Post by jspiers on Dec 18, 2008 2:43:04 GMT -5
December 6, 2008
OK, here is the long promised trip report on Popular Cave in Greene County...
Tim had been wanting me to meet with him and former Appalachian Grotto member Curtis for breakfast and a good caving trip. (There has been some discussion of reactivating the grotto, and we wanted to find out what would be involved and if there was enough interest.) Mike came along and brought four brand new cavers. Curtis decided to bring along his wife and son, who had never been caving, as well. (I apologize if I forget names... I believe Curtis' wife was named Ray, and I know we had Justin and I believe Jamie along, but I can't remember who all was there besides. I will list them as soon as I get all the names together again...)
We left the restaurant around 10:30, and headed to our meeting spot to meet with Robert from the Smoky Mountain Grotto. We then followed Tim and Curtis to the farm where the Popular Cave System is located. We started with a trip into a nearby sinkhole that took about an hour. We split into 2 groups. The group I was in headed down quite a ways, with a guesstimated 400-500 feet horizontal and about 50-100 feet vertical, mostly tight crawling and stooping passageway. I believe that the other branch was about 300 feet long. If nothing else, it got us warmed up and hungry to see some more cave!
We walked across the field to Popular Cave, stopping to chat with a rabbit hunter on the way, and soon headed into the HUGE borehole that is the main entrance to Popular. Curtis then led us on a memorable through trip. It was memorable mostly due to the fact that we had several new cavers, as well as due to my own large girth and the forty foot free climb out that SOMEONE forgot to mention =:-)
We traveled down the borehole until we reached the small waterfall that marks the beginning of the stream-bed, which we followed on and off for most of the rest of the trip. The water never got more than knee deep, though there were spots where those of us with packs chose to crawl. Finally, we reached a climb up and over through a small hole that led us into a nice large room for a smoke / trail mix break (depending on everyones particular vices!) We left and rejoined the stream by going down a steep clay bank that had been rigged with looped strap, and took some time to explore some of the beautiful formations on the other side of the stream (picture time!) We then followed some more stream passage, until the next large obstacle.
Eventually, we came to a large boulder that offered two options. The first was to chimney up and over the boulder and go back down to the stream through a tight though short squeeze. The other was to lay on one's back and go under the boulder in the stream bed with about 6 inched of airspace. Tim chose the water, and the rest of us chose to help each other up and over. The only one that experienced any real difficulty was me, as my rather large derrière did not wish to fit through the squeeze! However, a few smacks at the clay rock under the squeeze with Justin's hatchet, and with Tim pulling on my pant legs while I breathed out and sucked in my gut (a real trick!) I made it through. Next was an interesting climb over some very slippery rock and clay to take us up to the level from which we would exit the cave. It was at this point that we discovered that the exit was a 40 foot free climb out of a pit. The climb was not particularly challenging, but there were some mitigating factors. First, there were several that had never climbed anything, second, we only had one harness and one chest strap for belaying 7 people, and third, no one had brought ascenders along, and no-one wanted to wait for any one to walk out for some! So, Curtis, who had made the trip many times, climbed out, and rigged a belay for the rest of us. First out was Ray, who due to her height had a little difficulty bridging from one side of the pit to the other, but Tim remedied this by climbing up to her, bridging it with his body, and allowing her to cross on his back. (This is why we bring Tim along, he makes the rest of us look sane!)
There was one humorous incident at the beginning, where I knelt to allow Ray to climb on my back. As she climbed up the pit, I told her to place both of her feet on my left hand so she could traverse to a foothold. Unfortunately, this caused her to push back as well as down on my hand, forcing me to attempt to press her full weight from behind my head back up onto the wall. I grunted “Oh, that's heavy,” thereby making her laugh so hard she lost her grip, and Curtis laugh so hard he slacked the belay. It was interesting for a second until we all quit laughing! Anyhow, I stayed at the bottom and alternately rigged the harness and chest strap until everyone was out. This allowed everyone to be at the top to belay ME! Everything went well until I attempted the final heave out of the pit. I was pushing for all I was worth, and I was even getting pulled by those on belay, but I couldn't get out no matter how hard I struggled. Finally, I realized that my harness was stuck, and I was trying to lift out the entire cave! After I unhooked my harness from the wall, it was much easier to escape.
We had one more hold up after we walked out. Two of the new cavers had remained behind with Mike, who had to go to a Christmas party. When we didn't show for a while, they decided to go back into the cave and stay warm. When we returned, we were faced with the site of a pile of gear in the entrance of the cave, but no sign of the duo. Upon consulting over our options, we settled on the high tech option of yelling into the cave entrance. Luckily, this was successful, however, this did provide an opportunity to talk about always leaving a note for other members of the party when there is a change of plan! Finally, we were all able to climb in the back of Tim's truck, and ride in our wet clothes for a mile through the snow to where we had originally left our vehicles... FUN!
Anyhow, a most excellent time was had by all, and kudos are due Curtis and Tim for the planning and carrying out of a wonderful Saturday crawling through East Tennessee limestone!
