Jeff Moore, Alan Cressler, Ryan Moran, Nate Newkirk, Brian Aide, Jim Smith
The story of Elk Head shelter cave really begins one year ago at the 2004 TAG Fall Cave In so that's where we'll start. On October, 8th 2004 We pulled off the main road onto a short dirt road and parked. I was amazed that we only had to walk 200 feet to get to the cave. We were scooping Elk Head Shelter Cave today. It was an Alan Cressler lead. Gerald had gone back into the cave until you had to begin swimming and then turned around. It’s a wetsuit cave.
We geared up and were ready to go. I hadn’t caved with such a large group of people for quite some time. I was caving with Brandon, Alan Cressler, Jeff Moore, Crissy, Jason, Gerald, Doug Strait, and ???
I was one of the last people to enter the cave because Brandon and I took longer getting our gear together. The entrance wasn’t very large. We climbed down a small hole in some breakdown and navigated some breakdown passage before coming out into a room. The people in front of me didn’t know where the TAG crew went so we backtracked slightly to a hole that dropped us into a walking stream passage. We were soon wading through water. The cave is heavily decorated. I soon passed up the Florida cavers and was traversing the passage on my own. I got to the swimming section and found that I was naturally buoyant with my wetsuit on. I swam by Gerald who was clinging to the right wall. I was having fun. There was some nice size borehole early on in the cave. I had to crawl intermittently. I caught up with Doug Strait on one of the first longer crawls. After that I didn’t see anybody for a long time. I really wanted to catch up with the TAG cavers and scoop with them but I expected to catch up to them hammering on something or coming back after reaching the end.
For some time I crawled, floated, and walked down huge borehole passage. Formations abounded. It seemed unusual to be in such a wet cave that was so heavily decorated. There were many white formations, some larger totem poles, and hoards of stalactites and mites. The passage kept getting bigger and smaller. I got hot crawling and walking so whenever I saw water deep enough for me to swim or float along I quickly got in. I was very comfortable submerged in the water. It was also much easier and more efficient pulling myself through the water. I could definitely feel that I hadn’t got enough sleep. Whenever I got into walking borehole I’d keep close watch for foot prints which reassured me that I was still on the trail of the TAG cavers. I don’t think I always took the same route as them but I always saw footprints when I’d emerge into larger passage. A couple times the running water sounded like voices.
Eventually, I did hear voices. Alan, Phil and Ryan were coming back. They’d come across a long belly crawl and called an end to the exploration. For awhile I was leading the way back out. The three of them were having a ball. They were playfully pulling each other back trying to get ahead of the other as we swam and crawled through the water. We were traveling at my fast caving pace. The four of us flew back out of the cave. We met Doug Strait first on the way out. He continued on to the back of the cave. Once again, I was certainly feeling my lack of sleep. My heart was racing the whole way out. I started to slow after we met up with the Floridians.
Eventually, we met Brandon and Gerald. Brandon’s light had been giving him trouble so he decided it was best to stay with Gerald. We encouraged them to go back to check out the borehole. I thought this was rather strange since I didn’t really perceive any of the walking sections to be a whole lot longer than the others. We’d seen the borehole often on as we traversed the cave.
I appreciated the two short breaks that we took. One of our stops was at a fossil that Doug had told us about. It was a triangular piece of coral suspended from the ceiling. The last short break was enough for me to regain my normal vigor. We quickly traversed the last section of the cave. I was now behind Alan. I saw him go high and thought he was just taking an alternate route but realized that we were exiting. I soon saw light and emerged from the cave. I was proud to have been the second out and to have kept up with the TAG cavers. I don’t get to travel at such a quick pace very often and when I do, I’m usually traveling by myself.
We washed off in the river, changed into pitting clothes, talked and munched on food while we waited on Gerald, Brandon, and Doug to exit.
Exactly one year later on Saturday October 8th 2005, we caravanned from Lookout Mountain to meet Jim Smith near Elk Head Shelter Cave. The weather was still dreary but at least we would be underground much of the day. We soon arrived at the parking spot and geared up. I slid into my wetsuit, pulled on my coveralls, and taped on my knee pads. I then compressed 2 large dry boxes of photo gear, a Nalgene full of flash bulbs, a Nalgene full of water, and a small dry box containing flash guns into my dry bag and we marched 200’ to the cave entrance. Alan, Nate, and I crawled into the cave, slid down a small hole and climbed down into walking stream passage. We soon submerged up to our knees in water and began stooping and walking upstream. Not far into the cave the water begins to deepen as you cross a wide passage and enter a parallel tube. Inside the tube, I found it easiest to push off from wall to wall with my feet while holding onto the dry bag full buoyancy. It was quite fun floating through the cave. Nate left Alan’s dry bag when we reached the other end of the swim and we walked ahead to another low area which I floated through. Eventually, we reached a longer section of borehole and I set up my first shot.
