Dunbar Cave Clarksville TN
One of the things I enjoy most about living in Clarksville, TN. is Dunbar Cave. I have lived in Clarksville Tennessee off and on most of my life and always have lived within a few miles of this State park. Needless to say, Dunbar Cave State Park is absolutely amazing. Ironically, all these years of living here in Clarksville, I have never taken a tour inside the cave. That is until recently, and now after taking a tour of the cave, I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The tour was absolutely amazing.
Quite a few things have changed in my life recently, one of which is my drive to quit smoking. About two weeks ago I asked my doctor to help me quit and he gave me a prescription for a medication called Chantix. To my amazement, the medication is working very well. I haven’t quit smoking completely, but I have instantly gone from smoking two packs per day (40 cigarettes) down to about five cigarettes per day. This medication is absolutely amazing. It seriously blocks the cravings for cigarettes and its basically up to me break the cycle of smoking.
Anyway, with that said, my doctor had suggested that I start eating better and get exercise. He suggested that I totally mix things up the day I start my prescription and incorporate new habits into my life, one of which is exercise. He explained to me about the importance of walking and hiking and that basically was what caused Dunbar Cave to pop into my mind. Dunbar Cave State park isn’t just a place to take historic cave tours. More frequently people visit the State park to hike the trails. Dunbar Cave has three hiking trails, each having different distances and levels of intensity. After starting my new medication, I have been spending a lot of time power walking and jogging in the trails. Doing so feels absolutely amazing. Taking these 2 mile walks in the dense and cool forest on rocky and at times muddy trails is by far much better than using a treadmill. The environment and scenery is absolutely beautiful. The air in the forest is very Earthy, cool, rich, and soothing inside my lungs. I am honestly not sure if these walks have been more therapeutic for me or physically healthy. Either way, I am totally addicted.
After doing these walks for the last two weeks, a friend and I decided to go inside the visitor center and check it out. Inside the building we saw a dry erase board set up and written on the board was cave tour times and reservation details. Instantly, I thought to myself, “Of all the years I have lived in Clarksville, Tennessee, why in the world, have I not done this sooner?” From there, we made a reservation and a few days later, we toured the inside of Dunbar Cave. The tour was absolutely outstanding. The tour guide was a Tennessee Ranger who lead us 1/4 mile deep into the cave. Inside the cave was soothingly cool in temperature, and the air quality was amazingly refreshing. It was absolutely beautiful inside. I only wish I was able to capture pictures, but respectfully I didn’t because flash photography wasn’t allowed inside the cave. I do, however, have a few pictures of Swan Lake and of the Nature area to share.
I named the tree in the 4th picture, The Tree of Love. I also found this amazing video on Google of a story that Fox 17 News had covered about Dunbar Cave. Amazingly, and very recently in 2005, very historic cave art was discovered which increased the level of popularity for the cave tremendously.
Wish me well in my journey with quitting smoking and with repairing my body. These hikes are amazing and each day I walk the trails they become more rewarding. I am able to complete the 2 mile hike in about 25 minutes. My aim is to be able to complete it in about 15 minutes without feeling like death in a hand basket. If you happen to be passing through Clarksville, Tennessee, I totally recommend paying Dunbar Cave State Park a visit. If you plan a few days in advanced, I recommend getting a cave tour reservation. The cost is only $5 dollars per person, flash light rental is $2 dollars and the tour last over 90 minutes. It’s well worth the money. After the cave tour you can walk the trails and then have lunch next to the shore of Swan Lake. You might even see me there.
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I’ve recently had a relative of mine quit smoking as well Garry and let me tell you it’s not easy thing for them, but in my opinion it’s worse for the family and the people who have to deal with the results.
But after you’ve completed your long journey of trying to quit smoking you’ll be very glad you did. I hear that the chances of you dying of Cancer due to smoking is cut in half after five years of not smoking. You’re making a very wise and healthy decision for you and your family. The exercise also is something we should all be doing more often than we currently are.
I wish you good luck Garry!
Brad
Hey Garry…. Congrats on quitting smoking. I am with you brother. I used to smoke 2 packs a day and quit 17 years ago. It was my valentines day gift to my wife the first year we were married. You can do it…..
I have driven past the exit on the Interstate hundreds of times and saw the sign to Dunbar cave and have never gone. I will have to take the family to check it out this summer as a close to home day trip. We went to the caves in Bowling Green KY and Mammoth Cave area a couple summers ago and they were great as well. Damn near had a heart attack climbing in one of them…..haha. I am not as young as I once was as the song goes.
Enjoy the summer …………
Hi Eric,
The trails are not very intense. There is a good balance of inclines and level ground. I like the loose rocky ground because it makes you work harder and it feels like you have to work more muscles in your legs compared to a treadmill. Plus the scenery is absolutely beautiful. I am glad to hear that you’ll be taking your family to Dunbar cave. Don’t wait too long, I would totally take advantage of this cooler weather. In July and August the weather will be dreadfully hot, although if you do a cave tour, it will be very cool inside. One of the things that have been most attractive about the cave for thousands of years is its natural air conditioning. When my friend and I took the cave tour, the cave temperature was around 50′ degrees Fahrenheit despite outside temperatures being closer to 90′ degrees.
In many ways the process is very agonizing for family members and friends. I have been an angry, anxious, annoyed, and irritable during cravings and then I feel depressed, dreadful, and remorseful for subjecting loved ones to my moods. So you are right, it’s not only difficult for the person quitting, but also for the people around that person.
