Little Swift sign searching...

Well one of my friends and I went out on a hike April 4 to try and locate both some turkey track carvings that my father had found about 20 years ago and a mine entrance that had been covered up with old locust poles and colonial masonry. Well no luck on either Im guessing the moss has over grown the rocks, or we just didnt look hard enough, and I still havent given up on locating the mine with the hidden entrance (although I belive it to be Spanish, French or Indian workings). All in all it was a fun day and got to see some exciting rock formations, lots of bear poo and gather about 6 miles or so of exercise. Im currently planning a 28 mile hike, broke up into 3 days, from Pound Gap to the Breaks Interstate Park to take place in the next few weeks. Well heres a few pics of some of the sights along the hike...

another...

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another of a water hole in rear of cave...

another...

another of a rock house with a hole in the top...funny thing it had graffiti inside of it with a date of 4-4-76, we were there to the exact day, weird.....

and last the view up through the hole in rockhouse from the floor....

go to radio shack and get one one of those hand held metal detectors. you can keep it in the back pack and use it to scan rocks at the caves and rockhouses. if any mining was done around there, it will sound off. remember that there is a lot of iron ore out there.

boomers right  there was a lot of Iron ore (Hematitic ore) and also Saltpeter (Gun powder) mines all across Ky and surrounding region. In doing research and study on the mine i found, I went and explored an Iron ore cave not to long ago. The cave was in limestone and went back for hundreds of feet. One must use caution when entering and exploring these iron mines, due to sink holes, and cave ins. Iron ore and saltpeter mines were both worked diffrently, their will usualy be signs of these workings left behind, most of the times water or a water shed was located near by for extracton of saltpeter. 

I love the skyview shelter.  I visited those caves not too long ago myself.  The cave in the second picture is pretty cool.  If you move some brush and leaves from the rock outside and to the right of the cave you can see some name carved into it.  I could't make it out.  HH

Dirt your in box is full.   

DMSDAK  There is a tunnel not far from there you can walk from Va to Ky underneath the mountain.

Funny that is shaped like a heart....as is the 'water' holeIs the light shaped like a heart too that comes through?

Where did everyone go???

2Shoes... You talkin about the Bad Br. area?

I never noticed the light coming through to see if it was heart shaped...I'll have to take notice next time. I think 2shoes is speaking of the railroad tunnel built in the 40's that goes from jenkins to pound possibly? I have been at the exit over on the VA side while visiting the killin rock.


Seth

I've heard of the railroad tunnel. I've never seen it.  It seems like I read somewhere it was supposed to have been under construction alot earlier than the 40's. Not really sure though. The tunnel I was talking about is supposed to be around Mayking, going through to the area around Bad Branch Falls. Supposedly, There are still Indian artifacts laying around inside. I know someone who has been there, and he told me it is big enough to ride a four-wheeler through. You can stop in the middle, and there is a passageway going back deeper into the mountian. But i'll believe it if I ever see it. He says he'll show me sometime, but getting the same time off is proving to be a real problem. 

Yeh it was the Railroad tunnel I was talking about.   I have heard of a natural tunnel around that area you can ride a atv through.  Be neat to see it. 

Heres a few new pictures from a recent outing to Bad Creek I made this past Saturday in an attempt to locate a cave that was found a few years ago but never explored, near an area where I believe indians and the spanish mined silver prior to swift.

Have you explored the cave any?

   We were unable to locate it this outing, my dads directions to where it was were sorta unclear and we crossed the creek and went to the back of the main ridge looking for it and passed it by a few miles. My dad found the cave a few years ago in the area, made a mental note of it but didnt explore it, he was turkey hunting at the time, and just recently told me about it. We shall make another attempt in the coming weeks.


Seth aka DMSDAK

Seth,
Good luck and Hope you find it, if i was close to your area i would love to help you explore the cavern.
Great pictures by the way ... 

DMSDAK,

Have you made it to the cave area yet?

   Hey I finally made it to the cave on Nov. 29th. My dad finally agreed to take me back there and show me where it was. I must say it is huge. There were signs around the opening that someone had been there sifting for arrowheads etc. as there was rat wire and the remains of an old sifter box. I also uncovered an entrenching tool ( or folding military shovel ) that had been hidden in the rocks and leaves just below the opening. Inside however nothing but a few recent (say 1960's-70's) carvings of initials and dates, and boatloads of cave cricketts huddled up. It went back about 150 feet or so then ended with an extremely narrow pass that I could not get through, couldnt tell how much farther on it went after that. Although I have no doubt the indians and possibly longhunters probably used this as shelter, I dont think there is much in the way of treasure here to find. We also found a moonshine still hidden down in a laurel thickett that still had some recognizable parts intact. This was Bad Creek #2 on the Letcher County KY - Wise County VA state line farther south than the Bad Creek #1 that I'm gonna explore once again in January, where my dad found an entrance into the hill side covered with dirt and locust poles nearly 20 years ago while in a laurel thickett. I hope to find that location again with him and go inside. I suspect its more than likely Spanish works however I'll keep yah posted. Within a mile of this location is a rock with turkey tracks carved on it, hes also gonna go show me to take pics of it.

There's a cave close to that area that I was told goes through the mountian, and the openings are big enough to ride a four wheeler through...it's supposed to branch off somewhere in the middle, but you would have to walk that part. Still waiting to get to go there.

Well you are doing it!  Getting to that cave was a great step! Did you use a detector of any kind? Be sure to take one to the cave/mine with the posts in it! Take a bunch of pictures and post some (ones that don't give away its location if you want to keep it to yourself). Don't let anyone tell you the Spanish were not in KY, they were in Elliott county for sure! Good luck, have fun, and be careful!