District of Columbia Grotto
of the
National Speleological Society

... exploration, study, and conservation of caves.
2010: Over 70-years of DC-area organized caving.
Monthly meetings continue to be on the 2nd Thursday.

Caving Calendar

Scheduled caving activities (meetings, trips, and other events) are listed in the DC and Baltimore area-wide caving calendar, and some events may also have a PDF flyer.   On clicking here, you may need to enter User: calend & Pswd: gocave, for the calendar page, or any flyers linked below.   Some Upcoming Highlights:

Feb 8 (Mon), 7:00p: EC meeting --- chez Beckman

Feb 11 (Thu), 7:30p: Informal meeting at Hard Times Cafe in Bethesda, MD. Arrive around 6:15p, to allow time to order, eat, and socialize, before the main focus of the meeting.   See: [details & directions]

Mar 11 (Thu), 7:30p: General meeting: Chevy Chase Community Ctr. in DC.
  6:00-6:15p: Optional pre-meeting dinner at very nearby Mandarin Palace.
See: details and directions to both.  Program:  "Geology of Caves and Mines Infected with WNS" by Chris Swezey.   He will discuss geological data pertaining to caves and mines infected before January 2010 with WNS in the eastern U.S., including the information he has gathered so far on this subject. He would like to get some feedback from the caving community.

May 21-23: Spring VAR Meeting, Fairlea, WV (State Fairgrounds)

Bat Die-off Crisis

Something is causing the death of huge numbers of bats, seemingly associated with White Nose Syndrome, starting in the Northeast, and having spread into PA, WV, and VA.   With the possibility of human cave visitation assisting this spread, precautions include cave closures (check the VAR Closed Cave List prior to any trip), and de-contamination of all cave gear before and after visiting any open cave.  For lots more information, visit any of these links:

Trout Rock Bat Counts

Click here to see the results of the annual bat counts in Trout, Hamilton, and New Trout caves in Pendleton County, W.V.

T-shirts: Although the 31-Jan-2010 deadline for ordering has come and gone, info about the 70-years of DC-area organized caving commemorative T-shirt is still Here.


Comments and suggestions regarding these pages may be sent to DCG Webmaster.