Lost Creek Cave
Bruce White, Willie Hunt, Marc Pederson, Benjy Von Cramon
Ryan Moran showed up just as we were leaving for Lost Creek Cave. Willie had Bronchitis so we didn’t want to do any real difficult caves. Marc, Bruce, Willie, Benjy, and I caravanned to the Lost Creek parking area. I changed into jeans but kept my jacket and everything else on because the cave consisted totally of walking borehole so we didn’t need to wear caving clothes. On the edge of the parking area the ground sloped down into a huge wooded, sink hole approximately 400’ in diameter. The left and right walls were limestone cliffs. A 30’ waterfall plunged in from the left bluff and sank into the ground. Ahead, a stream cascaded into the sink. The entrance to Lost Creek Cave was in the right bluff wall. The entrance was approximately 30 feet wide and 15’ tall. Traversing the cave was easy so much of the time I had my camera in my right hand and a slaved strobe in the left. I had expected to be warm inside the cave since most TN caves are around 56 degrees. Unfortunately, the entrance was sucking in air so a cold breeze was felt through much of the cave.
The passage enlarged as we hiked further into the cave. Ryan and Marion joined us midway through the cave. We hiked back to the waterfall; Willie’s first photo objective. Both of us had pictured the waterfall in a much larger room than what it was in. It was cascading down from around the corner in a canyon passage making it difficult to photograph. Willie used a powerful flashlight to light the waterfall. While he was setting stuff up and situating himself the rest of us poked around here and there and I also took some pictures. I got my tripod out and took a couple pictures of the waterfall. The light was very yellow. I forgot to adjust the white balance to Tuscan light.
On the way out, I posed for large a passage shot. Benjy wanted to get many different light angles so after they were done lighting my area I walked down the passage and set my camera up on a tripod. I set my camera to take 8 picture at minute intervals and walked down the passage wondering when the flash would go off next. A minute is a really long time. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I’d always wanted to do this. The clean washed limestone walls were much more reflective than the muddy walls I’m used to photographing so I was able to light up very large passage with a single low-powered strobe. Unfortunately, I had to use a high film speed and wide aperture since I had so little strobe power so many of the pictures are grainy and contain obvious noise.
After Willie was done with the large passage shot, we exited the cave and drove to Rocky River Cave. It is in a very large sink hole next to highway 30. The sink hole used to be filled with cars, trash, and junk but has been cleaned up very nicely. On the walk there, Willie pointed out an area with a great deal of hoar frost. It looked very much like large gypsum flowers.
I hid my jacket behind a rock near the entrance and climbed down a slope. Almost, immediately we heard roaring water and knew this was going to be a neat cave. Soon we were walking down a rushing cave stream. Marion had told us that we needed to stay high and to the right to avoid the waterfalls. The first waterfall cascaded over an old rimstone dam. Benjy said the rimstone dams were likely formed long ago when the cave’s water flow was less. Now they’re being eroded away by the high velocity of water crashing over them. The ledge on the right wall looked rather treacherous and the rigging looked poor so the group paused here to figure out if we needed to get a hand line. I took pictures while we figured out what to do. We were able to climb down around the first waterfall but quickly came upon the second waterfall. The only way down from here would be to slide down the second waterfall into the water below which would be a much wetter course of action then we’d had in mind.
Eventually, Benjy climbed up the right wall and traversed along a narrow ledge 25+ feet above the passage floor. After about 40 feet he was able to climb down on some large breakdown into the passage below. Bruce followed, and then I traversed it as well. It wasn’t too bad though it was rather slick in spots. It was certainly as Marion had described it, very exposed. It’d be nice if somebody rigged a permanent traverse line there to hold onto. The rope currently in there looks like something a spelunker would set up.
We came back upstream to see the second waterfall from below. It was quite spectacular and very wide. I took some pictures. Marc Pederson explored behind the waterfall then we continued downstream. Soon we encountered another large rimstone dam cascade that was quite pretty. One of the pictures I took here will likely be a CIG cover someday.
From here we followed the stream, waded through a pooled section and came upon another large pool. Ahead, the ceiling lowered and the passage looked sumpy. We could hear a loud, enticing thumping ahead and went to investigate. It appeared to be coming from lower airspace section. It reminded me of the drum beats from deep within the Mines of Moria only these drum beats were much more rapid. We waded out into the water. To the right a very muddy passage continued above. I climbed up into it and explored ahead. It split and I went right. I could hear the sound of thundering water ahead and hoped for another waterfall. After a short crawl, I found myself near the top of the passage I’d already seen and saw Benjy and Willie upstream of me.
I turned around and went the other way. I crawled through some sand but mostly slimely mud for quite some time. The ceiling lowered and I was often crawling along on my forearms. The passage was very slimy. It was evident that this passage flooded meaning the lower section of cave below the second waterfall floods to the ceiling at times. After a great deal of crawling I could hear the sound of water ahead. I hoped that I’d reconnect with the passage I’d been in before so that I wouldn’t have to back track. I bellied along for the last 30 feet and emerged near the second waterfall. I headed downstream so that Bruce and Marc wouldn’t start worrying about me. I felt a little guilty for having been gone so long. I passed Willie and Benjy and met Bruce and Marc downstream of the rimstone cascade in the pooled section of stream. We routed. Back at the first waterfall, I washed my knee pads off and asked Marc to hold my camera and strobe while I cleaned my dry box.
We exited the cave. Willie pointed the hoar frost out to Marc and Bruce. I took a few pictures and then went back to the car to change. We ate at Ryans that night and decided to stay at Marion’s once again.
By Brian Killingbeck © 2005
By Brian Killingbeck © 2005
