Guide
Çımağıl Cave lies in the central district of Bayburt at between 2,470 and 2,550 metres above sea level, in the valley of the Masat stream, a branch of the Çoruh. Accounts of its length differ: some give 110 metres, some six hundred and some 1,010, and in places the cave reaches thirty metres in height. Its distance from the provincial centre is likewise given variously as thirty-five, fifty and fifty-seven kilometres. It was opened to visitors in 2007, and dripstone columns in pale yellow, white, deep yellow and brown can be seen inside.
The cave covers twenty thousand square metres. The corridor by which the main chamber is entered varies between sixty and 150 centimetres across. The main chamber is full of rubble and holds a small pool of water, and from it three branches lead off.
The branch running west leads to the Cream Room, the branch running north to the Room of Ghosts, and the continuation of that same branch to the Blue Room. At the entrance to the Cream Room are stalactites and stalagmites, with rubble to the south of it. The Room of Ghosts is likewise formed of stalactites and stalagmites. At the entrance to the Blue Room are stalactites and a small pool, and at its far end a lake covering a hundred square metres.
Outside the cave the temperature is twenty-two degrees, in the entrance chamber eighteen and in the inner parts twelve. Some bats and birds have been seen in the entrance chamber, but no creature has been reported living in the depths of the cave.
The cave formed within old limestones of the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous and developed downward from its entrance in a series of steps. It is known to have been found by chance by villagers from Aşağıçimağıl, in 1993 according to some accounts and in 1986 according to others.
