Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
FLOWING STONE CAVE GWK 524
Preliminary Sketch (Map in progress) Survey: 22 April 2001 Scott Carmine, John Klayer and Tom Moltz Sketch: 15 August 2001 Tom Moltz
Elevation: 1360 Feet Length: 105 Feet Depth: 246 Feet Pit Depth 225 Feet Vertical Gear Required (pig tail helps)
Floor Plan
0
12’
225
5’ Rig-in
Entrance
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight
North mag
0
Feet
20
0
Feet
10
Profile
TT
TT
7 inches high (or less)
?
Entrance
246
Columns attached to
Stream dye traced to Blue Bird Spring Cave
Loose Stepping Stone
50 foot long stalactite
Splash-Down Mound of Creamy White Calcite and Pearls
Scott Carmine looks up from below the
rimstone dams. Photo Buddy Welker.
Tom Moltz admires the creamy white
calcite and pearls. Photo Buddy Welker.
Cave Pearls.
Salamander!
Photo Buddy Welker.
Chandelier
on the wall.
Thanks! -
Special thanks go to the Athens Spe-
leological Survey for their $100 dona-
tion to MGG. It is marked for the
Glory Hole cleanup project. I would
also like to say that they were very
enjoyable and one of the more careful
and conscientious groups I've been
with in Glory Hole.
GLORY HOLE AND CONSERVATIVE
CAVING -
Buddy and I recently took another
group that was not so careful. Two
from the group decided they were
leaving the cave on their own, even
though they knew the gate was locked.
They also didn't think it was important
to tell us. The rest of the group waited
while Buddy and I searched for them.
They ended up going the totally wrong
direction. They were happy to see us
and apologized for being idiots. This
took a lot of time from the rest of the
group's trip.
The chain was left off both going and
coming through the walk through gate.
There were other unacceptable things
they did which I won't go into.
Through interaction with the group, I
came to the conclusion that most of
their mistakes were due to lack of cav-
ing education and experience. I have
taken groups that have been TAG cav-
ing for years and a lot of them lack the
Conservative ideas necessary for a
delicate cave.
A lot of cavers don't seem to under-
stand some basics like:
Stay on the trail. Don't tromp eve-
rywhere and spread the footprints.
Hey, I just wanted to let all of you know
that Bill Baily's dad passed away. Keep
him in your prayers.
Love, Angela
TAG Campsites
Wow, this was close!
I just read my June NSS News and saw
the announcement for TAG. I called.
Only 4 campsites were available. Only
one in the quiet zone, Site #2. I made the
reservations, MGG has Site #2 and Site
#54. Site #54 is near our ancestral MGG
hallowed ground on top of the hill across
from the sauna and showers, I'm not
sure where Site #2 is - but it is in the
quiet zone. I hope this pleases you with
children.
Your humble Chairman, John
I'm trying, I'm trying, (sigh), so hard. Contact John Klayer for more information.
Watch your head, and it isn't be-
cause I care about your head.
Leave the gates like you find them.
A simple idea but this one still hap-
pens. It happened previously at Glory
by an experienced caver and the cat-
tle got out. Needless to say there were
two unhappy landowners.
Do you think Glory would be open if
a car had hit a cow and someone
died? It may only take leaving the
gate open one more time.
There are two main reasons
for damage to caves and land-
owner relations, by people.
1. Not caring!
2. Not knowing any better!
Even a caver that is knowledgeable
and normally careful may compromise
their principals when tired or ex-
hausted. I have faced this situation and
found myself making compromises.
The message I want to send is that we
all need to try to do a better job of tak-
ing care of our most valuable resource.
SHIRT RAFFLE -MGG received a
shirt in the mail from the SCCi. It was
a gift for our donation to the Fox
Mountain Preserve. It's a nice shirt.
