Trip reports from members
Stark Caverns Trip Report – 29 October 2023
Participants – Bill Gee
Mike Kovacs
Candace Kovacs
Jack Rufener
Amy Hargroves
Time in = 9:30am
Time out = 2:15pm
There were three goals for this trip. The first was to get some better photography of an overlook just off the west end of the Onyx Circle. The second was to check out some tight leads and blowing air at the far end of the Rugged Canyon. Third was to run an endoscope camera into a very tight hole at the Half-Way Room to see if it
Corey Ellis attended the 2023 TAG Fall CaveIn on Lookout Mountain in Georgia. His trip report is posted at the Nashville Grotto web site. There are several photos at the end of his very long and detailed report.
Corey Ellis wrote an excellent report about his recent trip to Devil’s Icebox Cave. The report is posted on the Nashville Grotto web site. Here is a link to his report.
Several photos are attached at the end of Corey’s report.
Stark Caverns Photo Trip Report
10 September 2023
Bill Gee
Tristin Whetstine
Mike Kovacs
Candace Kovacs
Chloe Kovacs
On past photo trips we have covered most of Stark Caverns. The last area to be photographed was the Rugged Canyon. This is the longest and most difficult of the side passages in Stark Caverns.
Candace Kovacs was our main photographer. Her smartphone does an amazing job with cave photography. Tristin Whetstine had a GoPro on his helmet, and Mike Kovacs took some photos with his smartphone.
Black Fathom River Cave – Trip report by Tristin Whetstine
Black Fathom River Cave
August 20th, 2023
Entry Time: 7:30 Am Exit Time: Approximately 3 pm
There were no major injuries during the trip.
We didn’t see any trash in the cave, it was clean.
BFRC had the most fauna I have ever seen in one cave. We saw at least 20 fish including carp, bluegill, 3 baby catfish, and a 2-foot long catfish. We also saw 3 cave salamanders, a few pickerel frogs, multiple tadpoles, and a 12-inch yellow eared
KCAG member Corey Ellis recently participated on a long and difficult trip to Powder Mill Creek Cave. His trip report is posted at the Nashville Grotto web site. There are photos as well. The link below goes to his trip report. Corey writes excellent descriptive trip reports.
Trip report 30 July 2023
Stark Caverns Survey and Photography
Participants: Bill Gee
Mike Kovacs
Candace Kovacs
Rabecca Marlin
Tyler Marlin
Sarah Peterson
Tristin Whetstine
Elyse Kincaid
It has been a while since we last did a trip at Stark Caverns. There are some details in the survey to clean up, and we wanted to get a start with off-trail photography. The photography may eventually become part of a coffee table book for the gift shop. That is just an idea now. Besides photography, decisions need
Corey Ellis attended the 2023 SERA Cave Carnival in Sewanee, TN. His trip report is posted on the Nashville Grotto web site. The bottom of his report has a dozen or so photos from the cave trips he went on.
2022 Bridge Day Trip Report by Bill Gee
After two years (2020 and 2021) of being canceled, the annual Bridge Day (Wikipedia link) event was restarted for 2022. The event this year was on 15 October. It is always held on the third Saturday in October.
I attended Bridge Day in 2011 as a participant. In 2019 I was on the rappel safety team, and for 2022 I was again on the rappel safety team. More information about the rappel is at Bridge Day rappel.
It is a long drive from Kansas City to Fayetteville,
Corey Ellis attended 2022 TAG Fall Cave In a week ago. His trip report and photos are posted on the Nashville Grotto web site.
