Defiance Cave Preserve: Drapery Den is Trashed

Last month, we headed to Drapery Den with Rob McFarland, Ken Headrick, Mike Frazier. We were armed with garbage bags and gloves, but were unprepared for what we found.  We had expected to clean up trash that one person left behind. Instead, thigh high mountains of trash greeted us.  Only multiple probably mentally ill people over a long period of time could have accumulated so much refuse. Old cans, bottles, wrappers, clothing, drug containers, broken furniture, camping equipment, magazines and more.  It will take a small army to clean out this cave and make it habitable for bats again.  We loaded and carried many bags to the surface of the cave, but were only able to carry a fraction down the mountain.  We anticipate spending many weekends starting next spring on this project.

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