Glad to hear you’re kicking the smoking habit, Garry, and getting immediate results with it. Overeating and lack of exercise are my downfalls that I continue to fight against in bursts.
Best of luck in quitting the dreaded weed. I did it …. cold turkey. I loved my ciggy and I smoked up to 40 a day. I decided one day just to stop. I did and I’ve never looked back.
Hang in there Garry …. it’ll be tough but worth it!
I understand where you are coming from. I have lived in London, UK, for 30 years and I have only seen a couple of the sites in London.
I haven’t completely quit but I have reduced the smoking quite a bit. I have now started jogging the trails. My 11 yr old son and I just jogged five miles today. I felt like I was going to die. It was entertaining to see though that my son was getting smoked by his old man though. Go figure… 32 years old, smoked almost 19 years can outlast an 11 yr kid.
Needless to say, despite my pain and feeling like utter crap while jogging, I had a shit eating grin on my face as I constantly checked my six and saw my son barely keeping up. This might sound rude to people who don’t know who competitive my son and I are together… be beats me at everything, but now I have him beat at jogging… not for long though I imagine. We hit the trails again tomorrow, wish me luck as he will totally be bringing his game. LOL
“Best of luck in quitting the dreaded weed” — I never said I was going to quit smoking Marijuana. (joking)
Is “weed” what you call Cigarettes where you’re from? In U.S. “weed” is a slang term for Marijuana.
I guess that is typical. But really though, there isn’t too much to see in Clarksville. Download is pretty historic and the Riverwalk is very nice, but other than that, most everything you’d want to see would be in Nashville, and even that is kinda lame.
@ Dean Saliba – haha i can relate. I lived in London (Swiss Cottage) for two years while working at the Embassy in the 1980’s. Never saw the changing of the guard, buckingham palace, tower of london etc……….. spent a lot of time in the pubs though……..haha. My favorite of course was the Swiss Cottage Pub in the middle of the road on Finchley………
FYI…After appx 2yrs your lungs will have cleaned themselves out and you
will have created a stronger heart muscle because of your smoking experince…
And I will not touch on the benefits of smoking marijuana…Don’t Quit!
Everything in moderation…5 cigarette/day + 2 joint/day…
Long Life and Free Mind
I too quit smoking cold turkey and not even wanting to quit? I know, I would have said the same thing too, but it happened back in Jan ‘09 with the worst bout of stomach virus I ever had. It lasted 48 hours and after which I realized I hadn’t had a smoke in 2 days. I smoked 2 packs a day. Then I thought well, since I am not craving a smoke, I’ll see how long I can go, I figured if I had depleted my nicotine level to such a low level, I may not have to build it back up and much to my surprise, I haven’t had a smoke in 5 months now?
As for the cave thing, I too live in TN about 40 minutes from Clarksville and I am a cave nut. So much so I learned a way to build your own. You can see for yourself: Build A CAVEROCK Cave
Let me know what you think?
later,
Jim (a.k.a. CaveMan)
Dear Gary, Congratulations on quitting smoking. Although I found medicine helpful in quitting, the ultimate thing that it came down to was going cold turkey. Pick a day that you will stop, smoke all you have to the day before and the next day get up and don’t smoke no matter what. The cravings will come something fierce, but just try to analyze the craving, say I’m having a craving, take a deep breath until it goes away. When it comes back do the same thing over again. You have to persist. You can do it, and only you can do it. I am ten years smoke free and sometimes I still want a cigarette. But now it is so easy to say no that the occasional craving is not a big deal. Good luck! You’ll make it. Don
Congratulations on your plan to stop smoking – You will look back in Years an say to yourself it was one of the smartest & best thing you ever did in your whole life. And Also a Great LIFE & BUSINESS Plan (smoking expences combined with medical expences will be EXTREME & possibly Deadly) …
I stopped 13 years ago after smoking a Long Time and the 1st Time it was So Easy I could not Beleive it – (i was Dreaming but I did beleive it) – anyway soon after that I told myself I could do 1 or 2 cigs at the most a day for a treat and also Stop any Weght Gain – Bingo – this resulted in total failure and I was back my 2 pks a day of the only cigarette I Loved (Benson & Hedges Menthol – at least that is what I told myself).
— Gameplan 2 – I started my 2nd Time after Research and thought I would try it with the “Patches” for 2 or 3 weeks – This worked Great – But I could tell I still needed the Patches – so I stayed on the Patches “5″ Months (i have to do things at extreme) and Have not Smoked ever Since that Time – Not Even ONE Puff – I know that would be to Risky.
— Your Doctors idea on changing daily habits and doing new things was excellent and I am sure it will make your success easier and better – never heard of it but the Chantix sounds like a winner.
— You will do Great Gary — Keep up your great work & stay healthy…
Dunbar is nice. I helped map several miles of Roy Woodard Cave just to North, with the Northern Indiana Grotto of the National Speleological Society back in 1979-1981 time frame. We drove down from Ft Wayne, Elkhart area, Indiana. Roy Woodard was connected via a cave dive by Steve Magerlein in 1978 IIRC. Good times. I haven’t seen a combined map of these in 29 years… IIRC only Dunbar Cave “proper” map was displayed in the visitors center.
In regards to smoking, every time I quit, I get started again. Our insanely stressful life I guess. But I still jog when I can, and walk many people into the ground.
That’s a beautiful place. Ever notice how people staying in an area tend to take things for granted? They hear about how beautiful a place is and never really take the time to enjoy it. Even in my part of the world, we have untouched jungles, crocker range, Mt Kinabalu and Sipidan. Yet many of the people I’ve met who are not in tourism have never visited.
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