Lost Cove Cave Take 2

Last year we hiked the 5 mile loop with Park to Lost Cove Cave and before the cave bit, I sprained my ankle.  That one event has colored my entire year since. I wanted a redo on the hike, without the injury. Partly to just get past the whole thing, and partly because it's a unique and beautiful experience and it's challenging-the hike there and back alone has enough climb to make it a little tough, plus the ground is usually pretty slippery, so there's a need for constant vigilance as well.  There are a few really steep parts with either big steps down or even climbs using roots and rocks and the occasional ranger arm.  It's fun!  I wanted to go again!

Arriving at the mouth of the cave, there is an air of excitement.  The group had spread out to hike in, reforming at the trail junction before dropping the last really steep bit together to the cave entrance. We don our hard hats and adjust our headlamps.  Flashlights are located, footwear attended to, muddy cuffs marveled at. "how did we get so dirty just walking here!", a few sips of water, some photo taking of the entrance. Someone runs off for a last minute tinkle-the flow of the steam providing sudden inspiration.  I, of course, cajole friends and strangers into mugging for a group photo.  Our ranger, Park, goes over the safety talk, which all boiled down is basically, "Don't act like an idiot and say if you need help."

Into the cave!  The route has a surprising amount of climbing up and down, the inside of the cave floor is covered in places in huge chunks of breakdown-rock that has fallen from the ceiling.  There's grey clay, the kind with the slip and stick quality that makes me want to throw a pot right there.  The stream is always nearby, we cross it twice early on before moving away to higher ground and paralleling it.  Down and up we go, exploring short side tunnels, stopping to check out the more interesting bits, talking about different cave types and various formations.  In some areas the cave roof vaults overhead and in others that hard hat is vital and I press flat against the floor to clear my backpack.  I could take it off and push it ahead of me, but the climb is steep and wet.  Slithering is easier.  I am going up the inside edge, where there are more handholds.  To my right, the clearance is much better, but the curve of the flowstone we are climbing daunts me.

We stop for map checks, Park explains what the symbols and numbers all mean.  We locate ourselves and check out the route ahead a little.  There's a mile of cave tunnel on this trip and it's nothing like any cave tour we have ever been on before.  No flat walkways, no handrails, no lights.  But it's not as involved as other caves I have been in as a teen-no rapelling, no wading in chest deep water or crawling through openings that require exhaling first because your rib cage needs to compact in order to fit.  It's a mile of careful footing, the occasional hand over hand climb up and down and a few tricky bits that the ranger talks you through.  One climb down involves him holding your left foot in place while you lower yourself down until the other foot touches and one climb up that is missing that final hand hold for the best leverage-so you use his ankle and haul yourself over the edge.

The walk back to the parking area is harder than the walk in.  We speculated about that over dinner and though it is a long climb uphill, we think it's because the buildup to the cave is so exciting-you just want to get there and GO!-and then the cave itself is physically demanding to an extent, my arms are sore!-that when you pop out, you feel done.  THEN you get to walk the 2+ miles back.  And it starts with an decent climb to the trail junction and then meanders back over a series of rolling hilltops from there.  Though it's the same trail in and out, it feels completely different, the area is (surprise!) heavily karst (my favorite!) and the cedar/limestone/sinkhole combos offer plenty to see so that even without the cave, it's a great hike.  Luckily the last bit before the parking area is flat across the top of the ridge for a long stretch, then slopes down, so your brain replaces the panting climb with a leisurely stroll.  By the time you step off the trail, your breath is calm, the sweat is no longer rolling and your feet and legs are back to normal after both being on the verge of calling for a break.

It's an awesome experience, one I fully recommend!  You can find out when the next event is-cave or otherwise, they have MANY things going on each month-by following the South Cumberland State Park facebook page or joining the Friends of the South Cumberland e-mail list.

I suggest water and snack to have for the hike, a good headlamp and backup flashlight, shoes with good tread, sturdy pants and if you have delicate knees, some knee pads.  You can get a pair for $5 at Lowes. There's a good bit of crawling and using your knees as leverage points.  Don't pass up the hard hat, bring your own if you have one!  Some people were lamenting not having gloves, but your hands get filthy.  It's easy to rinse them off in the many creek access points, I would not like to have on wet, dirty gloves the whole time myself.  I carried a long wooden staff, even in the cave.  It was worth the minor hassle to me to have an extra balance point, I felt MUCH more stable on the trail and traversing  the sticky/slicky cave floor.

Our drive is just over 2 hours to South Cumberland and this time it was all done in the rain!

The train going through Stevenson, AL

At the junction, waiting on the rest of the group.

