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Wildcat Creek Cache
Are you tired of micro caches hidden under light poles? Are you tired of lots of poison ivy and stinging nettles? Are you afraid of snakes and spiders? Are you tired of hiking down overgrown trails or woods in the heat of the summer with sweat pouring down your face? Are you ready for challenge, I mean a real challenge? If you answer yes to these questions then this is a cache for you. If you answered no to most of these questions then this cache is not for you.
The idea for this cache came to me when I was reliving the joys I had exploring up random creeks when I was a youngster. I would see a creek and simply go up it to see where is went. Where I grew up in Ohio that meant an hour of time, water no deeper than a foot, and the endpoint being some random field. Then when I started exploring this part of Tennessee on hiking trips I started doing the same thing. It always seemed to be winter, but I did it anyways. I loved finding waterfalls that few others knew of. Over the past few years, I have passed the mouth of this creek many times and always it said “come and explore”. Later I helped my father maintain a hiking trail that crosses the creek several miles upstream and placed a cache there and decided that I wanted to place an extremely hard “water cache”.
So the day came when the high was supposed to be 94 degrees with triple digit heat index, great skies, and very low water on the Tellico River, and the thought came to me that if I am going to do this, this is the day. So I did.
That being said, here are the details on this cache. You will park at an unmarked pull off for the Cherohala Skyway (waypoint included). Then you will walk down the road just a way and then cross the Tellico River on foot. You will then walk/wade/swim up Wildcat Creek which is a good sized mountain stream feeding the Tellico River to the cache location which is about .5 miles up the creek. The cache is located under a small ledge covered in leaves. You are in the Cherokee National Forest the entire time so please follow their rules.
Words of Caution:
1. This is not a cache for everyone. Everyone in your group must be comfortable wading in creeks and rivers. You will be crossing the Tellico River is a section where it is well over a hundred feet wide, but only a foot or so deep most of the way in normal to low water level. Then you will be walking, wading, and swimming up Wildcat Creek. You will get wet from head to toe and everything with you will get wet. There is one major unnamed (now called Destitute Falls) waterfall that is about 10 feet high that must be navigated up or around. I actually feel it is safer to climb up it instead of around it. That is because every two feet up the falls in a nice ledge to sit or step on. It is covered in a moss that is very friendly to your shoes. There is also a deep pool just below that you will need to swim. It was over my head in two sections of the pool and I am 6 foot tall. Once over the falls you will continue up the stream. You can often get to the shore and walk on large boulders, but we choose to stay in the water most of the time. All rocks are slippery, even some dry ones.
2. This cache should only be done on hot summer days, unless you are comfortable being in very cold water for about 3 hours in the fall, winter, and spring. I would do it, but I am crazy when in comes to water and winter. I would definitely suggest a wet suit if you are going to be doing this when the air temperature is below 70 or so.
3. You must have good water shoes. The rocks are slippery and I am sure you will be taking some tumbles. Flip-flops and sandals are out off the question. I wore my rugged hiking shoes, and my mother wore water shoes. She wished she wore better shoes. I would also suggest having some hiking poles to help cross the Tellico River and most of Wildcat Creek. There are a few spots where you will probably want to ditch them though.
4. You need to be very careful about the water level. If there are boaters on the Tellico River it is too fast to cross. It should look low and crossable. The creek will be impassable if the water is up even just a little. Be smart: if you are not sure don't do it. Did you notice the 3/5 rating. If there is rain in the forecast just be safe and pass this cache up. It takes a lot of rain to raise the water on the creeks, but you never know.
5. This is not a cache to do by your self. You will probably not see anybody at all and no one will know or be around to rescue you. This is not a cache for many children. I would call this PG13 (Parental Guidance and no one under 13). The children must be able to wade in water without help of anybody else. Also, everybody in the group must be able to swim in moderate current. Tell somebody that you are doing this cache and when you are expected back so if you don’t return they can call the Tellico Ranger District or 911.
6. Your GPSr and camera (I suggest bringing) must be waterproof: not water resitant but waterproof. My camera and GPSr did fine and I have a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx GPSr and an Olympus Stylist 1030 SW (shock and waterproof). Your devices will be underwater a lot of the time. I kept mine on my chest strap.
7. The surrounding mountains are a prime hunting location so be careful and wear orange if it is hunting season (which it seems to almost always be).
8. This is a very clean area. You will likely not see any human presence, but we found two beer cans that probably washed down from campers at the campsite about 2 miles upstream. We picked them up and I hope you will do the same if you see any trash.
9. Just because you are in the water don't think for a second that you will not see a bear, boar, deer, turkey, snake, or any other animal. If the rocks are in the sun there may be a snake warming. We didn't see anything but a lot of fish.
10. Lastly, you will be tired when you get back to the Tellico River. Please don't attempt to just float back to where your car is. It is too shallow to float. Also, bring a change of everything for when you get back to your car. If you don't take a snack on your trip have one in your car. It took us about 2.5 hours to explore, place the cache, and come back so expect to be out about the same amount of time.
If after reading all of this you still feel up to challenge then go out and enjoy, but be VERY VERY safe.
Original contents of the cache are a log, pen, typical trade items (the best I had), and two dollars for FTF. This is not a cache for travel bugs and geocoins simply because I don't expect it to be attempted very often. This cache is more about the journey and not the cache itself. For that reason I did not make the actual hide very hard. Just go to the general location, walk up the left bank for about 50 feet and poke a small stick under the ledge about a foot wide and 4 inches high. Due to poor GPSr reception (I had 20ft accuracy when placing th e cache), when you get to the general area find the rock wall going about perpendicular to the creek. The location is about 50 feet upstream or that and 50 feet up the bank. The picture may help. You are looking for a 9X5 Lock and Lock that is under a small ledge and hopefully covered in leaves.
As far as I can tell, there is no name for the waterfall you will pass so I will name it after the FTF who was DESTITUTE. So it is now called Destitute Falls. Congrats to Destitute. Read his entry for information about finding the actual cache location.
Be safe and enjoy.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Hfr gur cvpgher V unir nggnpurq bs gur pnpur ybpngvba.