Dope on a Rope?

Saturday was the birthday of Robby, one of the group that I have been caving with lately. Plans were made to go caving in the day and have a birthday party that night.

The downside was that my Vols were playing and it was senior day. The tickets were almost affordable, even. It was a night game!

And were that not enough, it was a must-win if they wanted to go to a bowl. Since I was actually out and already IN Knoxville anyway, maybe I could take in the game. It's been *years* since I last was able to go to one!

Going to the game would mean missing the party. I haven't seen these folks in a while and do enjoy their company. Still the chance of catching a game had real appeal. I figured I would decide what to do once I got out of the cave.

I always enjoy caving and tend to look forward to it, but this time there was even more anticipation. They were doing vertical training (rappelling). I have wanted to do this for a long time now, but never had the opportunity. Robby has all the gear and between him and a few others, there were enough rigs for about 8 people I think. We had about 15 total, but not everyone was there to rappel .

We got to the site and began hiking to the cave. Luckily, we have been to this before so finding it was not an issue. During the hike many of us got to know one another. By now, I had about decided that I had solved the dilemma of if I was going to the game or not.

The cave was found without issue. Robby and Randy began setting up their rigging in two different drop zones. This is a big cave and pics cannot capture it. There are a few ways in. One on foot and a few different places to drop a rope from.

The opening just above the mouth of the cave, drops about 50' to the floor. Robby set up here.

photo taken by Misti Cardin

There is another opening a little to the left of the center (when looking from the outside). This is where Randy set up.

Robby's was a straight drop without the security of your feet on something to "ease" into it. However, where Randy set up rope was almost three times longer a drop but there was a rock wall to be able to have your feet on something.

I chose to take the descent with the wall. It's my first time doing this, and I think I'd feel more comfortable if I am not just suspended in the air trusting that I will not do something stupid. You can imagine my confidence level here!  ; )

I watched Randy go first.

photo taken by Misti Cardin

photo taken by Misti Cardin

                                                                       Then Gavin.


I remember asking Shane, standing next to me (also watching intently), "Is your heart beating?" This was also to be his first time doing this. He didn't seem to be intimidated.

Then Shane went. Again, I am intently observing. Heh! shortly after he went over the edge, Vince asked if he was okay. Shane's reply was "My heart is beating!"  LOL

photo taken by Misti Cardin

 
After Shane was off the rope, it came to be my turn. OH BOY! All kinds of scenarios run through your head. As you're watching you think "yeah this looks cool!" then it's your turn to step over that edge and a sense of mortality hits.

Going over the edge was the biggest roadblock. I had watched Randy, Gavin, and Shane do it. I watched how they approached it. I observed their posture. I thought I was processing this information.

When it came game time I had lost all that "processed data". It took me a few minutes but I finally did tip a toe over that edge, and then progressively more and more of my anatomy -- and right about now the preservation instinct(s) kick in.

My heart rate is jacked! It felt like it was about to pound it's way through my rib cage.

I wasn't sure which part of the "flight-or-fight" receptors were working harder. I was hyper-focused and the adrenaline was flowing to keep my body as sharp as it needed to be.  ; )

I am mostly concerned with how and where to hold the rope. It wasn't a heights thing, I'm okay with that-- other than the fact that a slip-up from this height could end badly. I was worried if I let the rope slip through my hands too quickly how fast and sudden that fall could become.

So I am over the edge and looking at this 15' bluff and trying to figure out how to get feet planted as I made my descent (after 15' or so it wasn't a straight vertical bluff, there was a less-than-perpendicular angle there but that frst 15'?).

During that first part, my feet kept slipping. What I needed to do was have my legs perpendicular to the surface but that wasn't happening as easily as it should have. So, it was another thing I had to wrap my head around.

I got better at it as I descended, but I was scared I would do something stupid the whole time. At one point I slipped and lost footing. Of course, Misti was there with the camera ...

photo taken by Misti Cardin

It took me a bit to get back to the proper posture, but I did.

In a way that was really good. Oddly, it gave me confidence, since momentarily I was in mid-air and had to figure out what to do. When I got my feet back on that rock, I felt "more comfortable?". Once I hit solid ground, I was quaking all over. Some of it was likely adrenaline, but some of it was fear too!

I parked my bum on a rock to try and let my nerves and heart rate return to a more normal pattern and waited for the next to come down. I pulled out my camera and get a message saying "Card Locked". I haven't done anything to it since the last time I was caving and it was functional then! No matter what menu I accessed I could not get it straightened out. GRR!

Meh! Everyone that was coming down the rope had already done so -- at least once. For me, today, once was enough. I will again, but I know I (ab)used many muscles I typically do not, so sitting out was probably the best thing.

photo taken by Misti Cardin

Now that everyone is down, it's time to go crawl around some! There was a group of folks that passed on the rappel and had already explored a short section of it.



By the time we were done with our rappelling, they had returned. Damn near perfect timing, that!







There was another rope descent but that was "easy" in comparison to what I had just done. The descent was about 20' I would guess. So far most of the cave had been relatively dry. However, there were many decent flowstone formations suggesting that this was far from dry. Again, my SD card crapped out on me so use your imagination.

Those of us that made the descent (at least 10? of us) proceeded along for a bit longer. We came to a channel with water and there was a ledge up to the left. A couple of us took the ledge, and others the water.

That is, until we rounded a bend and the ledge ... disappeared. The only way now was go back to the water or try and straddle a gap about 20' above the water (with no idea how deep the water was if you lose footing) -- the gap got wider than the trust I had in the muscles of my legs after the rappel.

I watched someone (forget whom now) do the straddle thing and decided I was going to wuss out and go back and walk through the water. Heh! that water gets deep at spots -- and it's COLD! part of the reason I tried avoiding it to begin with.

