Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
passage and the
entrance passages is
another side passage.
This passage is rather
small, but once again
it contains several
bear wallows. This
small tube continues,
as does a small side
passage. Although
the dimensions
are rather tight, a
small person could
continue on. A good
breeze and water
issues from these
passages.
Upstream, the
main stream passage
has an average height
of 4.5 feet and an
average width of 20 feet for the first 350 feet.
The stream has down cut a shallow canyon
in the center of the floor that varies from 8
inches to 1 foot deep. Along the walls more
bear wallows have been scooped out of the
mud banks. At this point, the ceiling lowers
to about 3.5 feet and the passage makes a
sharp bend. The stream rises from a joint in
the floor and, except for a few small pools,
the passage is dry. After 200 more feet, the
stream enters a floor joint and disappears.
Throughout this section, more bear wallows
are seen.
After another 300 feet of stoop walk,
breakdown nearly fills the passage. At the end
of this breakdown is a very small hole which
allows one to squeeze through and drop back
into the stream. If one’s feet are not wet by
this point, they are now. Near this hole is a
low, wide side passage, which loops back to
the main stream passage. This side passage
contains numerous bear wallows and, in fact,
may have been excavated to a large extent by
the bears. At the end of this crawl is an 8-foot
climb-down to the stream. Past this point, no
evidence of bears could be found. The hole
in the breakdown is too small and the climb-
406
A bat in Dillon Cave. Photo by Dave Black.
down too steep for bears to negotiate.
The cave soon takes a turn for the worst,
as the ceiling abruptly lowers and one is
forced to belly crawl along and across the
stream. Relief comes in 200 feet as the ceiling
rises and the passage widens to acceptable
dimensions. For the next 600 feet, the cave
is once again about 20 feet wide and 5 feet
high. At this point breakdown is once again
encountered, this time of the terminal variety.
No way was found over the top of the fallen
rocks. At stream level no hole large enough to
permit human entry could be found. One can
see another 15 feet to where the breakdown
seems to drop to stream level. There was a
fair breeze blowing through the rocks. This
breakdown seems a bit unstable, so forcing it
with standard cave expansion techniques will
be risky.
While walking over the surface in the
vicinity of the end of the cave, a number of
sinkholes were found 200 feet away. A few of
these had small holes in their bottoms. These
sinks are probably the source of the water in
the cave and it is unlikely that the cave would
extend beyond this area.