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1958 Nittany Grotto trip report to Doodlebug Hole in Jackson Co, Al (Provided by Keith Wheeland)
http://members.dca.net/pwink/doodlebug.pdf

I have a Cumberland Valley Grotto newsletter from around 90 or 91 that features the same trip with a nice (for the era) vertical profile map as well.It shows a ledge at about 165 feet down then another drop into a larger chamber then a what looks to be a steep slope to the bottom. I wonder if the recent survey people put any new bolts in as I know one of them has the tools and skills to do so. Some of the same group did a recent survey and re-bolting of Solution Rift. Nice to see a long "overlooked" cave get some attention. Access is tricky because it involves multiple landowners .

Nope, no new bolts were placed in Doodlebug during the SMG re survey...

AND, I did however manage to get a FULL SIZE copy of the original map from the 50's from the Nittany Grotto... It is about 9 feet long and it looks awesome hanging on the wall in Jason's hallway... It is MUCH more detailed that what is in the ACS...

Jason is making two survey trips this week while he is on vacation... So excited I get to help on weekday surveying, LOL...

He is hoping to have the new map finished up soon. After the first weekend (two days of surveying) we were able to complete the pit series... Here are his notes after the December survey:

"From what we have so far from crunching the data:
Dooglebug Hole Pit series is only 329.8ft deep.
The total length of the cave so far is around 1072.6ft
Total Surveyed 1,429ft
Cave Depth at 388.4ft we almost made the 400ft level in the first weekend!
I think from the trip we did on Saturday that the cave is around 450deep and I think that the cave may even be over a mile long."

We are hoping that after the 2 trips this week we'll only have to make one or two more trips into the cave. At this point we are accessing the cave through the bottom entrance. And yes, we are working with several landowners for access to this cave.

Here is an image of the bolts on the first ledge. I suspect some of these bolts were placed in the 60's. There is a trip report from Richard Schreiber in 1964 where he mentions placing bolts in the pit. Most cavers who used to do the pit did not use bolts and treated it all as one drop. There is a ledge about 150 feet down where these bolts pictured are at. There is then a small rebelay that takes you about 6 feet to another ledge with more bolts. From here it is 98 feet down to a large ledge that has side passages (where we found VIRGIN)... You then re direct down another 75 feet or so (down a slope) to the bottom of the pit.

To see more pictures from our first survey trip go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/undergroun ... 563991948/

Nice photos and survey. I wanted to do this pit on January 16th when I was down a few weeks ago but Andy Z advised against due to the 3rd land owner crossing being filled with deer stands. I have the coords for the pit, not sure if they are right, but I never did find out where to park. since the actual depth its 330, can this pit be rigged with my 400' talon or does it need to be longer?

Chad, when are you coming down again? We are still working on the survey so maybe we can get you in on a trip... Although we are finished surveying the pit series... and we are now only going in the bottom entrance... at the very least it would get you in the cave and the information you would need to go back on a future trip to do the pit... And Andy is right, going in January during hunting season wouldn't be advised... There literally are hunting stands right around the entrance pit.... I would recommend a longer rope than 400 hundred if you use just one. We rigged the entire pit series with two 250 ropes...

Kelly
^V^

rowland7840 wrote:Chad, when are you coming down again? We are still working on the survey so maybe we can get you in on a trip... Although we are finished surveying the pit series... and we are now only going in the bottom entrance... at the very least it would get you in the cave and the information you would need to go back on a future trip to do the pit... And Andy is right, going in January during hunting season wouldn't be advised... There literally are hunting stands right around the entrance pit.... I would recommend a longer rope than 400 hundred if you use just one. We rigged the entire pit series with two 250 ropes...

Kelly
^V^

That I don't know. It probably wont be till summer till we go down again, but its definately on my to do list. I only found out about it by reading cuddingtons biography. andy told me you guys were surveying it but were only using the lower entrance due to the upper. He also told me about the 2 250's but i figured if you resurveyed it at an actualy 329.2 or whatever, then maybe my 400 would work.

If we can get down there this summer, hopefully july/august, I will contact you about it for sure. Andy told me I would have to contact one of you guys about it anyway but when he advised against the pit during hunting season I dropped the issue and focused my efforts on finding trips elsewhere.

Since I know nothing about the cave other than the pit and the lower entrance, how much cave is there that was survyeed in the past? Im guessing a lot of leads were left undone hence the new map, and the obvoius error in the pit depth. Thanks again for the offer.