist. In a matter
of minutes I discovered he knew of a
possible cave near by. Soon we were on
our way to this lead with his wife, Va-
nia Revell, Dogs, cat, and a pony. Va-
nia is a medical examiner. Both of them
helped out with examining bodies
found at the Nobel Crematory. It turned
out that Karl had caved in Indiana 30
years earlier and was glad I came by.
We arrived at a small dirt sink with a
four inch wide crack in the bottom. It
was dirt and silt-stone and easy dig-
ging. Soon rocks would fall over 20
feet, tumble, and fall again. I got Karl
and Vania to go back to my van for a
hand line while I continued to dig.
Karl came back with one of his farm
went all through the park after the
cave trip. In the bottom of this
quarry, there are groves of bamboo
trees that block out the light. It was
quite eerie walking through the
bamboo.
When we arrived at the cave I felt
like Tom Moltz. I got to be in
charge of the key and unlocking the
cave gate. Every thing went smooth
with opening the gate. I went down
through the gate first, then Evan,
next Sarah. Sarah started screaming
that she didn't like it. Andrea came
in the entrance through the gate.
She sat with Sarah at the entrance
while Evan and I went caving.
Whitecliff has about 1335 feet of
surveyed passage. The top level by
the entrance is basically a fissure
20 feet tall and 100 feet long. In
two different places in the fissure,
there are openings to the rest of the
lower cave. The lower cave is
mostly crawling maze passage.
Below this level, there is a lower
passage that was wet in 1988 when
I last visited the cave. It required
some tight squeezes, which I don't
believe I could fit through now.
Evan, did not like passing over the
openings in the bottom of the fis-
sure. We chimneyed over these and
went to the end of the fissure. Here
there is a body length crawl to the
end of the fissure. It is a stand up
room with a lead to the top of the
fissure. Evan decided he did not
want to go to the bottom of the
fissure crack. We then exited the
cave. We walked around the quarry
near the cave entrance looking at
all the junk. After everyone took
off his or her caving attire, and as I
was pulling my last pant leg over
my boot, I remembered where in
the cave I had left the key. I really
was Tom Moltz!
From car to cave and back to the
car, total time one hour! As Evan
was going to sleep, after being
tucked in at night, he said, "Next
time I'll go down to the lower cave
daddy. I love you, Good Night."
LORD MILO CAVE GKH 547
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols © Feb. 2003, Tom Moltz
Tape and Compass Survey by: Minter Goodson, Tom Moltz, Vania Revell, Karl Sloka January 2002
Plan
Entrance
Northmag
10 Feet
Too Low, dug on a little
10
10
Elevation: 1145 Feet Traverse: 120 Feet Depth: 48 Feet Pit Depths: 20, 12 Feet Vertical Gear Required Location: Chatooga County Dougherty Gap 7.5’ Topo
4
Entrance
Lower Level
Too Tight, Drainage
Profile Looking
SW
10 Feet
Snug Vertical Slot
(about 1 foot)
like to go in Tuck's Cave with me. Since
I got no takers, I wandered in to the hori-
zontal entrance (not solo caving as I saw
people in the cave from the entrance) by
myself. I went east toward the pit. On my
arrival, I met Brain Williams at the top of
the small in cave pit. Matt Vinzant
climbed up from the small pit. Matt is 15
yrs old.His parents Woody and Lee went
through school with Andrea. A group of
cavers had rappelled down the big pit
(32ft) with no climbing gear other than
one prussic knot each. They asked to use
the rope to come up the small pit. It oc-
curred to our group that this would be an
opportune time to do a through trip since
both pits were rigged. It would be fine for
them to use the rope and could we use
theirs. The through trip was enjoyable. In
cave time was about one hour.
On Saturday afternoon, Andrea and the
children went to the barn. They created
many magnets and stampings with bat
themes. On Saturday evening the fire was
lit. Dinner was catered. I saw Paul Smith
and Bruce Brewer at the dinner. Tim
Gay, the owner of Tuck's cave and the
host of the weekend has a horse named
sugar that Andrea, Sarah, Evan and a few
apples made friends with. After dinner a
few fire works were set off, four rockets
to be exact. These were beautiful to
watch, but terrified Evan and Sarah. We
went to the tent to read. While the chil-
dren read with Andrea, I went to the raf-
fle drawing. We won a hat, a carabiner,
and a t-shirt. I went to sleep that night to
the sounds of the cavort band; a trio that
played blues rock.
