The original parking spot is alongside the river at a concrete bridge. You used to be able to cross the bridge, hang a right on the railroad tracks, and let your GPS do the rest. But that bridge now has signage that makes using it illegal. So you need to use a swinging bridge located about half a mile east of the cache, cross the river, turn left, and then walk about half a mile back to the cache.
The caves near this cache -- N35 20.197 W83 36.981 -- are filled with stories, history, and legends! In Cherokee belief, these caves were known as dwelling places of the Little People. According to Cherokee legend, the Little People were a tribe of little folks hardly reaching up to a person's knee, but well-shaped and handsome, with long hair falling to the ground.
The ethnographer James Mooney who collected all of the Cherokee stories, rituals, and beliefs in the 1800's writes about the Little People that "they live in rock caves on the mountainsides...They are great wonder workers and are very fond of music, spending half their time drumming and dancing. They are helpful and kind-hearted ..but if you hear their drumming in the lonely places of the mountains, do not follow it, because the Little People do not like to be disturbed at home. They will throw a spell over the stranger so that he is bewildered and loses his way, and even if he does get back to the settlement, he is like one dazed ever after."
So as you visit this cache, be cautious and respectful of the Little People, and remember this last piece of advice from the Cherokee: "When a hunter finds anything in the woods, such as a knife or a trinket, he must say 'Little People, I want to take this,' because it may belong to them, and if he does not ask their permission they will throw stones at him as he goes home."
So please ask permission, upon finding the cache, before taking anything and be sure to leave something to ensure a safe trip home!
After finding the cache, be sure to walk downstream on the tracks another 100 feet or so to find the larger room-size caves! Good luck and have fun exploring these sacred dwelling places of the Little People!
Make sure you visit the Land of the Noonday Sun and Ulagu's Trek caches while in the area!
FTF HONORS GO TO mountain_stream!!!
