Vaughns Gap Cave, Davidson County, Tennessee

March 2024

Gate Type: BASIC

Caves out in the boonies don’t get a lot of visitation pressure. But caves in city parks do. Metro Parks Nashville has one such cave. And they would rather use it to educate visitors about karst geology, cave fauna, and aquifers than see it covered with graffiti. The Cave Gaters came to the rescue! We worked with Parks staff and volunteers to install a beautiful Basic gate, place a type of Flat gate over a sinkhole that was rapidly opening into the back of the cave, and provide management recommendations, such as removing the invasive Paulownia trees (Paulownia tomentosa) around the entrance. All photos © Jim Kennedy.

Prior to the gate project, the cave entrance was a mess of exotic invasives.
The bedrock was generally pretty competent, but there was a so-so layer near the top of the entrance that required some careful anchor pin placement and a lot of cursing.
You can see how that softer layer actually created a couple of high-level passages.
We decided to move the gate out a bit to protect those passages, too.
With the center columns up and Lydia working on the hangers, it’s almost time for the horizontal bars.
As the gate grew higher, we worked off of ladders and plank “scaffolds”.
It’s really starting to look like a gate now.
The staff and volunteers were amazing help!
It’s not easy carrying a 200-pound piece of angle iron while balancing on a steep plank.
The view from inside the cave is pretty impressive.
This is our quick-and-dirty solution to the growing hole at the back of the cave. As the hole continues to enlarge, another protection strategy will be necessary.
The finished gate photo, showing the stumps of the removed Paulownias. Great work, trail crew!