All weekend it was supposed to rain.
The rain had held off so far. Sunday
morning the dew was as thick on the tent
Florida Cave Cavort March 14-16, 2003
by Minter Goodson Hosted by the Central Florida Cavers.
Located at Tuck's Cave.
Andrea, Evan, Sarah and I arrived
about 5:00pm on Friday evening the
14th. We set up camp and then went to
check-out the barn. This is where regis-
tration was located. Bernice and Steve
Nemeth (President of the Central Flor-
ida Cavers) were at registration. The
trip, which looked best for the Goodson
family, was a trip to Ocala Caverns. I
signed our names on the sign up sheet
for Saturday at 9:00am. On Friday
night, we sat around the group campfire
and turned in early. After the children
were asleep I went to the Barn to so-
cialize. I got to see Paul Aughey and
Brian Houha.
Saturday, we met at registration, and
went to Belleview to a Coffee shop
named B.D.Beanes. The trip leaders
were Bill Birdsall and Jon Singley. All
two dozen cavers sat outside. It was
nice. We sat with Allen Mosler, Brian
Houha, and Buford Pruitt. Allen talked
about the past four years of trying to
donate his cave "Hollow Ridge Cave"
to the state. Brian told old stale jokes to
Evan, which I enjoyed listening to. We
then headed to Ocala Caverns located
north of Belleview. This is an old com-
mercial cave. A Tarzan movie was
filmed in this attraction many years
ago. The Caverns are made up of two
caves. Both caves combined are less
than 500ft in total horizontal passage.
One is a dry walking passage the other
leads down steps to water filled pas-
sage. We picked up trash in both caves
and carried it out in garbage bags. We
made a walk around the perimeter of
the caves, met the property manager
and returned to our vehicle. Total time
on the property was about 45 minutes.
Camped near us were Mike and Susan
Kettles of TBAG(Tampa Bay Area
Grotto) and Andy Erickson of the Cen-
tral Florida Cavers. At about one Satur-
day afternoon, after Sarah and Evan
had eaten lunch and were watching a
video in the van, I asked who would
as if it had rained in the night. We
packed up the tent and prepared to
leave. We talked with Mike Kettles,
Allen Mosler, and Bob Claudy (Tom
Moltz and I led he and his son
through Glory Hole about four years
earlier at another cave cavort). Allen
said that He, Brian Williams and
some other cavers were trying to
create a Florida Speleological survey
that included the entire state. I said I
was interested in being a part of this
organization. The first meeting was
tentatively scheduled for April 16th
in Gainesville.
We had breakfast at Dunkin Dough-
nuts. We then went to the Cross Flor-
ida Barge Canal recreation area to
visit Gremlin Cave. Evan and I went
in the cave while Andrea and Sarah
stayed outside. From the entrance,
the cave goes 15ft to a 10ft climb
down. At the bottom of the climb
down, there is a squeeze to a 30ft
sandy belly crawl. We went in to the
crawl and decided to turn around.
Evan did well in the cave. He
climbed out the entrance by himself.
On the walk to and from the cave we
saw cocoons with caterpillars emerg-
ing. Many of the flowers were in
bloom. Sarah picked flowers and
Evan checked out inch worms. It was
a nice spring day in Florida.
Missing Buddy Well
This new pit was found during a
ridge walk on April 19 this year by
Scott Carmine, Minter Goodson,
John Klayer and Tom Moltz. It
seems April is the best time to find
new pits on Pigeon Mountain. If I
remember right, it was an April day a
couple of years ago when Flowing
Stone was discovered. The entrance
is so obvious that I wonder why it
wasn't found by anyone ever before.
Unfortunately, this is not a Flowing
Stone for it is only 34 feet deep. It
is named in memory of our caving
friend Buddy Welker whose where-
abouts and welfare are unknown. We
all are worried about him and we are
all missing Buddy well.
John Klayer
Andrea, Sarah and Evan (in the background)
on a trip into Ocala Caverns.
