John

May 15, 1971, John Van Swearinger IV introduced us to New Fern Cave. John Wallace, Bill Meier and I were excited to see what all the cavers in the nation were talking about at the time. A huge cave system had been discovered in north Alabama. Vertical cavers from all over north America were coming to drop the deepest pit at that time in the eastern United States, Fern Cave.

The Fern Cave System is located in the west side of Nat Mountain in North Alabama. Fern Cave was...