Me and some guy.
Wearing a matching daypack.

The climb down is so steep, you don't (somehow) realize how far DOWN it is!  The cliff height takes me by surprise every time and from the sound of the other folks seeing it, I am not the only one.

The first time I did this hike was in 2005!  We did not go in the cave, but I walked back there with the kids during a camping trip with another homeschooling family.

The entrance is always so dramatic with the mist and the creek

First stream crossing

Climbing up

Second cave entrance

Troglodytes!

Map reading, cave style.

Further explorations

Stopping to talk about minerals and various things that form the cave roof

Skirting the pond!

Inde did the whole thing in a skirt!

In the disco room, Park demos the slide.  A slick clay slope with a groove wide enough for one foot, so the other foot goes up in front of you-to soften the crash at the end.

We used to call that stance 'shooting the duck' in roller skating.

Chan shoots a duck!

I spot a cave painting of an unfinished elephant.  Following LNT teachings, I leave it where it is, but the thought of the cave dweller who walked away from this painting before adding the trunk has haunted me since. I feel the pull to finish more projects.

Another long climb up

A final in-cave chat about the native people who used the cave systems in the area, then Park left us to figure out how to get out of the cave on our own.

After wandering around long enough for that one guy's 500 lumen headlamp to finally go out, someone was able to spot the sunlight coming in some gaps, the group made a run for it, knowing there were snacks at the end of the trail.

One final after shot and they took off!

Well, two

We did our own group shot and started the hike back.

I got even more dirty on the way back!

The trail climbs swiftly to this overlook, then to the junction and follow the white blazes

My self-check shot.  I am still breathing!

Ever grateful to rangers. volunteers and trail crews for trail work!

AH, it levels back out.  Look at all that mud!  It had rained the whole drive in, so everything was just wet enough to be mucky.

Play Day!

We don't have enough play days with friends any more.  So when one works out, it's like a holiday around here.
Ben stayed with Alex and Emma all weekend, but wanted to come home last night, so we headed off to get him and stayed for dinner and hung out.  BAM it was 5 hours later, I don't understand how time keeps speeding up, a day passes in moments.

Today, we met back up with Katy and her crew as well as Amanda and her kiddos at Shakalaka, then headed to the park to play for a couple more hours.  We finished it all off with a grocery shopping trip. Woot. I am taking kids camping Wednesday to help Park Thursday, we needed food.  Last time, they ate everything I brought and then some.

Jake.

Shakalaka has been off our radar all summer because they don't do any sort of homeschool discount while school is out.  So today was extra fun, the kids love jumping, Ben most of all.
Since they opened the Ninja Course in the spring, that has been the new favorite.

With ropes, poles, ramps, climbing wall, slack line, rings and more, they pack a LOT of upper body work into a small space.

At the playground, the kids ran and ran and finally one of them realized they were TIRED and sat down to rest!  They occupied themselves for a few minutes playing a game by telling a story one sentence at a time going through the alphabet.  So the first sentence began with an A, then the next person added to the story with a sentence that began with a B.  And so on.
I stood away and used my zoom.  I recently listened to a story about a chimpanzee and felt a little like playing scientific observer.

I snapped a couple quick group shots, with barely any of the group actually looking at the camera.  AH well.  

The book club is reading Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, I LOVE that book.  I am excited to get to read it again.  :)  

That's the news, we area packing tomorrow for an overnight to help with the Fiery Gizzard reroute, then back home for 2 days, then BACK to do a caving trip, good thing we all love South Cumberland-best state park there is.  We are lucky to have it so close.

All I Can Smell is Hydrocortisone

A poem, by me.

Okay, so I have either a bug bite or a scratch JUST inside my nostril and it ITCHES and it's started swelling and it's nearly all I have thought about for the past 2 days.  Mainly, I think about the discomfort and dwell on the vague feeling that I may have contracted some disease that would end in me having a fake nose as my real one will fall off.  I have a good idea of the nose I would rather have, but obviously, the interim seems super gross.  And potentially painful.  Both things I don't enjoy.

So, I have been putting cortisone cream in my nose to battle the itch and swelling factor.  No joy yet, but soon.  I hope.

Now for some pics!

I was meeting Karen to walk, so I did my hair like Agent Smith. ha!

I do not know what this tree is.

Yet.

We walked the north end and back, I like the way the buildings NEEEEEERLY align.

It's a 12 mile there-and-back walk, over half of it uphill headed south, so it's a nice leg-stretching workout.