Photo by Minter Goodson
I then proceeded to the SCCi tent to do-
nate some money and get plot 318 of
Valhalla on the 250 tier just around the
corner from the Moltzs’ (there goes the
neighborhood).
I met a caver from Maryland, Jonathan
Harta, late Friday night while helping
Tamara look for her 60' rope. The rope
search wasn't going too well since we
were searching in a fog so dense the visi-
bility was only about 2-3 feet. Our clues
were; a man named Obidiah had the rope,
he drove a silver dodge and blond hair.
After asking Jonathan's group about the
rope, the subject of Flowing Stone came
up. I used that as an opportunity to get
disentangled from Tamara and the hope-
less search for Obidiah.
Tom got to go to a wedding Saturday so
Minter, myself, John and Varie all took
Jonathan Harta to Flowing Stone. Except
for the massive flock of mosquitoes that
followed us up the hill it was a great
hike. The trip into the cave went well.
We found a very small snake and a frog
in the bottom of Flowing Stone. The
snake was curled up in a tiny little hole in
the wall and would never have been seen
if I hadn't decided a little undercut would
make a great protected spot for a nap.
The snake was grayish with yellow
stripes on the sides. We left the cave
around dark and had a nice night hike
down the mountain. When we returned
to the cave-in the fire was burning nicely.
I hung out with Joey and James for a
while by the fire. Later, I went by the
squeezebox and managed 8.5 inches. At
8.25 inches my hips hung. Went to bed
around 2am. Around 4am I got up to
take a leak and tripped over the picnic
table dislocating my finger. My loud
cursing woke up Varie in the tent nearby
and I told her I was OK. I made my way
down to the first aid person who handed
me a map to the emergency room in Fort
Payne.
I Left work at 1pm Thursday and ar-
rived at Sequoyah around 4pm. Met up
with Tom at site 61 after some shop-
ping in Fort Payne. Got majorly Rib-
motized with the JUST Cavers courtesy
of Danny Craig of Rib Country
(Blairsville, Helen and Highlands) with
the best damn ribs anywhere.
Thursday Tom and I went to Valhalla
with JUST Cavers. Carl Sloka joined
us. From JUST there was James, Matt,
Eddie, T-John, Jeff, Bill Hansen, Nic
Hansen, John Hansen, and one more I
can't remember right now. The 227'
entrance pit was great. I practiced
changeovers on rope while most of the
group toured the cave. Had Carl per-
form a change from climb to rappel at
the bottom of the pit. Thursday night
was more great vittles (sp?) with Craw-
fish Casserole courtesy of James P.
Friday found Minter, Tom and myself
in a Georgia cave expanding gasses
rapidly. No, not out our butts. I got to
try out the new Mark III Gas Expansion
Device (GED) to make quick work of
taking solid rock and converting to an
unstable mass of not solid rock. Tom
worked on perfecting the device and we
ended up with the Mark III Revision C
which consisted of a piece of tape
around the working end of the device to
help build up more pressure in the hole.
We made some progress in their dig but
there is a long way to go through solid
rock. Friday night was even more good
food with pork chops courtesy of Joey.
Tom spent some time looking for Brent
about setting up the GSS booth. He
finally found him just in time for my 8-
9pm slot to work the booth
(coincidence?). I sat there with Nancy
Aulenbach who was a little on the preg-
nant side and enjoying a chair. She
was also a lot better at bringing in the
business. I did sell a map book CD (to
myself - a very hard sell). John showed
up sickly but on time at 8:58 pm.
They took an x-ray, announced it
was just dislocated, and I was back
in bed by 5:15am. I Slept until
about 8:30.
I Ate at the Walker County Rescue
breakfast Sunday with Varie and
John. Varie is getting fired up
against Vulcan over Pigeon. We
had our annual and only grotto
meeting, then Tom and I made our
way to Pigeon Mountain. The idea
was to check out the small sink on
the way to Miss Ing. After poking
around there for a few minutes we
decided to ridge walk. Five min-
utes later I stuck the Staff of
Enlightenment in a small depres-
sion and realized that there was air
after about 12" of dirt. Just a cou-
ple of minutes of digging got us
into a 10' hole that angled into a
narrow crack. Not much airflow
but a rock bounces for several sec-
onds indicating possibly 20-30 feet
of additional vertical cave.
