After a large-scale search and rescue operation, two men were found in a cave beneath Lookout Mountain on Wednesday after becoming lost while exploring.
They were found at 3:45 a.m., according to a report from the Chattanooga Fire Department. The men had last been seen around 8 p.m. Monday.
Chris Warren, Chattanooga Fire battalion chief, said in a news release they were found in the furthest known part of the cave and were helped out. When found, the two men, Gabriel Vaughn, 21, and Robby Dobos, 23, were not seriously injured, officials said.
Cara Moore, public information officer for Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue Service, said officials were thankful the two men were unhurt, but also said they were insufficiently equipped and may have been trespassing.
The men were found in the cave located off an active railroad tunnel owned by Norfolk Southern, she said. Intending to explore, they became disoriented and took the wrong passageway, she said.
Gabriel Vaughn, 21
Robby Dobos, 23“Norfolk Southern is grateful these men were rescued safely, and we’re proud of the members of our team who assisted in the rescue effort. Nevertheless, railroad tracks are never a safe place for the public to explore no matter the circumstances,” Spielmaker said in a news statement.
Tripp Lichtefeld, chair of the Chattanooga Grotto caving club, said he’s familiar with that cave but knows it’s off-limits as property of the railroad.
“They don’t take too kindly to trespassers,” he said.
Lichtefeld also is on the cave rescue team, but he said he could only talk about caving and caving safety – not the Lookout Mountain rescue.
There are about 10,000 caves within an hour’s drive of Chattanooga, Lichtefeld said, and multiple groups are dedicated to the activity. Some caves are open to the public for exploring, others are not. He encouraged people interested in caving to get in touch with their local grotto group to learn about exploring caves safely, the equipment needed and which caves are open to the public. There are grottos in Pigeon Mountain and Rome, Georgia, as well as many in Tennessee, he said.
“Caving is one of the last avenues of exploration,” Lichtefeld said. “You can see satellite images of the whole surface of the Earth and not have to really leave your couch. But you can’t do that with caving. It requires you going.”
People can feel like they are the first person to be in a certain part of a cave, he said, and sometimes that’s true. Seeing the rock formations and life adapted to a sunless cave environment is fun, too, Lichtefeld said.
He said he’s seen albino crayfish with no eyes, salamanders with external gills and no eyes, and crickets and spiders with extra-long antennae and legs.
“You just don’t see stuff like that on the surface,” Lichtefeld said.
The Lookout Mountain rescue was a multi-agency operation including the Chattanooga Fire Department, Chattanooga Police Department, Hamilton County Special Tactics and Rescue Service, Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management, Chattanooga- Hamilton County Rescue Service, Norfolk Southern Police, Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services, Highway 58 Volunteer Fire Department and the Hamilton County 911 Incident Dispatch Unit.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.
