Note: A little of what follows appeared in an article I wrote for Kentucky Living magazine, which was published in Nov. '96. The caves mentioned here are in the Somerset, Ky area.

Another thing I ought to mention is that I'm not a "hard core" caver. Although I am still interested in caves, I have done very little caving since the end of 1996. But that year, and a little of 1995, I went cave exploring with my friend David Cox, whom I used to work with. We didn't get into crawling in small tunnels and all that. We both liked to have plenty of room to maneuver, and explored what we could by walking. Now and then we did a bit of crawling, and sometimes had to negotiate our way up or down some rocks. Generally we walked where we could, stooping some times. I call it "exploring" because it was new to us. Other people had been everywhere before us, but we enjoyed it anyway, because it was new to us. It was still an adventure each time we went down under, and we had a lot of enjoyment seeing the underground world. It is fascinating, and I always liked seeing new places underground, and the different formations we encountered. We carried walking sticks, which were very useful for us. I don't know if anybody else does that, but we did, and I recommend it. It's kind of like hiking above ground, and I always use a stick out there. We were in our upper 40s, by the way.

I moved to the Somerset area in Fall of 94, and seldom thought about caves. There is much of interest above ground for the outdoor enthusiast. One day I read an article about Short Creek and its cave, near Stab, Kentucky. That got me started. I found the place and looked inside, and that reawakened an interest in caves. One of the front entrances to Short Creek Cave is shown on the right.

I checked my topographical maps for other caves and found two indicated, one of which has an entrance on Taylor property. This is Blowing Cave, out 1003, across from the rock quarry. The entrance, overlooking Buck Creek, is shown on the left. My dog at the time was looking in. The Taylors later advised against going in that cave because of blasting at the quarry. I went three times I think, once to find it, and then again with David, and once more with another friend. We didn't go far in there. A steep slope is rather difficult to get up on because of a verticle wall at the base. I used a ledge to get there, and that was tricky. I went to the top, looked through the opening and saw more slopes. The thought of blasting across the road dampened any desire to go far.

The other cave I sought out is Eureka, out 927 in McCreary county. I took my dog Jack out there one day and found the entrance. At the time, I had a car, and had to walk way back along that old road through the woods. It was not easy to find, even with the map, but I finally found it. That entrance goes down, like a storm celler. Eureka has a sizable tunnel, as shown below right, with David standing there.

I was getting very interested in caves by then, and soon after I took a photo album to work to show the guys. David, who became my caving partner, was especially interested in the cave pictures. He said he always liked going in caves, but could hardly get anybody to go with him.

I took David for a quick tour of Short Creek Cave, then we went to Blowing Cave. There must be a hundred with that name, and the name of Wind Cave. We looked around for a while in the front room and made pictures. A colony of bats lives in that room. The floor is black. One time in there, they all flew off, back into the high tunnel. For a moment or two, they were flying all around, then went back in the tunnel.

After that first day, David got fired up and we became caving partners. Eureka Cave was on our minds when Arnold, another co-worker, told us about Dykes Cave, under the 192 Bridge at Buck Creek. This cave is short and simple. The front part has two openings--the creek entrance, and a hole higher up. This lets a fair amount of light in that room, as shown at left. The cave winds back under the highway and opens out in a low area below the road. It doesn't take long to go from one end to the other; maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Most of it is more than high enough to walk, with stooping required at the other end. This cave would be good for people interested, but skittish. If there is a lot of rain, water will flood it, so don't go during a big rain. This applies to many caves. They can flood, and sometimes in a hurry. Always be conscious of weather.

After that, we went to Eureka Cave. It was muddy. We didn't go far in there. From the front room, a little tunnel on the left led to a good size tunnel, as shown above right. We went back not too far and found other options, but didn't go any further. Not sure why, now. I think they were much smaller. We planned to go back but never did. We didn't see any special formations, but it was roomy.

Next time out, we went to Hail's Cave, as I call it. Marvin Hail owns the property. I asked for his permission and he said ok, as long as we didn't do any damage or leave trash. There is a lot of inconsideration shown in caves, by the graffiti on walls, and trash left on the floor. And some damage too, because of some people breaking off formations. Arnold knew about this cave and led David and I back there.

There is the main entrance, shown above left, and along one tunnel, there are two side openings, one of which is shown above right. That photo was made another time when I took my dog there, and I walked through the simple tunnel with the stream running through it. That tunnel is not long, and a little past the second side opening is the other end. Water runs out that end, crosses the outside ground and then goes in another small tunnel in the side of the hill. Not far inside the main entrance, is a short tunnel to the left. That leads to a pile of breakdown, behind which is the main part of the cave. Mr. Hail said it goes way around to the other side of the road. We never got anywhere near that; didnt' go far at all; planned to go back, but never did. Arnold crawled up one short passage and came to a T, and found a good breeze. That was probably the way.

