Georgia Natural Wonder #149 - Caves Of Fox Mountain Preserve. 1,836

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #149 - Caves Of Fox Mountain Preserve

We are rolling along on this top ten caves of Georgia theme. The study and exploration of caves, known as speleology, has revealed 513 caves in Georgia,and more are being discovered as exploration continues. Documentation by the Georgia Speleological Survey shows that Georgia's caves have a total combined length of at least 82 miles. Bartow County and the eight counties to the north and west (Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Walker, and Whitfield) combine to host 448 of Georgia's 513 known caves.


Preserve a Fox today.

Let me again post these super important links about spelunking in Georgia as I want these Forum Post to stand alone, so as a continued disclaimer list .....

Safety Rules of Caving
Nine listed Grotto's in Georgia (Scroll Down)
The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc.
White Nose Fungus
National Speleological Society.

Again, there is very little Internet information on Georgia caves because cavers like to keep the locations secret, in order to preserve and protect the caves and the life they contain.The sport remains tight-lipped about cave entrances and maps. Still pretty exciting what I did find.


Hang Gliding Lookout Mountain Dade County Georgia.       

Now Lookout Mountain goes down the east side of Dade County, while Sand Mountain goes down the west side.


View of Trenton from Sand Mountain.

Fox Mountain is a little offshoot of Sand Mountain and Fox Mountain Preserve contains some of Georgia’s longest and deepest caverns. Cemetery Pit, for example, has a 153-foot deep vertical entrance pit, which leads to a series of rooms linked by almost three miles of passageways. Rusty’s Cave requires rope work to navigate the 20-foot entrance pit, but can then be navigated on foot. Howard's Waterfall Cave, named for its unusual cascade-like rock formations. This cave offers a fairly easy horizontal climb, suitable for novices.


Byers Cave.

ALL caves and properties owned, leased or managed by the Southeastern Cave Conservancy now require an advance permit to visit. Group size requirements and other specific information about each preserve can be found and permits should be applied for online here


Byers Cave again.

NOTE: Most preserve permits are completely automated and can be obtained even the day of your trip.  However, some preserves require more authentication and more time.  Please make your request a few days in advance!  Also, many preserves have special seasons and limitations. Check the SCCi website for the latest information.
       
Cemetry Pit Cave

The first cave we visit in the Fox Mountain Preserve is Cemetery Pit, which is an amazing vertical cave to explore. It has a 153-foot entrance pit and nearly three miles of passages to check out underground. You’ll also find several large rooms down in this cave system.


Passage in Cemetery Pit, Fox Mountain Preserve

It’s important to clean and disinfect your gear before visiting the caves in this preserve to prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome, which affects bats. This cave is in the Rising Fawn area of Georgia.



From the C Is For Cemetery

I lucked out with Cemetery, as it was our grotto vertical trip this month. It is a cave I don’t hear much about and I’d never been to before. It is one of the many SCCi caves on their Fox Mountain Preserve. We parked in the designated SCCi parking. After gathering gear and ropes, including a brand new one that was way too white, we headed up to the entrance.



We rigged two ropes due to the group size and the fact that it was quite cold so we wouldn’t want to have to wait for climbers (especially as it was sucking in the freezing-temp outside air down the pit!). The rappel was interesting, not far from the wall, and ran over several ledges that the lead rappellers had to de-tangle ropes from on their way down.


Rigging Rope 1 – the way-too-clean brand new rope!

About 1000-feet into the cave is a second rappel point off of a place called Earl’s Ledge. The options there are a sketchy traverse or about a 50-ft rappel. We opted for the rappel. The route to this spot was winding sometimes-tight with a few squeezes and I quickly figured out that canyoning is harder in full vertical kit. (I had not been aware of the second rappel and did not have a pack large enough for my kit as well.)


Rappelling Earl’s Ledge

Our goal of the day was to find the Soda Straw Room without getting stuck in the 3-D Maze section. This took a LOT of route finding but I thought that was half the fun! There were many leads, but most eventually dead ended or were loops back to places we’d already been. Finally we found a hole that went and took it. Unfortunately, it popped us into the 3-D Maze we thought we were bypassing.



After a lunch break and more scouting, someone stumbled upon a large dome with a fallen column in it. NOW we knew where we were, as there is a Fallen Pillar Dome on the map. It was quite impressive, an oval cross section being on the order of 3×4 feet. (As a side note: I say column, although the room is called Fallen Pillar Dome, because a column is calcite deposit typically created when a stalagmite and stalactite join. This clearly was a deposited formation. On the other hand, a pillar occurs when the water erodes away the surrounding bedrock. It’s not a deposited formation, it is just a leftover pillar of rock. However, often both terms are used interchangeably in common speak.)


View of the column’s cross-section, the internal crystal structure is quite pretty!

From here the cave started to open up. There were still areas of massive breakdown, but the ceilings got taller and the paths wider. We followed the main trunk until it split, and some of us scouted different ways. It didn’t make a difference as we all ended up in the same chamber.


