The Student Park Cave Earthcache EarthCache
The Student Park Cave Earthcache
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This Earthcache is the entrance to a cave located on the property of Southern Adventist University and managed by the School of Education and Psychology. It is a short hike from the picnic area thought the woods and past a climbing area to the cave entrance
Finding the Student Park Cave Earthcache does not require going into it. However, the cave is open to the public on the first Saturday of every month.
From their website: (The) "Student Park Cave is an educational and recreational resource that contains nearly a mile of walking, squeezing, crawling, and swimming passages. Adventure and educational programs can be scheduled for groups to gain exposure to a natural wonder of our area. Outdoor Leadership no longer opens the cave to the public on the first Saturday of every month. We do still offer programming to groups who wish to have a guided and unguided caving experience. For an unguided two-hour exploration: $10 per person min. of 10 participants (headlamp helmet included) For a guided two-hour program: $15 per person min. of 10 participants We offer discounts for large groups and longer programs."
More information can be obtained by contacting the Education and Psychology Department at (423) 236-2416 or Email: Adventure, Challenge Course, & Environmental Education Programs: adventureprogramming@southern.edu Equipment Rentals: gearrental@southern.edu SOAP: soap@southern.edu
You can visit the cave website at https://www.southern.edu/academics/academic-sites/pehw/outdoor-programming/facilities/cave.html
Most importantly NEVER go into ANY cave without out the proper training and equipment.
Caves are beautiful but are also dangerous.
For more information about caving and caving safety visit the National Speleological Society at www.caves.org
I am putting the logging requirements at the top so you can at least download it if your GPS can only download a set amount. There is a lot of good information about caves so make sure you check out the rest sometime. To log it you can get a picture of your self, group or something around the cave but that is optional. Then email me the answers to these questions.
A.How big of an opening does it look like the cave used to have?
B. What type of cave to you think this is?
C. Why do you think it is that type of cave?
I will email you if you have a wrong answer. Thank you for finding my Earthcache.
People have known about the Student Park Cave since long before there was a university here. One legend says that in the 1830s when the Cherokee Indians were being moved to Oklahoma, a few Indian chiefs hid tribal objects in the cave. Supposedly a group of Cherokees returned in the early 19-hundreds to retrieve the objects.During the Civil War, Major John Cleveland lived where the university is now. He fought as a Union soldier, but his brother fought as a Confederate soldier. The brother was wounded and Major Cleveland hid him in this cave and nursed him back to health. Mrs. Grace Thatcher, whose husband sold this land to the school, told of various formations of colored stalagmites and stalactites in the cave, but vandals have since destroyed them. Mrs. Thatcher also remembered a large lake with fish in it. During the summer, cool air rushed out of the cave and in the winter, warm air. One year the Thatchers kept watermelons fresh in the cave until Christmas.The area around the cave was once a lime quarry, and the entrance to the cave was originally just a small hole. It was partially blocked by a large boulder. Students in the 1950s enjoyed exploring the cave, and Judy Winters remembers it fondly as the place she got engaged.During the 1970's, the boulder was removed and the entrance widened and gated so the cave could be used as cool storage for the university's garden produce. They called it the "Potato Cave." Several years later, they closed the cave and in the following years made various attempts to keep vandals out. But people kept breaking in, damaging the cave with graffiti, trash, and other vandalism.In 1981, William Shrewsbury was the first to take an interest in the scientific realm of the cave. He created a three-dimensional map of the cave using a compass, cyclometer and tape measure. Thanks to his work, we have a detailed and accurate map of the cave.
There are two types of caves, Primary and Secondary caves.
Primary caves are formed at the same time as the surrounding rock, like lava tubes.
Secondary caves are formed inside the rock after the rock has formed.
There are several types of secondary caves, Sea caves, glacier caves and Solutional caves to name a few. The largest and most abundant Solutional caves are located in limestone. Limestone dissolves under the action of rainwater and groundwater charged with H2CO3 (carbonic acid) and naturally occurring organic acids. The dissolution process produces a distinctive landform known as karst, characterized by sinkholes, sinking streams, and underground drainage. Limestone caves are often adorned with calcium carbonate formations produced through slow precipitation, including the most common and well-known stalactites and stalagmites. These secondary mineral deposits in caves are called speleothems. Solutional caves may form anywhere the rock is soluble. You may not be able to find this 24/7. It is hard to get a picture at night anyway.
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