Mountain Empire Grotto Articles and Trip Reports

Two Cave Day

Mark Woods

On Saturday January 26th Mark, Eric, Wes, Robbie, and Stephanie welcomed over from Flittermouse Grotto
John Christie, Scott McCrea, Ellen Hoffler, Kevin "Kodak Man" Bruff , Kimberly Novak, and Jimmy Deaton, to hit Worleys Railroad Passage and the peccary tracks,  and then head up to Lathams  to look at the lake for possible pushing.


Worleys

We started off with Worleys and met there around 9 a.m.  We arrived, changed, and headed down to the cave.  We headed in to let our eyes adjust to the dark and get to know the friends from Flittermouse.  We had a newby on the trip so we took it easy on her at first.  We headed into the ballroom and up to the railroad passage.  We headed toward the climb and found out quick thanks to "Kodak Man" this was going to be a long trip.  After we made it up the climb and keeping an eye on Ellen's knee, we headed onward and inward.  Kevin and Wes stopped to take several pics of tight places.  Mark and Eric looked for leads and waited at the peccary tracks for the rest of the crowd.  When they arrived we gave them a couple of options on how to go around a little hump in the road.  We all looked around and took pics of the tracks and of some really nice bacon strips and started back out.  When we got back to the climb we encountered  some true "spelunkers" getting ready to do the climb.  When we got closer to the entrance we cought up to a group that had a light that looked like they had harnessed the sun.  After picking up some trash on the way out we took some pics and headed up to the parking lot.  On the way up I noticed a small group of people on rope on the far side of the rock face.  After watching them get started I heard "On Belay";  after a close look at the belayer I expressed to Ellen that Gary would have had a fit if he had seen the belaying tecnique. After we changed we went to McDonalds to have lunch before the next trip.  Me and Eric stopped off to get Jennifer for this trip.

Lathams

We got there and headed down to the entrance where "Kodak Man"  struck again.  There was several ice formations inside the entrance room.  When we got to the near sump we encountered the first water of the trip.  It was a little more than knee deep.  We pushed on toward the creek.  When we got to the creek,  Me, John, Kim, and Jimmy saw a white crawlfish,  Kim was really excited.  We hurried to the lake to look at it with clear water.  The Flittermouse folks liked the way it looked but had no takers on swimming it.  On the way out we stopped and let a few people check out the new fun spot of MUDD and John picked up a few pounds in his pack.  After he came out of the crawl John found out that Scott has still got the speed left over from a former track career.  John wanted a hug.  We stopped shortly to have fun sliding down the water slide.  When we got back to the entrance it was COLD so we wasted no time getting to the vehicles to get changed and warmed up.   After changing we stood around and chatted for a while about past and future trip plans.  Then we said our good byes and to my knowledge we went home and Flittermouse went to Hooters, and then home.

Scott Co. Blowing Hole

Mark Woods

On Saturday January 19 Mark, Eric, Don,Jason, Robbie and Brandon met at the McDonald's in Colonial Heights for breakfast and then headed toward Scott Co.  When Don finally caught up to me and Eric to show us the way to the cave we were there in no time. We suited up and headed in.  Once we got to the first drop we rigged it and dropped Don's cable ladder.  Robbie and Brandon decided to stay on the upper level with Robbie's recent knee troubles.  Don, Jason, Eric, and myself pushed onward and downward.  After going up and down the passages we finally found our way back to where they had supposedly found new virgin passage.  Upon realizing where we were Jason anounced that he had already surveyed this section and spoiled all hopes of finding Virgin in this part.  Eric and Jason decided to check it out anyways and see if they could sniff out something new.  While they did me and Don decided to head back toward the climb out so we wouldn't hold them up on their way out.  We made it past the canyon, after I had to stop and find a way for me to get up to the top, we found our way through the passage and back to the top of the ladder. When Eric and Jason caught up to us,  Jason explained how they found about 100 feet of new stuff  but for some reason started feeling lite headed and came back.  We made our way back to the entrance and up to the trucks when Jason decided to go back and check on Robbie and Brandon.  When he found them, they were digging on a section Robbie had wanted to dig because he hed felt good air movement there before.  They dug for a couple more hours and headed out as well.


Trip to Lathams  on January 5, 2008

Mark Woods

Mark, Eric, Jennifer, Wes, and Andrea went to Lathams on Saturday.  As Mark, Eric, and Jennifer waited at the parking spot, we decided to take the time to talk to the overseer of the property.  It went well and he said there shoud not be a problem with the SERA/VAR event using the cave as a trip cave.  Then when Wes and Andrea finally showed up we started to the cave.  When we got to the entrance there were all kinds of ice formations inside the cave.  It was really cool.  After taking a couple of pictures we started in and decided to look into some side leads to see if they went anywhere.  Not too far inside the cave in the main passage we found some VERY large bats that we were not able to identify.  We went back to the pool at the rear of the cave and turned around.  Eric and Wes decided to push the lead where the spring comes into the creek.  It went for a little ways and was REALLY muddy.  We all tried this lead and decided to wait on Eric and Wes since they were heading out.  We made our way out and up the hill to the trucks and changed.  Then it was back to my house for some homemade soup to warm up to. 


