MAKC will celebrate its 20th anniversary this summer, a few months in advance of the actual month, which is November. But the Fourth of July weekend should be alittle bit better for camping than any time in November. All persons attending must be current members of MAKC. Details can be had by going through the […]
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Sunni Reitmyer • NSS 64280 • (term expires 2017) Sunni Reitmyer is a native to Pennsylvania and has been a nature lover for as long as she can remember. Her first experience in a cave was a visit to Penn’s Cave with her family in 1995. She has since visited other commercial caves in Pennsylvania, […]
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By Tom Metzgar Pittsburgh area cavers active during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s recognize the name Bruce Sundquist. Bruce didn’t do a lot of caving, but he did a lot of work preserving cave-rich areas in Pennsylvania and in West Virginia. Indeed, anywhere and everywhere that outdoors enthusiasts met and played, Bruce seemed to turn […]
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(Editor’s note: This summer MAKC and other local caving groups participated in a mock search and rescue in Hillside.Cavers were not privvy to the location of the exercise until the callout came; they merely knew that there would be an exercise on the appointed day. Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group acted as the coordinator for the […]
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By Jeff Jahn Finally, a little bit of luck as Kim’s scheduled survey trip to Harlansburg Cave for Saturday March 7th was a go and I did not have any conflicts for that date. I’ve missed a few of these trips, but Kim Metzgar is on a mission to continue this project and I was […]
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Sid Perou: 30 Years as an Adventure Cameraman. Book 1. Light into the Darkness. Includes 45 minute DVD of video clips. By Kim Metzgar I saw a brief mention in the NSS News that Sid Perou had come out with a book. The mention of this British caver’s name, even though I had not heard […]
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By Kim Metzgar While at convention I picked up an autographed copy of Jennifer Ellen Pinkley’s book Fern Cave: The Discovery, Exploration, and History of Alabama’s Greatest Cave. It took me a while to get to reading it, but once I did, it was difficult to put down. Fern Cave has more than 15 miles of passages, […]
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By Kim Metzgar I had published serially our story of the fight to save Chestnut Ridge in this very newsletter over a period of time. I felt, for posterity’s sake that I should put it together in a book and in late spring/early summer I did just that. It is available in book format on […]
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Congratulations to Walt Hamm, a founding board member who has rejoined the board. Walt replaces Sue Moore, longtime board member and treasurer for many years, who has opted for a break from her very longstanding service. Dave Field has been reelected chairman; Carl Pierce reelected secretary and also to a three-year term on the board, […]
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By Kim Metzgar One day while at work I received a telephone call from the Blairsville Community Development Association. Since it is the town where we have our library, I was a bit excited. We were personally invited to attend their annual Knotweed Festival, a community event where they close off a street, have food […]
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By Walt HammSaturday August 22, 2015 was this year’s maintenance work day at the preserve. A year ago members refurbished the parking lot (see Volume 16, Number 4 of the Karst Chronicle) and this year the accumulating deadfall was the primary focus of our efforts. While Tom Metzgar and I had cut and removed fallen […]
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By Dave Field Jeff Jahn and I attended MudFest at Lincoln Caverns July 29 to August 2. We did not get a final attendance count, but believe there were over 150 attendees. There were cavers from New York, Philly, Baltimore-Washington, West Virginia, Ohio, and probably a couple other locations from which I did not catch […]
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Here’s hoping this news comes true.
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This past winter, as we do every year, MAKC members do a bat count in Hall Cave, our first preserve. The first time the cave was counted for bats was in 1985, by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Census records show the PGC counted the bats again in 2000. Those totals were 35 and 143, respectively. […]
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Cataloguing all of the books in the MAKC library was a challenge, a time-consuming challenge. If anyone has a specific research need, let us know. I think periodically, as time permits, I’ll write a little bit in the newsletter about some of our books. For fiction books and children’s books, we do permit lending to […]
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On three consecutive weekends volunteers from the Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy closed Coon Cave, Lemon Hole and Barton Cave for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, as specified in our closure proposal for 2014. The first closure was Coon Cave. We took that opportunity to do a beginner Boy Scout trip with Mark Somers and […]
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By Dave Field I found some useful free apps for navigating to your favorite cave searching spot using your smartphone, pad or tablet. The first is ViewRanger GPS. Assuming your device has GPS, this makes your phone or tablet essentially a handheld GPS. You may also be able to locate your position using cell towers, […]
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