After that we came to a crawl. It was funny those that avoided the water -- and there were few --  are now rueful of the fact they still have to get muddy and wet after all that work to avoid it to begin with. HAHA! not often I'm right so allow me to gloat here.

The reason? This was a crawl. A true inchworm type crawl. You could fit in, but you weren't on your elbows and knees unless you were really vertically challenged. It also had a 90* bend about 2/3 of the way through it. It couldn't have been longer than 15' but "inching" through it made it seem like more.

We soon came to a turn around point and worked our way back to the mouth. By the time we got there, those that didn't feel up to the rope descent were there and had already built a fire. It *was* about 40* outside!

We hung out for a bit took some pics and then headed back to Robby's to let the party start. Gavin an Jenny cooked up some awesome food and we all shared good food, goodwill, and good times to pass the night away. It was over way too quickly and I got back to the house without incident.

It was great to hang out with friends again and to meet new ones and I don't regret missing the game. My Facebook friends list grew on Sunday morning.  ; )

What a great day! I scared myself and lived to tell you about it.   ; )

Take a Hike! Hell, Take Two!

Megan got in touch with me last week and told me that she was available to go on a hike this past Saturday. The leaves are almost peaking and I haven't seen her in weeks, so this would be great.

In the meantime, Sean emails me that he wants to hike this Sunday. Well, we have been unsuccessful in trying to cooridnate schedules for a couple weeks now. It turned out that Melissa was available after church, so that was a "go" as well. This would mean I would be one sore puppy come Monday, but that's okay.

Megan had to take a test in the morning but told me she should be done around noon. Melissa had to go into her weekend job and would need to leave a little before 4:00. I could get away with leaving Dad alone for an hour, but don't like to leave him more than that. That would give us 5 hours.

I was a little late getting to Megan's house, but she was real late. Her test took her until about 1:30. By the time we would have got *to* where the hike was it would be nearly 2:30 -- that leaves but an hour and a half to do the hike. That's not nearly enough time.

We scrapped that idea and were trying to think of a plan B. With neither of us having money to spend, that severely limited our options. Her roommate's dog is hyper -- she's all-puppy! We came up with the idea of taking her to a state park and walking off some of that energy.

Panther Creek State Park is close by but is a rather dull hike (to me). However, it was more about tiring out Kaya and spending time with Megan.

We hiked about 3 miles I would say and it was an enjoyable afternoon. I had the camera but never really found much to point it at. We then took Kaya back to Megan's apartment, then she packed her clothes to come and spend the night.

Sean was due to show up at noon on Sunday. Again, Melissa was scheduled to work and due to go in by 5 PM. The place Sean suggested was along some nature trails that he used to hike as a kid. He was unsure where this trail was nor how to get to it.

Sweet! it's always an adventure -- this sounds fun! Let's go get lost!

The destination was a place called Sutton's Ridge. Apparently, there was supposed to be an overlook that afforded a good view. Now that the colors are changing this should be good.

The sun was shining, the sky was a brilliant blue and the temperature was a brisk 60*. Perfect hiking weather!

Well, finding the trail to it was not difficult at all. The foliage was brilliant in places and lacking in others.

We trudged along with the crunching of leaves under our feet. The spur to Sutton's Ridge was 1.5 miles from the trailhead where we parked. The hike wasn't too strenuous. There was a stretch that climbed rather rapidly, but for the most part it was relatively easy to traverse.

















Before long, we were at the spur that we figured we would be unable to locate. The view at the top was marred by a stand of pine that has grown rather tall and has inhibited the view of the mountains in the distance.

It was still pretty and awe-inspiring, but the camera does not do justice to the scene. We hung out for a bit taking it in and snapping some pictures.

Sean positioning for a picture

This is what he was trying to get a shot of

This is wider view of what he was snapping a shot of.

Not sure what type of plant this is, but liked the color

It hadn't taken long to get here and we still had to time to kill and energy to burn. We decided to head back down the trail to an earlier side trail we saw that was only a mile off the trail we had been on.

Playing with exposures

.... and again

a wider view of the cascade photo-ed above

There were a LOT of downed trees along the trail -- some LARGE ones too as you can see below. Sean is about 6' tall. that root ball has him by an extra foot. Look beyond him ... another mess of trees lying down! It was that way for much of this trail. 

Quite the contrast from the trail we had just been on! The name of the trail we were now headed to was Snake Den Ridge Trail. Why is it called Snake Den? I guess we're going to find out ... or not!

The Snake Den Ridge Trail had nothing to do with snakes -- or if it did we didn't find any. This is probably not a bad thing.

It basically was a short trail that just came to a dead-end. It was wide enough for a car to drive on but not sure how it would get *to* the trail to do so. There was a cemetery on this trail with most of the folks buried there (about 9-10) born in the late 1800's.

The people buried there lived from the ages of 2 years old to about 85? I think. The 85? year old was WWI and WWII vet and was listed as "poet laureate for the Smoky Mountains". I should've snapped a photo to help my failing memory, but I did not.

With no further to go on this trail and the hour getting a bit late, we turned back. When we returned to the photo spot of the cascade and bridge above, we both spied a log crossing the creek. I thought about it, but it looked damp, so I whimped out and took the bridge.

Sean was undeterred by the wet log and decided to cross it. It kind of surprised me because he and I have hiked before and he has told me he doesn't trust his sense of balance.

Sean looked over and said "You're just waiting on a splash, aren't ya?"  Heh!

Luckily, he didn't fall in as it was just chilly enough to foster getting sick. We got back to his truck by 4 and I arrived home about 10 minutes before Melissa had to leave for work.

What a great weekend it was! I got to get out in the woods, and spend time with some great company.