Montgomery Grotto Officers

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2 Montgomery Grotto Officers P R E S I D E N T : STAN TEW NSS stan_tew@yahoo.com V I C E - P R E S I D E N T : JELENE FRANKLIN NSS jelenefranklin@gmail.com T R E A S U R E R : BO FRANKLIN NSS bofranklin4@gmail.com S E C R E T A R Y : CHUCK TICE NSS chucktice@gmail.com Caving Information Online: to the Montgomery Grotto (MG) newsletter. We would like to take this opportunity to invite anyone interested in speleology to attend our meetings on the first Tuesday of each month at the First United Methodist Church at 7pm. The address is 2416 W. Cloverdale Park, Montgomery, AL Meetings last about one hour during which we discuss grotto business, welcome newcomers, plan trips and more. If you would like additional information, contact Stan Tew at stan_tew@yahoo.com. C a l endar June 01 Jefferson Davis Holiday June 02 MG the LWSSC tower June 06 Moss Rock June 20 Tumbling Rock June 21 Father's Day July 04 Independence Day July 07 MG Meeting July 11 Tyrolean Traverse August 04 MG Meeting MG Website: montgomery/ NSS Website: SCCi Website: NSS Online Cavers: nsscavers.ning.com/ Cavechat.org: forums.caves.org/ D i s c laimer: Caving is an inherently dangerous and demanding sport. Care should be given when deciding to participate in caving trips. You should be physically fit and not afraid of tight spaces. Caving trips are lead by volunteers; before participating, you should gather information about the difficulty of the trip and the experience level of the leader. Participating in any or all activities is at your own risk.

3 O n T h e C o v e r On May 16, 2009, a group from the MG went canoeing and kayaking. Shown here is a beautiful picture taken by Jess Jenkins of a Cahaba Lily. NOTE: Last month s incredible picture was taken by Jim Selby. A n n o u n c e m e nts (1) The 2009 NSS Board Election is complete and the following four candidates have been elected (number in parenthesis reflects the percentage of votes each candidate received from the 6,143 votes cast): Linda Devine (19.3%); Keith Wheeland (18.5%); Carol Tiderman (16.5%); and Ted Kayes (16.4%). (2) Plan to attend the rappelling practice sessions on June 2 nd and 6 th. (3) MG stickers and patches are available contact Bo. (4) Check out our website for trips and upcoming events. I n f o / Trip R eports Steward s Spring Cave (Bo Franklin): On April 25th 2009, Jim Selby, Jeff Thomas, Emily Thomas, Marcy Thomas, Jess Jenkins, and Bo Franklin set out on an adventure to locate, GPS mark, rappel, and explore Horse Skull cave. Horse Skull is a cave that Robert West was nice enough to take me to a few years ago. Horse Skull is a great cave with a double entrance. You can rappel into it on a 30 foot drop or you can enter it on rope down a steep 30 foot climb down with a 10 foot rappel. Robert let me borrow his 65 foot Blue Water rope and I took my 100 foot piece of Pit Rope to rig both entrances. Jess, Jim, and I went up to Scottsboro the day before. We dropped Jim off at the Alabama Cave Survey Saturday morning, and Jess and I thought it might be a good idea to try and find the cave since Jeff, Emily, and Marcy were meeting us at the McDonald s at 10:30. I was pleased when we found the parking area because I knew within a quarter mile hike I would be at the entrance to a great cave. DID NOT HAPPEN!!!! Since the last time I was there, a family of beavers had moved into the nice little stream we had to cross and turned it into a lake with a series of several dams. After several attempts to find a good way across we finally gave up. Defeated, we went back and met Jeff s group at Mickey D s and then headed back to the ACS where I met up with Lin Guy and Ken Rupil. Ken gave me the combination to Steward s Spring and we decided to head to Fort Payne. I had been to Steward s Spring three times before, but had not been able to make it very far. Ken and Lin have recently mapped that cave so we had survey markers this time and we made very good progress. We stopped when the passage got down to belly crawling. Marcy continued on to see if it continued and found another marker, but we decided to turn around because it was getting late and we were not sure we were going the right way. When I got back I ed Lin and he assured me that Marcy was on the right track. We made our way back out with the use of many Tomberline Tags (popsicle sticks with reflective tap on them). Most of the people in this group are very good photographers, except for myself, so we got some really