MGG members that pay their dues
during the TAG Cave-in meeting or
before can buy a chance at the shirt for
a couple of dollars. The money will go
to the treasury to help offset expenses. 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)
836 Orange Park Avenue
Lakeland, Fl 33801
Email to: [email protected] Credits Please do not use any articles, artwork, or photos in this newsletter without the author's, art-
ist's, or photographer's permission (With the excep-
tion of NSS internal organizations.) All rights re-served. All Artwork and Articles are credited. All
without credits are the work of Andrea & Minter
Goodson or Tom Moltz.
CCOVEROVER:: Map by Map by Tom Moltz. Photos by Buddy Tom Moltz. Photos by Buddy
Welker. Welker.
The Grotto chairman in his Glory 2001.
Normal Vision - CAVE PACK
SPELEOVISION -
GEOLOGY
SPECIMEN
RECEPTACLE
Flowing Stone Cave, GWK 524
By Tom Moltz
Next to Ellison's Cave 'Flowing Stone
Cave' has the deepest pit in Georgia. It was
discovered by Scott Carmine, John Klayer
and Tom Moltz as a result of the Karst Sur-
vey initiated by the Pigeon Mountain
Grotto. It is in the 140 acres Vulcan Miner-
als wants to destroy. It was dug open in the
bottom of a sink that had no lead, no air-
flow, or hole of any kind suggesting an
entrance...pure speleo-vision.
It's a beautiful pristine pit with cave pearls,
fifty-foot stalactites, creamy white mounds
of calcite, and a flowing orange slope of
rim stone dams the water flows over in
smooth rippling sheets. The water flows
over the long massive stalactites in an even
sheet dropping onto the creamy white cal-
cite, which is full of pearls. The orange
flow stone has ripples about one quarter
inch apart running parallel to each other.
There is a large pool of water (unless it has
been dry) sporting salamanders as long as
eight inches. Fifty foot high columns hug
the wall. A stream leaves the cave through
a narrow passage that is impassable at this
point.
The water flow has been die traced to Blue
Bird Spring. There is a series of sinks, run-
ning north from this cave at the same eleva-
tion. These are good leads to say the least.
There is surely a serious cave system be-
low. I say this because in my estimation
more water flows from Blue Bird Spring as
does from the Blue Hole.
In Conclusion:
If I didn't know better I would think that
Flowing Stone is alive and revealed herself
to us. Its like she had to choose the lesser of
two evils; being abused by cavers over be-
ing turned into mortar mix.
I personally had no desire to turn this cave
in. We knew we had to in case it would be
of some help in saving Pigeon Mountain.
From near the beginning, we let DNR and
PMG know about this and let them call all
the shots. I have never dealt with a more
Other Information
>Using a pigtail makes it safer and
easier to get through the narrow
entrance.
>If the water is flowing well, you
need signals to communicate.
>Sitting on the ledge, place the rope
toward the middle to right side.
This will keep the rope off the wall
of the pit.
>I would suggest padding the tree.
It will catch a lot of abuse over the
years. If you go off the flowstone at
the bottom, to look at the stream
dig, you will pick up a lot of mud.
The dig lead is very tight and leads
to a small hole through which the
water leaves the cave.
>Allen Padgett has important park-
ing and check-in procedures to be
followed.
Jim Ozier searches for cave critters
in the bottom of Flowing Stone
Cave.
I can only hope and encourage
cavers will respect this and all
caves. Once you get a little mud
down the tracks, it starts spreading a
little each trip. It spreads until you
don't even know what you're walk-
ing on. I hope that future visitors
will pleasantly surprise me.
Some data:
Pit depth: 225'
Pit depth from 'rig in' point: 220'
Pit depth from low side of ledge:
212'. The ledge is narrow and
steeply slopes toward the pit.
Cave Depth: 246'
Horizontal Cave: 105'
Tom Moltz with his staff of
enlightenment used to punch holes
in the tops of Dome Pits.
>When you make it to Flowing
Stone, please stay on the trail and
help protect this great cave. Bet-
ter yet dig into more cave in the
nearby sinks and find the cave
system and endangered life that
will help save this great re-
source...Pigeon Mountain.
Walking through the pools or off
the trail may endanger a delicate
ecosystem and beauty of the cave.
