District of Columbia Grotto
of the
National Speleological Society

... exploration, study, and conservation of caves.
2009 & 2010: 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:

Nov 7 (Sat), 10:30a: C A N C E L L E D   Guided hike of Manassas National Battle Field Park.   See the trip details and RSVP to Hope Gettys.

Nov 12 (Thu), 7:30p: General meeting: Chevy Chase Community Ctr. in DC.
  6:00-6:15p: Optional pre-meeting dinner at very nearby Mandarin Palace.
Click [here] for details and directions to both.  Program:  Caving in the French Alps, by Tom Beckman.

Nov 17 (Tue), 7:00p: EC meeting at Cedar Lane UU Church, in greater Bethesda. See their Map & Directions.

Dec 5 (Sat), 6:00p:   2009 Holiday Banquet, at Westleigh Rec Club. For the latest details about this year's speaker and program, and who brings what, please peruse this flyer. [PDF]

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.

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