Lost Cave Expedition 2012

Before I tell of the adventures of my hiking trip I want to stress how important hiking safety is. Now experienced hikers will know what I'm talking about, but this is for first time hikers. Nothing can be more deadly than going hiking unprepared. First off always tell a friend or family member where you are going and determine time that if your not back they will call the proper authorities to come find you. Most likely the location that you are going will not have cell service so don't depend on that expensive smart phone ,that most of us have, to save your life. Make sure you have basic supplies like a compass, flint and steel set (to start a fire), a good quality knife, trail map (a physical one that you can hold), enough food to last longer than you intend to hike, water, head lamp and flashlight, first aid kit, etc. These are supplies that you should def take and this list is not an extensive one, but is a basic supply list to get you started. Also, don't forget to where the proper gear and footwear for hiking. Now lets go on to my hiking adventure.

Our hiking adventure started at the trail head overlooking the valley below. The view was very scenic and peaceful. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground which only made the scene that much more awesome.

                                          Here is Matt posing for a pic on top of the overlook

Matt posing on top of the overlook

Matt overlooking the valley below

Me acting crazy

                                     After our glorious pics we began our trek down the snowy trail.

A pine cone growing on a small pine tree

Matt Tebowing

As we approached the stream that runs through the valley we noticed something to our left. There was a huge hole in the ground right next to a cliff face. Our faces lite up with excitement as we realized what it was...another cave!

Some how in our previous trip to this location we had over looked this cave. We have named it the Dragon's Lair.

The entrance to the lair. Also check out the size of this cliff!
Matt is right at six feet tall!

As we entered the cave it opened up to a huge cavern that could hold a dragon. Sadly we could not explore the cave further because we needed rope to let ourselves down a ledge into the grand cavern. However, we will go back to this location to explore the Dragon's Lair! But here are some pics we took just inside of the cave mouth.

As you can barely see the cave opens up into the cavern.
You can tell size relative to how small Matt
looks perched up on that rock.

Here is what we believe to be a cave man pull up bar lol.
In all seriousness it does look like it was placed there and
it is super cool

After leaving the Dragon's Lair we walked down the stream toward the Lost Cave. As we approached the cave we stopped to have a small snack of oranges, bananas, apple and peanut butter crackers.

The stream in all its glory

After our snack we made our way to the cave mouth.

As we started into the cave Matt and I thought it would be cool if we tried to make a fire just inside the cave mouth. We gathered all the dry tender we could find but it was to damp to get it started. 

After our failed attempt at a fire we began into the cave. The cave was very easy to navigate with no splits or side routes. 

We had to get our feet wet and walk through these small
ponds of water. And trust me the water was ice cold.

The cave never got too narrow but the ceiling did get a little low in spots but lucky there was places where we could stand up to give our back a break.

At this point we have been slowly moving into the cave for nearly an hour and a half and we stopped for some more photo ops

Monkey man Matt

Matt calling me out but trust me he don't want none of this! Haha

One point I have forgot to mention is that to take these photos we would kill our lights and I would take the pic.  It is so dark in the cave that you might as well not have eye balls because they are useless in the cave without light. So every time I would take a shot I never knew what pose he would make and the camera light was basically the equivalent to staring at the sun! So it was quite fun taking pics lol.

After Matt's photo op we headed deeper into the cave.

Cool looking pier in the middle of the cave

 The further back we went we started to hear water flowing. With every step the noise got louder and louder. We thought we where walking up to a waterfall or something, but as we came around the corner we came upon the source of the noise.

This tiny waterfall sounded like Niagara Falls since the cave was so confined.

Me pondering on life deep inside the lost cave

Matt performing "the crane" yoga pose. Very nice form sir.

We hiked a little further past the waterfall and began debating on if we should turn back since we had been in the cave for three hours. Off in the distance we heard more water dripping ahead. Our curiosity got the best of us and decided to check out the source of the noise. As we neared a bend in the cave we stopped in our tracks. We both heard a low growl just ahead of use around the bend. We killed our lights and began to listen closely. At first we heard nothing but the water dripping but then we heard foot steps in the water. They started very quit and slow and progressively got louder as they got closer but maintained the same gait. We turned our lights on, Matt looked at me and said "I think we should leave" I quickly agreed and we swiftly trekked out of the cave. We believe we was nearing the opening of the other side of the cave and had walked up on a animal. What kind of animal we are not sure. What added to the fear factor of the situation is that we only had knives for protection against whatever it was. The next time we explore any cave we will be armed with pistols from now on because we want to return home in one piece.

I hope you enjoyed our adventure because we sure did. Be sure to check back to my blog on the first day of the new year when I will announce my new series that I will be doing. I'm very excited about it and I'm sure you will be too. Thank you for checking out my blog and I will leave you with some random pics from the hiking trip.

Exploration of the "Lost Cave" Coming Soon...

I wanted to post that I have a hiking/photography outing planned for this Thursday, Dec. 27, in Cumberland County, Tennessee. I am super stoked being that this is my first hiking trip since spring of this year. My friend Matt and I will be returning to the same cave that we found in our last hiking trip to this location (you can see all the pics and info about that in my January 2012 post). We never have had the opportunity to return to the location until now! Besides exploring the cave we will also be hiking new trails that we have never hiked before. This will be the first of many hiking trips not only to this location but many others as well. So be sure to keep checking back to my blog for the latest adventures and don't miss the exploration of the "Lost Cave".

