Back from an excellent weekend 60th anniversary gathering of my university caving club. A member made these hand fired mugs to commemorate the event. #caving #cavers #pottery
Tractor Trailer Units (TTUs) having trouble on the hills. #Rossport, #Hill19, #PaysPlat #Cavers. Drive with caution.

Bedquilt (2010) (documentary about caving / spelunking / potholing)

https://fedi.video/w/n1XHL4anmUU8h6mX8nNhp2

Bedquilt (2010) (documentary about caving / spelunking / potholing)

PeerTube
More than a year later, scientists in Martinsville are still working on skeleton of ice age cat found in Lee County

The lab technician working to free the skeleton from the surrounding rock estimates she has already devoted roughly 1,000 hours to the project.

Cardinal News
"Map of Mammoth Cave [#Kentucky, US] drawn from memory by an early African American guide, Stephen Bishop. It shows the labyrinth of passages that made up the #MammothCave system, now considered the world's longest, as it was known in the early 19th century. It assigns colorful names to various passages, chambers and famous spots along the route. The "Rotundo" is shown, where saltpeter from the cave was processed by #enslaved individuals into #gunpowder for use by American troops during the War of 1812. Underground rivers are shaded and named.
#StephenBishop was born enslaved around 1821. His owner, #FranklinGorin, purchased Mammoth Cave in 1838 and used Bishop as a guide in order to monetize his purchase. In 1839, Gorin sold the estate, Bishop included, to #DrJohnCroghan. Bishop was the first known person to cross the "Bottomless Pit" and thus explore the #cave beyond that point. In 1842, Croghan had Bishop draw a #map of Mammoth Cave, which was eventually published in 1844. Bishop was freed in 1856, one year before his death from tuberculosis."
https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll23/id/9099
#slavery #mapping #cavers #speleology
Thanks @vilay to point me this story from the chapter 6 of the book "Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet" by #ClaireEvans.
Map of the explored parts of the Mammoth Cave of KY. (1845)