Ed Pratt photographing in flowing
Stone Cave. Buddy in another lead.
ACCESS TO FLOWING STONE By Allen Padgett
The recently announced Flowing
Stone Cave is located on the Crock-
ford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Man-
agement Area. Access is currently
open but certain laws and rules apply.
Each trip will need to fill out a cave
card (new green ones) located at the
small shed just inside the gate at the
beginning of Blue Hole Road. The
parking place is just down the same
road past the DNR building. Walk
across the dam and then up the moun-
tain and around the quarry. DO NOT
EVER walk through the quarry
property. They will have to prosecute
you for safety reasons and DNR will
close the cave as a result of your ac-
tions. DO NOT EVER approach
adjacent landowners for permission
to cross. They have been contacted
and will deny permission and report
you to DNR, the cave will be closed
because of your actions. There will
soon be a flagged trail to help keep
everyone out of the quarry and on the
correct path to the cave.
Once at the cave the tight entrance is
often rigged with one main rope and a
short rope through the constriction to
the ledge just inside. This short rope
presents a hazard if a knot is not
placed in it each and every time.
Someone will rappel off the end think-
ing they are rigged into the long rope.
At the bottom there are many fragile
areas and your footprints are the threat
more than the quarry. Clean your
boots, stay on the flagging trails. The
lowest point in the cave is muddy and
if you must go there remove your
boots before walking back to the rope.
Cave pearls are fragile, do not touch
them the oil and dirt from your skin
will kill them. Look but do not touch.
Photographers are a real threat be-
cause they have to get that "special
shot" they feel that it is OK to go off
trail just this once or set up over there
to get the best angle. If a photographer
is on your trip watch them and
make sure they stay on the path. If
you are the photographer remember
just because you only look through
the view finder does not make the
damage go away.
Flowing Stone Cave is an excep-
tionally beautiful cave and as cavers
we will damage it by visiting it.
Minimize the damage, keep trips
small, watch
your footprints, don't go back if you
have been before. Don't take new
vertical cavers here they don't ap-
preciate the fragile nature of this
cave and will bring others who un-
derstand even less.
The existence of this cave will not
by itself stop the proposed quarry
expansion. Continue to study and
explore karst areas and caves may
be saved in the future.
Safe Cavin, Allen Padgett,
NSS 10371LFM Georgia Department of Natural Re-
sources
QUARRY RELATED TRIP REPORTS
By Tom Moltz 14 April 2001:
I believe this was the date of the
salamander search led by John Jen-
sen. The only cavers that showed up
to help were Scott Carmine, John
Klayer and I. The group split up with
the three of use and one Herpetolo-
gist going together. We told them to
look for caves while counting bugs
and we would count bugs while
looking for caves. We counted sala-
manders while heading to our desti-
nation (the two sinks that looked
most promising).
We had success in the lower of the
two sinks. We dug several feet
through earth and root to get to a
narrow crack in the rock. We took
turns hanging upside down by our
ankles to dig in our narrow diameter
hole. One time, while I was head
down, I moved the rock that revealed
the sound of water running. It
sounded like a stream about 30 feet
down. I was excited to say the least,
even though I had no idea what
really awaited us. The other group
had caught up to us by now. John
Jensen was at the top when I came
up for air and I said, "Guys there's
nothing here, we gotta go dig some-
where else." Scott and John K.
looked at me kind of puzzled, then I
came down with an uncontrollable
grin and told them what I heard.
It took us four hours to dig into the
cave. Our 100-foot rope just got us
past a narrow ledge. Below, I saw
the darkest darkness I had ever seen
(next to Sub Stream Cave). Rocks
fell for over 3 seconds. Out of rope
and out of time we had to head home
till the next weekend.
22 April 2001:
We had left our new find the week-
end before due to lack of rope and
time. So the 22nd we made it down
the pit in total amazement. I won't
bore you with describing its rare and
(ABOVE) Two large salamanders
near the bottom of the drop in
Flowing Stone Cave.
