Alan Cressler, Myrna Attaway, John Attaway, Manuel Beers, Michael Meeks
10-2-06 Hurricane Cove Shelter, TN
Hurricane Cove Shelter has is composed of two entrances separated by a rock pillar at an elevation of 1320’. The left entrance (facing the shelter) is 25’ wide and the right entrance is 57’ wide. From the entrance, it’s 25’ to the back wall. The right side of the shelter is mostly walking. The left side of the shelter is stoop height.
10-2-06 Hurricane Cove Cave, TN
Hurricane Cove Cave is between 100-200’ east and at 1,301' elevation , probably 20’ below the entrance of Hurricane Cove Shelter . This entire description is from memory. Just below E1, you see a hole that connects to a short climbdown on the other side of E1; you could go down the hole and back up into the passage you enter when stepping inside E1. As you enter the cave, passage continues to the right. In about 17’ a side passage enters perpendicularly and exits E2. Ahead, this passage eventually ends in mud fill.
Back at the entrance go straight (rather than right) and enter a rather large room ~36’ wide. On the far right wall, you can look through a hole through formations floored by flowstone into a standing room with formations. When I first peered through here, I knew I hadn’t yet seen this room and determined that I would find the way into it.
At the back (farthest wall away from the entrance) of the room you’re currently in there are many holes (at least 3) that lead into the main passage. Stooping/crawling? through the main hole, you drop down a few feet into walking passage. The description of the left passage continues below2. To the right, you pass another hole or two that entered from the main room. If you follow this passage it eventually T’s into a crawling room where passage continues to the left and right. I didn’t investigate either.
On your way to the crawling room, you passed a side crawl on the right which leads to E3, E4, & E5. Entering the side crawl leads to a cross joint. I didn’t explore the passage to the left. The side passage to the right quickly ends. If you go straight through the joint after a short crawl and 8’ of belly crawl you pop through a hole that’s a snug 2’ wide and less than a foot high into the room I’d viewed before through the formations. This crawlway isn’t visible if you’re standing in the room because it’s in a slight alcove under a ledge. It’s only visible if you kneel down and look.
The room is standing height. To the right, you can see the hole through the formations that I’d peered through before. There are some nice formations in this room. To the left the passage continues. You pass 2 side leads on the right which I believe ended quickly. You crawl around a formation or column on the left and feel air from outside and soon see entrance light. You crawl up and over debris from outside into a entrance room 24’ wide and 15’ across. There are three entrances to the cave at this entrance. E2, E3, & E4 are located below a 60’ limestone bluff alongside a creek. During high water, much of the creek probably empties into E3, E4, & E5 as well as E6, E7, & E8 which are located about 100’ up stream.
2 Back where we turned right, the main walking passage continues left. In less than 100’ a side passage continues off to the right3 but you can hear flowing water ahead of you. 45’ ahead, you encounter the main stream which I recall being a wet crawlway both up and downstream. I didn’t traverse either. 3 If you go right into the side passage you stoop? an crawl? onward. At some point, you encounter the main stream again and could once again drop down and crawl upstream or downstream. However, what’s interesting is the hole above you on the left in the ceiling. We climbed up here before continuing ahead4.
If you climb up through a 1.5 – 2’ diameter hole, you enter an upper level walking passage which after passing a side passage to the right soon leads to a 20’ high dome. A difficult climbup which I didn’t attempt leads to passage above to the right. Instead, I climbed up a side passage which appears to just be a short cut to the dome but you can climb up in the passage to the height of the top of the dome and cross over a brief 15’ exposure into a very tight belly crawl (I barely fit) around a ledge on the right side of the dome where you once again are briefly exposed over the 15’ drop before entering a walking canyon passage which leads 200’ ahead as walking and stooping passage until you reach two parallel domes.
The Dome to the right is 25-30’ tall. This is the bottom of the 3 drops from a vertical route into the cave. The pit is 25’ deep. You can climb up a steep slope in a parallel dome to the left (as you entered the room) but it ends in a too tight chimney.
4 If you continue ahead in the passage rather than climbing up through the hole, you’ll soon encounter a side crawl on the right with a great deal of surface debris. After 60’ you begin crawling over surface debris and soon pop through a small dug hole (by Manuel) through a pile of surface debris at the back of a room which exits out E6, E7, and E8. Rather than going out the side crawl, you can also continue upstream.
The passage is usually of crawling height but occasionally opens to standing height. I saw a really neat water drop decorated spider web as I crawled ahead. This passage is an overflow for the main stream. You encounter the main stream 2-3 times before finally joining the main stream. Ahead, you crawl in water. I eventually did a 6” bathtub which led to a small muddy tube which led to a slightly lower bathtub. After that, the passage opened briefly before requiring an even lower bathtub ahead in a low stream crawl passage. I would have had to totally immerse my body to continue. I decided to turn around. I saw large roots sucking up cave water in 2-3 spots in the upstream section of the cave. I could feel airflow as I peered upstream.
Hurricane Cove
Hurricane Cove
Hurricane Cove