Tom and I spend several more
hours digging through dirt and rock
until we encountered a large rock
that would be better moved by in-
serting some rapidly expanding
gases. We camped on the top of
the Mountain at Triple Top Secret
Top (TTST). Tom and I grilled
sirloin patties, TTS veggies and
acorn squash. Varie and John
joined us later for a few hours.
Monday, Tom and myself loaded
up drills, batteries, hammers, etc.
and went back to the dig. We man-
aged to get through about 8' of dirt/
rock total in the Sunday and Mon-
day digging sessions. I made it to
the top of the mountain and left
around 12pm. I made it home
around 3pm to finish a great week-
end. Ed Pratt
...tripped
over the
picnic
table dislo-
cating my
finger. Photo
Courtesy of
Ed Pratt
New Business:
Grotto Web Site: Ed Pratt said things
were going fine with the web site. He
hasn't added to it in a while but planned
to make a few minor changes. He didn't
feel like we need to add more space at
this time. The Grotto website is listed
below.
http://www.caves.org/grotto/mgg
Varie Rustin talked on Flowing Stone
and Vulcan's desire to expand the quarry
operation. She had visited Dogwood City
Grotto and asked that they write Sonny
Perdue letters to save the area. She felt
that Sonny may make it an issue in his
campaign for governor and put more
publicity and interest into the issue.
Tom read a letter from Angela Bailey
saying they regretted they would miss the
meeting. Angela is willing to still be
treasurer. She is expecting a baby on 11
March of 2003.
Don Going offered to sew a grotto flag if
the other members would come up with a
design and send him the material. Don
said a good material to get for this is Rip
Stop from Wall Mart. The other members
said they would roll around some ideas.
After discussion on the issue of where to
keep the grotto money it was decided that
a shoe box would do so there would be
no bank fees.
Elections were held with the following
Election results:
John Klayer - Chairman
Ed Pratt - Vice Chairman
Varie Rustin - Treasurer
Tom Moltz - Secretary
The meeting was adjourned.
Everyone please congratulate Tom
Moltz, who won two merit awards in
the Ninth Annual SERA Map Salon for
maps of Miss Ing Pit and Lord Milo
Cave.
MGG Grotto Meeting Sunday 6 Oc-
tober 2002 Sequoya Caverns during
the TAG Fall Cave-In
John Klayer brought the meeting to
order at about 10 am EST. Members
paid dues before and during the meet-
ing. Minter passed out newsletters be-
fore the meeting and had to head home
before the meeting started. The news-
letter was received with much enthusi-
asm. A lot of people contributed arti-
cles.
Members Present:
Don Going, John Klayer, Tom Moltz,
Ed Pratt, Varie Rustin. Don Going
brought a guest Ayn Stegall to the
meeting.
Minutes from previous meeting were
not read since they were in the newly
published newsletter.
Treasurers report:
Tom reported that the balance was
about $524: $300 reserved for the
Rock House Conservation Project,
$100 was spent on the Rock House
Cleanup Project (before above total),
$80 was given to Minter to cover the
past and next newsletter.
Old Business:
Rock House: Tom reported the owner
still did not have time to get with us.
The owners son has come down with
Leukemia and this has consumed most
of his time. Tom will continue to work
the situation unless we come up with a
new plan to propose spending the
money on.
Tom reported that the $100 donated by
A.S.S. cavers for the Glory Hole clean-
up was spent on about 7 sprayers of
different sizes which have been brought
into the cave and been used on several
occasions.
Miss Ing Cave By Tom Moltz
On a ridgewalk, on January 13,
2002, with Scott Carmine, Ed Pratt
and me(Tom Moltz), Kristen Ing-
voldstad (now Kristen Carmine)
found the lead that later became Miss
Ing Pit. Scott, Kristen, Tom, and Ed
dug it open on January 20, with the
help of John Klayer, Josh Pratt, Luke
Pratt and Varie Rustin. Several sur-
vey trips followed to get through
seven tight spots and two pole
climbs.
At the bottom of the entrance drop
(see map for pit details) there is a
nice room that is about 30 feet high.
