Xanadu

Xanadu Cave Trip: September 7, 1996

Report by Scott Yost
Each small picture is linked to a larger one with a caption. Some are linked to multiple views.

It is a long walk down to the cave, which is actually not far from Lott-Dean Cave, the site of last year's wet trip. We were mostly using carbide lamps, and spent some time at the entrance adjusting them.

We all entered the cave, and after a short narrow passage, we came to a wide open passage which was more typical of this cave. Many of the passages are enormous, and not much crawling is required. The most memorable feature of the cave was the sandhills, a series of hills and valleys, which got progressively dustier as we went. The view from the top of one hill back to the next, with the string of carbide lamps lighting the way, was impressive. Sometimes the hills could be rather steep, and at one point, Chris rigged a hand rope to assist our climb. We crossed sandhill after sandhill.

Eventually, we came to a place where we climbed high above the cave floor to a low room near the ceiling, which was packed with formations. It was called the "Jewelbox". Because of the very delicate formations and tight walking space, we entered in small groups, guided by Chris. Most of the stalactites followed obvious cracks in the ceiling rock. There were many soda straws, long hollow formations, as well. This was the most impressive room in the cave.

After seeing the Jewelbox and eating some lunch, we went down a smaller passage that required some crawling. Then it opened up again. At one point, we crossed a really deep crack. It was only a foot or two wide, but 60 feet deep, and crossing it made some people a little nervous. The passages were mostly pretty easy. Chris moves fast in a cave, and once part of our group got behind and made a wrong turn, but we caught them quickly. Chris said it was not a good place to get lost.

Chris asked how we felt about seeing more cave. One option was a relatively short route to the exit. Another was a longer route which crossed a 60 foot deep canyon (the one we stepped across earlier) on a narrow bridge, then went to followed "Cumberland Avenue" to a huge room, "Fort Sanders" We chose the longer route. It was very interesting, beginning with a crawl along a narrow ledge above the deep canyon, leading to the small bridge we stepped across, with Chris's encouragement.

We saw another room with lots of formations, including a nice collection of "totem poles". Continuing on, we came to a steep hill we had to climb down. Chris went first, and thought he might flip backwards when he got his foot jammed in a crack. He helped the rest of us find footholds and handholds on the way down. At the bottom, we saw the "Gingerbread Man", a landmark where we all would have met if we had taken the easier route. It is some graffiti on a rock, that looks like a big face.

Then we went on through Cumberland Avenue to Fort Sanders, which Chris discovered on his 21st birthday. "What a birthday present", he said. Chris has spent a lot of time exploring these passages. We went back down some hills and had to traverse a ledge, that really didn't have many good footholds, though you could lean into it and get a lot of handholds and bellyholds. We came to some water near there, where some of us saw a blind cave fish. Then we walked out a different entrance than we came in.

We then had a long uphill walk to the cars. Chris and Christal stopped for a swim. I got up first, and had a very long wait while everyone else made their way to the top. Fortunately, Chris had some snacks. We stopped for dinner at the Gondola in Crossville afterwards, as we often do when caving on the plateau. We met some other cavers there too.

We got back to Knoxville after midnight, just in time to meet the traffic streaming out of the football game. On 17th street, we were greeted by the sight of a car rounding the corner while a passenger in the back hung out an open door, nearly puking on the feet of a cop directing traffic.