Karen fell about 2.5 miles in to the walk!  She stumbled long enough that we both thought she was going to get her footing, but over she went, and facing downhill at that.  I felt AWFUL about not trying to catch her, but I am pretty sure that would have ended even worse and we both would have been hurt, likely with a knee in someones eye socket.

Still, she ended up with some really good bruises. I made her lay on the ground a few minutes while the shock wore off and she assessed the damage.  She was trying to pop right back up to keep going.  She had taken Aspirin that morning for her knee and BLED, I thought we were going to end up at the ER, the blood pooled around her like a crime scene.  I was considering jogging to the nearest house.

She was doing MUCH better than I was, though I was trying to be all cool about it.  Panic never helps, but my inner monkey was dancing up a storm while Worse Case Scenario Esther cranked out some tunes on the brain organ.  Most of those tunes had words like 'exposed bone fragments' in them.  eeeeee

She sat up and started wiping off the blood and picking out the gravel.  I FINALLY got the nerve to look, with that 'rearranged gut' feeling that comes with the sure knowledge of oog ahead.  But it was this circle about the size of a dime.  Yeah, she'd scraped herself in some little scratches here and there and I could see it was already bruising and swelling, but I did not see a single internal organ.  I put some Neosporin on a bandaid, covered the wound and we kept walking.

At Veto

We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and plan to go again ASAP!

Matt has been working late, I don't see that changing soon, but the puppies are really worried when he does not come in by 6.   They pace and stare down the driveway and are both listless until he finally arrives, then they both act like idjits.

Two of the four houses are well underway.

There is so much noise coming from over there, all day every day.  His grandmother lives RIGHT BY the site, just to the right of that bush in the shot.  Poor woman.

On our backpacking trip 2 weekends ago, Matt got into...something.  Chiggers for sure, maybe mosquitoes as well.  He's MISERABLE.  I have 3 bites still around, he still looks like this.  My bites ITCH, I can't imagine how much he must be itching.  I have rubbed every ointment and cream we have for every skin ailment there is and he still wakes up in the night, digging.  He's taken all kinds of allergy meds, too.  It's head to toe, too.  All over his back and arms.  :( 

Murph has stopped clawing the door half down to get in, but he does this hilarious staring thing.  Nia is playing it cool, but as soon as the door is opened, she flies in.  See the streaks on the glass?  They fuel up at the water pool and then come dribble.  I wash that door 5 or 6 times a week. 

Chilling in their chairs

He's a cute dog.  I just wish he were a little better behaved.

Chan has pink hair.

My new to me tent

I know I just bought one back a few months ago, but this one is just for me.  Matt really likes hammock camping and it's not fair to ask him to haul half my tent AND his hammock and I would rather not carry 6 pounds of 2-man tent alone, so I got this TINY one man tent that weighs under 3 pounds.  It started POURING before I got it all set up, so my Big Agnes pad is wet. It's also too wide for the tent!

It's a diamond shaped tent and uses LOTS of stakes, I only had the ends staked before the rain started, so it's a little slack.

I am not sure I super like it, but it will work for now.  I know I can resell it for what I paid without any trouble at all.  Plus, if I get REALLY adventurous, I can go without the tent and just use the fly.  That's just over a pound.  I am not super interested in sleeping without a tent, but I imagine at some point, I will toughen up.  hahaha  Or get tired of hauling so much weight in my pack and start looking at what I can leave.

My base weight-pack, bag, pad and shelter-runs around 14 pounds.  I read a guy today who said his was 4 pounds.  FOUR.  I know a newer pack would shed at least 3 pounds off my load, but he must be sleeping in a folded sheet under a poncho on a super thin pad and carrying it all in a kindergarten backpack. I enjoy being comfortable.

Anyway, I spend a good bit of time weighing my weight options.  I could shave off nearly a pound by going back to my smaller pad, but I love the space. I will have to upgrade my pack soon, it's over 20 years old and the zippers are getting sticky and the seams are starting to pull apart in a couple places and it's just plain HEAVY, over 5 pounds empty.  I could spend $100 and lose a pound on my hammock camping weight and $250 would get another pound off my sleeping bag.  It's all just so insane.  I have been really careful of the budget and have bought everything used or on clearance.  I have put less than $300 in my whole set-up, including the hammock and BOTH tents, which I won't keep all of anyway.  But you can shell out thousands if you have it to shell.

If I just hike next to water all the time and only eat seaweed sheets and forgo comfy camp shoes and all clothes, including clean underwear, I can trim off 15 pounds right there.  Food, water and clothing are heavy.  In gear, lightweight is either unsafe and misery-making or $$$$$.  Or sometimes both.  Grandma Gatewood hiked the whole AT with a shower curtain, wearing tennis shoes and carrying a bag over one shoulder that she restocked along the way with canned tuna.   Not something I want to emulate.  I will never be that tough.  And I bet if she had a Big Agnes pad, she'd figure a way to haul that puppy.