We were surprised to hear splashing and voices since Ryan, Jeff, Jim, and Brian were starting the survey from the entrance. Nate exclaimed that they really were surveying when he heard what sounded like a 180. I quickly caught on. There was no way they’d surveyed this far from the entrance in such a short amount of time. They were pretending to survey for our benefit as they caught up. Something was wrong with Jim’s compass so they decided to tour the cave. The group waited around while I framed my first shot and then Jeff, Jim, and Brian pushed ahead. Ryan stayed behind to help with the photography.
A little further down the borehole, I set up my next shot. The passage opened up ahead so I used the smaller passage to frame the shot. I had Nate pose atop a rock and Ryan and Alan blast light across the large room. After quite a few shots we had a few neat pictures. Ryan and Alan had fun setting off each other’s slaved flash. Both of them were firing two Vivitar 285s.
Near a leftward bend in the borehole Ryan pointed out a column and drapery that were rather nice so I took his picture next to those. I asked him to do something that wasn’t stereotypical of almost all formation pictures you see. He came up with a handstand which turned out kind of cool. Just past a short crawl we encountered a very large stalactite. Nate laid himself down underneath it and I pretended to be a tiny stalagmite growing towards the large stalactite hoping to one day form a column. That was his idea. I just took the picture :) Then I had him do a little more serious picture which I thought turned out very well.
The right wall was nicely decorated so I decided that it’d be kind of cool to have someone pretend to back float in the pool looking up at the formations. After I set up multiple flashes Ryan was man enough to lay back in the pool and pose looking up towards the formations. We soon encountered another crawlway and stumbled upon another nice section of formations. I set up the lights and had Nate pose for this picture. After that we started back out. I wanted to get some water pictures. We came to a low section with a foot of airspace. Sure you could bypass it and stay high to the right but why would you do that when you’ve got a wetsuit on. I went through and set up a few strobes and request that Ryan and Nate both come through the low air space for a picture. I really like a couple of those shots though Nate’s smile seems a little out of place in some of them. I caught a more natural look after he got through when I joked that he needed to do it again.
We progressed back out of the cave. I watched behind me as I exited for picture opportunities. I saw Ryan emerge out of a wet crawl and decided that would make an interesting shot. We took a few pictures of him exiting the wet crawl. It was rather difficult to backlight the shot.
Back at the swim, I had Nate and Alan hold flashes while Ryan paddled along using Alan’s dry bag for flotation. Many of those turned out pretty cool. I had hoped to be able to photograph the narrow tube but there was nowhere within it that I could have got my camera out since it’s entirely swimming. In the room just past the tube Nate found a tiny little hole that he wanted to suck ceiling through. I gladly photographed Bad-Ass Nate as he slowly maneuvered through the narrow hole sucking air off the ceiling. After that we headed out. Nate and I got a little confused back at the entrance area but soon figured it out. Not long after exiting the cave the rest of the crew showed up. We’d heard their splashing after the Bad-Ass Nate shot but didn’t get to talk to them until after we’d exited. Jeff knew he was close on our tail when he smelled a familiar smell, saw cobble angels, and found a power bar floating in the water. We stripped off our wet clothes and headed into Kimbal to feast at Western Sizzlin. To Pretty Well
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Nate poses while Alan and Ryan blast light across the passage.
I added some foreground light to the picture.
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Ryan gets into position.
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I asked for innovative and Ryan Moran gave it to me.
Who knew Ryan could do a handstand?
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Ryan provides a more traditional pose.
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Don't ask me; I just take the pictures. lol
I had Nate assume a more traditional pose.
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Then I framed the shot again.
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And then I got the framing perfect!
In an attempt to create a little punch to the boring formation picture...
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I asked Ryan to pretend to back float in the water looking up at the formations.
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And then I took a few pictures.
Ryan was glad when I finished with that shot.
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He looked a little cold.
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After setting up the lights I placed Nate and helped him improve his pose to get this picture.
Ryan quickly moves through the low air space.
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Many places in Elk Head shelter are quite wet.
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Here comes Nate!
Nate, you need to go through again ;)
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Ryan emerges from a wet stoop walk.
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Take # who knows how many :)
Ryan swims into position.
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Ryan grasp the air filled dry bag in the swimming section.
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The dry bag is getting away!
Ryan swims through the deep water.
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Smile!
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Ryan chats with either Nate or Alan.
Ryan kicks across the water.
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Full speed ahead!!!
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Splash, splash, splash...
Splash...
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Time out; the dry bag has a leak.
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One more time.
La Di Dah Di Dah...
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Last shot.
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Bad Ass Nate
Since we couldn't get a shot in the tube, Nate found another spot to take a picture.
Don't try this at home; Nate is a trained professional :)
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Doesn't that look like fun.
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Here he comes!!!
Steady, steady...
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Almost there...
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Now Nate goes back through to retrieve his dry bag.
Nate's all wet!
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Bye bye Nate.
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