Trip Report: Search for the "lost" cave

This adventurous exploratory day-paddle was painstakingly researched, but hastily planned. I, along with a friend of mine, had recently visited a limestone cave located on the Mccloud arm of Shasta Lake known locally as Samwel Cave. Only a relatively small portion of the cavern is accessable to the general public, but the experience was enough to re-ignite our interest in the prospect of finding another cave further south on the lake that we had both read about some time ago. We found very little online information about the cave, however, we were able to find some scans of old books and research journals from around the turn of the century which gave some rather vague clues as to its whereabouts. Forest Service information centers were about as helpful as a bag of rocks, with the general response to inquiries being a blank stare. Despite this lack of detailed information and the likelyhood that the cave was sealed off to keep intrepid explorers (such as ourselves) from even peeking inside, we were determined to try our best. In respect of the historical significance of this area, we were also commited to leaving as little evidence of our travels as possible.

Our mini-expedition began with a mid-morning search for a suitable launching point. With the water level on Lake Shasta being so low, their was really no "good" choice. My Honda Accord's lack of four-wheel drive capability certainly wasn't helping the situation. We settled on the day-use access at Turntable Bay which earned us about a 100-yard walk/shuffle (with kayaks) down a steep, normally submerged, road-cut. The government employees at the Turntable docks were probably chuckling to themselves as they watched us huff and puff down the hill to the water. What can I say? I was born to entertain. One thing that struck me about Shasta on this particular trip was how much garbage had accumulated over the years. We passed concrete blocks, extension ladders, lawn furniture, thousands of beer cans, and even a discarded portable toilet. It would take a garbage barge the size of an oil tanker just to clean up this one lousy cove. Quite a depressing sign of the times, but certainly not enough to dissuade us from our mission. After a quick gear check and a very messy (muddy) launch, we were off and chugging across the lake.

We had spotted our desired destination (or so we thought) from our parking spot, and struck out in that direction. As luck would have it (and contrary to the local forecast), the wind was gusting across our route at around 15-25 mph creating some rather interesting wind waves and even a few whitecaps. It's a reassuring feeling to have a solid and capable boat in these circumstances. Our brief apprehension soon turned satisfaction as we made a brief foray into rough-water kayaking. A short time later we rounded a small island and entered the sheltered cove. The first landing zone was even muddier than the launch (and stiiiiiiiiiinky!). A rather harsh departure from the pleasantness of cruising across the (conspicuously less stinky) open water. We stashed our kayaks, dawned our daypacks, and headed up the canyon towards our goal. After copius amounts of scrambling and bushwhacking, we emerged onto a ridgetop to find...nothing. No limestone, no cave. We moved along the ridge a bit further to get a better view of the landscape. As we climbed higher, we soon came to a small plateau where we began to stumble upon some rusted-out mining equipment. We had found an old iron mine!

The condition of many of the items scattered about the site was suprisingly good. Among other things, we found ore carts, flywheels, oil pans, mysterious steel structures, several old stoves, and some gigantic crank shafts. With the exception of a few bullet holes, the stoves looked like they could easily be pressed back into service. As we continued to explore, we also came across a large collapsed building along with several more stoves and, of course, more bullet holes. Is the urge to shoot artifacts really that strong? Probably the most interesting thing we found was random auger/drill shafts protruding from the rock face. It appeared that when the device got stuck, they simply abandoned the whole shaft (no doubt to trip the occasional visitor 60 years later). It was very clear why the area was chosen to prospect for iron: Every piece of rock we found had a distinctive metallic sheen and a reddish/rust coloration indicating a high iron content. The mine turned out to be a great place for a snack break with a comfortable cushion of pine needles to sit on and plenty of shade, courtesy of a thick pine canopy. I took the opportunity to hone my amateur photography skills into razor-sharp mediocrity. Actually, the pictures didn't turn out that bad.

The bad news was that the presence of the iron mine meant we were in the wrong place. We carefully examined the map and decided that we had paddled into the wrong inlet. An innocent mistake, and not surprising considering the drastically low water level. We made our way back to the shore and launched again in search of the correct destination. By this time (late-afternoon) the sun was approaching the horizon and the winds had died down to near non-existent levels, making this leg very peaceful and relaxing. We couldn't have asked for better conditions. After perhaps another half-hour of studying the shoreline as we paddled along, we found some exposed limestone formations that looked promising.

One more muddy landing, ugh! As we secured our boats, my cohort discovered something interesting in the soft clay nearby. Bear tracks! .Perhaps a day or two old. We followed the tracks for a short distance and came across something rather unexpected. Criss crossing the larger tracks were two sets of much smaller tracks. It was a mom with two cubs! I guess we were a few days too late for a spectacular photo op. Oh well. It still gave me that warm and fuzzy "wildlife documentary filmmaker" feeling.

We filled up our water bottles near an interesting rock formation in the streambed (see photo) and again ventured up into a rugged canyon. This route was even more overgrown than the first, and deceptively beautiful considering the hardship that lied ahead. Blackberry vines tore at our skin and clothing as we struggled along. We came across several impassable sections which forced us further up the rather steep canyon wall. We expected to find the cave entrance at any moment, but were consistently thwarted. The limestone was extremely and unexpectedly sharp; like walking on knifepoints in some places. Clambering around on that stuff began to take its toll on my sanity. It was then that I stopped to rest and turned around to take in my surroundings. I was rewarded with a spectacular view of the valley with the lake in the background. Pictures could not do it justice. The shoreline had turned a deep red in the slowly fading sunlight. We finally decided to call it a day and descended back down to the bottom of the ravine. Hoping the south side of the gully might be a little easier going, we crossed over the creek and followed an old logging road downstream. It turned out to be completely brush-choked and covered in poison oak. Too late to turn back now. We pressed on stubbornly to freedom.

We arrived back at landing zone #2 and casted off one last time just as the sun dissappeared behind the mountains. The paddle back to our starting point was very quiet. There were no motorized craft to disturb us and we also got quite the acrobatic display from the fish jumping all around us. That was the easy part. We thought the walk down to the lake was challenging, but the walk back up to the car was positively exhausting. With my lungs burning and my shoulders aching I felt like I was training for a serious adventure race. We took a well-deserved break at the car before loading the boats up. I finished picking the hitchhikers out of my leg hair and downed a bottled water as we contemplated our next excursion. Although we hadn't technically accomplished our goal this time around, we concluded that the trip was a spectacular success. We got to kayak, hike, explore a historical site, take some great pictures, and have a bungload of fun!

Some extra tidbits if you should decide to go exploring this area for yourself: I was able to maintain cell phone reception throughout the whole day as well as maintain visibility of our landing sites and prominent land marks while exploring most of these spots. I reccommend a good topographic map, a reliable compass, and a pair of binoculars to help pinpoint locations, and a GPS wouldn't hurt either. Even though most of the poison oak we encountered was leafless, we both got it. Shower as best you can as soon as you can if you are allergic.