2005 NSS Convention
Huntsville, Alabama
By Brian Williams
Photos By Brian Williams and Bill Walker

The location is Huntsville, Alabama, home office of The National Speleological Society and site of this year’s NSS Convention. What better time to attend one of speleology’s premier events than when it’s being held in the heart of TAG?



Becky Dettorre and I arrived Saturday night after some pre-convention caving. While picking up our registration packets we were greeted by Forrest Wilson. He had already found a great place to set up camp so we followed him to the only tree on the site that afforded any shade. Bill Walker met up with us later that evening and pitched his leaky tent next to ours. Good thing he had an air mattress to float on in that thing! Guy Yates, from South Georgia, met up with us the next evening and that rounded out our little group site with Tennessee, Florida and Georgia represented. There were over 1200 cavers registered and almost every state was represented somewhere in the sea of tents and tarps.

Forrest was ready to cave and he had a lead (he always does) on a spring resurgence near Scottsboro. I had brought along a couple of Al 30’s but had not really planned on doing much diving. When I come to TAG I’m usually looking for pits and dry caves unless we have a specific sump trip planned. But I did have enough gear for a short investigative dive so we agreed to head over first thing Sunday morning.

We plugged in the GPS coordinates from the Alabama Cave Survey and consulted the map. Forrest led us to a small field road that lead straight to the base of a large bluff and a beautiful little spring with obvious going passage. Becky was still a little wiped out from some earlier caving so she chose to nap in the truck while Forrest, Bill and I dumped all the gear out and prepped for a dive. Forrest had planned to set a cave diving warning sign in Craig’s Mill Spring later in the week and wanted to save his air for that so he suggested I do the dive, just to pop in and see if it goes. I’m always more than happy to check out something new, especially when the access is this easy!


Bill Walker and Becky Dettorre at spring entrance


I had only brought one wetsuit and a 1 mil skin so it wasn’t going to be a long dive due to thermal constraints. Bill took a few pics and Forret tied off my reel to a rock at the edge of the water. I slipped under the icy water to make a secondary tie-off and begin my search for going passage. Consulting Bill Torode’s notes on cave leads, we concluded that this should be the resurgence for another dry cave nearby but we had no idea if anyone had checked this out or how far the sump would go, if at all. I began my search by swimming along the ceiling hoping for low airspace and not too much of a sump that would lead to dry cave passage. The ceiling lowered about 50 ft back and the passage narrowed to a crawl. Although it was possible to push this further, I decided I would back-track and look lower before plowing through the fine sediments and blowing out the lower levels.


Gear prep before the dive


Visibility was perhaps 5 ft., not bad for a sump. The only issue was the size of the passage. I dropped down to the 10 ft. level and found very large passage going from 8 to 10 ft wide in some areas, so I began sweeping back and forth looking for the best route and checking for any old line that may indicate this spring had been dived. Although I found several obvious tie-offs, I found no indication of any previous line laid in this system. I came back after 20 minutes to give Forrest a quick overview and then went back to put in some line and get some survey. Back in for 30 minutes, I spent much of this time going back and forth along the line making good tie-offs and better placements because I knew this passage was going to continue and subsequent dives would need to be made.


Brian at the entrance preparing to enter the water


It’s best to go ahead and get the line placed well so the next team in will not have any trouble following in low vis, and it also helps in the survey. I had not taken in any silt screws so I had to find natural tie-offs and after crossing back and forth several times heading in, I located a canyon passage in the ceiling and followed this for approximately 180 ft. By this time the 55 degree water was taking its toll and my hands were starting shake. Knowing I wanted to get some data on the way out I turned and started the survey.


Forrest waits near the entrance for Brian to return


The cave still goes and the passage is still large for a sump. The hopes are it will lead to the downstream sump in the known cave about ½ mile away. For now, we will just add it to the list of things to get back too. It’s possible this resurgence has been dived but without any survey data, it’s really meaningless. So, just a hint, always take your survey reel into any place that may be virgin because laying line without survey does not accomplish much, especially in TAG where a flood can completely destroy your line. If you get the survey, at least it will be easier next time in. Also remember our saying regarding virgin cave:
"If you didn’t survey, you haven’t been there"


