Caving in Tag

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Caving in Tag

Postby Geary » Jul 11, 2010 5:34 pm

Wanted to give you an update on Crew 410, San Antonio. We just got back from a 10 day trip to TAG were we did a number of caves including Signal Light Pit (54 feet), Neversink (168 feet), Fountain Pit (98 feet), Stephens Gap (148 feet), Cagles Chasm (190 feet), Howards Waterfall), and War Eagle (135 feet). Most of the youth did each of the pits multiple times including two folks that did Cagles three times. We had a crew of 8 youth and 4 adults. Great time had by all.

We stayed at Camp Jackson along the Tennessee River and right outside of Scottsboro. The weather was great and the poison ivy and mosquitoes were about as I remembered them. The 16 hour drive was long but worth it.

Geary Schindel
Advisor, Crew 410
San Antonio, Texas
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Re: Caving in Tag

Postby Scott McCrea » Jul 11, 2010 6:00 pm

:kewl: :banana: :banana_yay:
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Re: Caving in Tag

Postby amaddox » Jul 11, 2010 7:05 pm

Pictures, we want pictures.
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Re: Caving in Tag

Postby trogman » Jul 12, 2010 6:38 am

What's up with Camp Jackson? Are the Boy Scouts still running it, and are they planning to keep it open? There were rumors swirling around a couple of years ago that they were planning to close it, and that the area would likely be developed for real estate. I would hate to see that happen! I used to do some ridgewalking in the area, as well as hiking up to the Pinnacle. There are a few small caves on the camp property, and it is ground zero for TAG caving. I wasn’t aware that the general public could use their facilities for camping. The ranger there a few years ago was always nice about letting us hike and look for caves. I don't think this particular ranger works there anymore.

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Re: Caving in Tag

Postby Geary » Jul 13, 2010 10:28 pm

Folks,

Thanks for your kind comments, we had a great trip. Camp Jackson is open and they are investing money into the camp. I was told that if the boy scouts wanted to close the camp, it would revert back to the family they obtained it from. The camp is open to BSA groups and is currently being promoted as a high adventure camp for mountian biking, water sports, sailing, boating, rock climbing, rappelling, etc. They also have a water cave that they visit. We were the only group there that week and it appears that the camp is getting limited use during the summer. They just replaced the ranger and there were a few staff around helping with the transition. Anyway, it is a well kept secret and an excellent base for caving in the Scottsboro area. Generally, we left pretty early and got back after dark. They did have a nice pavilion we used, hot showers, and an air conditioned building for meeting in the evening.

Someone had already bought the gorilla outfit from Unclaimed baggage which I should have bought two years ago but we did make our traditional visit. Most of the kids were impressed.

I do miss TAG a lot but it is a long drive from San Antonio.

I'll try and post a link to some pictures but we need to go through the more than 1,000 pictures and wittle them down some.

Geary
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Re: Caving in Tag

Postby johnlhickman » Jul 16, 2010 10:08 pm

Geary,

Glad you all had a good time and found War Eagle with my directions. I took a couple of photos of Graham on our visit to Long Island Cove. Will try and get them to you when I get them off my camera. Will likely just post to FB.

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