Hello all from Tn

[Lilunwell]

Greetings!! I am a long time explorer but just recently getting into more caving then anything. Have always loved going to different places rock climbing, sightseeing, hiking or anythingelse outdoors since I was a child. I lived in ohio for most all of my life and only went into pay caves or guided caves or small caves that were common locally. Never anything like some i have seen here in tenn. so far. I moved to murfreesboro a few months back and decided upon looking into the wildlife and adventures here in tenn. that its definantly time to explore some caves. Seems like there is more caves here than one can visit thats for certain. So thats a lil about me Ill see you all on the boards. Anyone close want to hang out, explore some caves or whatever message me. Im not equipped with gear "yet" so im not able to do any extreme caving just cave exploring per say. But I will be getting gear and furthering myself in more extreme caving in the near future. And also does anyone know of a grotto closer to murfreesboro then nashville? George.

[GroundquestMSA]

Hi George,
TN will be wonderful if you like caves. Certainly better that anything you could find in Ohio. Where did you live in Ohio? I'm working on documenting caves in the southern part of the state and am always interested to hear what other cavers or locals have experienced in Ohio.

[UnderGroundEarth]

Hi George,

The Sewanee Mountain Grotto is just a bit south of you. We typically meet near Old Sewanee Road (which is not too far from the Monteagle/Sewanee area).

Our next meeting is this Saturday, August 10. During the summer months we like to get outdoors so our meeting will be at a local cave owners property on Battle Creek - off of Sweetens Cove Road, South Pittsburg, TN.

Our meetings are always the second Saturday of each month. We meet at 6pm Central starting with a potluck dinner, followed by our business at 7pm. We also typically have a caving trip the day of the meeting or at least one led trip per month. A lot of our members are active so are caving just about every weekend. We also do a lot of conservation work in the TAG region and a lot of survey and exploration.

The grotto's web page is http://www.caves.org/grotto/sewaneemountaingrotto/, although it is not updated nearly as much as we'd like.

You can really keep up with what's going on on our facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/144509055567142/.

Oh and we also host a caver party each year on Labor Day weekend called Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest. Here are the details:

Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest is the annual fundraising auction & party hosted by the Sewanee Mountain Grotto in the heart of TAG. The event is held Labor Day weekend and there will be an auction, cave trips, float trip, a live band, and a pot luck dinner. The event kicks off Friday night August 30th and goes thru Monday September 2nd. The event is held at Caver's Paradise (http://www.caversparadise.com/), the address is 482 Wild Heart Lane, Sewanee, TN 37375.

Registration: There is no registration fee to attend, however the campground does charge a $5 camping fee per person for the entire weekend (children under 12 are free). Electrical hook ups are available for $25.

Dinner & Auction: The grotto asks that all attendees donate an item to the auction and if you plan on participating in the ...Pot Luck dinner, please bring a side dish to accompany the meat that the grotto provides. It is preferred that your auction item be caving or camping related and it does not have to be new, be creative! Your 30 year old piece of equipment that you no longer use just might be interesting for a collector!

Friday: We will be showing the movie “Journey into Amazing Caves”, which stars Hazel Barton & TAG’s very own Nancy Aulenbach. Popcorn and refreshments will be on hand.

Saturday: We’ve mixed it up a bit this year and the pot luck dinner and auction will be Saturday night. Dinner starts at 5pm CST, followed by the auction at 7pm.

Sunday: The Bat Float to Nickajack Cave at dusk and the live band Albert Ogden & The Fanatics to follow.

Sewanee Mountain Grotto Mugs will be available again this year for BEER, which includes brew from our very own guys with the TAG Brewery. For a $10 donation you get a 14oz collectors mug that you can fill with beer each night, all weekend!

Some vendors who have already donated items for the auction are: Black Diamond, Coleman, Hodag Video Productions, Karst Sports, The NSS Bookstore, Ruby Falls, Lodge, PMI, Chattanooga Nature Center, TN Valley Railroad, The Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga, The LOST Sea, Yakima, Mountain House, Rite in the Rain, Rock City, Ruby Falls, Fozzils, Seventh Generation, and more!

All of the proceeds from our event go back into the caving community!

Hope to see you there. If you have any questions, you can email me directly at rowland7840@bellsouth.net.

Kelly Smallwood
2013 Chair Sewanee Mountain Grotto

[Lilunwell]

@groundquest. I was in the stark, tuscawaras carroll county area all my 35 years. There was alot of exploring but like I said nothing to extreme. Hocking hills in southern Ohio was a great place. Very well know there though. I enjoy more doing exploring that the average person wouldnt do Maybe the riskier stuff but not to extreme to where I would hurt myself. I am definantly getting gear for exploring tn caves. ;-)

@undergroundearth. Sounds like a great place to start. I am defanantly going to like the fb page and check out the other sites. I will probably get more into being in a grotto once I get some gear. I dont want to show up and everybody be like dude you need this an that and well you know what I mean. So ill just do a lil exploring until I have gear to make the jump to joining a grotto and going out with them. I dont wanna slow anyone down or get anyone hurt so Ill join once im prepared better. Thanks for the info though!!