A chilly but successful dive


Later that day we all headed over to find “Secret Pit” near Kennamer Cave in the Paint Rock River valley. I wanted to avoid the better known classics of TAG as this was convention weekend and a lot of folks from all over the country had come down south to see the big ones of TAG. One place I knew would probably not see a lot of caver traffic was “Secret Pit”. Bill and I had both dropped this 130 ft pit in the past (that subsequently grew to 140 then 150 ft.) but we wanted to show it to Forrest and Becky. Instead of just trusting our memory to find the pit, we instead chose to follow the GPS coordinates from the Alabama Cave Survey. Mistake! At least now we know those coordinates are wrong now. After Forrest and I scrambled through briars where rabbits wouldn’t even go, we neared the top of the mountain and heard Bill call out that they had found the pit. Back we went and sure enough, it was right where we thought it should be. The entrance is only 10 ft by 8 ft so it’s easily overlooked. Forrest wanted to attend Joe Dabbs "sump diver" party back in Huntsville so he chose to head back down the mountain while Bill, Becky and I dropped this pretty little pit. Later, I took Bill and Becky up to see the lower entrance of Kennamar Cave and we all enjoyed cooling off in the breeze ripping from the mouth of the cave.


Becky at the entrance to Secret Pit



Bill 'frogs' his way out of Secret


Monday morning, Becky and I put in our volunteer time working the registration booth for incoming cavers. We were only there 4 hours but we enjoyed meeting new cavers coming in and working with the great cavers from the Huntsville and Nashville grottos.


Registration tables Monday morning


Monday night was the famous “Howdy Party” with all you could eat Bar-B-Q and all you could drink beer. If you know anything about cavers, you know they can go through some beer and Bar-B-Q. A light drizzle did nothing to dampen the spirits of the crowd as we danced and visited with friends on into the night.


A whole pile of hungry and thirsty cavers


The rest of the week was spent alternating between attending seminars, visiting the many salons in photography to cartography, buying new gear, caving and attending parties.


Bill Walker, Marbry Hardin, and Becky Dettorre enjoy the show


We also managed to get over to Sauta Cave one evening for the nightly bat flight. This cave is home to a breeding colony of over 250,000 endangered Gray Bats. Starting at about 8:00 pm at night from the lower gated entrance, the show begins. About 30 minutes later the bats are streaming out of the cave in such numbers that they are changing the temperature of the air coming from the cave and the noise is like a small tornado. An awesome sight, just remember that when you look up….keep your mouth closed!


Gray bats stream from the mouth of Sauta Cave.


Later in the week, Bill Becky and I visited War Eagle. We had the place all to ourselves and really enjoyed this huge cave. We even managed to get lost in the back at the sand crawls for about 45 minutes. This cave has a small entrance with a 140 ft. drop and some very nice formations all the way down.


Brian Bill and Becky at War Eagle entrance



Interesting ceiling near the upstream sand crawls, War Eagle



Becky raps down past formations in War Eagle


Bill Walker headed for Florida on Wednesday evening and Becky and I had a little time to kill before the party started back at the campground that evening so we decided to drive up and, "just take a look" at Glove Pit. It was only 3 miles from the site of the convention venues and easy to find. Of course we got there and took one look at it and said, "lets go get the rope." This is a nice little beginner pit with an easy entrance drop of 80 ft. It was raining again as we climbed out and headed back to the campgrounds for the Wednesday night party with greatest caver band in the world, "The Terminal Siphons." The beer kegs were tapped once again to help the white folks dance and lots of cavers partied on into the early morning hours.


Becky climbs out of Glove Pit


Thursday our plan was to visit Guffey’s in the morning. Becky had some ‘issues” with her dogs back in Nashville so she drove home that morning to check on them while Guy Yates and I headed over toward Scottsboro to find Guffey’s cave. This is an extensive cave with passages for all kinds of cavers. It’s not that hard to find and an easy hike to the entrance. We found out that the week’s activities had taken their toll on our sleep and it was slow going over the slick breakdown with frequent stops to view the formations. We only spent about 3 hours in this cave but it’s one I’d like to get back to one day.


Guy Yates on the trail to Guffeys



Guy and Brian at Guffeys entrance



Nice formations near the pump room, Guffeys Cave



Brian admires a nice grouping in Guffeys


What a great week of caving and visiting with old friends and making new ones. The only problem was that so many good talks conflicted with other good talks; you just couldn’t attend them all. Thanks to the Huntsville Grotto for putting on one heck of a great Convention. This one will be hard to beat.



Campground Photos