(BELOW) Looking down into the
pit from the ledge near the
entrance. Photo by Ed Pratt.
pristine beauty since I described it
already. One thing that sticks in
my mind about the first rappel was
that my eyes played tricks on me.
About fifty feet down I thought I
was seeing a pool of water with
ripples on the surface, yet under
me was darkness. I soon realized it
was the rippling of small wavelets
coming over the massive flow-
stone that holds the fifty-foot sta-
lactites.
We surveyed the pit and checked
the stream lead at the bottom that
looked really low and grim.
29 April 2001:
John, Scott and I took video of the
pit and dug on the stream lead.
05 May 2001:
Buddy Welker, Scott and I made a
photo trip and looked at the grim
dig.
06 May 2001:
We continued the photo trip with
help from Brian Williamson and
Jerry Wallace. We started putting
down some flagging tape. No one
could get up the nerve to support
the dig.
I believe it was about this time
that we told Allen Padgett and
soon after this that Scott took him
to the cave. We had also been try-
ing to get DNR biologist to work it
into their schedule (which they
were trying to do).
The following week sometime, we
turned this over to the Pigeon
Mountain Grotto brass, as was the
suggestion from DNR manage-
ment.
It was also about this time that
some PMG members conducted a
die trace connecting the cave to
Blue Bird Spring.
25 May 2001:
Jim Ozier (DNR State Biologist)
conducted a biota survey of the
cave. Minter Goodson and Ed Pratt
joined Scott and I for this trip.
All the little pools we were walking
over had little cave critters in them
that we never noticed. Keep that in
mind.
27 May 2001:
Scott, Ed, John, Varie Rustin and I
worked on the grim lead. I was en-
couraged but we were all getting tired
of laying in a body sized wet tube dig-
ging in front of our head with water
dripping on our face. I might add that
John was at his very best this day. He
dug hard and made a lot of progress.
09 June 2001:
Scott, Ed, John and I opened up the
stream enough for Scott to get
through. A few feet away the water
left through a small bedrock hole.
We walked out a different direction,
as always, and John found a 31-foot
deep pit. You need to rappel the last
15 feet. He broke a rib getting out. The
entrance is a lot bigger now. He still
hasn't named it or turned it in so
maybe this posting will motivate him
to do so before you do.
(Note: This has since been named
"Broken Rib Pit")
04 August 2001:
Ed Pratt, Buddy Welker and I found
three new caves near the Quarry area.
1. Slimy Slot which has over a hun-
dred 'slimy' salamanders in it.
2. Slip Slot which has a narrow en-
trance and a 16 foot rappel.
3. Chicken Slot which has a dirt en-
trance and one dirt wall down a very
narrow chimney.
18 August 2001:
Scott Carmine, Ed Pratt, and I got into
Falling Stone Cave which is near
Flowing Stone and had some bad air,
hi CO2 or something. Also noted were
a few large 'Slimy' salamanders
Buddy Welker, Varie Rustin, and
John Klayer had helped us move some
rocks in the entrance two weeks ear-
lier.
(ABOVE)
Tom Moltz walking near the edge
of the flow stone at the bottom of
the pit.
Photo by Ed Pratt.
(BELOW) Flow stone blending into top of 40-
50 foot long stalactites.
Photo by Ed Pratt.
