So considering the late closing of the previous night we were up and functioning by 10 AM. We discussed a tentative plan (it's always tentative enough when it's JUST me, but when it's SKIP ... AND ... I ... together -- that's just too many variables for any less than a calculus-minded person to keep up with.) Anyway, the basic idea was to go crawl around in a cave I know of for a couple hours, stop at Woodcraft and pick up the tapped insert that would go into the turned tap handle, and then hit the Smoky Mountain Brewery for dinner and a beer before heading home.
I know the area around the cave we are headed to as I have rode by it on the bike *numerous* times. The problem is because I'm on the bike, I-75 was NOT how I got there or *ever* took. ;) I crossed that interchange more than once, but could not tell the mile marker it is. Maybe I should have checked that prior to leaving.
We head across I-40 in Skip's new Escape. Heh, I know what his favorite feature of that car is now. It's not the tow package, or the gas mileage, or anything like that -- he likes the fact he can talk to the car. (electronic bell) "shuffle off" (electronic voice) "shuffle off?" (/electronic voice) "yes" .... etc. It was funny. I think he used that as much as shifting from park to drive.
ANYhooo .. we soon were to I-75 and took that north. It should only be another 35 minutes now. We were cruising along and I knew we were in the area for it, but never once saw the sign for 441. Neither did Skip. This is a US Highway. There SHOULD be a sign or two!
Well we missed it, and I realized it too late and told Skip just before we crossed into Kentucky. Well we got shuffled in the wrong lane to hit the first exit in Kentucky and had to hit the next one ... which was another 10 miles away. YEESH!
So we get turned around and the exit to 441 going southbound DEFINITELY is visible. Not sure if that's because we were looking for it MORE closely or if it just wasn't marked that well northbound. Either way, we found it and once I was on 441, it was pretty easy to get to from there.
The cave is a short half mile trek over relatively tame terrain with the exception of one spot where there is a steep downhill and it's slick after all the rain we have received recently. Once that was navigated, we quickly found the first mouth of the cave. Skip wanted his picture taken so ...
Here is the other mouth of the cave ...
We tried the entrance with the larger mouth first. There was a passage that quickly dead-ended. There was another that looked real tight. We went back out of that one and went back to exploring the smaller-mouthed cave.
The first chamber again quickly ended. There was this, though ...
but it was every bit as slick and steep as it looks! Skip asked if I wanted to try it. I believe my response was "if you're crazy enough to go up it, I reckon I am too." We can figure out how to get down later.
After a few steps it was like riding a bike. This climb (15'?) that initially looked menacing, was dismantled into a few steps in succession (secure steps to be sure).
The path opened up some after that and we were able to walk pretty much upright with the exception of a few spots. One of those spots was a rather tight squeeze.
I wriggled my way in, but about halfway through, I had to suck in my breath and just force my way through. It was tight. So much so, Skip kind of panicked and decided he wasn't going through that way.
After another assessment, I told him I could help secure him if he came down the steeper descent that I skipped on. He seemed agreeable to that, and that's what we did. We went a little further in when we stumbled upon this ...
My immediate reaction to this was "It's an oubliette" ( a "Labyrinth" reference). The picture doesn't represent it well, but this is a round chamber with but one entrance.
We sat here for a bit trying to work the camera settings and the lighting. It's hard to get good pics in a cave setting, but we had fun trying.
We also killed the lights for a minute and sat there appreciating how dark it is in there. The only noise was a slow drip of water falling into a well.
That climb I was concerned about on the way in was not near as bad as I had envisioned it being. It was intimidating to look from the top but once you are down there crawling out, it becomes less troublesome.
We decided we should start heading back out since we had a 30 minute hike once out of the cave . On our way out we stopped in another room and played with the camera some more.
Once out of the cave we got back to the car and changed into some clean dry clothes. Then it was off to Woodcraft, then beer thirty at the Smoky Mountain Brewery.At the brewery I aimed to try a few different beers, but the second one stopped my need to explore any further. It was an Appalachian Pale Ale. And a very good example of a hoppy pale it was! This was quite tasty!
After dinner, we headed back to the house and closed out the evening with a few more homebrews. Awesome day!
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