Next we found out about Sloans Valley Cave, the big one here. There is a cave system underneath Somerset, but I have not been in it. I know hardly anything about it, and know only one person who has been in some of it. He advised against going in it because of traffic on the surface. As far as I know, the one in Sloans Valley is the biggest right around here. A cave has been discovered near Monticello that has a very large room, but it is hard to get into, and I have no idea where it is.

The Sloans Valley cave was mapped in 1976, at 22 miles of passages, with 16 known entrances. There is a cave (Wells Cave) out by highway 192 that is extensive, and has been mapped at 13 miles. I saw it listed in a world book of caves. Sloans Valley is not in that book. It is not even on the topo map for that area. It is big, and people have been lost in there. In latter 1995 I met the owner at the time, John Crocket. He told me that he had to call the rescue squad eight times, seven because of people becoming lost. There is one section called, "Grand Central Spaghetti." On the map, it looks like passages going in all different directions, on three levels. People need to be careful what they are doing in this cave. I didn't get in that area, but one has to pay attention where ever he is going in a cave. I have been in some big tunnels and rooms in Sloans Valley, and they are impressive. I never did get to the "Big Room", but went near it. I've been in the "First Lake Room", and it is huge, and so is the extension of that room, which contains the huge mound of breakdown called, "The Hogback." It's all pretty neat and impressive. There is another entrance in Minton Hollow. From that one, cavers can go way around to the Greenhouse entrance, also known as the Garbage Pit entrance. That one is the main entrance I believe. Mr. Crocket said it takes about eight hours to go from one to the other. That would be for young people. There is a lot to the Sloans Valley Cave system, and I've seen only a little of it. Some passages are real low and some are prone to water flow. The one shown at right is somewhat low, and most likely gets water during rains. There are pools of water in this system that rise and lower with the lake level. There is a lot to this cave system, and I've only touched on it here on this page.

Another part of this cave system is on the east side of highway 27. The entrance is in a sink hole, and is known as the Great Rock Sink; also known as the "Crystal" entrance. Sometimes this section of cave floods, and I've seen water to the top of this opening. The floor inside the entrance slopes down, so this area of cave gets well flooded. It is possoble to go in here and go to the Big Room, and eventually come out the Greenhouse entrance, but we never got anywhere near that. We explored some in the near area down there, but didnt' get very far. It was interesting as it was. I thought we might go further some time , but didn't. Tunnels got kind of small way down there, and we didn't care much for small tunnels. I was always leary of water channels, and didn't feel comfortable in them. I'd hate to get caught in a flash flood. It could be raining outside and cavers wouldn't know it until water started running in there. It could get hairy. We wouldn't go somewhere like that during rain, but obvious water channels still bothered me, especially small ones.

We found plenty of passage space to walk in and investigate, and even found a sizable room up higher. That was in one direction. Going the other way, we went back around to a pool of water near the other opening. We didn't go real far altogether, but spent some time exploring all the spaces in the near area. It was interesting. We found icicles not far from the entrance, and I suppose that is how the name "Crystal" entrance came about. The icicles were pretty neat. The cluster shown here was about 3 ft. high.

The Railroad Tunnell entrance is not far from the greenhouse, and David and Arnold and I went in there one time. We intended to get back to a sizable tunnel, but never made it. We didn't get down to the right level or something and didn't get where we needed to. There is a 30 foot waterfall up in that bigger tunnel and I especially wanted to see that. The trip was sort of interesting, and we actually did some crawling in that tunnel, but didn't get where we wanted to.

The Sloans Valley system is still popular with cavers from all around I guess, and some of them converge there at Thanksgiving for a feast and more of what they love--going underground. I just talked with Tom Crockett who owns the property now. I didn't know it, but his father, John, passed away two years ago. He was 96. John Crockett was a nice man, and I talked with him several times, and he always welcomed cavers. He was an active person even into his 90s, and planted a garden every year, that I knew of. I'm sure many people who met John and enjoyed this cave system were saddened by his passing.

