Buggy Top Cave 6.29.19

 Saturday's hike to Buggytop Cave was a quite enjoyable hike despite the relatively warm temps and high humidity.  Five of our group met at the Soddy Daisy parking lot and proceeded to the Buggytop trail head.  The trailhead off of Hwy 56 isn't well marked, but we eventually found it.  We met up with another hiker from the local area and embarked on our trek.  The first half mile of the hike was an approximately 250 foot climb on a fairly steep, muddy, and rocky trail.  The remainder of the hike to Buggytop Cave was a 921 foot descent over a muddy and rocky trail.  The last 100 yard descent to the cave was the most treacherous.  The trail at that point could use a hand cable to assist the descent.  The cave was worth the effort it took to get there.  There were several local hikers already getting ready to enter the cave.  They said it was quite a distance to get through the cave.  Several hikers we met later said it was a short distance.  After we had our snacks and despite the differences of opinion on the distance, we decided to go back to where the trail splits and go to Peter Cave via the top trail.  Three of us proceeded to Peter Cave and three waited at the trail split.  Again we got mixed information from local hikers we met on the trail.  Some said it was about a mile to cave and some said it was a short distance.  It turned out to be about a 12 minute hike to Peter Cave.   We passed an additional cave and nice overlook enroute to Peter Cave.  Had we hiked through Buggytop Cave, we would have come out at Peter Cave - maybe next time.  We returned to the split and we all began the ascent out.  The hike out was a lot more arduous due to the temperature and humidity rise.  We exited the trail around 2 pm.  I would rate this hike strenuous and maybe better hiked during cooler weather (prior to the Nov 1 closing). 
If you would like to see some nice pictures of this hike including a trail map, click here.  If you are trying to view the pictures through the TTA website and having trouble, please go directly to the website at www.sdctta.blogspot.com.