Hello everyone. My name's Bill and I'm a bit new to this. I was very into caving as a young man. Our scout leader was a wild cave guide in his youth and since he maintained ties with the community we took caving trips once a month for several years. This was in northern Georgia and southern Tennessee for the most part. Fast forward 20 years and I'm up here in northwest Indiana, looking to connect with cavers in my area. I'm a hiking enthusiast, wilder the terrain the happier I am, but I haven't been caving (aside from walking tours in Mammoth, Marengo, etc) in years. I decided to join the NSS (haven't received my card yet) and look for a grotto in my area. I'm an emt with a local 911/transport service, working full time and going to school for nursing, so I don't have a ton of free time. But I want to spend the time I ~do~ have hiking, camping, and caving every chance I get.
The closest grotto to my location, according to the NSS grotto finder, is the St. Joseph Valley Grotto in Elkhart Indiana. Unfortunately their site hasn't been updated since 2013 and I'm not sure if they're still active at all. I did send emails to a few contacts listed on the site but I haven't heard back. Perhaps they disbanded? In any case, I'm in search of an active grotto within a couple hours drive of Northwest Indiana. I looked through one of the Chicago groups, might try contacting them next if I can't find an active group in Indiana. Any suggestions welcome!
I read through several threads here before I joined and I think this will be a fun and helpful place to get to know folks so I decided to register and introduce myself. Now I think I'll go back to browsing the forums! Have a great day.