The ceiling abruptly changes to less
than three feet in height. Then it tran-
sitions to less than one foot in the
passage leading to the rest of the
cave. Take care here as there are
many formations and soda straws.
There is a total of what I call seven
tight places to the main room. If your
body needs much over 8.5 inches,
then you probably won’t make it
through. The last one is the tightest.
So far, three people we have taken
have not been able to make it
through. Minter Goodson needed
another half inch to make it through
the last one. He was stuck there for a
little bit unable to get a full breath of
air and VERY unhappy about it.
[Editor’s Note: (just for you Tom!)
“I’m STUCK in the Water and I
don’t REALLY like it.”]
Past the tight spots you climb down
into a room over 200 feet long with
some VERY nice formations and a
delicate floor covered with rim stone
dams and calcite. We placed a flag-
ging tape trail that the water washes
and the pack rats chew. Please stay
on the "one" trail and help with
maintaining the flagging.
The stream passage at the end gets
smaller and smaller until it tapers to
only a few inches high and a foot
wide.
Tom Moltz tells the tale of the Bear-Cat
Gator to the kiddies around the fire.
hand, did not have a job, or family to
support, and was going caving a lot.
Many times by himself, surveying and
mapping several small caves solo. Since
Jerald was doing most of the work I
thought he should get the credit and had
the West Tn Co-Chair transferred to him.
All in all I think Jerald surveyed and
mapped 50 or more caves from the above
Counties. He had help but I have to ad-
mitt he did most of the work himself.
The second TCS Meeting I remember
was held at the Holiday Inn just off I-40
at Cookeville, TN. I was there with
Jerald, who was showing off his new
map of Perry County’s Blowing Cave.
We had found a connection between
Blowing Cave #1 and Blowing Cave #2
which made a cave system more than two
and one half miles long. So much for no
caves in West Tennessee. Cody Cave, in
Decatur Co., West of the Tennessee
River turned out to be over a mile and
three quarters long.
Which brings me up to my next TCS
meeting 30 years later. On September
20th, this year, the Tennessee Cave sur-
vey held it’s Fall Meeting at Johnson
Hall, Tennessee Tech., Cookeville, TN.
Wife Jane and I drove up from Macon,
GA., Friday the 19th and visited and
stayed the night with Lewis Lamon and
Tank Gorin at Cumberland Caverns. Sat-
urday morning Jane stayed at the cave
while I drove to the TCS Meeting. I ar-
rived in time to renew my membership
which had expired years ago, and pur-
chased a West TN Cave Map Book, and
a West TN. Cave Description Book.
Since I already belong to the GA. Cave
Survey I guess I now need to Join the
AL. Cave Survey to make a complete T-
A-G. After the last meeting minutes were
read, officers were elected (most re-
elected), and cave surveying classes dis-
cussed. There was a short break. After
the break I remember the slide show pro-
grams, showing how to bridge a cave
canyon, the four types of cave crawfish
in TAG caves, and what to look for in
caves (if you find human remains or
bones...be sure and notify the sheriff).
After the meeting was over I spoke with
many cavers that I hadn’t seen in years.
Ron Johnston gave me a warm welcome
and a map of his DePriest Branch
Cave...and I felt right at home again. I
The TCS and Me
By Bill Henne
Somewhere back in ‘73 or ’74, it really
doesn’t seem that long ago, I attended a
Tennessee Cave Survey meeting at
McMinnville, TN. The meeting was
held in a motel meeting room and it got
down to voting in new officers. I sug-
gested that a West TN. Co-Chair
should be elected. Most laughed at the
idea of any caves at all in West TN..
West TN. to them was any cave west of
the TN. River. I said that anything west
of Nashville should be considered West
Tennessee. I don’t remember if that
was readily accepted but before I knew
it Ed Yarbrough had nominated me for
the post and I became Co-Chairman of
West Tennessee. Jerald Ledbetter and I
started exploring, surveying, and map-
ping caves mainly in Decatur, Hardin,
Lewis, Perry, and Wayne Counties. I
was working full time and overtime at
work and didn’t have a whole lot of
time for caving. Jerald, on the other
have e-mailed Gerald Moni several
times and finally got to meet him. I
was told that he has been West TN
Co-Chairman for 15yrs. or more,
and just got re-elected again. Keep
up the great work Gerald.
