We arrived around 9 am on a Sunday morning, we weren't the only individuals it seemed that were there. A vehicle with local tags was parked down by the water. Onward we went exploring the old Cavern office, store, and concession area. Some disrespectful people have been coming here in the last few years, destroyed the glass cases. Someone has stolen a model train that was in a case for many years at the site. When you walk out you pass some cheezy wood props of a wagon and water wheel. Around a corner sits a reconstructed altar to represent Native American sacrifices that may have gone down here many moons ago. Now the gates are clearly locked, but there is a couple of makeshift ways in, up a strategically placed ladder or into a side slit in the caverns front room. We entered not knowing the sheer enormity of this cavern. We trekked in and were astonished with every step we took. Figured out where this French fur trader would of lived, imagined the many tours that went on in here for many years. We saw stalagmites that would tower over the ones we saw on vacations before at Forbidden Caverns Sevierville, Tn, and Tuckaleechee Caverns Townsend, Tn. Mudglyphs can be seen on a large wall on the right side of the cave midway in that inscribes the names, of the very first peoples coming into the cave to the vandals, thieves, Satanists, druggies, alcoholics and explorers that are still coming today. As we head further into the cave you can cleary see there has been a ceiling collapse at some point, massive flow stone structure had cleaning split off the ceiling under its own weight and shifting earth. Once we realized what we were looking at we were skeptical about our safety but with the adrenaline, excitement the sure rush of being in this underground world we hiked on. We made it to what seems to be the back of the cave but if you just shimming and crawl under a carved out rock you can follow the river even further. But where we stop we found the remains of the old mining process from 1869, some type of sluice box or trough that funneled water or material down to be washed was still prevalent in the water an cave muck. An old chain held it in place with a stake anchor in the river. The age of the metal looked as if it could of been dated before the 1900s, as the large almost oval shaped ringlets were worn away and eroded from time in the mineral rich water. We found two old mining buckets in the muck and one tied to a string which we could never find the other end of the string. We turned our backs to realize, "wow" the mud wall behind us was signed by the miners in its hay day and dated. Looking through my gallery you will see some of these pictures. Very cool to see dates like 1869 carved into the mud with a finger. This is history that could be literally erased with the swipe of a hand. Spent almost 6hours inside that day, not wanting to actually leave. On our way out we were spooked by a older couple walking in with minimal gear, a cell phone light and crappy flashlight. Within minutes they were passing us and heading back out realizing they were unprepared. Upon our exit, one of our accomplices found a hole in the ceiling a rock material had basically funneled down into a room. We just needed to climb up the steep incline to get into the hole in the roof. Cory was the first one up and inside and what do you know another room! This place is non stop adventure and around every corner is something new to discover whether it be a new room you crawl into where water once was, and surprising cavern show rooms with magnificent drapery of formations. You bet your butts the three of us will be back and we will be bringing trash bags to clean up the cave from all the previous "raves" and "parties". Until next time! #hikedontwalk #historicarchaeology #blogdaily #spelunker #speleological www.mikethehikingguide.fun Jim Whidby Cave Activist, Cave historian, and caretaker for Cherokee Caverns finds a 3,000 year old knife blade in the cave.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
MiketheHikingGuide
Just an explorer searching for his next adventure Archives
January 2019
Categories |