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Montgomery Grotto Officers
P R E S I D E N T :
STAN TEW NSS 18810
V I C E - P R E S I D E N T :
JELENE FRANKLIN NSS 56086
T R E A S U R E R :
BO FRANKLIN NSS 56087
S E C R E T A R Y :
CHUCK TICE NSS 57263
Caving Information Online:
MG Website:
www.caves.org/grotto/
montgomery/
NSS Website: www.caves.org/
SCCi Website:
www.scci.org/
NSS Online Cavers:
nsscavers.ning.com/
Cavechat.org: forums.caves.org/
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 36106. 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 [email protected].
June 01 Jefferson Davis Holiday
June 02 MG Meeting @ the LWSSC tower
June 06 Rappelling @ 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
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.
Ca lendar
D i s c la imer :
On The Cove 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.
Announcement s
(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 6th.
(3) MG stickers and patches are available – contact Bo.
(4) Check out our website for trips and upcoming events.
In fo /Tr ip Repo r t s
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 emailed 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
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
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
MG Mee t ing
Minu 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
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