Underground Caver Wedding Highlights Hodag Hunt!  Over 100 cavers from five different Midwestern states attended the 23rd Annual Hodag Hunt and Fall North Country Region Meeting. The event was held at the Quietwoods Campground—North near Sturgeon Bay in Door County, Wisconsin. The September 9-11, 1988, event featured the first underground wedding ever held in Northeastern Wisconsin! Cavers Polly Smith and Craig C. Bednar, both members of the Wisconsin Speleological Society, were married in Wellever Cave near Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. A fifteen car caravan of close to 35 cavers proceeded to the cave. The wedding party, which also consisted of cavers Leslie Bednar and Gary Soule, entered the cave to the traditional wedding march. Reverend Phillips Sweet and the newlyweds stood on red carpeting beneath a birch bark cross. Fourteen candles provided the only light in the underground cathedral, while a single “bat” hung from a candle holder near the groom! Minnesota Speleological Survey member, Roger Kehret of Chatfield, Minnesota, played a tune on his mountain dulcimer. A special stone walkway had been laid out in the cave, complete with miniature birch bark “steeples” at the cave entrance to add yet another unique touch. The couple spent several weeks in Canada before returning to Hillsboro, Wisconsin. Another highlight of Hodag Hunt was the discovery of still another extension to Horseshoe Bay Cave, which already is the longest cave in Wisconsin with over 3000 ft of passage. Sam Busse, Randy Kwiatkowski, Art Dahms, and banquet guest speaker, Norb Kox, made the long crawl to the end of the cave. Three of them free-dove a short siphon and found 50 ft of passage and two pits. The pits are 10 ft and 15 ft deep, and more cave could have been dug into had time permitted. Like all Door county caves, the cave is in Niagara Dolomite and the water temperature is a cold 46o F. Gregory Brick, a member of the Minnesota Speleological Survey from St. Paul, Minnesota, found “Hodag” hiding in Pennings Hall the Dorchester Cave, the Dorchester Nursing Home in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The cave is entered through the basement! On Sunday, September 11, the North Country Region Meeting was held. Elections were held for new officers as follows: Gary K. Soule, Chairman; Cathy Jamrog, Vice Chairman; George W. Zachariasen, Secretary; and Ralph P. Earlandson, Treasurer. The cavers gathered at the meeting passed a motion as being in favor of the proposed NSS acquisition of Roppel Cave if funds can be secured. The winter North Country Region Meeting will be held at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, 1988, at the Chelsea Rod & Gun Club near Chelsea in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. This is in connection with the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Michigan Interlakes Grotto. --Gary K. Soule |
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