BROKEN RIB PIT
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight
Profile View Looking NE
Elevation: 1356 Feet Length: 8 Feet Depth: 31 Feet Pit Depth 31 Feet
Vertical Gear Required (upper portion free climbable) Location: Pigeon Mt. Ga. Lafayette, 7.5’ Topo
Plan View
Tape Survey by: Scott Carmine, John Klayer, Tom Moltz, Ed Pratt 09 June 2001 Distance Accurate to .25 feet Azimuth Accuracy Uncertain
Drafted by: Tom Moltz 10 September 2001; Rev: Preliminary Sketch Map
0
Feet
5
Entrance
0
Feet
5
TT
TT
Northmag
FALLING STONE CAVE
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight
Profile Views
Elevation: 1381 Feet Length: 25 Feet Depth: 35 Feet Pit Depth: N/A
Location: Pigeon Mt., Ga. Lafayette 7.5’ Topo
Entrance
Northmag
0
Feet
5
Plan View
0
Feet
5
Tape and Compass Survey by: Scott Carmine, Tom Moltz, Ed Pratt 18 August 2001 Accuracy: Distance ±.5 Feet, Azimuth ±5°
Drafted by: Tom Moltz 07 September 2001; Rev: (Preliminary Sketch)
TT TT
Profile looking North Profile looking East
A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER By Ed Pratt
August 9, 2001
I took Friday off and drove up to
North Alabama Thursday evening. I
met Tom and Buddy at the Sequoyah
campground around 10 PM. Tom and
Buddy had spent Thursday checking
out a couple of leads on Fox Mountain
that didn't pan out. Friday we drove
over to Pigeon Mountain. We hiked a
mile or so up the mountain and spent
the rest of the day digging on a couple
of possible leads. Tom even let me
carry the STAFF OF ENLIGHTEN-
MENT for a little while. We dug a 4
foot deep hole in the bottom of a small
sink after we felt some air flow. That
got to the point of diminishing returns
so we moved down the hill to another
hole with air flow coming out. Too
many big rocks and no more luck
there. We hiked back down the moun-
tain and bathed in Blue Hole Spring,
very cold but refreshing.
Saturday was a very good day for
finding caves in Georgia. Our original
plan was to ridge walk up the side of
the mountain and around to a sink
right beside the recently discovered
Flowing Stone cave. On the way up
the hill we ran across an area that
yielded three new caves to the 530 or
so known caves of this cave shy state,
meaning we discovered over 1/2% of
all of the known caves in Georgia
last weekend.
Two of the caves we found were very
very small. So small that only Buddy
could get all the way in. One of the
three was my first whole cave discov-
ery. Since I discovered this hole in the
ground I have naming rights and I
am not sure what to call the thing. I
tried to squeeze into the thing but
didn't have a lot of confidence that I
could get back out when my back
was against the wall and my ribs
hung up on the rock. I was climb-
ing down so gravity would have
helped me wiggle in but getting out
would have probably involved some
kind of rescue operation. The cave
rescue unit in the area gets enough
practice so I decided to let Buddy
have the honors.
Tom found the best cave out of the
three and is tentatively calling it
Slimy Cave after the "slimy" sala-
manders that are much in abun-
dance in this cave. Tom gave me
the honors of being the first to
descend into the cave, mainly be-
cause the cave looked like it re-
quired vertical gear and he didn't
want to mess with it since it also
looked like about a 1000 other little
dirt holes we have explored with no
reward. After I was in the hole I
quickly discovered that the vertical
gear was not required, just a quick
little chimney down. The cave
turned out to be only about 60 feet
in total length/depth but it is a neat
little cave. I told Tom and Buddy
they should come down and check
it out but at first Tom was dubious
since he has pulled stunts on so
many other cavers, talking them
into a dirt hole to nowhere. The
cave was full of more salamanders
than any of us had seen in one spot.
You had to be careful not to bump
the walls for fear of squishing one.
I had to move several out of the
way so I could chimney to the top
of one part to see if there was any
more passage. The real find was a
blastoid fossil in the cave. This is a
rare fossil to find in a cave. I found
one reference that stated these lived
320-360 million years ago. There
was a trumpet fossil on the opposite
wall.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/
echinodermata/blastoidea.html
About 4PM Saturday one of those
weird events occurred with human's
converging on one spot. Tom,
Buddy and I had meandered up the
mountain almost at random. We had
just finished surveying the third
cave and were getting our gear to-
gether. John and Varie were sup-
posed to join us sometime that day
but the last time they had connected
was around 10 that morning by cell
phone. Tom had his phone on but we
never heard the call. I had done
some wandering near the cave and
found that we were about 20 feet
from a clearly marked trail. Tom
deduced that this was the newly cre-
ated trail to Flowing Stone cave.
