SHOWSTOPPER

Stephens Gap Callahan Cave Preserve has been on the to-do list for a couple of years now. When we ditched our plans for biking the Greenbrier River Trail in West Virginia, we decided to head south. There might be rain there, but we had seen enough snow for one winter! I figured we could hit Stephens Gap and revisit DeSoto Falls State Park and the Little River Canyon. Ultimately we didn’t make it to the Little River area, but Stephens Gap was our priority.

Originally, we planned to take Tim and his daughter, Maggie. Unfortunately, Maggie had school, which was both unfortunate and unfair. School? What is more educational than a cave?

Tim was still able to join us. It seemed like a good destination for his first-ever cave. On the way there, he pulled over and jumped out of his car in excitement. Tim owns his own business, and after a year and a half, he had landed a huge new client! This was clearly a good omen for the day.

We drove out of Huntsville and up to Stephens Gap. We found the trailhead and started the hike up to the cave. The hike is about a mile, on a good trail. We passed abundant wildflowers along the way. Despite a lazy start, we reached the entrance around 11am. From there, we made the relatively easy but rocky descent through the massive main entrance and into the cave.

Stephens Gap Cave features an immense main chamber, with several narrow passageways leading deeper into the Earth. Most people only visit the main chamber. It features several incredible waterfalls. The two most prominent are at the far end of the chamber. One spills over the lip of the sinkhole that forms the ceiling of the cavern. Another emerges from the rock wall on the opposite side. Meanwhile, a low volume waterfall sprays down over the main entrance, while another stream cascades into the main chamber from the back wall.

The center of the chamber features an impressive stone pedestal. It beckons every explorer that approaches to stand upon it. Christy couldn’t resist the temptation.

The standard approach is to descend the cascading stream that enters from the rear of the cavern. However, the water was up, and there was no way to go that route without getting wet feet. Also, just beyond the pedestal was a 20’ pouroff that looked scary. It would not be a good place to fall.

Christy walked along the bench above the pedestal. Then, after careful consideration, she slowly lowered herself down onto it. This was, apparently, very exciting. I wouldn’t know, as I refused to watch. Later, she reported that the final drop was thrilling, because the curve in the rock she was sliding re-directed her towards the mouth of the chasm. Luckily she landed safely on the podium. She lounged there for a solid hour, enjoying the magnificent of the place.

Stephens Gap is famous for photos of sunbeams shining directly into the cavern from the skylight above, illuminating the pedestal. Unfortunately, that only occurs in the summer when the sun is directly overhead. Our visit was on a sunny day in early April, but the sun was only shining down partially into the sinkhole. The contrast made for terrible photos, but that was ok. I was content with being in an amazing place.

Tim and I contemplated additional exploring. Going downstream looked sketchy, even with my rope. Going upstream wasn’t scary, but it would require getting very wet, or some major scrambling. We decided to skip it.

After Christy left the pedestal, Tim took his turn. Later, he confirmed that it was as thrilling as it looked. I’m glad I passed. Hey, somebody had to stay back and take photos!

We left the cave early that afternoon. Christy and Tim relaxed in the sun while I explored the area. I climbed up to the mouth of the sinkhole, which is a scary, exposed spot. Then I followed a ledge around a knoll to the left. I passed another entrance to the cave and heard a stream (probably the same one that enters the back of the cavern) far below. I continued ahead, enjoying the forest and the profuse wildflowers. I reached the base of a steep hillside, where the stream cascades down among numerous boulders before disappearing. From there, I crossed the knoll, passing a nice campsite. I dropped down to another stream, which cascades down into the sinkhole. I crossed it near the brink and scrambled up to the entrance to another cave. This one didn’t look passable, as exploring it would’ve required belly-crawling upstream.

