2013:	74-years of DC-area organized caving.
	Monthly meetings continue to be on the 2nd Thursday. Recent photos are on our Facebook group. Click on 'F'.

Caving Calendar

To prevent web robots from harvesting contact info, some of the below links may prompt for a username and password.   If so, enter username: calend & password: gocave.

Area-wide Calendar -- lists scheduled caving activities (meetings, trips, and other events) in the DC and Baltimore area.   Some events may also have a PDF flyer.

Some Upcoming Highlights:

June 8 (Sat): Photo trip to Grand Caverns or Fountain Cave.   Contact: Tom Beckman.

June 13 (Thu): !! Change of Venue !! Joint meeting with PSC and BATS at Ragtime Restaurant, 1345 N Courthouse Rd., Arlington, VA. Arrive around 6:15p to allow time to order, eat, and socialize, before the main focus of the 7:30p meeting.   See: details & directions.

July 6 - 13: NCRC Cave Rescue Operations and Management Seminar, in Schoharie NY. See the Announcement.

July 11 (Thu), 7:30p: General meeting: Chevy Chase Community Ctr. in DC.
At 6:00 or 6:15p: Optional pre-meeting dinner at very nearby Tian Tian Fang restaurant.
See: details and directions to both.   Program: T.B.D.

July 12 - 14:   Karst-O-Rama at Great Saltpetre Cave Preserve, in Mt. Vernon, KY.   Sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati Grotto.   For details, visit the K-O-R Website.

Aug 5 - 9:   NSS   2013 Convention at Shippensburg, PA.

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July 14 - 18, 2014:   NSS   2014 Convention at NSS-HQ, in Huntsville, AL.

Summer, 2015:   NSS   2015 Convention in Rolla, MO.

July, 2016:   NSS   2016 Convention in Ely, NV.

Event Photos

• July 30-31, 2011 Paxton & Porter Caves, by Doug Lake
• June 10-12, 2011 SERA   Pictures and Trip Report, by Adam Lake
• May 15, 2011 Whiting's Neck group photo, by Keely Owens
• Apr 30, 2011 Poor Farm Cave (VAR weekend) by Doug Lake
• Mar 12, 2011 Paxton's Cave by John Armstrong
• Feb 12, 2011 Paxton's Cave by Doug Lake
• Dec 4, 2010 DC Grotto Banquet by Brian Freyling
• Nov 7, 2010 Great Falls vertical practice by Brian Freyling
• Jul 24, 2010 North Fork Mountain vertical trip by John Armstrong

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:

• Bob Hoke's: Primary Sources Time-line
• NSS: WNS-Liaison | NSS Policy: 2010 | 2009 (PDF)
• WhiteNoseSyndrome.org - North America's response to the devastating bat disease, with (as of June 25, 2012) decontamination procedures: HERE.

• USGS: Bat-opsy Ctr. | Ft.Collins Sci.Ctr. (good overview)
• WV-DNR: 2/23/09 WNS Confirmation
• VA-DCR: Karst & Bats | VA Cave Board | VA-DGIF
• IN-DNR: Bat Disease | Closing IN Caves (5/1/09 News Release)
• Bat Conservation & Management, Inc.: WNS-Page
• Northeast Cave Conservancy: Main-Page

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 passed, info about the 70-years of DC-area organized caving commemorative T-shirt is still Here.