Jeremy
OK, here is the long promised trip report on Popular Cave in Greene County...
Tim had been wanting me to meet with him and former Appalachian Grotto member Curtis for breakfast and a good caving trip. (There has been some discussion of reactivating the grotto, and we wanted to find out what would be involved and if there was enough interest.) Mike came along and brought four brand new cavers. Curtis decided to bring along his wife and son, who had never been caving, as well. (I apologize if I forget names... I believe Curtis' wife was named Ray, and I know we had Justin and I believe Jamie along, but I can't remember who all was there besides. I will list them as soon as I get all the names together again...)
We left the restaurant around 10:30, and headed to our meeting spot to meet with Robert from the Smoky Mountain Grotto. We then followed Tim and Curtis to the farm where the Popular Cave System is located. We started with a trip into a nearby sinkhole that took about an hour. We split into 2 groups. The group I was in headed down quite a ways, with a guesstimated 400-500 feet horizontal and about 50-100 feet vertical, mostly tight crawling and stooping passageway. I believe that the other branch was about 300 feet long. If nothing else, it got us warmed up and hungry to see some more cave!
We walked across the field to Popular Cave, stopping to chat with a rabbit hunter on the way, and soon headed into the HUGE borehole that is the main entrance to Popular. Curtis then led us on a memorable through trip. It was memorable mostly due to the fact that we had several new cavers, as well as due to my own large girth and the forty foot free climb out that SOMEONE forgot to mention =:-)
We traveled down the borehole until we reached the small waterfall that marks the beginning of the stream-bed, which we followed on and off for most of the rest of the trip. The water never got more than knee deep, though there were spots where those of us with packs chose to crawl. Finally, we reached a climb up and over through a small hole that led us into a nice large room for a smoke / trail mix break (depending on everyones particular vices!) We left and rejoined the stream by going down a steep clay bank that had been rigged with looped strap, and took some time to explore some of the beautiful formations on the other side of the stream (picture time!) We then followed some more stream passage, until the next large obstacle.
Eventually, we came to a large boulder that offered two options. The first was to chimney up and over the boulder and go back down to the stream through a tight though short squeeze. The other was to lay on one's back and go under the boulder in the stream bed with about 6 inched of airspace. Tim chose the water, and the rest of us chose to help each other up and over. The only one that experienced any real difficulty was me, as my rather large derrière did not wish to fit through the squeeze! However, a few smacks at the clay rock under the squeeze with Justin's hatchet, and with Tim pulling on my pant legs while I breathed out and sucked in my gut (a real trick!) I made it through. Next was an interesting climb over some very slippery rock and clay to take us up to the level from which we would exit the cave. It was at this point that we discovered that the exit was a 40 foot free climb out of a pit. The climb was not particularly challenging, but there were some mitigating factors. First, there were several that had never climbed anything, second, we only had one harness and one chest strap for belaying 7 people, and third, no one had brought ascenders along, and no-one wanted to wait for any one to walk out for some! So, Curtis, who had made the trip many times, climbed out, and rigged a belay for the rest of us. First out was Ray, who due to her height had a little difficulty bridging from one side of the pit to the other, but Tim remedied this by climbing up to her, bridging it with his body, and allowing her to cross on his back. (This is why we bring Tim along, he makes the rest of us look sane!)
There was one humorous incident at the beginning, where I knelt to allow Ray to climb on my back. As she climbed up the pit, I told her to place both of her feet on my left hand so she could traverse to a foothold. Unfortunately, this caused her to push back as well as down on my hand, forcing me to attempt to press her full weight from behind my head back up onto the wall. I grunted “Oh, that's heavy,” thereby making her laugh so hard she lost her grip, and Curtis laugh so hard he slacked the belay. It was interesting for a second until we all quit laughing! Anyhow, I stayed at the bottom and alternately rigged the harness and chest strap until everyone was out. This allowed everyone to be at the top to belay ME! Everything went well until I attempted the final heave out of the pit. I was pushing for all I was worth, and I was even getting pulled by those on belay, but I couldn't get out no matter how hard I struggled. Finally, I realized that my harness was stuck, and I was trying to lift out the entire cave! After I unhooked my harness from the wall, it was much easier to escape.
We had one more hold up after we walked out. Two of the new cavers had remained behind with Mike, who had to go to a Christmas party. When we didn't show for a while, they decided to go back into the cave and stay warm. When we returned, we were faced with the site of a pile of gear in the entrance of the cave, but no sign of the duo. Upon consulting over our options, we settled on the high tech option of yelling into the cave entrance. Luckily, this was successful, however, this did provide an opportunity to talk about always leaving a note for other members of the party when there is a change of plan! Finally, we were all able to climb in the back of Tim's truck, and ride in our wet clothes for a mile through the snow to where we had originally left our vehicles... FUN!
Anyhow, a most excellent time was had by all, and kudos are due Curtis and Tim for the planning and carrying out of a wonderful Saturday crawling through East Tennessee limestone!
Jeremy