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SINKING COVE TRIP REPORT By Bill Walker Photos by Sean Roberts On Friday August 6, Adam, Jen, Stephanie, Sean, Becky, Brandon, and I made the long trip up to the SCCi Sinking Cove Cave Preserve in southern Tennessee. We left after work on Friday and drove non stop to the campsite making it there by 4 in the morning. Sean had a little trouble getting his Honda Civic across the creek, but he made it through with only a few dents in his chrome muffler. Our tents were set up and we were asleep by 5am Saturday morning. One of the benefits of becoming a member of the Southeastern Cave Conservancy is that you can visit cave preserves that aren’t open to the general public. The Sinking Cove area is gated and closed to the general public and requires a permit from the SCCi to visit. It’s worth becoming a member just to visit this area. The campground, which has a stream running next to it from the cave resurgence, is beautiful and seems isolated from the rest of the world. It’s really a great place to camp and cave. It was nice to be able to sleep in a little on Saturday. We didn’t have to worry about driving to the cave because it’s a couple hundred feet from the campground. The morning weather was surprisingly cool for August (it was in the mid fifties at night) and the humidity was low. We woke up around 9 and eventually made our way to the cave around noon. The cave is a relatively easy horizontal trip, but it can be wet. You’ll spend much of your time sloshing through the water (watch out for crayfish and salamanders!) We made it most of the way to the upper entrance, but had to turn around because we were getting cold. We spent about 6 hours in the cave – 4 going in and 2 coming out. Sinking Cove 360   Photos
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