South Cumberland Water Source Update

The drought in Tennessee has affected the availability of water for backpackers at South Cumberland. We have had rain the past week. Here is the latest news from the Park:

Ranger Jamie Hambrock from Stone Door Ranger Station: Water at Schwoon spring is just dripping one drop at a time. It may dry up at any moment. The rain has not affected the springs on our side much at all. Most riverbeds and springs are still dry. Greeter Falls plunge pool is the only reliable source of water on Stone Door side. I have not checked Ranger Falls since it rained, but it was dry before it rained. Even if it is flowing it probably won't last long.

Ranger George Shinn from Savage Gulf Ranger Station: Even with the rain we received the water is still very low, the ground soaked it up. Our springs are not completely dry anymore, they have a little wetness. The creeks have a little water puddled up here and there. Savage Falls is a large puddle with no water flowing and Horsepound Falls and Suter Falls completely dry with no plunge pool at all. But, the recent rain has saved us from the possible worry of wildfires.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

Weekend Camping Trip Ideas

Thomas, a student at Belmont, and his Dad are planning a weekend trip in November. He says, "We were hoping to go camping and hiking for the weekend and I was looking at the South Cumberland website. We're looking for something that would require hiking in 2-5 miles (or further) and then maybe doing day hikes on Saturday, coming back to camp Saturday night and then leaving that Sunday morning. Do you have any suggestions and can you tell me how to make the reservations?"

Depending on the time you will be arriving on Friday, you might find this previous post helpful: http://www.friendsofscsra.org/2007/10/kentucky-meets-georgia-at-south.html

Here are a couple of ideas for you, Thomas.

On the Stone Door and Greeter Falls side of the Park, Alum Gap is the only easily accessible campsite, which is a little over 2 miles from the Greeter Parking area or a little over 3 miles on the Laurel Trail from the Stone Door Ranger Station. From Alum Gap you can do day hikes to Greeter Falls and Boardtree Falls, or hike down into Big Creek Gulf on the BC Gulf Trail, hike across the Gulf to Ranger Falls, climb back up through Stone Door, return on the BC Rim Trail. This should be enough to keep you busy for a weekend. Recent rains the past couple of days will hopefully pick up the stream flows for the falls. You should also have some decent remnants of Fall color - it looks like this coming weekend and the following weekend will be the peak of the colors on this part of the Plateau.

The other alternatives are from the Savage Gulf Ranger Station entrance. You have three campsites within 2 to 5 miles: Dinky Line (which is the least scenic of the options), Savage Falls or Stage Road. From Dinky Line you have day hike options on the North Plateau Trail to the Mountain Oak Trail and back along the North Rim Trail. Or you could backtrack to the Savage Day Loop. You can visit Savage Falls or do an out and back on the South Rim Trail.

The Stage Road campsite is the farthest hike in, and a good day hike would be to continue on the South Rim Trail to the Stage Road Historic Trail down into Collins Gulf to the Sawmill Campsite. The old road was the actual stagecoach road between Nashville and Chattanooga in times past, hand built by slave labor before the Civil War.

Regarding reservations, the back country camping permits are assigned on a first come first served basis, so an early arrival on Friday is a good idea. The Fall color season is one of the busiest times for backpacking in the Park. You can call the Stone Door or Savage Gulf Ranger Stations and ask how availability looks for the weekend. You have more campsites on the Savage side which improves the odds.

Phone numbers for the ranger stations are here, top of the page: http://www.friendsofscsra.org/helppage.htm

Cheers,

Ron Castle

Question About Visiting Buggy Top Cave

Jenny sent this email about an upcoming trip next week: My family and I will be traveling to the plateau area next week. As I was looking online, I came across the Friends of SCSRA website. We will be staying at Fall Creek Falls (assuming we can get a campsite) and were thinking about a trip to Buggy Top cave. Do you have any suggestions for visiting this area? A couple of websites suggest guides. Do the rangers typically provide this service on request or only when they schedule tours? We are experienced hikers but novices when it comes to caving. I would appreciate any suggestions or guidance you can give us.

Hi, Jenny: Point number one is that it is close to a two hour trip by car from Fall Creek Falls to Buggy Top which is South of Sewanee off of Highway 56, not that far from the Alabama state line (which is enemy territory during football season!).

