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
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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
webecavers@hotmail.com
2013 OFFICERS
Chairman:
Harold Calvert
123 Co. Rd 250
Cullman, AL 35057
(256) 287-9770
webecavers@hotmail.com
Front Cover: Decorations
Sequoyah Caverns
.
Photo by: Evon Fowler
in
Newsletter Exchange
The Flowstone
Perry or Sharon Clayton
1628 Edmondson Rd
Hanceville, AL 35077
dcpbookwyrm@hotmail.com
APPOINTMENTS
Vice Chair:
Perry Clayton
1628 Edmondson Rd.
Hanceville, AL 35077
(256) 595-2548
perryclayton@charter.net
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
dcpbookwyrm@hotmail.com
tcalvert@cullman.net
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
smoothys1@gmail.com
Membership/
Library
David Drake
110 Co. Rd. 1386
Falkville, AL 35622
(256) 739-0811
dmdrake1@gmail.com
Webmaster
Kuenn Drake
100 Co. Rd. 1386
Falkville, AL 35622
(256) 739-6915
kuenn.drake@gmail.com
September 2013
Cullman Grotto Flowstone
ECHO))))) CHAMBER
NSS Headquarters
Weekends
Work
The NSS Needs Your Help!
By: Lynn Buffkin (Roswell, Georgia)
lbuffkin@gmail.com
Scientists Discover Five New
Bat Species in West Africa
September 5, 2013 / Senegal, Africa
By Maureen Handler (Sewanee,
Tennessee)
TNshotgun@earthlink.net
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 lbuffkin@gmail.com
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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