Youth Opportunities Underground

We started this trip as a beginner trip for all the new people who have been coming to our Grotto meetings to check us out. We want to give everyone an opportunity to get underground as soon as they can.
Eventually showing up in Sunday morning was Steve Paylor and his girl friend Debbie. This would be her first caving trip. Amos was there. Marcy was there with there with her 2 nephews, Josh and Even. This was Evans second caving trip. Josh has been caving for several years already. Paul McKenzie was there with his two kids, Connor and Amelia, who have caved a few times before too. I was there with my grandson, Zahne. This was his first caving trip.

By the time we drove there and changed and sorted out gear we entered Carnegie about 12:30. The entrance wasn’t too wet. Fairly normal for this cave. As we entered into the first passage there was more water than the last time we were there. The duck under wasn’t very high, just a puddle and the main room only had water to just below my kne…

Mark this on the calendar. Although I was not the first one there, I was early to a rendezvous point for a caving trip. Molly was already there and Amos was pulling in right after me with Marci, Josh, and Mikey. We were headed out to central PA and meeting up with Andy Field. Meeting us at the cave was Crew 456.

Josh has been caving with us for a while. He has several caves on his resume. This was Mikey's second caving trip. He was excited to try this cave after an enjoyable trip to Wind Cave.

We arrived at the property about 11:30. The owners were there already. After our greetings and suiting up we all gathered in the "cave house" where we divided up into 2 groups, Crew 9 in one group and Crew 456 in the other. Crew 9 went to the Earth Room first. It's tight, but the reward is great. Very well decorated with formations and preserved. Then we headed out towards the bigger passages of the cave. There is a little climbing, and little squeezing, and a little chimneying…

The NSS Youth Group Liaison Committee has been looking to fill volunteer positions of Regional Coordinator for each of the NSS Regions. Joey Fagan has stepped up to the plate and offered his extensive knowledge of caving and cavers in Virginia and West Virginia, Joey is also active and knowledgeable in both Boy and Girl Scouts.
Instead of telling you about Joey here, read his web page at http://www.caves.org/youth/var_rc.html .

Dragon Breath Grotto took the squeeze box to Harmony Days in Honey Brook, PA to promote the caving club. there was some interest and some brave souls who squeezed down rather small. Maybe they'll come join us in a real cave and see what it's really like.

I got to our usual McDonald’s that we meet and Amos and Andy were already there and finished their breakfast. A little while later Steve arrived, then Katy and Pete. As we were getting ready to pack up the cars Krista arrived, just in time. Don’t trust those online directions.
We divided into two vehicles and took off to meet up with Bill near the cave. Of course I’m running behind schedule and was about 15 minutes late. But we all did get together and got to the cave, suited up, and carefully walked through the rows of corn find the entrance to our adventure for the day.

No one had been there for about a year and a half. The “gate” was filled with all kinds of debris. There’s not enough room for more than one person to work in there. It took Bill about 20 minutes or so to clean out the entrance and unlock the gate. Then one at a time we slid down the tube into the cave.
Many years ago before I had a chance to get into this cave I heard someone describe it as “sporty”. I now know that…

A few years back, in a previous life when I was a Scoutmaster, I had finally talked our Troop into going on a wild cave trip. We went to Laurel Caverns in western Pennsylvania (http://www.laurelcaverns.com/). This is really the ideal first time trip for Scouts to experience a dark cave tour. They supply most of what you need including the guides and the cave. They also have other activities than the dark tour like Climbing and Geology Merit Badge. They also offer a few Girl Scout badges as well.
We took the three hour dark tour. I'm trying to condense all the video into a one or two short glimpse of the tour. By the way, the kids in this video are all grow up adults now.

Venturing Crew 77 is out of Edmond, OK. They've been doing vertical caving for a while and have developed a pretty good program around it. Check out their video on YouTube.




The Crew 77 caving program has been going on for about 7 years. We have explored small caves in Oklahoma, and have graduated to major caving expeditions to the Carlsbad Caverns area over spring break for the past several years. The vertical caving is a direct offshoot to our BSA rock climbing program. It combines the Single Rope Techniques we learn in climbing, and put them in a different and darker context.
We will typically have horizontal caving opportunities for younger crew members and scouts. These will have hiking and navigation opportunities in addition to very scenic and geologically important caves. Training will include trips to Oklahoma caves such as Culp Cave and the Selman Cave System in northwest Oklahoma. Professor Dr. John Bowen is our contact/liaison with UCO for access to the Selman Caves…

Since Geocities is closing down, I have to move all my trip reports. They are in a sort of blog form, so I'll be moving them over here, one at a time.
========================================================================================The Dragon Breath Grotto (www.dragonbreathgrotto.org) is an Independent Youth Grotto for young men and women 14 y/o (or13 and graduated the 8th grade) to 21 y/o. This was the first official caving trip for this grotto. Most of the members have caved in one form or another before, but this was the first trip as a group. The members from Dragon Breath that were there were Paul S., John L., Dan W., and Dan G. Members of the Philadelphia Grotto who were along were Amos, Marci, Steve Gadd, and myself (Allen) who is registered in both grottos.

