District of Columbia Grotto
of the
National Speleological Society

... exploration, study, and conservation of caves.
2012: Over 70-years of DC-area organized caving.
Monthly meetings continue to be on the 2nd Thursday.
Cumulative event photo links have been moved Below.

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:

Feb 7 (Tue): B.A.T.S. New Caver Orientation.   See Flyer. [PDF]

Feb 9 (Thu): 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 7:30p meeting.   See: details & directions.

Feb 16 (Thu), 6:15p: EC meeting, at Hillary's abode, in Silver Spring.

Mar 8 (Thu), 7:30p: General meeting: Chevy Chase Community Ctr. in DC.
  6:00 or 6:15p: Optional pre-meeting dinner at very nearby Tian Tian Fang restaurant.
See: details and directions to both.   Program: to be announced.

Mar 10 (Sat): Trip to Baker Quarry (Hardy Co., WV).   (Details will be forthcoming.)

Mar 30 - Apr 1: NCRC Orientation to Cave Rescue course at Eastern Mennonite Univ., Harrisonburg, VA.   Info should soon be available at: http://www.er-ncrc.org/.

Apr 27-29: VAR Spring gathering, hosted by Tri-State Grotto, at Poor Farm Festival Grounds ( directions ) in Williamsburg, WV (Not VA !).   See the Main Blurb, and/or the registration form. [PDF]   (Original announcement is Here.)

May 19-26: NCRC 2012 Cave Rescue Ops. & Mgmt. Seminar, in Mentone, AL.

June 25-29: NSS   2012 Convention at the WV State Fairground, in Fairlea (S. of Lewisburg).

Event Photos

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 passed, 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.

© 2012 - DC Grotto