Another cave David and I explored is Baker Cave, out near the Plato-VanHook Rd., which turns off highway 461. This cave has two openings that I know of, and floods to the ceiling, some of which is 10 feet high or more. We went there twice, entering at the opening where water exits. There was no water those times, but during heavy rain, water enters the other end, which is like a drain in a creek bed, if I remember right. We went only as far as the first room. We walked back through some of that, but the ceiling kept getting lower so we turned around there. We both had a job that required a lot of stooping, and we didn't want to do much more of it elsewhere. We went to caves for enjoyment. This cave is simple, that I know of, but it has a fair amount of formations, more than some bigger caves. Formations is one reason I went to caves, to see and photograph them. I always took a camera with a good flash, and sometimes two good flashes, one for remote, extra, lighting. I don't know who owns this property, but we asked a couple that lives in the area and they said it was ok to go there. We had to park at the head end of a farm lane that goes out across cow pastures, and walk a while to get to the entrance, down at lower ground.

Another cave we went to is Cave Springs Cave. This is out towards Keno, out road 751, and then off to the right (west) on Cave Springs Rd. I drove a car to this place once or twice, but the road got worse since then. There is a bad mud hole and I don't know how bad; didn't go through it even with 4x4--only one vehicle there at the time. The road to the right of it is tilted, and that makes it bad. I guess when the ground is frozen, it would be ok.

I don't know how much there is to this cave. I've seen only a little, and I've been in it at least three times. Two times, I went to the upper part. In the front room, there is a drop off of about 10 feet, where the stream runs down and then back through a high "canyon." That drop requires a rope. From the front room, a hole leads up to the top of the canyon. The canyon goes so far, then becomes a tunnel, with some nice formations. I went the through the canyon and tunnel once, with my friend Tom. Just a short distance through the tunnel, we came to a place where we would have to straddle a gap to go further. We stopped there. I haven't been back, although I'd like to go and try it further.

The lower part is the more interesting, one reason being the formations. There are some on the top part, but the bottom is a little better I think. From the top, you can look down to the floor maybe 20 ft. down. You can't go far up there, but it's interesting to look around, and there are a few formations to see. Close to this cave, is a small one room cave, with more formations.

Another interesting cave David and I went to is one with an entrance overlooking Buck Creek, near Stab, Ky. It is owned by Elwood Taylor, who owns Short Creek Cave. I refer to it as Taylor's Cave, and this was once the subject of a study. It had wired lighting inside, and a steel gate across the entrance. The gate used to be locked, but isn't anymore, and only remnants of the lighting system are still there. This cave of only two rooms has a lot of formations, mostly in the front room. Not only are there many formations, but they look great. Some of these are the best I've seen. The group shown at right is close to the high ceiling in the front room. These are more elaborate than usual for this area. It reminds me a little of pictures I've seen of some commercial caves. I think Carlsbad has formations that resemble these. The front room of Taylor's Cave is pretty neat. A short passage connects it with the back room, which I estimate to be 36 ft. high. At the right end of that room is a tunnel that had been filled in with dirt. Somebody had done some digging. I crawled a little of that passage, but it kept going and I didn't. It's been a few years since I was there. I wonder if any more has been cleared, and whether there is more cave there. I saw evidence of vandalism. At least I think it was. We found a piece of formation alongside the path. It appeared that someone was in the process of taking it out, but left it.

There is a little cave right in the Somerset area, close to Waitsboro. The entrance is pretty much hidden down in a depression of a field area. It's close to highway 27, not far behind the boat factory. David and I went in there one time, back in '96. There isn't a lot to it, but it is roomy, and has some active formations. It is kind of interesting for a small cave. Formations are always interesting to me, whether in a big cave or a small one.

That was somewhat of an overview. I'll have more detail on the individual cave pages, and lots more pictures.

Caves are intriguing, mysterious places that offer the adventurous soul another realm to explore. Wild caves are not for everybody, and those who venture undergrund conduct their caving to different degrees, depending on experience, capacity, and other factors. In a wild cave I get the satisfaction of personal adventure, and doing my own exploration. There is an element of risk and a heightened awareness. I enjoy photography, and caves and their formations are interesting subjects. People should not take caving lightly. One person told me that he and some buddies went into a cave with one light. A light can malfunction or get dropped down a hole. I know. A cave is totally black without a light. In my opinion, each person should carry at least two lights with extra batteries and bulbs. Another rule is not to go alone. Things can happen, and two minds are better than one at keeping track of the way out. Those thinking of starting a little caving would do well to read on the subject, and then take what they need to be prepared. Caves can be awesome, intriguing, wonderous, and adventuresome, and spooky if you're not sure which way you came. If you go, pay attention and be careful, take good lighting, and if you want to make pictures, take a strong flash.

Wind Cave; upper section.

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