2013 My Best Year!

2012 was a growing year for me. Since my last post I have moved out of my apartment and into my very own house in a different city. Been through three different jobs (but I love the one I'm at now) and many other varies things. With that being said 2013 looks to be a great year. My new years resolution for this year is to keep working out on a regular and staying fit, go on more photography outings and take my photography to the next level, save money and get my money in better order, and lastly be a more kind person not only to the people that I know but to strangers as well. Of course I may add more resolutions to this list but for now that's what I have come up with.

My plans for this blog for the new year is to keep updating it on a regular basis like I use to when I first started it. The main reason I haven't updated it until now is that my laptop that I used for photography died this fall and i have yet to replace it. So I have had no way to edit my photos nor upload them. However I have my eye on a new laptop, but I am waiting to the new year because I think it will go on sale. Once I buy my new laptop I will probably flood my blog with pics since I have a ton just sitting in my cameras sd card lol.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

News For This Week

I hope you had a awesome weekend this past week. I don't have any new pics from this past weekend because I was a groomsman in my first cousins wedding on Saturday. I had a great time and it was an honer to be apart of the wedding and congrats to my cousin Daniel and his wife Lacey. Sunday was Fathers day and I spent my time with my dad. Me and my fiance came him a couple of presents, my mom made homemade strawberry ice cream, and we all went swimming at the pool. It was a very fun day, but needless to say I don't have any new pics. However I will show you guys a Sunflower pic that I never uploaded from last summer that I took with my old Camera. I like the shot a lot and I'm not really sure why I have never shown it before.

Also, here is a shot of me at my cousins wedding after the ceremony.

Be sure to check back here I'm hoping to make a photography outing by the end of the week. Also, I am going to start a new little series on my blog. I'm not going to spill the details yet, but there will be more info next week. Hope you has a great day.

My Deviant Art

Just thought I would let you guys know that I have a deviant art page and have for the past couple of years. For people that don't know what deviant art is it's basically a place to share artwork with thousands of people. They can comment, favorite, and critique your work kinda like a Facebook for art. Its a great place to look at all my photography and if you have a deviant art feel free to follow me and I will follow you back. I love looking back through all my old pics on deviant art from 2010. You can really tell how I have progressed as a photographer and how much more room for improvement there is too. So just click on the link if you would like to check it out.

My Deviant Art

Summertime in Tennessee

Over the weekend we received much needed rain and in between the rain showers I managed to take a couple of pictures of some new blooms. 

I was hoping to be have more pics but I promise there will be more next time. Check back for more pics soon as I will be updating my blog on a regular bases for now on. 

Summer Blooms

Here are some pics of flowers I took this past Saturday at my parents house. My mom always has a beautiful flower garden and these are just the first few that I have taken this summer.

Next week I will have more Nature/ flower pics to post so be sure to check back Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by.

Facebook Fan Page

Just letting you guys know that I now have a Facebook fan page for Country Side Photography. Feel free to like it for all my latest photos. Here is the link for you guys. Country Side Photography Fan Page

I'm Back

Well after going on a hiatus I'm back. I am currently in the process of moving and a bunch of other crazy stuff but now I have some free time to blog again and also to do some photography. So look forward to many more posts in the near future but for now here is a new pic I took a couple of days ago of a Beautiful Lily flower.

First Blooms

Here is a couple of shots from yesterday.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks there will be more blooms since the weather is starting to warm up. I also will be posting in a couple of days about a contest that i am going to be participating in. So be sure to check back for more fun stuff to come.

Spring Is On Its Way!

I know it has been a while since my last post. Between being sick for almost two weeks straight and bad weather contributed to my lack of posting on my blog, but the weather is finally warming up a bit. Today I am gonna be taking some pics of some blooms that are already out and i will be posting them later today. In conclusion sorry for the lack of posting lately, but I will be keeping my blog up to date from now on. Check back for more nature shots to come.

Hiking Adventure

This past Thursday my friend Matt and I decide to go hiking in Cumberland County, Tennessee. We started our day at the top of "Eagle Flight" cliff. The view was amazing and you could see for many miles.

We then started hiking down into the valley below. We traveled through a thick forest and climbed many large boulders.

 We finally made it to the valley and sate down on a flat rock beside a creek to eat our snack of an apple, orange, and a cliff bar.

This is the flat rock where we sat down to eat.

After we enjoyed our snack we decided to follow the trail down stream hoping to find a larger pool of water or maybe a waterfall since we know of two other falls in the same area. Before we knew it the trail had ended and something caught my attention im the corner of my eye. It was the mouth of a cave.

We traveled down into the cave and it was awesome. We talked to one of our friends that has hiked in this area many times before and he says that the cave goes for miles and at one point opens up to this huge cavern called "grand cavern". Unfortunately we had no head lambs or flashlights with us at the time so we have plans to go back next Thursday to travel back into the cave. Here are some of the shots of the cave that I have so far.

Me acting crazy.

We finished exploring the cave as much as we could and began the long 45 min hike back to the top of the mountain just in time for the sunset. The view was incredible and the sunset did not disappoint. Here are just a few of my favorite shots.

Matt doing a handstand "like a boss" on top of the cliff in front of the beautiful sunset.

We had a great day of hiking and I really enjoyed being outdoors in nature. I look forward to our next hike and we are making plans to go hiking at least once a week. It is great exercise, we enjoy hiking and being outdoors, and it will be a ton of fun. Check back for more updates soon.