Cave on New property... Im not a caver.

[zachsw]

My family recently purchased 40 acres in Southern Missouri that has a fairly large cave on it... or fairly large for my standards. I dont know much about it at all except that in the 20's it was opened to the public and then closed shortly therefter. It does have some vandalism throughout the cave. I have several questions about cave managment and exploration and I can't get an answer from MDC or MCKC. I have called and emailed MDC about how to improve the cave for bats because as it is now Im pretty sure is hindering any use of the cave by large numbers of bats. I believe there is probably alot left to explore or dig but Im an extreme novice and would like the help of an experienced caver. Please help. Also why can't I post on others posts on here. It says it must be approved by moderator and then never shows up... but everyone elses does. THe newest post under mine is a post about me where I tried to get someone to answer me on chat last night but couldn't and I cant even comment on it.

[Scott McCrea]

Everyone's first post needs to be approved by a moderator—this catches a lot of spammers. Then you are free to do as you wish, within the rules.

You should get some response now. There are lots of cavers in your area. Good luck and keep us posted.

[zachsw]

[Spike]

Zach,

I'm the president of the Missouri Speleological Survey. We keep records on the number and location of caves in MO. I'll send you a private message with my email address and we can find out if we have any information about your cave. Also we can find out if it's been mapped and get you a copy of the map if it has.

Spike

[activeshooter]

Hey pm or email me g r e g v h e r I n @ s b c g l o b a l . N e t , no spaces or caps.

[zachsw]

Well boogercaver came down from Springfield and was a big help in getting a better look at the cave. Just estimating Id say we were getting fairly close to the half mile mark. We turned around because of some extremely cold water that we werent equipped to go very far in...Im not sure how much farther the cave goes, but it definetely goes farther. I got some pretty nice pics but for some reason they won't upload here. I think they may be huge pictures and high quality so it takes them too long to load. I will try to get them up. A big thanks to everyone who responded with help and I'll keep you updated on the caves progress. There is going to need to be a pretty good bit of cleanup that I am going to contact Missouri Cave and Karst about how to perform, but if anyone wants to help please send me a msg. Im a complete newb but I am really excited about surveying and mapping. I hope to learn alot.

[zachsw]

I thought I would update this with a couple more pictures that have been taken more recently. I just found another cave on the property (virgin) so I am in full cave mode right now..lol. These pics are of the known cave on the property that we are in the process of surveying and not from my new small virgin cave. I hope to someday crawl into a virgin cave like this...but I highly doubt it.

[trogman]

I thought I would update this with a couple more pictures that have been taken more recently. I just found another cave on the property (virgin) so I am in full cave mode right now..lol. These pics are of the known cave on the property that we are in the process of surveying and not from my new small virgin cave. I hope to someday crawl into a virgin cave like this...but I highly doubt it.

Sounds like your original thread title is no longer true, my friend. I think you got bitten by the caving bug!

Be careful-that desire to find new virgin caves will drive you to do crazy things. I sometimes get up before dawn and drive 100+ miles. Then I hike 5 or more miles in freezing temperatures,looking for tiny, insignificant holes in the ground. When I find one, I dig, pry, or even blast them open, all in search of elusive virgin cave. Keep at it, and you will likely find some as good or better than that in your photos.

Trogman