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I went to college in northern Georgia. The Tennessee/Alabama/Georgia border area is an area with a great many caves because the underlying rock/geological structures are limestone, which is prone to water erosion more than most other types of rocks. Limestone rocks plus the rain/water in the area means there are a lot of caves in the area.
I went caving a lot in college. A friend started a caving club in college and spent about 1 weekend a month crawling/climbing/hiking around underground. But I learned from friends who had years of experience, including someone who worked for the Hamilton County, Tennessee, cave rescue squad (at the time one of the best cave rescue squads in the world given the number of caves around the area. They also are on record for having performed the deepest cave rescue in the US). And I had appropriate gear, including helmet, light, gloves, rope, climbing/descending gear, etc. Wandering around in a cave with a group of pre-teen boys without sufficient training and equipment strikes me as a supremely bad idea.
And 'spelunking' is a term used by those who don't go caving. Those who do it call it 'caving'.
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