On February 19, 1994, a group of co-workers where I currently worked, along with my spelunking partner, John Wallace, were hiking the ridge above Pettyjohn Cave, on Pigeon Mountain in northeast Georgia. After locating four possible dig sites, we opened one and named it Patrick Cave. The next day Doug Dewitt and I went back and mapped out the little cave.

The sink was large with trees growing in the background, as we checked around the edges Doug would start poking at a soft spot in the center with Patrick watching. Soon we began to take turns enlarging the hole.

The cave consisted of two small rooms. The first room was five feet high and six feet wide. There was a narrow hole at the bottom that might be a good place to dig. The room was full of roots with dirt on top. Another smaller room, five feet wide and three and a half feet high, was on the north side. The level lift was 18.9 feet and the total lift was 22.8 feet. The well at the bottom did not open. It will most likely drain into Pettyjohn Cave, as we were directly above the cave, high up on the mountainside.

On February 20, 1994, we also mapped a small cave under a large rock, Sophie Cave, a large room with many spiders. Sophie was Doug’s other white Lab. The back of the cave rose to a height of seven feet, full of spiders, we called it Spider Cathedral. Another five foot opening along the creek was pushed into a low excavation where the sound of rushing water could be heard below. As curiosity got the better of us, we pushed further and further into the unknown to see where it would lead, but we couldn’t get downstream.

This cave had no name, since it couldn’t get out of the daylight. This is how many caves start, curious cavers checking holes in the ground. Digging a bit, mapping what they found and then more cavers coming back to check more and dig more.

New discoveries are made in three ways. First-time visitors to a familiar cave, without a map, will often discover an overlooked passage near the entrance or deeper as they search for a way forward. Often spelunkers familiar with a cave will rush to the end, missing possible clues.

Another way to discover new passages is to carefully map the cave as you go, checking and mapping all possible crawls and climbs. This is the best and most rewarding way.

The last and most common is to simply push and dig as many holes as possible that can be found. Some have even created their own caves by following a rock ledge or crevice until it opens into something larger.

Biologists divide cave animals into three types: trogloxenes, troglophiles, and troglobites, or cave visitors, cave lovers, and cave prisoners.

Trogloxenes are those animals that briefly visit the cave, usually just inside the lighted entrance. Raccoons can use the entrance as a den, or snakes can stay cool during the heat of the day. These are temporary residents.

Troglophiles are cave lovers. They particularly like the cool, humid, and dark environment of the cave, and may spend their entire lives there. However, they could just as well spend their lives somewhere else cold, dark, and damp, like under a rock. Many types of salamanders typify this class, cave crickets also belong here.

The troglobites are the true inhabitants of the caves. They have evolved for this life; they can’t leave. They are usually blind, white and the case of the fish will hide under your feet if you stay still in the water.

As a troglodyte, I always think of caves and explore them in my mind, when actually I can’t go there.