My First Virginia Cave

Saturday morning I arose in the beautiful hills of Bell County, KY, and made reservations to go get a tour of Gap Cave, in Cumberland Gap.  I saw a map, and learned that the cave is across the Virginia state line.  So, it was my first Virginia Cave!  There are multiple entrances to this 5 level cave system.  The lowest level is where the Cumberland Gap Bottled water is pumped from.

I picked up my ticket, and it turned out one of our guides was a member of the Pine Mountain Grotto.  He recognized the bat sticker on my car, and immediately we began talking caves.  He was so excited to finally meet an avid caver coming through.  The second guide shook his head in disbelief as we began our obsessive talk about caves :D

Our guides led us up a path, and part of the time we walked on the old HWY 25E, before the built the tunnel.  We each got our own high powered flashlight, as there is no lighting in the cave.  The entrance to the 4th level, that they use for the tours, was underneath the "pinnacle" overlook.

Right away when we stepped inside there were some old, weathering formations.  Little did I expect to see what we did, farther into the cave.  I think I'll just post a couple of the best pictures, and best formations.

                       

After about we were 1/3 of the way through the tour, one of our guides left.  He told me to bring up the rear since I was a caver and I knew what was going on.  He had broken his left a while ago and was back on his feet.  But he couldn't climb the stairs to the 2nd level of the cave.

Up on the 2nd level were lots of other formations.  It was really mind blowing how much beauty was underground there.  The guide that we still did have, was the one with the grotto.  So he talked a lot about the geology, and what was in other parts of the cave.

The most impressive formation we saw, height-wise, was the pillar of Hercules.  It stands over 60 feet fall.

We also saw some old graffiti from the Civil War.  There was also some graffiti that ignorant people put up.  They painted the names of confederate and union soldiers, in the same place, and had the wrong dates for the civil war.  It was pretty funny.

One of our last stops was in an area known as "Lover's Leap".  Supposedly, if a couple is strongly in love they should be able to jump off a ledge and be blown back.  There were some nice pillars there.

After that the guide led us out.  It was a very beautiful cave system.  I am going to do my best to get into that cave system with the Cave Research group, or the grotto, when I move down to that part of Kentucky.  Until then, I'll just have to dream.  So that was a small re-cap of my first Virginia Cave... Even if it was only barely in the state of Virginia :P

Darkness and Light

I was really dying to get back into a cave, and I was so happy to have the opportunity this past weekend!  We switched caves a couple times, but by the time we were meeting, I just wanted to get into a cave.  So, I went to Pine Hill.  Our group consisted of Rachael and I, and Jon Carman, and Brittany Mathis (whom I had been trying to get into a cave for quite some time, but she could never come on a trip).

It was a pretty straight forward trip.  We were going to the Tower Domes.  Jon had never been there.  He measured them with his laser range finder.  One of the domes topped out at about 106 feet.

Then we went up into the canyon and the formation room that was at the back of it.  We took a break there, and Jon and I climbed up onto a ledge and got some pretty cool views of formations.

The climb down was pretty tricky, but I was able to do it without any trouble, with Jon "spotting" me as I came down, feeling for foot and handholds.  After that, we decided to go up through the waterfalls, and to the large formations at the back of the cave.

After going through the waterfalls, and Brittany falling in, we went back out.  On the way, I saw a crayfish eating a dead bat or something, in the water.

When we all got out, and changed we went to Denny's and ate dinner in Mt. Vernon.  We were all starving (especially me, since I hadn't eaten a meal all day, just a few snacks).   I had a wonderful Bacon burger :D