The two waiting slots.  UGH I so dread that whole enterprise.

Murph waiting for Daddy

Murphy hopes Daddy gets a new job soon.

Coming soon to a sleeping bag liner near...me!

It's SOOO buttery soft and warm.

I went to get 'anything' in fleece that was a good price.  It's going inside a bag I am making, so it does not matter what it looks like.  But I found this and loved it!  And it was on sale from $24.99 a yard to $3.27 a yard!  It's so warm, much warmer than my current fleece bag!

Mid-Month update

Wow, it seems like time is going even faster these days.

The first week of the month was the usual-our FINAL, final ortho appointment.  Every month for 7 years!
Jake had a filling, I bought some sandals (my last pair I bought before the 2006 Disney trip) and we bottled the latest batch of kombucha.  I have 3 gallons going at time right now, that's probably my limit.

Matt and I went backpacking last weekend, doing around 30 miles at Savage Gulf.  I loved it, though the gnats were crazy making.  There was some cussing on my part for sure.  It was DRY, it had rained the previous 2-3 days, which saved us, but the creeks were DRY.  We refilled at 2 springs, 2 TINY springs. One was filled with leaf debris and the other was filled with frogs.  eeeee.

Yes, I have purple hair.
No, I did not bleach it first, it will fade.

Why I actually love my tall hiking pole.  I can prop and reflect. 

1.5 miles from the car, we stopped and hopped in Savage Falls to cool off and marvel at ALL THE WATER.

Spring number two
We use UV to zap the water, even from springs.

The tall bridge over the total empty Savage Creek bed.  It drops into a sink before it reaches here.  I imagine it flows after the winter rains as there IS a creek bed there.

The FREAKISHLY uphill 'drop' to the gulf floor.  I honestly did not think we were ever going to reach the bottom!  Then I got rattled by a rattlesnake, my foot was 6 inches from the tail.  The head was at least 3 feet away.  I backed up PDQ and we went around it.  It was totally relaxed the whole time, did not seem to mind us hiking-just didn't want me to step on it!  We thought it was being really polite.

Spring number one.  The pics are not in order!

Hobbs Cabin, the only cabin in the TN state park system.
We had it to ourselves that night, so I set up my freestanding tent inside-there are camel crickets and spiders and mice in there.  hahaha  Our only casualty to the mice was they got in Matt's pack and shredded about half of his toilet paper.  We bear bagged everything else, which was a bit exciting.

This week, we went to see Pixels with some friends and had a bonfire afterward.  I did not take a single photo!  The movie was better than I imagined, I usually avoid Adam Sandler.  Okay, I do have one complaint.  There were 5 women in the whole movie.  None spoke to the other, of course.  And they were all slim, 2 to the point of their thighs not touching.  Every, EVERY man in the movie, was fat.  BIG bellies, double chins, sagging jowls, fat fingers, wide rear ends and in general unattractive (and mouth breathers!). And they all looked their age and then some.  Like they came in hung over, while the women had flawless hair and makeup, heels and tight skirts.

Today was supposed to be a pool party, but the manager at the pool decided to close for the season yesterday.  Then said I was lying about talking to him twice in the past 2 weeks about setting up the event today.  So there's that.  And 30 people to contact by 11 this morning.  I heard back from all but one.

Tomorrow is a reunion!  I am going for a long walk with Karen, who I have not seen in...2 years?  I am so excited, I even turned down a campout at a fire tower tonight to watch the meteor shower to go!

Friday night, Chan is running in the Color Run.  That's it for big plans for the week.  I am hoping my camping buddy will decide Thursday night will work for her and I can still get to see the shower. I'd appeal to her here, but she doesn't read my blog. hahahaha!

The kids are 'back' to doing school stuff.  Even though he graduated a year ago, Jake still watches his history stuff every single day and he's WAY into the upcoming election.  He wants to check his voter registration card to be double sure he can vote.

I say 'back' because they don't really slack off for summer or holidays.  They have their routine and I don't interfere other than to suggest more math and writing practice when I get the chance.  When we are home, they do work.  When we are not, no one sweats it.  It's a beautiful system!  They are brilliant children!  I am very blessed with them and I don't take it for granted, ever.

More backpacking trips in the works for me, Matt and me and the kids and me!  I am hoping for a rainy late summer!  Except for when I am actually outside.  hahaha.  I can hope!