Anybody have caves?

[Waterwheel Farm]

I have a cave I've never been in but I'm getting more curious all the time. It's at the end of a dry creekbed (dry unless it rains really hard) so it has some old logs, leaves, etc partially blocking the entrance. I was bored today so I went down and removed some of the stuff so I could peek inside. It looks like a room 20-30 feet across but I cant tell if it goes anywhere, but there's lots of cool air coming up out of it. I'm also aware of the problem with white nose syndrome (WNS) with bats and I don't want to cause them any harm or disturb their hibernation if there's any in there. I was also by myself this morning and even though I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, I'm not dumb enough to go in somewhere like that alone. Just wondered if anybody else on here has caves on their place and if they explore them?

The end of the creekbed


The entrance


Looking back from entrance



Another entrance view

[fishhead]

So does the water flow out of the mouth of the cave?

[mekasmom]

Beautiful pictures.

[Waterwheel Farm]

No, water flows into it. Thats why the logs and stuff washed to the entrance. I tried sticking the camera in and getting some shots but it's so warm today it fogged up my camera lens, Plus I was afraid I'd drop it. Looks like about a 10 foot vertical drop and I didnt want to lose it.

[fishhead]

It must be large enough to handle a decent flow of water.

[Waterwheel Farm]

Yes, it handles a huge amount of water which makes me think it my have a pretty good size to the cave. Since I'm older and chubbier now, not sure I could squeeze thru the tight spots anymore, if any.

[jennigrey]

I'm jealous! I would love to have a cave to explore.

[simi-steading]

I've got at least one, maybe two... Just barely looked at them.. side by side.. Have only had the property since December, so not done a lot of exploring yet... seen maybe half the property now.. .

The one on the left side does seem to go back really far until it either closes off, or has a real small hole...

Here's a picture... Thought I had a few more close up, but if I do I haven't put them on Flickr yet..

[Waterwheel Farm]

Good pics there semi. If and when I go inside, I'm gonna take some pics. From what I can see of mine, and "wet" type of formations will be deeper if I can get there.

[Ozarks Tom]

We're on a bluff, 70' above a river, and down near the river there's a cave nearly identical to yours. Unfortunately, it's been a coyote den for a long time, and crawling back in there isn't on my agenda. The Ozarks are full of caves.

[Waterwheel Farm]

I have coyotes here too. Unfortunately if there's any in there and I decide to go in for a look they might have to scoot over for a few minutes and let me look around. I'll give it back to them.

[Nimrod]

Most bats eat bugs so wait for warmer weather when the bugs are out. Sit in a lawn chair at dusk and watch the cave mouth. If there are bats, you will see them comming out.

I think whitenose disease gets spread when an infected bat or someone who has been in a cave with infected bats then goes into the new cave. I don't think you can spread it if you are only going in the one cave.

How about upholding tradition? It sounds like the ideal place to run off a few batches of shine.

[Fire-Man]

Water Wheel Farm---Can you get to the other side of that hill and look for a outlet? That water that dumps into it has got to be going some where.

[Waterwheel Farm]

Well, I'm a beer guy myself but if shine would drag in some money I'd think about it. I don't do drugs so growing other stuff I'm not interested in, but as in most other homesteads this place is a money pit.

[Waterwheel Farm]

Fire-man....there is no hill. The hole disappears into a bottom that goes next door to about 1400 acres of private land. It all heads downhill. There is a sandstone cap at my house about 40 feet thick and under that is limestone. My spring at the house comes from between the sandstone and the limestone layers. There are several sinkholes here and I'd say there is a pretty good underground passage, although if it's passible or not, who knows.

[coup]

you could advertise for a spulunker club and have them come and search it,,,course they would keep the bucket of gold coins......

[Waterwheel Farm]

I thought about that, but like most of you I like being private and a bunch of folks coming down here and starting to feel welcome doesn't appeal to me. I guess the hermit side of me overrules the skittish feeling of going in a cave.

[simi-steading]

When I was out at the farm the start of this month, I did walk up to the cave with a friend and we sat in the mouth of it a few talking... There was a fair amount of water dripping from the ceiling, and there's also piles of flat stone that has fallen off the roof piled up on the ground.. It's thin layers of sandstone it looks like... It looks just like your stone. I'll be using some of that stone to build my fireplace hearth out of..

Anyway, it goes back that I can see about 30 feet o so, and the hole starts getting real small... Before I explore mine I'll get me a hardhat, a radio, a couple extra lights, and I'd feel a LOT better if I had an air tester too... The people we bought the place from said they never explored the caves, and weren't very hot on me even being close to it when we went to look at the property...

Being as our place is in the middle of oil fields, I do worry about bad air in the cave..

[Waterwheel Farm]

I understand being worried about bad air. The opening on mine has cold air coming out, which I assume means somewhere there is another opening. I do understand the risks, but it is really hard to be tempted to go inside for a peek.

[frogmammy]

Make sure someone knows when you're going and when you plan on being back. There's a reason the people didn't seem to like the cave much.

Mon