What would you do? May have a cave on my land

[outacontrol]

Haven't been in there in a couple of years. I've been waiting for another flood that causes the cave to take in water instead of putting it out. Hopefully that would wash some of the sediment out of the tight leads so I can see where this thing goes. With the recent drought, the water table should have been low enough to make that happen, but we haven't had enough rain to significantly flood the valley.

Also, the walls of the sink/entrance are scary right now, no slope, just straight down and unstable. I need to take a small backhoe in there and dig some angle.

[tncaver]

Wish I had a backhoe for my dig leads.

[zachsw]

I've actually got two dozers and an excavator at my disposal....there is one lead that I am thinking about using them on. There is good water flow and some air but there is so much crap in front of it its impossible to get in. The only thing is that its in a sinking stream that floods occasionally and I am scared it will just fill back in.

[tncaver]

I've actually got two dozers and an excavator at my disposal....there is one lead that I am thinking about using them on. There is good water flow and some air but there is so much crap in front of it its impossible to get in. The only thing is that its in a sinking stream that floods occasionally and I am scared it will just fill back in.

Might depend on how many trees and bushes are upstream from the sink. If it is just pasture, the sink might not fill back up once it is dug open.
But if the sinking stream flows from a wooded or brushy area, it might plug up fairly quickly. Also, it might depend on how big you dig it open.
If you dig it big enough to swallow everything going in, it might stay open. The smaller the entrance, the more likely it will be to close back up.

[outacontrol]

The only thing is that its in a sinking stream that floods occasionally and I am scared it will just fill back in.

That's exactly what I've got. There is 6 to 8 feet of black dirt mixed with rock sitting on ledges of bedrock with the cave entrance under one side. When I dug it, I purposely left grade in one side, but that has become fairly steep over the last two years. The bottom has started to fill in, covering some of the entrance with rocks. I'd have to take some small trees out to do any more dirt work.

[bennettbike]

Good idea above, run a pressure washer out there.