A trip to Carter Saltpeter with the Flittermouse Grotto -- December 8, 2007

robbie spiegel

I didn't think there was anything new for me to see at Carter Saltpeter, but John Matthews told me about a pit with a steel bar across it, just at the top of the massive curtain formation featured in Barr's Caves of Tennessee. I was eager to see it, so I jumped into a clean-up and fun trip that John organized for the Flittermouse Grotto, on the morning of their Christmas party. Apparently it was the first grotto trip they had had there in years and a lot of the trippers had never seen the cave. Alexei from Texas (Odessa, maybe?) had just attended his first FMG meeting the night before and ended up doing a lot of the trip together with me and Kevin Bruff of FMG. John had an entrance log to keep track of who went in and came out -- a very good idea with the large number of cavers we had.

The Flittermice worked for about 45 minutes doing a pretty thorough cleanup of the entrance area, then we headed for that pit. Go past the big curtain formation, then climb up on it and head back for the wall. High on the left there is a narrow window that lets into the pit. On the far side of the pit, maybe eight feet, there's another, higher aperture. I rigged a handline and dropped down into the pit, trying not to rely on the bar. The pit is only about 11-13 feet deep. The passage at the bottom is pretty well cemented shut after a couple of feet. While I was looking at it, Kevin and Alexei went over my head to check out the passage on the other side. Kevin called back that it goes as narrow canyon passage, splitting to go high and low. They were stopped at a drop they thought might be about 35 feet down into what looked like going canyon. They found some attractive formations back there. I never tried to follow them. Climbing back up the pit was a bear, especially since I still didn't trust the bar. The pit was a little too wide to easily chimney, so I struggled up, glad no one was there to see.

When Kevin and Alexei got back, I took a couple of pictures of Kevin emerging from the entrance hole, then they took some of each other demonstrating the strength of the bar. We headed for the back and found a lot of Flittermice waiting their turn to look at the waterfall and terminal sump. Kevin and I decided to follow the stream passage. It was my first time back there since Wayne Manly showed it to me and Mike Smith about nine years ago. We heard voices ahead of us and I had one of those moments of total disorientation, thinking I had somehow reversed course and ended back in the main passage. We had indeed reached the sump, and an evil smelling sump it was, too. Someone suggested I check out the other branch of the passage and see if I thought it could be pushed. It goes, but through a very tight spot. It opens up after the tight spot, then it bears right and out of sight.

Alexei and I and another Flittermouse visited the front passage but never did drop the pit. There were lots of bats in the big breakdown room. One objective of the trip was to photograph the bats and find if there are any endangered species there, as the Tennessee Wildlife people might be interested in helping preserve the cave if there are any. There is a pit there, maybe 15 to 20 feet, that drops to a waterfall. Alexei wanted to climb down, so I lent him my harness and set myself in a good belay position. He soon reached a spot where the drop was badly overhung. We could have gotten him down but getting him back up was doubtful. John was waiting for us at the entrance. Most of the other Flittermice had cleared out to go back to the grotto Christmas party.

Cursing the sticky red clay in the parking area, we changed, then John, John Christie (FMG Vice-Chair), Kevin, and I drove over to visit the landowner -- but he wasn't home.

Note: While I was waiting for the Flittermice, I did a little ridgewalking and found a lot of good-looking dig locations. Follow the direction of the cave trend and walk across the graded area. Reach the other side and bear left and you will start finding them. The cave property is for sale. The cave is currently packaged with twelve acres, at $12,000 per acre, making it a very expensive hole in the ground or a reasonably priced home lot(s), considering Johnson City land prices.

On Saturday December 15th Mark, Will, Wes, Eric, and Britney set off for a cave in Russell County that legend had it has a lake in it with a homemade boat that had been built there. After passing the entrance three times, Wes searched further up the hill and Mark looked into a small opening near the road. It turned out to be the cave entrance. After rigging the 40 to 45 foot pit entrance we all rappelled down to the bottom. After we all got down we shed our vert gear and after taking some pics we started to push the cave. We only got about 50 to 75 feet back in the cave when we encountered the water. After taking a short break to gather our thoughts we decided to push on and try to push out the back side of the water. We got about 20 feet into the water and we lost the floor, the water was deep enough that we couldn't touch the bottom with our feet. Britney was the first to take the plunge into the water. She was quickly joined by Eric and Mark, and after some convincing Wes and Will joined in and went for a swim. After being literally up to our necks in water we pushed it until we ran out of cave and after cursing ourselves for doing that we headed back toward the entrance. After finding out just how scared of spiders Britney really was we climbed out to the cold air on the outside. From here we changed and headed back toward Bristol.

