Lost River - Karst Information Portal

the 56-foot drop known as The Cathedral, a
25- by 30-foot room containing a 25-foot-tall
flowstone formation. Bolts have been installed
about 20 feet back from the drop. A large room,
50 by 60 feet, adjoining the Cathedral contains
a passage at the bottom of a large breakdown
pile that leads to the lowest point in the cave.
Climbing the rope on the other side of
the Cathedral Room leads to the rest of the
cave. After 350 feet this passage becomes filled
with sediment and then enters a short, narrow
canyon that gives access to an upper level. Up
a short breakdown slope is a low, wide, sandfloored
passage named The Sandbox and several
other promising leads. The Sandbox terminates
after 225 feet in breakdown in a low room with
a canyon crossing the floor. The canyon leads
to a complex of small passages on several levels
called The State Street Transfer.
This cave is very difficult and many cavers
cannot fit through the S-Bend and tight
crawlways. The many pits and canyons in the
back of the cave increase the danger of injury.
An injured caver would find it quite difficult to
negotiate the natural exit.
This cave is located on a wooded hillside
on the south side of Potato Run. It is on
Harrison Crawford State Forest land and is
just below the Adventure Trail. The entrance
pit is located at the bottom of a small sinkhole.
To reach the entrance drop, one must descend
a slope through sandstone boulders. A 100foot-long
rope is needed to rig the pit. From
the lip, the pit is a nice 35-foot-deep wall drop.
Twelve feet off the floor of the pit is a large
ledge developed in a shale bed. This shale was
mined for pottery clay. From the floor of the
pit the cave continues down a breakdown slope
as a long 20-foot-high dome. At the end of the
dome there is an upper level walking passage
and a stream crawl. The upper level only goes
100 feet to a flowstone dome. The stream crawl
P.B.R. Plunge
Harrison County Caves
Bill Baus and Dave Stahl at the entrance.
Photo by Elliot Stahl.
By Dave Black
is a 2-foot-high by 8-foot-wide cobble crawl,
which lowers within 100 feet to a dig. Past the
Elliot Stahl at the entrance.
Photo by Dave Black.
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