4 good photos of Steward s Spring as well as Neversink. We stopped by there before we headed to Steward s Spring. We all met at the Santa Fe Cattle Company in Fort Payne for a great steak dinner, and then we parted ways. Everyone seemed to really like the cave, the experience, and the company; I know I did. Hatchet Creek canoeing and kayaking trip (Bo Franklin): Found only in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, the Cahaba Lily requires swift current and direct sunlight to flourish. They are only in a few creeks, and only bloom sometime between Mother s Day and Father s Day. They are truly beautiful flowers. Well, on May 16th 2009 a group of Montgomery Grotto members decided they would venture down Hatchet Creek in hopes of getting a glimpse of these flowers. The group included: Chuck Tice, Colin Tice, Jess Jenkins, Roger Wolczek, Jelene Franklin, and Bo Franklin. We decided to run both sections which is almost 16 miles, but thought it might be best to leave a car at the end of section one in case something happened and we needed to stop. We also had our lunch in this car, so at least we were going to stop here to eat and rest a bit before we started the second leg. I started off the trip on the wrong foot by wiping out on the rapid at the old dam. I had only been on this river a hundred times, so it was not like I did not know it was there. After that all went well, we floated a few more hours, going through a few more rapids and shoals. Just when we started to think we were not going to get to see any Cahaba Lilies we noticed a sea of white far off in the distance. As we approached the garden in the shoals we found the lilies to be at full bloom and they were spectacular. There were lilies as far as the eye could see. We parked our boats on a rock in one of the shoals while Roger and Jess took some really good pictures. As great as the pictures were, you have to see them with your own eyes to appreciate them fully. As we exited the enormous garden we noticed a faint rumbling in the distance. As we continued on, the rumbling got louder and flashes of light appeared in the sky. The lightening got louder and closer as we paddled further down the river, until it was so close we decided to pull over and ride the storm out on a nasty, little, muddy, slippery bank. Then the rain came in buckets and the lightening struck all around us, and the thunder was deafening. The temperature seemed to drop 30 degrees and then it started to rain even harder and the lightening got worse. Chuck s canoe filled with water and started to run over. Everyone was freezing, shell shocked from the lightening, and praying for it to stop. After about 30 minutes or so, it passed right over top of us and then cleared up. Chuck and Jess got in the water to wash off and then we jumped in our vessels and triple-timed it to the first take out. It had stopped raining but it was still threatening to rain, and we could still hear thunder off in the distance. Some of the crew was visibly shivering from the cold. So we decided to go. Roger decided to go his own way, but since the day was young the rest of us went back to my house to shoot hoops and relax. We had a rough day at times. I wiped out, a few in our

5 crew slipped and fell numerous times, one of Chuck and Colin s paddles broke in two, and I wished I was not on this trip when I was sitting on that bank scared to death we were going to get struck by lightening. In the end though, I had a great time and I do believe everyone else did too. It was a great trip and I won t be forgetting this one. Quote of the Month: "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." ~ E. E. Cummings M G M e e t i n g M i n u t e s April 7, 2009: No official meeting was held in May, so meeting minutes for April have not been reviewed/approved. Montgomery Grotto Apply Postage Here

Montgomery Grotto Officers

Montgomery Grotto Officers P R E S I D E N T : STAN TEW NSS 18810 stan_tew@yahoo.com V I C E - P R E S I D E N T : JELENE FRANKLIN NSS 56086 jelenefranklin@gmail.com T R E A S U R E R : BO FRANKLIN NSS