While we were sitting there John and
Varie just happened up the trail. Not
10 minutes later a group from the
Pigeon Mountain Grotto arrived at
the same spot from the opposite di-
rection. They were lead by Allen
Padgett with Scott also in the group.
I didn't know any others. The pigeon
mountain group had been digging on
a sink hole all day hoping to repeat
John, Scott and Tom's feat of finding
a beautiful cave (Flowing Stone)
merely by digging in the bottom of a
sink hole (sheeze - only an idiot
would try that). They alleged that
they had dug a total of 9.5 feet of
tunnel in search of a cave in that one
sinkhole.
Since it was only 4PM and the day
was young John, Varie, Buddy, Tom
and I decided to head up the moun-
tain to search for an old lead of
John's. We didn't find anything sub-
stantial except when we arrived at
our original destination, which was
the sink beside Flowing Stone. We
dug for a minute in a new location
and saw some promising results in
the way of air and some visible signs
of passage. We stumbled back to
camp about the time it got dark. John
and Varie did not camp but, bless
their hearts, they did go and buy us a
couple of bags of ice to keep essen-
tials cold.
Ed, Tom, and the Staff of Enlightenment.
Sunday morning we tried to meet up
with Scott. After finally locating the
young whippersnapper he informed us
that he had too much beer Saturday
night to go with us. Tom, Buddy and I
parked at the Smalley's and made our
way the 0.7 miles up the hill to the
sink beside flowing stone. I busted
my arse on the way up but have noth-
ing but a bad bruise to show for my
clumsiness. We spent the morning
beating, drilling and prying rock.
Tom's "plug-and-feather"
system of breaking rock paid off at
first with the removal of a fairly good
size chunk of rock. We had already
decided to leave fairly early so as not
to get back home too late. We were
close to getting into the cave but more
rock had to be broken out of the way.
We managed to get three of Tom's
plug-and-feathers stuck in the rock.
We tried to chip our way into the cave
at that point.
Around our scheduled time to go we
heard hooting and voices. Cavers
are pretty quiet about their digs until
they can turn them in and claim them
so we had to shut Buddy up. About 3-
6 cavers had shown up at Flowing
stone not 75 feet from us. We were
trying to get Buddy to shut up, but
meanwhile Buddy was trying to beat
his way into the mountain with an 8
pound hammer. I believe we were
successful at remaining undetected.
Luckily the other group sounded like a
stampede of buffalo. We slowly, but
quietly, covered our dig then packed
our gear. Buddy had to sacrifice three
vienna sausage in a can that was too
far too reach without revealing our-
selves. We snuck off through the
woods with hopes of returning soon.
We were grateful that we did not have
to go to battle to protect our dig.
Ed P CaveRatt
Glory Hole Tourist trip for
Will Hursey By Tom Moltz
June 23, 2001
Tom Moltz, Buddy Welker, Will
Hursey, Phil Smith, Brandon Webb,
Thai Lam, Tim Dembowski, Victor
Grimaldi, Ed Strabel
We burned the lock off, which had
been jammed with something.
Burned both sides by looking at it
with mirror. It was behind the plate
we had welded on earlier The lock
was hard to see and get to. I had
bought a welding outfit Thursday.
Buddy was coming with Jack’s
(Jack ) welder and bringing Link.
Buddy got there late without Link
who bailed out at the last minute.
Buddy is staying at Brian's.
Buddy got there after we had the
lock off. We got a good start at
about 10:30 (into the cave). It
seemed like a good group. Brandon
and Thai had been to PJ's with me.
Tim (long hair yellow hat) had been
to PJ's several times looking for the
waterfall.
We set up 3 sprayers and they did
some cleaning. Buddy and I redid a
lot of flagging and started making
plans to reactivate the cleaning pro-
gram. We gave them the tour and
visited the Granny star on the way
out. All but Phil went. Buddy, Will
and I checked our dig at the end . I
finally got Buddy to check out the
last dig in the terminal room under
the big rock.
When we got out of the GS lead
Thai and Victor (I think) had left.
