Service Trip – Cave Cleanup at Lockridge

OVERVIEW

**DRIVERS NEEDED**

Do you enjoy being in the cave environment? Are you a conservationist who enjoys maintaining a beautiful natural environment? Do you love being wet? Then this trip is for you! We will be heading to Lockridge Aqua cave to clean up trash that has been left behind.

Lockridge has an intense water entrance. Depending on the water level, it may be necessary to completely submerge yourself to enter. Following the initial entry, there is a ~10 yard swim across the cave lake. This should make it fun to get all the trash out.

Since the trash is mostly near the front of the cave, we will hopefully be able to clear it out within an hour or two. If we have time, we can journey farther back. At some point (either before or after) we will make our food stop.

Please note that all caving rules and practices still apply!

Logistics:
– Leave from Echols at 8am
– Drive two hours to the cave
– Gear up, talk safety, and pick up trash for 2-3 hours
– Change clothes and drive home
– Arrive back in Charlottesville around 3pm

You bring:
– 2 headlamps
– backup batteries for your headlamps
– helmet
– trash bags (one for hypothermia kit, the others for taking out trash)
– gloves
– water and snacks/emergency food supply
– sturdy closed toed shoes
– backpack that can get dirty
– change of clothes for the car

Important notes:
– You MUST read the Caving Checklist provided by the club. It can be found under the Member Resources tab (policies > officer policies > caving checklist).
– You are responsible for gathering all of your own equipment. Most of the gear is available at the club’s gear room.
– You should be comfortable swimming/being submerged in water, crawling around in tight spaces, and being in the dark, possibly all at once.
– Because caving is such a dangerous sport, I will be very strict in ensuring you have the proper equipment (i.e., if you are not properly equipped with everything mentioned above, you are not entering the cave).
– It is a good idea to not have anything important scheduled for the evening of the trip just in case we are delayed.
– This is a service trip, so if we finish and have time to adventure some, we may, but I am not promising adventure time. (The entrance is its own adventure, though.)