Traveling through W.VA & VA. Caving suggestions?

[GroundquestMSA]

I'm going to be passing through West Virginia next Sunday with my brother on my way to Lynchburgh, Va. I'll be traveling from Ohio down rt.77 to Beckley and then rt.64E into Virginia. I know we'll pass through some good karst. Last time we went this way there was no time to cave but we did duck into a few little roadcut caves. There are of course commercial caves too. I thought about the wild tour at Lost World but the $70 per person is more than I can handle.

Does anyone have any suggestions? We don't have a lot of time this trip either, but a little caving would make the drive a lot more tolerable.

[nathanroser]

I'll PM you with a few places that aren't too far out of the way.

[GroundquestMSA]

Thanks Nathan. I am realizing that I'm incredibly ignorant of caves outside my normal caving areas. I recognize the names of many of those caves but had no idea where they were.

[VACaver]

Spring VAR is next weekend and is being held not too far from Lewisburg.

Maybe you can come through a day early and attend!

[GroundquestMSA]

Thanks for the help, folks. I was able to spend 4 hrs or so in Maxwelton Sink and a few hours in Benedict. Strangely, the massive and extensive passage of both caves didn't destroy any of my zeal for exploring the minute tubes of my homeland.

[nathanroser]

Nice, how far did you get in Maxwellton?

[GroundquestMSA]

We dropped the first little 30 or so footer after the Heaven passage, went left to the waterfall and fiddled about for a while in that cramped stream passage, went back to the big room by the drop and up the hill to the next 45' pit, and then jogged back a NE passage with several potholes and a collection of impressive mud sculptures at the dead end. I didn't bring the map into the cave with me or we would have taken a left at that pothole passage and went a bit further, but we were running out of time anyway.

If I were to go back, what section of the cave would you suggest I see next time?

[GroundquestMSA]

Once again,

I'm going to be passing through West Virginia with my brother on my way to Lynchburgh, Va. I'll be traveling from Ohio down rt.77 to Beckley and then rt.64E into Virginia.

Dec.2 this time.
We visited Maxwelton and Benedict last time we passed through. I'm interested in seeing another cave anywhere along this route. Any sort of passage is fine with us, except wading/swimming. Suggestions?

Thanks folks, -J

[Chief943]

I'm a little out of the way of your route and this is probably too late to matter, but I live in McDowell, Va. (24458) and there are many, many caves in this neck of the woods. I'd be happy to show you some on a future visit if you can make the time.

Mark

[GroundquestMSA]

Thanks Mark. I've never visited that part of VA. I'll certainly keep you in mind for future trips.