Total cave passage is probably about 100 feet give or take.
Total Pit depth is around 40 to 45 feet.
WET and COLD as we left, we declared this cave to be the Polar Bear Cave.

Will Clark

021007 TRIP REPORT for Buggytop

Terri Brown

Members of the Sewanee Mountain Grotto checked out Buggytop (Lost Cove) cave in the Carter Cave Natural Area on Feb. 10, 2007 , and I jumped at a last minute invitation. Before the trip, I read up on Buggytop in Nick Crawford's Karst Valley Development in the Lost Cove Area, Franklin County , TN (part III of The Karst Hydrogeology of the Cumberland Plateau Escarpment of Tennessee series, TDEC, 1992). According to Crawford, Buggytop is a classic example of conduit cavern development via subterranean stream invasion (i.e., piracy). He also opined that the main entrance is arguably the prettiest in the state. So I was stoked!

It was frigid that morning when we huddled around Anne and Blaine's woodstove to slurp cups of gourmet coffee. The missing were gradually accounted for (wouldn't leave their warm beds), so the crew ended up consisting of: Daniel, an errant Canadian caver touring the southeastern US, Dale the “Nekked Man”, Sarah, Cliff and Brian from Chattanooga , Blaine and Anne Grindle (trip leader), and me.

We convoyed down the ridge and around by the Town of Sewanee . On Rte 56, we passed the parking area for the Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lee Carter Natural Area. Apparently the Carters donated the 375 acres of karstland now managed by TDEC. This is the preferred way to reach Buggytop cave and nearby Peter Cave, by hiking in from the parking area on Spur Trail, a rugged traverse with well-marked junctions and serious exposure. Just to be different, Anne took us up through the mouth of Lost Cove (into the lower end of the Natural Area) across private land that she had recently gotten access to. This turned out to be quite a sportin' trek but soon we landed intact on the bank of a creek at the fork of two hollows. One hollow lead up to Tom Pack cave, which despite a threatened mutiny we did not go to this time, and the other was the way to Buggytop.

Anne led the left-hand trail toward the Natural Area. Just after passing the boundary, someone hailed us from out of the woods, and a young man in shirt sleeves and a badge appeared. Fortunately, he was smiling. This was Ranger Jason, who was walking the boundary for some project, but who sure seemed to want to go with us. He was really nice and pointed us off in either the direction of the ridge top trail or the creek bed, both routes leading to the cave. True to caver form and function, the group instantly split in two, with half taking the high road and the other half drawn towards the sound of the stream. Their route was steep but ours was slippery, and both groups arrived at exactly the same time. They tried to act like they didn't run, but it didn't matter anyway, because by approaching from below, we got to take in the gasp-inspiring view of the tiered horseshoe falls flowing out of the 80-ft wide cave entrance at the base of a sculpted 150-ft cliff. ( <Nya Nya>).

We could've hung out on the warm limestone ledges at the entrance all day – at least while the sun was throwing rays into the narrow valley – but eventually the cave beckoned us on in. The main entrance is the first of three beautiful entrances that you can pop out of as you make your way through the cave. The mile-or-so extent of main stream passage is formed in the Mississippian Monteagle limestone along intersecting joints trending NW and NE. The rectilinear passage is replicated in ceiling patterns of fractures, boxwork and straws/icecicles. The character of the passage ranges from BIG rooms floored by sandy cobble beaches, to giant breakdown piles, to a wide riffled stream segment. The rear half of the cave narrows down to a steeply-dipping, joint-controlled canyon in which one can traverse a couple of soaking waterfalls and relatively deep pools. Glimpses of black space suggest upper level passage in the canyon, but from what I could tell, the way up is clogged by scary-looking BFRs.

In this rear portion of the cave, the walls close in on you enough to allow close examination of bedrock features, including multidirectional scallops, rill development, and big horn corals protruding from the rock. The high-gradient stream plunges from a swallet draining a large sinkhole valley just several hundred feet to the north of the back of Buggytop. Although other cavers have done it as well, Crawford's report documented his 1975 dye trace in which the front of the dye plume traveled about 3500 ft. from Lost Cove swallet to the downstream entrance of Buggytop in about 1.5 hours. It took a couple more hours for all the dye to pass through the system. Rumor has it that the water quality of the cave stream is greatly improved since the Town of Sewanee stopped discharging wastewater effluent into Lost Cove a number of years ago.

We made it back to the vehicles in slanted afternoon sunlight and met a group on their way out of Tom Pack. We hustled out of there in order to make it to the grotto meeting that evening, but not before stopping to check out a random pit on the side of the road and stopping again to buy beer and milk for beer shakes or something. This was really a beautiful place and it would be especially nice to visit again during spring wildflower season.

THE END