Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
passage that shows perfect development along
a joint is entered. This part of the cave is so
uniformly formed that a single survey shot of
well over 600 feet was recorded (see the color
photo on page 433). At the end of this section
is another short crawl to more walking passage,
followed by another short crawl. The passage
continues in this way until the last 100 feet
are reached. At this point the stream is cutting
down through a bed of limestone that yields
The huge overgrown briar sinkhole entrance
to Fredericksburg Cave is just west of the
landowner’s home. The Bodenbenders own
the cave and know what a caver should and
shouldn’t do, as well as the delicacy of the cave
itself. The trip to Fredericksburg Cave during
the convention will be led only.
From the entrance room the passage splits
in two directions. The left hand passage is a
dry walk-stoopway which comes to a four-way
420
Fredericksburg Cave
large potholes and other solution features. The
passage narrows here and one is forced to either
squeeze through some breakdown that is very
tight or else crawl up through a waterfall that
insures a 100 percent soaking. The terminal
room of the cave has an intermittently passable
entrance at the top of a very gooey mud
slope. The stream flows out from beneath the
breakdown at this point but no further passage
is enterable.
junction. At this junction, the only passage
that does not mud up in a few feet is the right
hand one. This leads to a “Y.” Both ways are
tight crawls, parts over cobble stones and
water. It makes for a sporting circle route to
come back through this way after seeing Echo
Lake or Lobsterlane.
The right hand main passage from the
entrance room passes helictites, an interesting
siphon, and waterfalls. Continuing in varying