Cemetery Pit Cave

I explored a few little side areas and was getting excited as I had spotted a few soda straws, some broken, the first straws I’d really seen of any reasonable length to not just be nubs on the ceiling. I was pretty convinced we had found Broken Soda Straw Passage. As soon as everyone gathered, two of us headed off pushing the passage with the straws.


Clearly broken soda straw, and odd enough to be the passage’s namesake, right?

Coming to a right hand 90-deg fork in the passage, the way on straight petered out quickly. The bend did another hook and lead into a scary-looking passage. It looked to me as I’d imagine being inside a shark’s mouth would be like! Being late in the day we opted to not push this creepy passage and head back out. I was pretty sure we’d seen our goal and it was just less impressive than imagined.


Some soda straws and helictites coming out of a neat perfectly round hole!

Our way out went much faster because there was no route finding required. From the 3-D Maze, we climbed down to a lower section and went out via the passage one of the others had found on an earlier trip. We reentered the large chamber where Earl’s Ledge is. The climbing, and the squeezes en route from Earl’s Ledge to the entrance drop would take time. We wound our way back to the entrance drop. We wouldn’t have to wait long in the chill of the 0*C air being sucked in from above. It ended up quite a long trip all included. We went in around 10am and didn’t leave until almost 10pm.



In the end, it turns out we didn’t quite make it to the Soda Straw Room. It was right past that snarly bit where we turned around.

Another visit by SCC,i members.


Jennifer starting her rappel into the entrance pit of Cemetery Cave.


Jason rappelling into the entrance pit of Cemetery Cave.


Ina leaning back to start her rappel and.rappelling into the entrance pit of Cemetery Cave.


Ina scooting across Earl's Ledge.


Ina walking by the cave register.


Jason squeezing through some breakdown and left to right: Andreas and Ina through a window in Cemetery Cave.


Jason squeezing through a narrow opening near Jason's Twin Domes.


Ina crawling out of a tight passage.


Ina squeezing through the space between two boulders, and Jason checking out a bat.


Left to right: Jason, Jennifer, and Ina putting on their vertical gear.


Ina climbing out of Cemetery Cave.


Jason approaching the top of the entrance pit and switching to the hand line at the top of the entrance pit.


Jason after having climbed out of the entrance pit to Cemetery Cave and Jennifer near the lip at the top of the entrance pit.
   
Rusty’s Cave

Also in the Fox Mountain Preserve, you’ll find Rusty’s Cave, which is one of the deepest caves in the state of Georgia. Rusty Mills, 19, of Morrow, Georgia was killed with some Boy Scouts at Howard's Waterfall Cave in April 1966, he had discovered or helped discover this cave near Rising Fawn. The cave was named Rusty’s Cave in his honor.


Entrance has some trees down from tornado recently.


Underneath all this tornado damage is the entrance to Rusty's Cave at the SCCi Fox Mountain Preserve in Dade County, Georgia. The tornados hit in Spring of 2011. The main entrance to Byer's Cave is also covered by debris.


Entrance Pit, Rustys Cave.

It has a 45-foot entrance pit that requires some ropework, but after that, no ropes are required to explore it.


Katie Ingram rappelling, Rusty's Cave.


The Cathedral, Rustys Cave.


The Cathedral.



An active formation Rusty's cave.



My goodness, not a lot written about Rusty's cave but Geez, look at these images. Spectacular lighting and scenery.




Rusty's shower.


Soda straws and stalactites, Jason Lavender, Rusty's Cave,


Angela is looking at some formations in Formation Hall, Rusty's Cave,


Some formations in Rusty's cave in Georgia.

There is a parking area for access to the Fox Mountain Preserve, which can be found at these GPS coordinates: N 34 44′ 58.9″/W 085 32′ 14.5″.
   
Howard’s Waterfall Cave

Howards Waterfall Cave is SCCi's first cave acquisition. Donated by Chuck Henson in 1991, Howards Waterfall is a horizontal cave explored by novice and experienced cavers alike.



It extends for three miles and has 5 entrances.



Only two are owned by SCCi.Nice and easy horizontal cave, which is very suitable for novice cavers.



The cave achieved national notoriety on April 16, 1966 in what was known as the Howards Cave Disaster. A newly formed Explorer Scout Troop from near Atlanta came to Dade with a dozen or so 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds along with a three adult leaders for an adventure at Howard’s Cave at the base of Sand Mountain. Gasoline vapors from a leaking service station line accumulated in the cave and ignited while the group were in the cave. Phillip Leighton Howell was one of the adults on the trip guiding the Scouts.



The men who died were too young. Howell, 27, was a college graduate, a veteran of Vietnam War and an employee of Nabisco. Rusty Mills, 19, of Morrow, Georgia, must have loved caving, because a few weeks before this incident he had discovered or helped discover a cave near Rising Fawn which is part of the Fox Mountain Preserve in Alabama. The cave was named Rusty’s Cave in his honor. Benny Gilley, 19, was a very popular young man who touched the lives of many people that he never knew because of his simple act of heroism.  It was months and months before the true cause of the fierceness of the explosion was determined. It was a gas leak from the gas tanks across the road at the Red Ace station.


