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I'm a new member from west TN (nothing too exciting over here, so I have to travel a little bit when I go caving). As far as I know there are no meetings or grottos anywhere within realistic driving distance from Memphis, so I'm hoping to meet new people to go caving with and even learn from through this forum. I have been in a couple of caves around Cookeville, TN (used to be in college there) including Rumbling Falls cave. The group I was with made it to the top of the Rumble Room but was not able to make it to the bottom. I hope to, in the near future, go back and make it to the bottom of the rumble room and more. It was truly awesome standing at the top and only made me want to make it to the bottom even more.

jmille87 wrote:I'm a new member from west TN (nothing too exciting over here, so I have to travel a little bit when I go caving). As far as I know there are no meetings or grottos anywhere within realistic driving distance from Memphis, so I'm hoping to meet new people to go caving with and even learn from through this forum. I have been in a couple of caves around Cookeville, TN (used to be in college there) including Rumbling Falls cave. The group I was with made it to the top of the Rumble Room but was not able to make it to the bottom. I hope to, in the near future, go back and make it to the bottom of the rumble room and more. It was truly awesome standing at the top and only made me want to make it to the bottom even more.

jmille87,
Welcome to the forum.
Unfortunately all state owned caves in TN are closed due to worries about White Nose Syndrome (WNS) in bats. That includes Rumbling Falls Cave
and Camps Gulf cave and probably a couple hundred others. I suggest you write your TN elected officials and persuade them to reopen all those
caves due to recent proven evidence that WNS has positively been proven to be spread bat to bat. The likelihood of human transmission is
virtually nil.

Thanks. I would definitely like to see these caves re-opened and will do whatever I can to help that process along. Until then I guess I might have to make a little longer drive. All worth it though. Any suggestions on any that are still open (I'm assuming by the name that you also live in TN).

jmille87 wrote:Thanks. I would definitely like to see these caves re-opened and will do whatever I can to help that process along. Until then I guess I might have to make a little longer drive. All worth it though. Any suggestions on any that are still open (I'm assuming by the name that you also live in TN).

Get in touch with the Little Rock Grotto -- there are some very good caves in the Batesville, AR area that shouldn't be too much further than 2 hours from Memphis. It would be less if there were anything resembling a direct route from Memphis to Batesville, but there is not.