Early pictures of FROGs & Unknown group

[Phil Winkler]

The Ft Rucker/Ozark Grotto formed around 1972. Following the recent postings about Glory Hole in SW Georgia I dug into my slide archives and found these pictures:
http://www.members.dca.net/pwink/frogs/index.html

Jill Moody in Germany ca 1977
Joe Dabbs and Jim Harrison ca. 1983 near Huntsville (Joe wasn't a FROG)
Linda Harrison ca. 1972. Note sweatshirt unk cave. Florida Caverns?
Building a cordouroy road on Milton's ranch near Marianna ca. 1973. Jim Harrison to right, Paul Boyer in beard laying down, maybe me in the rear. Unknown person in the front. Frank from FSS/FSCC, maybe?
Myself (with beer) and Boyer (in hat) at TAG in Valley Head ca. 1974
Unknown group of cavers, but this slide was with the others. Any ideas? Or, is that Boyer with the rope and this is by Climax? Perhaps FSS/FSCC cavers?

[wendy]

The Ft Rucker/Ozark Grotto formed around 1972. Following the recent postings about Glory Hole in SW Georgia I dug into my slide archives and found these pictures:
http://www.members.dca.net/pwink/frogs/index.html

Jill Moody in Germany ca 1977
Joe Dabbs and Jim Harrison ca. 1983 near Huntsville (Joe wasn't a FROG)
Linda Harrison ca. 1972. Note sweatshirt unk cave. Florida Caverns?
Building a cordouroy road on Milton's ranch near Marianna ca. 1973. Jim Harrison to right, Paul Boyer in beard laying down, maybe me in the rea. Unknown person in the front. Frank from FSS, maybe?
Myself (with beer) and Boyer (in hat) at TAG in Valley Head ca. 1974
Unknown group of cavers, but this slide was with the others. Any ideas? Or, is that Boyer with the rope and this is by Climax? Perhaps FSS cavers?

you with the beer? don't you mean you with your finger up your nose...lol

thanks for sharing these were great, hope you don't mind I shared wtih with my grotto folks

[Scott McCrea]

A corduroy road for Benz? Nice!

In the last pic, that furry dude in the front looks a little like Jim Wilbanks.

[mgmills]

The Ft Rucker/Ozark Grotto formed around 1972. Following the recent postings about Glory Hole in SW Georgia I dug into my slide archives and found these pictures:
http://www.members.dca.net/pwink/frogs/index.html


Unknown group of cavers, but this slide was with the others. Any ideas? Or, is that Boyer with the rope and this is by Climax? Perhaps FSS/FSCC cavers?

Phil, Jim Harrison tried to interest me in caving in the mid 80's . . . we had a membership at the same health club. I told him I wouldn't like caving. I reconnected with Jimmy in the late 1990's after I'd been caving a few years and he was real surprised I'd ended up becoming a caver. He is a nice guy.

In the "uknown picture" the guy with the rope looks a little like Jim Loftin of Gadsden AL. Did you ever cave with him?

[Phil Winkler]

Martha,

Jim Loftin doesn't ring a bell and the picture is a real mystery to me.

Jim was responsible for quite a few cavers joining the NSS. He's somewhere down near the Gulf now, I think and no longer caves. I'm not surprised he tried to interest you. Jim has always had an eye for the ladies..if you know what I mean!

Back in 1972 he placed an ad in the Ozark paper looking for cavers. I saw it and called him then we found the Edigers, Pete Schultes, Kenny Branson, and Larry Gibson. I think that was the original core. Kenny and I joined the NSS then as did Larry, I think. Pete, Jimmy and the Edigers were all established cavers.

Recently Gill commented that a lot of caving happened during that brief period of 1-2 yrs. He had tall pine trees in his front yard in Ozark we used to rig for climbing training and practice.

[maquis]

I would love to see this picture. I think it might be one of the trips I took when I was at FSU. All of those names sound like the group I met on that trip. It was in 76, and we went to Valhalla, camped over night at the park, had two tornados watlz over the mountain and land in the lake...It was the last trip I took with SERA and I have been looking for a friend I met up there, Greg Bemis. I am probable mixing up trips but the end of the trip was at Florida Caverns. If you wuld be so kind as to locate that picture, it would mean the world to me.

[Phil Winkler]

Try this link:
http://www.members.dca.net/pwink/unknown.jpg

And the FROGs themselves.
http://www.members.dca.net/pwink/frogs.jpg

[maquis]

Thanks for the reply and pics. That is not the FSU group I was with but I recognize Paul. Frank was with our group from FSU along with Ron Rogers on that trip. The FROGs hosted the SERA ridgewalk that year but this isn't our group. I caved with the FSU group from 73 to 76; we had about 6 or 7 good vertical active cavers then but I hear FSU doesn't have a group any more. It's a shame. It's the best way to see geology!

[Phil Winkler]

It's the best way to see geology!

I've often described it as seeing the earth from the inside out!

A shame it isn't you and your group. We still don't know who it is.

It could easily be a group from Opaloosa Jr College where Paul taught.