Brandon had gone after them. Bran-
don was in the crawls at the right
turn to the main cave. I had changed
sand damns on the way out to re-
flect our new route. I had told Thai
what we were doing so. I was sur-
prised to see that the dam that lead
out not crossed. Why the idiots de-
cided they were leaving I don't
know. They new the gate was
locked.
We regrouped and everyone
waited past Birth Canal, while Buddy
and I searched for the Bozo's. It was
hard to believe they would go deeper
into the cave when they got through
the crawls and saw where they were. I
knew what a couple of nervous, pan-
icking idiots would do though, so we
continued our search. They were up
the breakdown near the formations
and glad to see us. I gave them a little
rash but not bad. They new they
screwed up.
I took Will to Diamond Room area on
the way out while the others were
leaving. We caught up with them at
the entrance. Will got the grand tour.
He is welcome to go with me any
time. I would take the others too. They
just have a lot to learn like I still do.
The chain on the field gate near the
cave had been left off on the way in
and the way out. These guys didn't
have a clue. They were fixing to pull
out of the field without us until I
stopped them. We visited Granny. She
was doing well. I left a key with
Linda. My back was really starting to
hurt.
Will said he was through planning
trips for others. He asked for me to
keep him informed if something came
up he might be interested in. He also
gave me $40 for cave cleaning stuff or
lights. I reluctantly took it but feel bad
for doing so. I will use it for the cause.
Ed Pratt drags his hog of a pack
through the sand crawls in Glory
Hole Cave on a recent trip.
Salamander
in Flowing
Stone Cave.
Photo
By Buddy
Welker
CHICKEN SLOT CAVE
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight
Body Length Survey by: Tom Moltz, Ed Pratt, Buddy Welker O4 August, 2001 Accuracy: Distance ± 1 Foot, Azimuth ±10°
Drafted by: Tom Moltz 10 September 2001; Rev: (Preliminary Sketch)
Elevation: 1150 Feet Length: 30 Feet Depth: 33 Feet Pit Depth: N/A
Location: Pigeon Mt., Ga. Lafayette 7.5’ Topo Geology: Dirt and Limestone
Plan View
Entrance (All Dirt and Root)
TT
Northmag
Profile View (Looking NE)
Danger! This wall is all dirt.
0
Feet
5
SLIMY SLOT CAVE
Idealized Profile
Plan View
Entrance
0
Feet
5
0
Feet
10
Northmag
TT
TT
TT
TT
Silt Stone
Limestone
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight 12’
Tape and Compass Survey by: Tom Moltz, Ed Pratt, Buddy Welker 04 August 2001 Accuracy: Distance ±.5 Foot, Azimuth ±2°
Drafted by: Tom Moltz 10 September 2001; Rev: (Preliminary Sketch)
Elevation: 1155 Feet Length: 47 Feet Depth: 35 Feet Pit Depth: N/A
Location: Pigeon Mt., Ga. Lafayette 7.5’ Topo Geology: Limestone and Silt Stone
SLIP SLOT CAVE
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight
Body Length Survey by: Buddy Welker & Ed Pratt 04 August 2001 Accuracy: Distance ±1 Foot, Azimuth ±5°
Drafted by: Tom Moltz 09 September 2001; Rev: (Preliminary Sketch)
Elevation: 1178 Feet Length: 30 Feet Depth: 18 Feet Pit Depth: 16 Feet Location: Pigeon Mt., Ga. Lafayette 7.5’ Topo Geology: Limestone Vertical Gear and Slim Fast Required
Plan View
Entrance North
mag
0
Feet
5
TT
TT
TT
Very narrow (~ 8”)
Profile View (Looking NW)
Sketch From Memory Explored on 26 November 1999 by Tom Moltz and Minter Goodson
Elevation: 1470 Feet Length: 46 Feet Depth: 22 Feet Geologic Formation: Sandstone Topo: Lafayette 7 1/2 Minute Normal cave Gear Required
Legend: NSS Standard Cave Map Symbols TT Indicates Too Tight
DANGLING LEGS CAVE GWK 505
DANGLING LEGS CAVE - By Tom Moltz
Keith Minor had this narrow lead in a sandstone cliff and got Scott Carmine to help him. This was early in the
winter of 98, I believe. I loaned Scott three of my early plug and feather sets which got hopelessly stuck in the
rock. This was not their fault, it was the early stage of my plug and feathering, so I take full responsibility. They
later went back to get them out and break rock, with no success. In the meantime, I had six new sets of plug and
feathers made. A year went by and Scott said go ahead and get them (he had moved to Florida). Thanksgiving
weekend of 1999, Minter and I tried out the new plug and feathers which worked like a charm. This hard sand-
stone sounded like a glacier moving as it cracked. Once it started cracking, we stopped hitting the plug and feath-
ers. The rock continued cracking for a couple of seconds audibly, after we quit hammering. I haven't heard this
happen again. This gave us a deep narrow canyon, which we couldn't walk away from. It was very tight going
through the hole and tighter coming back. There were no footholds on the walls and with my body sticking out,
my legs were 'dangling' while I squirmed through. Pain and bruises left, but sweet memories remain! AS far as I
know, Scott Carmine is the only other person to visit the cave. I'm not describing the passage here since you have
a map.
