Caving day part one, the bluffs

When I first began caving with Brad so many moons ago, I told him, and I quote, ” I’m willing to do a lot of things, but I will never, NEVER, go in a cave with water.” Obviously Chandler cave changed that almost immediately after I made my affirmation, but I never really thought I’d do what I did last weekend.

Caves and water, as it turns out, go hand in hand. With the majority of caves being formed by moving water, who wouldn’t expect that? Duh. So this adventure, starts out like some of the best I’ve had as of late, on a boat with Brad.

It’s funny; with Brad being the highly coordinated breakdancer/tai chi teacher that he is, you’d expect him to be able to paddle a canoe. But then I guess the real problem was, I let him steer.

We started the morning by getting a canoe from Riversports on Sutherland Ave. After spending the beaucoups of money that I have there, they know my name, and we’ve formed a love/hate relationship. I.e. I hate going there and spending money, and they love taking it. But that’s neither here nor there. So Brad and I got a boat and headed to Sequoyah Hills park to set sail.

Our boat must have looked like it was piloted by clowns. We were spinning in circles and not making any real progress until Brad got distracted by a phone call and I took the helm. Apparently I shouldn’t have put him at the wheel. After getting settled in a paddle pattern we made our way to the bottom of Cherokee Bluffs ( my favored climbing spot in K-town.)

Cherokee bluffs are laden with cave systems, and I would venture to say that the majority of the caves connect to some degree with micro pinches. The beauty of caves that are directly on the water lies in the difficulty in their approach. Because of the relative challenge of needing a boat, the caves are often much less littered and graffitied, which is always a plus.

Essentially there are 2 major cave sections below the bluffs. The first one has an overhanging entrance that is wide enough to drive a four wheeler through. After entering the crevice, the room opens up into a tall cathedral ceiling (30-40 ft.) with relatively wide passages. From the main chamber, you can go right or left. The right path terminates in a small pinch, whereas the left terminates with a crawl that leads to a second chamber and two more exits to the cave.

The two exits are both relatively passable, with one being a tad bit tighter.

The second cave in the grouping is much more interesting and treacherous. I won’t divulge the exact location of the second due to the beautiful flowstone formations in the area. (If you’re part of a local grotto and would like to visit it send me an email, knoxvilleadventure@gmail.com)

The second cave has a small crawl to get into the entrance chamber, which subsequently has no sealed roof, so you tend to get a bit of a draft. Once you enter the earth, you are forced to take a right turn into a tight vertical squeeze. Past the sphincter, are some of the most beautiful flowstone features I’ve ever seen. I regret that I didn’t take pictures, but the columns are fantastic.

The columns actually connect to a rock shelf that you must pass under to explore further in the cave. The shelf is literally suspended five to six feet above the ground and little more than a foot or so thick. The cave terminates relatively quickly after that point but it’s worth exploring.

Once we returned to the boat, we were surprised to find a massive barge approaching us down the narrow river (the water was exceptionally low). Brad had to take a break to climb on the chains that hang from the bluff walls as well.