That evening, Saturday evening,
Jane and I, Tank and Lewis, went
to Fall Creek Falls. After seeing the
Falls again we ate supper in the
dining room. In the hall we saw a
picture of the Rumble Room from
Rumbling Falls Cave. Jane and I
went home Sunday Morning...the
long way...through the Mountains.
Burning Leaf and
Gila Monster Crack By Tom Moltz
On January 12, 2002 Scott Car-
mine, Tom Moltz and Ed Pratt dug
on a lead Scott, Tom, and Minter
Goodson had found the previous
weekend. They called it Burning
Leaf because they had started a
small fire of leaves to check the air
flow and the leaves really flamed
up (due to air flow). After a couple
of hours of digging they got far
enough to see that the air came
from a hopelessly small passage.
Less that a hundred feet away was
another lead under a rock that only
Tom had interest going into. It ac-
tually legally qualifies but Tom felt
it had more of a karst feature feel to
it. So that is how it was turned in.
After this they went to survey Gila
Monster Crack which they had
gotten into the previous weekend.
Ed could not make it in much more
than a body length. The passage is
as small as 8 inches at one point.
Just past this the passage turns left
and opens up to a comfortable walk
for a short ways. The cave is 50
feet long and near Gila Monster
Cave in the bluff.
CAVERNS
Caves of darkness, void of light,
Ancient columns, 'mites and 'tites
Vaulted ceilings without stars,
Endless tunnels, gypsum spars,
Rivers filled with eyeless fish,
Nocturnal as a bat wing's swish,
Silent as a caver's wish.
W. A. Henne (2003)
Bil
l H
enn
e P
hoto
by T
om
Molt
z
“The reason I'm going to do the
rappel on Bridge Day is because
when I rediscover the hole I found
and lost on Pigeon Mountain I'll
need the experience of doing at least
an 800 foot drop to be ready for it.”
John Klayer
3
GWK x9096
0
Feet
10
Northmag
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols
Compass & Body Length Survey by:
Tom Moltz
12 January, 2002
Location: Pigeon Mt., Ga. Lafayette 7.5 Minute Topo.
© Jan. 2003, Tom Moltz
Too Tight
Entrance
BURNING LEAF KARST FEATURE
Elevation: 1230 Feet Length: 28 Feet Depth: 12 Feet Traverse 35 Feet
Plan
Extended Profile
Entrance
8
10
GWK 546
Plan
0
Feet
10
Northmag
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols
Tape and Compass Survey by:
Scott Carmine, Minter Goodson, Tom Moltz and Ed Pratt
January 2002
Location: Pigeon Mt., Ga. Lafayette 7.5 Minute Topo. Geology: Sandstone
© March. 2003, Tom Moltz
Too Tight
Entrance
GILA MONSTER CRACK
About 8 inches wide at
narrowest point
Elevation: 952 Feet Length: 50 Feet Vertical Extent: 12 Feet Traverse: 50 Feet
0.5
ANGELA BAILEY Reg Member
BILL BAILEY Reg Member
IAN BAILEY Reg Member
DON GOING Reg Member
ANDREA GOODSON Reg Member
EVAN GOODSON Reg Member
MINTER GOODSON Reg Member
SARAH GOODSON Reg Member
TRAVIS GUY Reg Member
BILL HENNE Reg Member
JOHN KLAYER CHART Member
CAROL MOLTZ CHART Member
TOM MOLTZ CHART Member
AUTUMN ORMAN Reg Member
ED PRATT Reg Member
JOSH PRATT Reg Member
LUKE PRATT Reg Member
JAMES PULLEN Reg Member
J. D. RASNICK Reg Member
JERRY REEVES Reg Member
VARIE RUSTIN Reg Member
T JOHN SCHLIESSER Reg Member
BUDDY WELKER Reg Member
BRIAN WILLIAMSON Reg Member
MINTER GOODSON
1748 CLARENDON AVENUE
LAKELAND, FL 33803
«First Name» «Last Name»
«Address Line 1»
«City»,«State» «ZIP Code»
Thanks to
Andrea
Goodson
for all her
artistic
work for
the lay out
of this
newsletter.