Cavechat.org

After SEVEN MONTHS of trying to find a grotto near-ish me that would, you know, accept a new member and not give them a hard time, be jerks to them, block access to cavetrips so they can't go...should I go on? anyway thanks to the awesome wyndottecaver's suggestion I contacted the St Joseph Valley Grotto based in Elkhart, IN and I just have to say... O. M. G.

Same day I get a lovely reply from Mark basically telling me the next planned things they have and who to contact to get in on some cool cave trip limited to 10 people being planned for September and gets me onto their yahoo group where the trip planning and stuff happens. Like, no questions, no hassle, no hoops to jump through, no jerkyness to deal with at all! I didn't realize people outside of TAG and the UK acted like this (aka acted like nice human beans? lol)! AMAZING!

So I'm already on the list for the Sept trip. Just like that. I posted a hello and bit of an intro to the group to say who I am/how I got started/what caving I've done so far and already THREE replies of welcome/hey cool hope we can cave together soon/etc including one from a *gasp* female! (I love you guys and I"m so used to guys since most of my hobbies for the last 10-ish years have been dude-heavy so I'm quite used to being "one of the guys" but...I miss having other females around!)

I am so excited and happy right now! They don't have any cave trips until March but there is a high ropes course/climbing wall/vert practise thing happening next month I hope I can attend. WOOOOT

just dont get too excited and squeeee..ze too hard or we may have a yellow puddle on the forum floor.

No worries! Also note #4 came in...wow this is a happy fun welcoming grotto! I can't wait to cave with them :)

I have caved with a few of them before. They are good people and should be easy to get along with. I suspect any large grotto will become "clickish". They also have a nice survey project going on in Lost River.

I'm already in on a few cave trips and maybe some more and have emails going back and forth with a couple members. Certainly no hints of cliques here...at least not what I think of as cliques! I get to go caving in about 2 weeks! SQUUEEEEE I thought i was gonna have to wait until the next trip up north (which I wasn't even sure I wanted to do) in late March, or MVOR, or something! But no! I get to cave in FEBRUARY! BOOYA!

They are a good group. Glad you were able to hook up with them. Suggest you plan to attend Cave Capers as well.

You might see if any of them are planning to attend the Indiana Cave Symposium in April. Not necessarily a lot caving, especially with WNS in Indiana now, but a great way to meet most of the prominent Indiana cavers...including me of course

Yeah I just saw that >_< (about the gd being in Indiana) I thought the caves on gov't property were closed already though...eesh. Well maybe eventually WNS will be EVERYWHERE in the US and then it's pointless to keep any cave closed, right?

And if I make a trip somewhere, there had BETTER be at least one cave trip :P

Anywhere there are cavers there will be a caving trip just maybe not an official one. You should attend though its surprising how many prominent cavers are in Indiana. I have made tons of caving friends attending events similar to the cave symposium. I am sure you would be surprised how much Indiana cavers get around in this state and many of the people you meet I guarantee you will meet in the future on caving trips. It seems there are always cavers from up north caving down here in southern Indiana and many southern Indiana cavers up north. All the cavers I have met in Indiana have been very friendly and have been great fun to cave with. There are also allot of Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois cavers in Indiana frequently. I would say caving trips or not if you really want in on some great caving these events are your best bet. I know you have found a grotto up north but meeting other cavers can really open up your chances of getting in on the really great trips. Give it a little effort and before you know it you will be invited on some virgin cave trips.

LOL "give it a little effort" talk about hours and hours spent trying to make contacts anywhere in the tristate area the past seven months :P It takes more effort than that when keep running up against brick walls! wyndotte should've spoken up sooner I've been bashing my head on a wall here for how long now? :P

I'm happy with this! And yeah, already in on an exploration trip happening in a couple weekends Access to land with known cave want to see what is further back in it and some holes not yet checked out...sounds virgin enough to me if any pan out! And I kinda want to cave like once a month (don't have money for more than that) and already calendar is filling UP! Seriously!

Amy,

I do understand your dilemma. The reason I mentioned the symposium is that in 1 place on 1 night you will find virtually all the main people doing organized caving in the state. The Indiana Karst Conservancy, The Indiana Cave Survey, The Indiana Speleological Society, Nationally recognized project cavers and cave scientists, Plus many of the most active individual cavers. Regardless of whether you cave with them, just meeting them can help open doors across the country.

You have already experianced 1st hand the benefit of getting around the right ppl. It only took 1 cavechat comment from me and an email to hook you up with the SJVG and start doing things regionally. Now imagine yourself in a whole room full of folks who can do the same sort of thing across the country. As an example, at least 2-3 ppl who will likely attend have been in Lechaguilla...which requires new people to have someone who has been there before sponsor them.

I may never go to lech, but I know the ppl who can vouch for me if I ever do.

Heehee isnt the letchooga (sp? erm it's how I say it in my brain...) that huge drop in Mexico? Yeah I'm totally doing that sometime soon :P but yeah I see what you mean I will look up when that is and see if I can attend :) It'd be cool to learn more cave stuff anyway, I have absolutely no geology background at all (I was busy in chem and physics courses, most geology I had was back in erm...5th grade when I was homeschooled and learned about different kinds of rocks! I think I still have a rock collection somewhere...Although I guess I remembered enough that when a geo class came to the cave up north and their professor was asking them questions I forgot I wasn't in the class and was answering some hehe. Then again I knew it was limestone, and I knew the chemistry behind how that all works from the chem classes it wasn't too hard!) Oh yeah tangent! Anyway....quick google tells me April 17th? I'll see. =) Remind me when it gets closer! I already feel like there are more chances for trips than I could possibly afford with the SJVG so I am quite all of a sudden in awesome shock overwhelm of what is actually out there. I do have contacts in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Ontario and could probably get links to West Virginia easily. But that's all further out than Indiana even. I still plan on moving to probably Atlanta area later this year.

Golondrinas is probably the big pit you're thinking of in Mexico. Lechuguilla is a huge cave with a modest pit entrance in *New* Mexico.

Amy,

Forget all those cold nasty Yankee caves up there - and the cold nasty Yankee cavers, as well. Come on down South, where the caves are big and warm and the pits are vast and deep and the people are famous for their hospitality.

I was just in Michigan for a meeting not long ago, and it was damn cold. Hell, it even snowed! I had to go buy extra whiskey. We don't get much of that nonsense down here in Georgia. Well, we did have a big snowstorm last month that lasted more than a week, but that was a fluke - one of those Global Warming things, you know. Anyway, you could take every cave in Michigan and Indiana and string them all together and we'd still have bigger and better caves in Alabama and Georgia and Tennessee. That's why all the smart Yankee cavers sneak down here to ridgewalk and cave in TAG! So just book yourself a cheap ticket on Delta or Air-Tran, honey, and come on down here! We'll be glad to see you, and we'll take you caving for sure!

Y'all come see us real soon now, you hear?

Bill Putnam
Dogwood City Grotto
Atlanta GA
God's Country

Bill Putnam wrote:Atlanta GA
God's Country

Whatcha smokin? Ya got to be drinkin too much Southern Comfort!
Atlanta...God's country?