Post by Brad Tipton on May 13, 2008 15:51:14 GMT -5
Sunday, Beth and I joined up with a group of Chattanooga cavers on a trip to War Eagle Cave. The cave is open only by special arrangement and Marty was gracious enough to let us tag along. We met Marty, John, Ralph and the others at the Liberty Restaurant in Scottsboro and made the short drive from there down Hwy 79 to the lake. We parked about a quarter mile from the cave and navigated the short distance to he cave entrance using my topo map.
War Eagle Cave is part of a significant network of caves that drain many square miles of the cove and surrounding mountainside. The 137 foot entrance pit leads to a massive borehole passage that trends northwest into the mountain directly towards a large, deep sink with many inflowing surface streams. The borehole averages at least 50 feet wide by 50 feet high throughout the majority of the 2 mile long river passage. In some areas the dimensions of the passage increased significantly. Evidence of high water levels looked to have exceeded 40 feet deep in some sections of the cave, proof of the awesome amounts of water that pass through the system in route to Guntersville Lake. Dry, upper levels of the cave boast impressive formation galleries which are relatively safe from the fluctuating water levels in the lower stream passage.
We reached the cave entrance via a pretty beaten trail off the main road into the cove. The entrance is quite unique because it formed from a collapsed dome. Walking down into the entrance, a window in the wall of the collapsed dome leads to another parallel domepit with a flowstone ledge that drops immediately 137 feet to the stream level. Rigging to a tree just above the entrance, I dropped the rope through the 2 foot by 2 foot window and into the pit. We rigged a pigtail for use as an edge tender line in case climbers had trouble negotiating the undercut flowstone ledge. Ralph was 1st to climb into the window and descend to the bottom. Once he confirmed the rope reached the bottom, everyone started down.
The rappell into the domepit drops into the main borehole. Immediately I could hear the roaring river below. At first glance it looked like we were stranded on the wrong side of the river with all the navigatable passage on the other side. Beth and I found a side passage back around the flowstone mound at the bottom of the pit which led to a safe climbdown to the stream level. The others followed and we all opted to travel upstream where the majority of the cave could be found. In places the river moved swiftly and in others the water was deep. We managed to negotiate the upstream section without any wading. Beth, John and I stopped a lot to take pictures and video. There were many formation areas throughout the borehole. Climbing up high above the stream, we found dry passages with active formation areas that were great for photos. We walked the majority of the borehole and actually turned around in 50 foot high by 50 foot wide passage. Since there were so many of us, we had to get some folks started climbing out.
On the return trip, Beth, John and I stopped to visit some upper levels and continued downstream past the entrance pit. The downstream section begins to fill up with water pretty fast and to continue to the downstream end would have required swimming. Despite managing to stay dry the entire trip, Beth managed to misjudge her leap and took a plunge into 4 feet of water at the last stream crossing and got soaked. At least she didn't pull me in with her, I was afraid I might melt. We found a different way to cross back to the pit side of the river and rejoined the remainder of the group who were waiting to climb. I climbed to the ledge and hung out there to watch Beth climb out. She negotiated the undercut ledge quite well without needing any assistance. We exited through the window, which Beth negotiated without an ounce of grace.....thrashing about helplessly....I think she had more difficulty with the window than the undercut ledge. We were greeted on the surface by a fine spring day.
Good times were had by all. I look forward to returning to this cave again for further exploration and more photos. Thanks again to Marty for arranging a trip to this TAG Classic.
War Eagle Cave is part of a significant network of caves that drain many square miles of the cove and surrounding mountainside. The 137 foot entrance pit leads to a massive borehole passage that trends northwest into the mountain directly towards a large, deep sink with many inflowing surface streams. The borehole averages at least 50 feet wide by 50 feet high throughout the majority of the 2 mile long river passage. In some areas the dimensions of the passage increased significantly. Evidence of high water levels looked to have exceeded 40 feet deep in some sections of the cave, proof of the awesome amounts of water that pass through the system in route to Guntersville Lake. Dry, upper levels of the cave boast impressive formation galleries which are relatively safe from the fluctuating water levels in the lower stream passage.
We reached the cave entrance via a pretty beaten trail off the main road into the cove. The entrance is quite unique because it formed from a collapsed dome. Walking down into the entrance, a window in the wall of the collapsed dome leads to another parallel domepit with a flowstone ledge that drops immediately 137 feet to the stream level. Rigging to a tree just above the entrance, I dropped the rope through the 2 foot by 2 foot window and into the pit. We rigged a pigtail for use as an edge tender line in case climbers had trouble negotiating the undercut flowstone ledge. Ralph was 1st to climb into the window and descend to the bottom. Once he confirmed the rope reached the bottom, everyone started down.
The rappell into the domepit drops into the main borehole. Immediately I could hear the roaring river below. At first glance it looked like we were stranded on the wrong side of the river with all the navigatable passage on the other side. Beth and I found a side passage back around the flowstone mound at the bottom of the pit which led to a safe climbdown to the stream level. The others followed and we all opted to travel upstream where the majority of the cave could be found. In places the river moved swiftly and in others the water was deep. We managed to negotiate the upstream section without any wading. Beth, John and I stopped a lot to take pictures and video. There were many formation areas throughout the borehole. Climbing up high above the stream, we found dry passages with active formation areas that were great for photos. We walked the majority of the borehole and actually turned around in 50 foot high by 50 foot wide passage. Since there were so many of us, we had to get some folks started climbing out.
On the return trip, Beth, John and I stopped to visit some upper levels and continued downstream past the entrance pit. The downstream section begins to fill up with water pretty fast and to continue to the downstream end would have required swimming. Despite managing to stay dry the entire trip, Beth managed to misjudge her leap and took a plunge into 4 feet of water at the last stream crossing and got soaked. At least she didn't pull me in with her, I was afraid I might melt. We found a different way to cross back to the pit side of the river and rejoined the remainder of the group who were waiting to climb. I climbed to the ledge and hung out there to watch Beth climb out. She negotiated the undercut ledge quite well without needing any assistance. We exited through the window, which Beth negotiated without an ounce of grace.....thrashing about helplessly....I think she had more difficulty with the window than the undercut ledge. We were greeted on the surface by a fine spring day.
Good times were had by all. I look forward to returning to this cave again for further exploration and more photos. Thanks again to Marty for arranging a trip to this TAG Classic.