It was in the low thirties and slight drizzle outside as we were suiting up to go inside the cave. We were looking forward to the relatively warmer fifty-five degree cave temperature. The newer guys did well with…

Since Geocities is closing down, I have to move all my trip reports. They are in a sort of blog form, so I'll be moving them over here, one at a time.
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Kim’s Venturing Crew had caved with Philly Grotto before. While talking with her she told me she would like to talk to and set up a caving trip for the Venturers Officers Association. She spent considerable time and effort talking to the VOA and setting up this trip for them to Frustration Pit and Corker Hill. Their plan was to meet Philly Grotto at the Morgantown McDonald’s on Saturday morning.
I’d like to say the usual were there, but we were missing a few. Steve, Hanna, Paul, and I were there. I was able to borrow an extended cab truck from a friend so we could all ride together in relative comfort. The VOA was ready to go when I got there. They had a couple people drop out at the last minute, but we still had a good group. We loaded all the …

It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve been underground. We have some new blood in the Crew and they are ready to go,op6 too. We met up at the McDonald’s at Morgantown. Pete, Katie, Steve, and Andy were there before me. Marcy, Matt, and Andrew showed up just after I got there.
Pete’s been on two caving trips with us. Katie caved with another group once. This is the first for Matt and Andrew. Along to help out was Mindy, Steve, Andy, Ed, and Marcy, so we were well covered.

We arrived at the cave around 11 and were underground by 11:30. Took a moment to get our eyes adjusted then went to the first room. From here on in we pushed all the tight squeezes we could find. Did a little bloudering and scrambling, too. I think we covered almost every part of that cave. Over all it was over four hours and everyone was whipped by the end.
There was lots of mud on this trip. With all the rain we’ve been having and all the snow over the winter, the water table is a little high. Normally things…

Big V Day was an event, held by Chester County Council, BSA, that was open to the public and FREE. At this event there were several different activities that people could try. These activities were focused for the interest of High School and College aged young men and women.
I was there to promote caving, and in particular Dragon Breath Grotto, which has recently been chartered. Amos brought the Philly Grotto Squeeze box and I had set up a “dark” obstacle course. Terry was over at the C.O.P.E. Course demonstrating vertical caving skills.


In the begining a few people just walked by looking at the squeeze box kind of puzzled. I was able to talk a couple people into try it set up high at 12 inches. Once they got the knack of it, there was a continuous line to try it one more notch lower.


By the middle of the afternoon I had to take off, but we did have a three way tie for six inches. Here's a video of one of the those.


Most people did seem to enjoy it and most who tried were challenge…

The purpose of an NSS Youth Regional Coordinator is to provide informational assistance to cavers, grottos, and youth group leaders so they may conduct safe and appropriate cave-related experiences. In addition to caving trips, these experiences may include presentations on ethics, geology, biology, techniques, and safety, as well as other topics of speleology.


Regional Coordinators:
adhere to all guidelines, policies, and requirements of the National Speleological Society (NSS). adhere to all guidelines, policies, and requirements of the appropriate youth group organization. treat all youth groups with equal consideration. make themselves available to grottos within their region, to assist them in working with youth groups. make themselves available to youth groups within their region, to assist them in conducting safe caving trips and learning about caves. promote responsible caving practices for youth groups. promote responsible caving practices by grottos and cavers when working wi…

The elections for the National Speleological Society Board of Governors is coming up. I sent an open letter to all the candidates asking them for their views on the role of the NSS Youth Group Liaison Committee and how they would support it if elected to the BoG. You an see in other post the reply from John Hoffelt, Bill Putman, Herman Miller, Jay Clark, and Gary Bush.

Even though I posted this invitation to comment on Cave Chat and emailed each candidate individually, I have not, as of the time of writing this post, heard from;
John LaMar Cole 35457RE
Debra Young 44886RE
Dr. Dean Wiseman 32690RL

I hope this has helped members understand the candidates position on youth groups and caving and will help you in your decision for electing the next Board of Governors of the National Speleological Society.

The elections for the National Speleological Society Board of Governors is coming up. I sent an open letter to all the candidates asking them for their views on the role of the NSS Youth Group Liaison Committee and how they would support it if elected to the BoG. I'm posting their replies in no particular order.

Your question about the Youth Group Liaison Committee’s role has special interest to me. One of your predecessors in the Chair position was my good friend, Jack Hissong. Jack passed away this past January. He had a very strong interest in working with and training youth groups in responsible caving. No doubt, his long association and efforts with the Boy Scouts fed his passion for the topic. Jack started the Youth Group training in the Greater Cincinnati Group and expanded its scope to lead scores of scout and youth group trips every year. Many were combined on matching weekends, so we could accommodate more groups. Jack recognized that the youth groups would be turni…