Muddy Adventure
That’s Caving, Georgia Style
Did you know that Georgia has over 500 caves, and you can tour some of those? Recently, we took our 12-year-old twin girls on the Georgia Girl Guides’ One-Hour Wild Cave Tour at Cloudland Canyon State Park.
Our guides Christine and Amy, the co-founders of G3, guaranteed we would get wet and muddy during the tour. “This is officially going to be the muddiest day of my life!”
a 6-year old participant told his father. After getting fitted for knee pads, gloves and a helmet with a headlamp, we headed to Sitton’s Cave. The instructions were simple: maintain three points of contact to avoid falling, stay with the group and let the guides know if anyone gets scared so they can be taken out immediately. Being slightly claustrophobic, I felt relieved.
We hiked up a short, steep hill to get to the cave entrance. After learning about solution caves – a cave that forms when acidic water dissolves limestone – our group of 14 people assumed a seated position and scooted down the rocky path inside. During the descent, temperatures fell to 56 degrees and we saw several salamanders and a cave cricket. Nothing could prepare us for beauty of the first cave room. The limestone ceiling glistened with what looked to be millions of tiny diamonds. We waded through a small stream where Amy had us touch the cave ceiling to discover these were mineralized water drops.
Before proceeding, Christine pointed out a gray bat sleeping in a ceiling crevice. It was tiny – no more than two inches long, and resembled a mouse. To protect the bats during hibernation, Sitton’s Cave is closed several months each year.
We then hugged a muddy bank while wading sideways in knee-high water through a small passage to enter another cave room which was full of cave formations and an underground river. Pointing to the cone-shaped structures hanging above, Christine explained that the stalactites are formed by calcite residue after water drips from the ceiling. Since they grow slowly (about one-half a centimeter per year), we were looking at formations that probably had begun more than 5,000 years ago!
My favorite part was when Amy asked us to turn off our headlamps for just a few moments and “listen to the cave.” Drip, drip, drip was all I heard – no traffic or no cell phones.
The next passage had such low ceilings that we had to get on hands and knees to slither through the smooth mud. It felt like playing in a giant blob of pottery clay. As we exited the cave through another opening, one of my daughters said, “Mom, it’s so fun to watch you enjoy getting dirty for a change. You’re releasing your inner child.” Not only had we gone on an exciting adventure, we each got out of our comfort zone and bonded as a family.
– Rebecca R. Leffler
If You Go
Georgia Girl Guides
Tours: Cave tours cost $30 per person for a 1-hour tour, $40 for 2 hours and $60 for 4 hours at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn, Ga., or Crockford Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Armuchee, Ga.; G3 also offers guided hikes around Lookout Mountain.
Information: 706-913-7170; georgiagirlguides.com
