Troop 162

The trip to Raccoon Mountain Caverns, in Chattanooga, TN was another good one! After arriving Saturday afternoon, the scouts met with counselor and Geologist Ms. Patty Perlaky. They immediately began working on the Geology Merit Badge. Some of the activities included sifting through an ore sand mix with a gold pan to find semi-precious gemstones. They then sorted, identified and cataloged their finds. Over the next few hours they worked through various stations which gave them opportunity to explore geology in more detail. By late afternoon the boys had completed all but the cave requirements of the Geology Merit Badge.

Later that afternoon we cooked hobo burgers for supper and prepared to go caving!

After our meal we reported to our guides, Patty and Ames. They fitted us with helmets, gloves and knee pads. Our rather large tour group was divided into two groups of 14. We carried our sleeping gear into the cave and set out on the Wild Cave Expedition.

We crawled, slid and wiggled our way through many passages. At one point we straddled and side stepped along a canyon that varied from six to nearly thirty feet in depth! Other points of interest along our route were Sky Light Dome, Sticky Dome, Water Fall Dome, Sand Paper Slide and the very small hole called The 49 Cent Squeeze. Some of the folks even passed through a very small crack in the rock called Jr. Crush which is only 9 inches tall! For future reference, don't try Jr. Crush if any portion of your girth exceeds 31 inches! In all we traveled nearly 2 miles in 4 hours.

After sleeping all night in the cave, our guide woke us up at 7:00am the next morning. We cleared out of the cave to catch showers and breakfast.

At 9:00am our vespers service was conducted by Glenn Jr. who did a great job of performing his first service as Chaplain's Aid. Shortly after the service we gathered everyone together and packed up the vehicles for the ride home.

All of our scouts did a great job in overcoming the many challenges of the cave and in earning their Geology Merit Badges!