About Us

The Huntsville Grotto is an "Internal Organization" of the National Speleological Society, an organization dedicated to the study, protection, and exploration of caves. We are a group of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and interests, but who all agree on one thing: we love caves and caving! The grotto's official mission is to provide interest in and to advance in any way the study and science of speleology, to encourage safe cave exploring techniques, to help conserve cave fauna and natural formations, and to promote fellowship among those interested in caves and caving.

The Huntsville Grotto motto is:  Take Nothing But Pictures, Leave Nothing But Footprints, Kill Nothing But Time

The Grotto is committed to leading 3 scheduled trips a month. One is the Beginner Horizontal trip, and is open to all, regardless of membership status and skill level. It is a beginner-friendly trip meant to introduce people to the activity of caving. The second is the Regular Horizontal trip.  It is also open to all, regardless of membership status, but may be to a more challenging cave. The third trip is the Vertical trip, which requires specialized equipment and training. Come to a meeting and talk to us about training and gear. The horizontal trips usually go out on the first Saturday following a Grotto meeting. Normally, we meet at the NSS HQ parking lot at 8 AM and depart at 8:30. The vertical trip is normally two weeks later than the horizontal trip, with same meeting and departure times. All people attending a trip HAVE to sign up at the meetings or check in with the trip leader on availability. Some trips have group size limits and permits that have to be filled out beforehand, so one can't just show up at the last minute.