I rejoined Christy and Tim, and we hiked back to the car. Stephens Gap is an amazing place, suitable for most anyone with a sense of adventure. Access is free with a permit from the Southeastern Cave Conservancy: http://www.scci.org/preserves/stephens-gap-callahan-cave-preserve/

We parted ways with Tim in the parking area, as he had work obligations and we were heading in the opposite direction. It was great catching up with Tim, Carly, Maggie, Sam, and the dogs

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Earlier in the trip we did some additional caving with Stephanie. She gave us a guided tour of a cave that she was familiar with. It was an incredible experience, but there were a few challenging spots that pushed Christy and me out of our comfort zones. The adventure began with a steep, muddy descent over large rocks through a large entrance. We found the river at the bottom of the passage, but there was no way to access it. Even if it had been accessible, there was way too much water for it to be passable. It may be possible to access the river from a different approach and hike up it in drier conditions. On this trip, we explored up a tributary.

Getting into the tributary required an awkward scramble across a slippery, steeply sloping rock face. Our friend Preston had discovered this route on a previous visit with Stephanie and Spencer. It was an amazing job of route-finding, as the route is not apparent from the main passage. Crossing the rock face is scary – it would not be a good place to fall, as you would go on a long slide that would probably not end well. Fortunately, there are excellent handholds. The key is simply focusing on hand and foot (or knee) placement, and not thinking about the black abyss below.

At the far end of the rock is another jagged rock sloping down. Here you can walk or butt-slide down, using the jagged rock for handholds to control your speed. I used the butt-slide method for the last bit, stopping myself by planting my feet into a rock at the bottom of the slide.

From there we walked up the tributary stream. Staying out of the creek required some challenging scrambling, mainly due to the slippery mud that coated every surface. On two occasions we had to climb up a steep rock and mud bank to avoid breakdown in the main passage. This was challenging as well, due to the slippery slope. In between was a stretch of passage where walking in the shallow stream was the only feasible route. We chose to do this barefoot to keep our boots dry.

We reached the third and final climb after the creekwalking. This climb was the most daunting, and Christy decided to skip it. Unfortunately, she missed out on the best part of the cave. After climbing to the top of the muddy ridge, Stephanie and I descended the far side. From there, it was a short walk into a massive chamber. The ceiling towered high above us. How high was it? A hundred feet? Maybe more. The ceiling of the cave must have been near the surface, but there was no light. The chamber was adorned with spectacular formations, too. There were some beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, flowstones, and soda straws. One of the smaller formations looked like a gnome.

We turned around there. It looks like the passage continues, but we have no idea how far it goes or where it ultimately leads.

There isn’t really any danger of getting lost in this cave, since it is just a single stream passage. If there are side passages connecting to it, we didn’t see them.

Getting back down the mud slope to the stream was scary. The footing was lousy, and there wasn’t anything to hold onto except mud. An uncontrolled slide would end in the stream.

We rejoined Christy and headed directly out. I had a tough time shortly before the entrance. Climbing back up to the top of the sloping boulder was tough due to the slippery footing. I couldn’t maintain a good grip on the jagged rock. Eventually Stephanie had to give me a hand and pull me up. Stephanie and Christy both made it up without any trouble.

Christy had a tough time getting up and over a big rock just before the entrance. It was a short vertical section, and she wasn’t able to push off enough to give her the momentum to crest the rock. Eventually I got out our webbing to assist her. That gave her something to hold onto, but it was still a struggle. I think we were all relieved when we finally got out into the sunshine.

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We drove to Chattanooga just in time for rush hour. Instead of sitting in traffic, we got off the highway and headed into downtown. We stopped at a local brewery to enjoy the sunshine and some cold beverages. Christy had some work to do, and the brewery was an ideal place. We ended up eating dinner there, and by the time we left traffic had finally cleared.

Originally, we had planned to do a waterfall hike on Friday in the Ocoee area of the Cherokee National Forest. However, the forecast for Friday morning was sunny. We decided to change plans, and hike to a mountain top instead. From Chattanooga we drove to Tellico Plains and headed up the Cherhola Skyway. We had a plan for camping, but got distracted scouting our route to a possible trailhead for the next morning. That road was blocked by a fallen tree, but we spotted a nice campsite along the way. We decided to take it.

We parked and set up camp. I built a fire, and we enjoyed some beers on the last evening of our trip. We were looking forward to hiking to the Hangover the next morning. It would be my third visit there, but my first in about 20 years!

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