The Rangers do provide scheduled tours and there is one on Sunday the 14th which is before your trip. There are presently no other Ranger guided tours on the schedule for October or November.

Do you need a guide for Buggy Top? Probably not. The hike from the parking area along Highway 56 is a good walk with a fair amount of up and down. The approach down to the cave entrance from the bluff is steep - a good walking stick would be helpful.

The cave opening is large and under normal rainfall conditions a sizable spring flows out of the cave which becomes Crow Creek. You can walk into the cave opening and see quite a bit without even getting your feet wet. If you want to explore farther into the cave, you need two reliable sources of light (that's two sources for each person in your group i.e. 4 people = 8 flashlights) and, unless you enjoy hiking in wet boots, a pair of sneakers or sandals would be helpful.

Safety minded spelunkers wear helments. If you have hard hats, bicycle helments or rock climbing helments, protecting your head in the cave is always a good idea.

There is nothing "technical" about exploring this cave, you don't need ropes and there is not any potentially hazardous climbing, etc.

There is another cave, Peter Cave, which you can access from the top of the bluff by following the trail along the bluff line rather than turning left toward the main trail that takes you back to the trail head and parking area.

Of, if you want to be a bonafide spelunker, you can follow the Crow Creek water flow upstream into Buggy Top Cave, past another entrance on your right, up a sandy bank and out the Peter Cave entrance. Follow the trail to your right back to the main trail.

The air temperature in the cave is constant both summer and winter, which makes for an air conditioned delight in the summer and a warmer than outside experience on a cold winter day. Either way, be careful if you get wet - the temperature in the cave is cool enough for hypothermia, which is why I always take a change of clothes in a dry bag when I am planning on spending any length of time in this wonderful cave.

One other safety precaution: During heavy rainfall or sudden downpours from summer thunderstorms, etc. the water level in the cave can rise in a short period of time. The risk is that you may get wetter than you expect, another reason why a change of clothes in a dry bag is a good idea.

Bring your camera and a little tripod if you have one. Some time delay photos with folks walking around with flashlights, etc. can make for some very interesting photos.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

Overnight Idea for Young Kiddos and Older Dog

David from Nashville is planning to bring his 10 year old son, 13 year old daughter and 11 year old dog to South Cumberland this Saturday for a hike and overnight. A short non-strenuous hike first afternoon, a 3-4 mile more strenuous hike the next morning.

First point, David, is that there is no car camping at South Cumberland other than the TVA campground at Foster Falls which is managed by TVA (and there is modest daily fee). This campground is very popular this time of year.

The alternative is primitive campsites close to the parking areas at Savage Gulf and Stone Door Ranger Stations.

If you camped at Stone Door, you have the 2 mile out and back to the overlook which is easy. Next day you could hike the Laurel Trail to Alum Gap and go a little farther to Greeter Falls, come back on the Big Creek Rim Trail to the Stone Door overlook and back. That would be about 5 miles with lots of great scenery.

Dogs are welcome in the park but must be on a lead at all times. Around the Stone Door overlook or any other place in the Park where kiddos are close to the edge of the bluff, teach them about the climbers' rule and about the potential for vertigo. Be safe, have fun.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

Kentucky Meets Georgia at South Cumberland

Troy from Loganville, GA is working on plans to meet a friend from Kentucky and day hike for 4-5 days looking for or creating "geocaches." Questions are: is there someplace to camp so that they don't really have to backpack in their gear, and, what does it cost?

Last question is easy - the Park is free to the public, there are no camping or hiking fees. If this makes you feel guilty, you can always make a generous donation to the Friends of South Cumberland. Every nickle we raise goes to help the Park.

First question, there are primitive campsites within a very short walk of both the Stone Door Ranger Station and the Savage Gulf Ranger Station. These are normally intended for late arrivals but no reason you cannot camp there multiple days if you wish. Personally, I would choose Savage because you have more day hike options from there. Or, you could spend a couple of days at each spot.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

How Late Can You Get A Wilderness Permit?

A question from Jamie this morning: Hello! We have planned to backpack the Savage Gulf area Friday-Sunday, just a small weekend trip. One of our group members has a midterm, so we will not be able to arrive until about 7:00 p.m, but we were planning on just barely going into the area to the campground beside the Savage Gulf Ranger Station on this night. Is this too late, or can we arrange to get a permit? Thanks for your help; the web site has been extremely useful.

