Written by Lee. You may remember that I am a little claustrophobic so caverns are really not my thing. If you are worried I am not getting to do much sight seeing we are making the most of Saturdays and Lee is picking stuff to do that I wouldn’t want to do anyway. Win-Win!! – Trace
If you should happen to find yourself in this area, Lost World Caverns is a great stop for a quick hour of fun. It’s only 2.5 miles from the Lewisburg Interstate exit, very inexpensive ($15), and well maintained. Just an overall good cavern tour experience. The best part is, it’s self guided, so you can take as long as you want, or run through as fast as you can. Lee really doesn’t like guided tours because he likes to take his time with taking pictures. On guided tours he is always last in line and invariably he gets scolded for not keeping up. – Trace. The guy who sold me my ticket said most people spend 45 minutes to an hour, but I was in there for four hours taking long exposures with a tripod. It’s pretty rare that places like this allow a tripod, so it’s a great opportunity to learn the manual settings on a camera.
Clearly marked entrance, there’s no missing the turn off!
Plenty of parking, but I wouldn’t bring a big rig, the road here is narrow and twisty.
After walking through a HUGE gift shop and museum area, you head down the stairs! Make sure you have everything you need. I forgot my tripod plate and had to come ALL the way back up. He got his steps in that day – Trace
Dress accordingly, the temperature at this depth is always 52°, and it’s damp on the walkway. Another reason I am not fond of caves. They are damp cold, my least favorite – Trace
Lee just started with the pictures, but I wanted to mention that he took all of these using a tripod and long exposure. It was super dark in the cavern and taking pictures is hard in the dark. Pretty happy about how they turned out. – Trace
I thought this one was super cool. – Trace
This was was really creepy. Reminded me of pods from the alien movies. – Trace
It was too dark to get pictures of the bones and the ladder, but I thought it was pretty interesting so I included the plaque!
And here’s a little video with some creepy music!
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
Camper Chronicles 
Beautiful photos. We will have to put that on our list of places to visit!
So would Lee be willing to share some of his tricks and tips for cavern photography? This is some thing I’ve always struggled with and both Dale and I have been “scolded” for not keeping up with the group.
I am happy to tell you my methodology. You have to be able to find the controls for shutter speed and aperture in the dark, and know what settings you’re going to use pretty fast, and that just comes from experience. I spend all of my time looking around and deciding what I am going to take pictures of and from where. I set my tripod in place and I use a single knob ball head so I can get the camera in place as fast as possible. I ignore any people in the frame, because they will be gone by the time I take the shot. I tell them I’m not taking their picture, and that they’re not in my way and to just ignore me. I usually only have to do that once or twice, and then they ignore me. Then I I use a remote to trigger the shutter the instant the shot is clear. As soon as the exposure is done I grab the tripod and catch up, and I’m usually right behind the group by just a few steps. I always make it a point to tell the guide that I’m trying to keep up and to feel free to let me know if I’m being a problem. They usually appreciate that, and once they know they don’t have to keep an eye on me they ignore me too. It also helps that this routine is the same over and over, so generally everyone figures out how it’s going to go pretty fast. I’m usually ready with what I’m going to do while other people are still taking pictures, so I’m really only alone for the time it takes to expose the shot, and that’s generally less than 10 seconds. Hope that helps. – Lee
Thanks Lee.