Howard's Waterfall Cave

This is a lovely cave that is great for both novice and experienced cavers to explore.


Formation Room.

For many decades, this cave was heavily used and graffiti and vandalism have unfortunately occurred.



You can request a permit on the SCCI website to explore this cave today.


Here is a main entrance that cavers will come into to start their journeys.


It can be wet at times, but it don't rain inside the cave.

It’s located on 1.25 acres in Dade County, Georgia.


The point of no return.

Caves in the Southeast are treasure troves of historic artifacts that need to be protected and preserved. Our caves contain prehistoric jaguar bones, remains of salt-peter mines, thousands of Civil War signatures and Native American drawings. One of our most significant preservation projects is the Cherokee Syllabary in Howards Waterfall Cave.


Stick holding cave up.

Inside Howards Waterfall Cave, you will see a large steel gate built to protect a small area of the cave on the left as you exit the entrance crawl.  This area, only perhaps one hundred feet deep,  contains  panels of wall inscriptions written in the Cherokee Syllabary.  The Southern Cumberland Plateau, including the area around Trenton, Georgia, is a part of the homeland of the Cherokee, and the Syllabary was invented in the early 1800’s not far from here, by the renowned Cherokee scholar Sequoyah.  Sequoyah was born in East Tennessee but he immigrated to the Cherokee community Willstown (Ft. Payne, AL), where he began development of the Syllabary sometime after 1800; the system became the official way of writing for the tribe by formal Cherokee Nation declaration in 1828.  Within months of its adoption, a majority of Cherokee people were literate.  The Cherokee Syllabary is one of the few examples in the world of a preliterate culture intentionally creating an original and effective writing system .  There are few examples of Syllabary written close to the time of its invention, but one of those examples is here in Howard’s Waterfall Cave. It was first identified by Alan Cressler in December 2014.



Before SCCi took ownership of Howards Waterfall Cave, the syllabary suffered from vandalism. The syllabary area is heavily spray painted and part of the main syllabary panel itself is obscured by paint.



The section of the cave housing the syllabary has been gated to protect these important cultural resources. Access to this section is provided to researchers and special groups with permission and escort. The gating project was made possible by funding from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Conservation Fund, and Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company.


Howards Waterfall Cave, Actinomyces Room


Borehole, Howards Waterfall Cave

Woo, I found a good description of cave and a treasure trove of images.

The cave lies in a NE-SW line on the east side of the Sand Mountain ridge which parallels the famous Lookout Mountain, which dominates the valley in the east. The cave is roughly 3,500 ft. long and is quite straight when viewed as a whole.



Through much of its length, however, dual parallel passages exist which run up the total length considerably.



Travel through most of Howard’s is quite easy. 



From a point 300 ft. inside the Second Entrance to a point about 1,000 ft. from opposite end, nothing worse than stooping is required.



At the latter point a short but tight crawl leads to more walking cave which continues until the very end.



An alternate route leads through a roomier but much longer crawl to a “pop-up” in the main passage.



At the opposite end of the cave, those who enter by either the Second or Third entrances will encounter some minor difficulty.



A few inside the Second Entrance, a cliff about twenty feet high is encountered.



This can be descended on the left side without climbing gear provided caution is used.


Howards Waterfall Cave, Disaster Room and Entrance 2,

Almost 200 ft. further another cliff, or rather an extremely steep bank is reached. The slick nature of the rocks and crumbly soil at the top make this the most difficult obstacle in the cave. It is recommended that those approaching from the opposite direction carry about thirty feet of safety rope for this one.


Howards Waterfall Cave, Disaster Room, Second Mud Slope, and Octopus Garden formation. (I made that up)

Two streams fall over the end and run into the cave. A stooping walk for a short distance leads into a small room from which passages go down to a lower level and also to the SW and NW. The SW passages close out after 250 feet; the NW passage continues to a junction with the Second Entrance Passage in another fifty feet.



The cave does not appear ever to have been profusely decorated. To a great extent, what did exist has been destroyed by vandals and souvenir hunters. A few of the most massive formations survive and are worth seeing.



In the second entrance are some very large rim stone pools. They have been dry for some time, but their size and depth makes them impressive. In some of the remoter portions some nice soda-straws and other speleothems are found but none are outstanding.



The cave is not promising biologically, either. At least to the “untrained” eyes of Atlanta mappers nothing unusual appeared, in the lower levels inside the Main Entrance about 25 bats were seen. A few salamanders and crickets were also found here and there.



In summary, Howard’s Waterfall Cave has little to offer the sophisticated spelunker. Its outstanding feature is its size, as its mile and a half of passage ranks high among Georgia caves. It is also a very fine place for novices to be given the feel of a cave without thrusting too great an ordeal upon them. As for most of those who participated in the mapping, it will be some time before they can be prodded into returning.



Well I had four caves to cover and I only got to three. I still wanted to do a history tangent on Dade County. So I will post a whole new Natural Wonder next week to include Byers Cave and Dade County. Let's finish today's 87 photo post with what else, 3 more GNW Cave Gals.