Northmag
KIDDY CAMP AND CAVE #2. By Tom Moltz
I have had a blast on these trips.
These kids are funny and a lot of fun
to take caving. On July 14 we went to
Hurricane cave, parking behind Sues
Market. A group leaving had seen a
large rattlesnake on the trail. This
added a little tension to our group
while walking through the kudzu. The
kudzu was so thick you couldn't see a
noticeable trail. It was like a jungle to
the kids, being over their heads.
The tunnel under the interstate was
covered in soupy cow doo doo. Every-
one was gasping and complaining go-
ing through the tunnel. They got sicker
when I exclaimed how good it
smelled. As you can guess the ladders
over the fences were covered in fresh
cow poopy too. In the cave, the group
had a great time. We made it to the dry
room, rested, and headed out. Some
gagging was heard on our return
through the tunnel. I tried to convince
them to walk back through the tunnel
barefooted but had no takers.
Back at Sequoya we swam. In be-
tween performing world-class dives
with the kids, they tried to drown me.
That is...when Shark Boy and Shark
Girl weren't trying to eat me alive.
Soon they were inventing some new
dives of their own.
The group consisted of: Tom and
Carol Moltz, Autumn Orman, Minter,
Andrea, Evan and Sarah Goodson,
Matt, Debbie, Sarah and Aubry Moak,
Brian and Eric Williamson.
(Above) Tom and Autumn enjoy a cup
of potato soup in Cedar ridge cave.
(Right) Brian in Hurricane cave.
(Above) Evan, Sarah, Andrea, Au-
tumn,Chris, Josh, Carly, Luke, Brian,
Eric, and Tom in Howard’s Waterfall
Cave in June 2001. (Above right) Evan,
Carly, and T.John in Sequoyah Caverns
Big Mouth Entrance June 2001. (Right)
Evan in Hurricane Cave. (Below Left)
Debbie and Tom In Cedar Ridge Crys-
tal Cave (Below Center) Evan and Au-
tumn in Hurricane Cave (Below Right)
Aubry, Sarah Moak, Eric,
Evan,Autumn Carol, Tom, Matt, Deb-
bie and Brian In Cedar Ridge Crystal
MGG MEMBERSHIP ROSTER FOR 2001 (WITHOUT ADDRESSES)
ANGELA BAILY REG Member
BILL BAILY 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
JOHN KLAYER CHART Member
CAROL MOLTZ CHART Member
TOM MOLTZ CHART Member
AUTUMN ORMAN Reg Member
ED PRATT reg Member
JERRY REEVES REG Member
VARIE RUSTIN REG Member
T JOHN SCHLIESSER REG Member
BUDDY WELKER REG Member
BRIAN WILLIAMSON reg Member
Travis,
Tom and
Autumn at
the end of a
big caving
weekend. <(left)
Tom and
Buddy do-
ing what
comes natu-
ral y . (right)>
