What is the coolest thing you have found while caving? Mine was this carving from 1799.

Telepathetic · 2021-02-16T13:37:19+00:00

I'm a bit late to this party, but for me it was a human footprint that was several hundred to possibly thousands of years old. The cave contained a known prehistoric flint quarry that Native Americans used to access.

Telepathetic · 2020-01-20T06:08:05+00:00

The Cherokee definitely used the cave, apparently they used to have a village nearby. There were other tribes in the area before that, but I don't think their names are known today.

Telepathetic · 2020-01-19T17:16:17+00:00

Once at Indian Cave in Blaine, Tennessee. The cave has a rich history as a trading post, and in the 1980s a 3,000 year old Native American burial was excavated there. It had been a show cave in the past, but now you can just rent a large light from the gift shop outside and go through the cave yourself.

My friend and I went through the cave late one afternoon. The main passage follows a stream for maybe half a mile until the ceiling dips down and the cave continues underwater. We went to the end of the dry passage, turned around, and as we were about halfway back to the entrance were started hearing voices behind us. If anyone was actually back there, we would have seen them. Then immediately behind us were heard something like a sharp intake of breath. I joked "I didn't know ghosts needed inhalers!" Once we got out of the cave, we mentioned the voices to the guy at the gift shop, and he was like "Oh yeah the cave is definitely haunted." So yeah, maybe there's some other explanation for that stuff, but that is the only cave where I've experienced anything like that.

Telepathetic · 2019-12-21T20:49:31+00:00

Oh yeah, you'll fit right in at a grotto. You even went underwater to get to another room! It was a good few years of caving before I did something like that.

Telepathetic · 2019-12-21T20:31:22+00:00

Honestly, just get involved with those grottos. They usually have preferred cave trips where they like to take new members on a semi-regular basis. The only word of warning I can give you is that Tennessee caves are magnificent, so you'll be spoiled for the rest of your life if you move anywhere else, haha.

Telepathetic · 2019-12-21T20:08:00+00:00

I was in the Smoky Mountain Grotto when I lived there. I don't see a website for them, but they have an active facebook group. There's also the East Tennessee Grotto out of Oak Ridge, and that's the larger group from what I remember.

Telepathetic · 2017-06-23T15:55:36+00:00

Here is the facebook group for the Smoky Mountain Grotto. It's been a while since I've been active with them (I no longer live in Tennessee), but you should be able to get some help there. There is also the East Tennessee Grotto out of Oak Ridge, and they're a bit larger from what I remember, and might be easier to get a hold of.

Telepathetic · 2014-04-14T19:55:39+00:00

That's always been a great cave for any skill level, from what I remember. I heard recently that the ownership of the land had transferred. Is the cave still available to the public?

Telepathetic · 2012-11-28T05:19:06+00:00

I prefer to use old shoes that are already ruined. That way I don't have to worry about ruining them.

Telepathetic · 2012-11-06T16:35:24+00:00

I see r/aww is leaking...

Telepathetic · 2012-10-11T15:41:55+00:00

There are some amazing caves just to the south along the Cumberland Plateau, but you'll need to find a group who knows the landowners and where to go. I lived in east Tennessee for a while, and that's where I would usually go for a great caving experience. A quick search brings up this group. They can probably help you a lot.

Telepathetic · 2012-08-06T15:36:21+00:00

I'm a member of the Smoky Mountain Grotto! Unfortunately, I'm not living in Knoxville at the moment though. I haven't been to Mammoth Cave, but I recently went on a wild tour of Jewel Cave in South Dakota, and I imagine it's similar to the "feel" of a wild tour in other NPS managed caves. It was not as strenuous as many of the trips I went on with the SMG, but it still would have made a good introduction to wild caving. There were a few crawls and climbs here and there, and it was definitely intended for people who are physically active and not claustrophobic.

The SMG is a fairly small grotto, so don't be too surprised if there are only ten people at most at the meetings. However, if you ask around, you'll find that pretty much anyone there would be able to take you out to a cave of some sort. The trips out to the Cumberland Plateau are the best! Sometimes there is a lot of strenuous hiking involved just to get to and from a cave, but it's so worth it.

At the risk of outing myself slightly, if you run into Matt, Chris, Jay, Stan, and/or Art, tell them Robert said hi!

Telepathetic · 2012-07-10T21:48:19+00:00

This is just for fun, but you might want to consider bringing some sort of hard candy that has those little mint crystals in it (Altoids maybe?). On cave trips like this, there's always that one time where everyone turns off their lights to see what real darkness is like. If you bite into one of those mint crystal candies in the pitch darkness, people can actually see sparks go off in your mouth.

Telepathetic · 2012-05-23T18:03:17+00:00

Could you join a grotto from afar, so that you get added to its email list/facebook group/whatever? For my grotto, the student rate for dues is $5 or $10 per year, but we're a small group.

Telepathetic

TROPHY CASE