Hi, Jamie,

The access gate to the parking area at the Savage Gulf Ranger Station is usually closed and locked at dusk. So, first thing I recommend is to call the Ranger Station 931 779-3532 and ask if they will leave the gate open until you arrive. If you don't get an answer there, call the Visitor Center HQ 931 924-2980 and ask the same.

The campsite beside the Ranger Station should be fine for the evening. First thing Saturday morning you need to complete a back country permit for your group. This should not be a problem this weekend, but the Park will be very busy as the Fall Colors begin to peak.

See the post below about water. Your group will probably need to carry some extra water. Have fun.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

Water Sources for Backpackers & Hikers

Assistant Park Manager Bill Knapp emailed me yesterday regarding water sources in the Park. Almost every normal watering hole in the Savage, Collins and Big Creek Gulf area is dry.

There IS a suitable water source at both ends of the Fiery Gizzard Trail.

If you are backpacking or planning a hike where you think you will need water along the way, please check with the Rangers for the latest information.

Do your rain dance.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

Canoeing in the South Cumberland Area

Patrick in Atlanta emailed a question today about coming to the Park October 21 and wanting to find a place to canoe. Good question.

Under normal weather conditions, all of the streams in the Savage Gulf area and the Fiery Gizzard are wet weather streams at best and September-October is one of the driest times of the year. This year we have also had an exceptional drought. There are no canoeable streams in the Park under normal conditions.

There is canoeing at Grundy Lakes and the Park Rangers frequently sponsor canoeing programs using the canoes and gear donated to the Park by the Friends of South Cumberland.

Outside the Park, there are a couple of other options. One is canoeing on the Collins River north of Savage Gulf and Stone Door. The river is accessible at several points along Highway 56 North (head to McMinnville from Beersheba Springs). I personally do not know the condition of the river at the moment, but my guess is that the water is quite low.

Another option would be to canoe the Elk River below the TVA dam at Tims Ford Lake. The public access area is off of Highway 50 between Winchester and Lynchburg. The first public access take out is at the Ferris Creek Bridge which is 8.5 river miles below the dam. Look at the Tennessee Gazetteer, page 22, C2.

This is not very close to the Park, but it is a fine float as well as a good tailwater trout fishery. Recreational flows are normally maintained on weekends. The river can be floated under any flow conditions with a couple of Class 1 riffles.

River flow conditions can be determined by calling 1-423-751-2264. You will be connected to a TVA computer. Stay on the line. A voice will say, "Welcome to the TVA Information Line...." followed by instructions on how to use the system. When you hear this greeting, dial the number 4. [This selects the flow information service.] You will then hear, "If you know the two digit number for the dam you are interested in...." Now dial 50. This is the code for Elk River, Tims Ford Dam.

Lake canoeing can be done on Tims Ford and also on Woods Reservoir which is part of the AEDC Air Force Base in Coffee County.

Cheers,

Ron Castle

A Blog for South Cumberland

Greetings,

Friends President Latham Davis and I had a long talk this morning about what's happening with the Park and Friends accomplishments and challenges. I told him I had two projects on my want to do list that he did not know about.

One is to redesign the Friends website www.friendsofscsra.org before the first of December. The other is to start a blog for the Friends website. In case you can't tell, I took the easy project first.

We process a lot of inquiries from prospective Park visitors, backpackers, hikers, folks planning group trips, etc. Each and every question gets answered, often with assistance from Park Manager John Christof or Assistant Manager Bill Knapp.

My idea is that if we answer folks questions via the blog we will begin to build an archive of content that others can reference. This will be made easier after December 1 because I plan to incorporate a Google private search engine in the Friends website so that the content can be easily searched.

My hope is that we will get multiple posters to the blog and that we will also get good feedback from readers and contributors.

You are welcome to post your 2 cents.

Also, you can subscribe to the blog feed http://www.friendsofscsra.org/atom.xml so that if you are using a RSS Feed Reader or if you are using the new Office 2007 version of Outlook, you will be notified every time there is a blog post.

If folks would like recommendations on which Feed Readers work well or how to set one up, make a comment post here and if there is enough interest I will write up a little tutorial.

Thanks for your interest in South Cumberland State Recreation Area and for your support of the Friends of South Cumberland.

Cheers,

Ron Castle
Board Member and Webmaster