Back on August 14, 2001 I bought a little single LED, AAA battery flashlight to wear on a lanyard around my neck while caving. I settled on an
Arc-AAA. It proved to be a great light. I loved it! On August 24, 2002, we were surveying in Lonesome Pine Cave, TN and I lost the light somewhere in the cave. I found the broken lanyard hanging out of my coverall leg. The light and whistle were gone. We searched for a while, but found nothing. I was completely bummed.
Sunday, Sept 9, 2007, over five years later, we returned to Lonesome Pine Cave and found the light in the stream--underwater, about a mile from the entrance. We were on our way out, walking down the stream, I spotted something shiny in the water. I did a double take realizing that it was my long-lost Arc-AAA. I couldn't believe it. I scooped it up and looked it over. It was in pretty good shape. I tried to turn it on. Of course, the battery was dead after five years. I popped in a new battery and it fired right up. Amazing! This thing was rolling around this stream long enough to wear the black finish off and it still works. I did the
dance of joy.
This stream sees a lot of water during wet weather, so I imagine that it has been on quite a ride. What a miracle to get it back. It was a great day!
Here's what it looked like when I found it:
After a fresh battery, it still works!
My long lost light!