The Conservative Cave

The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: Ptarmigan on January 07, 2011, 07:53:55 PM

Title: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Ptarmigan on January 07, 2011, 07:53:55 PM
Since this place is called Conservative Cave. Has anyone ever visited a real cave and/or cavern?
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Chris_ on January 07, 2011, 07:55:30 PM
This is the closest one to me.  I've been there once or twice.

http://www.cumberlandcaverns.com/
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: thundley4 on January 07, 2011, 08:00:34 PM
I visited both the Meramec and Onadaga Onondaga caverns when I was younger.

ETCS
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: ExGeeEye on January 07, 2011, 08:05:09 PM
Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico (big and impressive) at age 9, and Timpanogos Cave, Utah (small and disappointing, probably because I was spoiled by the Carlsbad experience) at 12 or 13.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: longview on January 07, 2011, 10:04:50 PM
In Virginia, Kentucky, South Dakota and Indiana. 
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: IassaFTots on January 07, 2011, 10:07:40 PM
I have been to the Luray Caverns in Virginia.  Stalagtites, and stalagmites and stuff.  I don't know if I could do it now, being a grownup that developed a fear of closed in spaces.  They are cool though, to see on my TV.   :-)
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Texacon on January 07, 2011, 10:08:44 PM
I grew up in south west Missouri.  I spent more time underground growing up than my parents were comfortable with.  Been in a few commercial caves/caverns but mostly it was holes in the ground out in the middle of nowhere.

KC
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Thor on January 07, 2011, 11:07:22 PM
I have been to the Luray Caverns in Virginia.  Stalagtites, and stalagmites and stuff.  I don't know if I could do it now, being a grownup that developed a fear of closed in spaces.  They are cool though, to see on my TV.   :-)

I'm somewhat claustrophobic and I didn't have  problem with Carlsbad Caverns a few years ago.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: catsmtrods on January 08, 2011, 05:46:01 AM
http://www.secretcaverns.com/index.htm

The waterfall is cool but I love the artwork. The Jerry Garcia of caves.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: vesta111 on January 08, 2011, 07:09:12 AM
http://www.secretcaverns.com/index.htm

The waterfall is cool but I love the artwork. The Jerry Garcia of caves.

Lewisburg Tenn. had 25 years ago a cave open to the public and a big rock outside said Abe Lincoln had given a speech there.

The In laws property had semi caves from the great earth quake in the 1700's or so and we the kids and I explored everyone we found.

The granite in places looked like a hot butter knife had carved it's way across the land.

Crazy Yankee mother I took all 4 kids down underground for the week of their school vacation and never gave a thought of running into a bear hibernating or some other danger.  My boys had gotten it into their heads we could find the Yankee Gold that was stolen from the North and hidden, somewhere, all we found were areas that perhaps we were the first to see since the quake.  lots of stalactites that we stayed away from, and we tried to leave the caves in pristine condition.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Randy on January 08, 2011, 10:59:04 AM
Too many to name because I've been in alot, most of which I can't remember the names. When I was a kid caves were a cheap family vacation so we hit most of them in the east. Being a coastal guy for the majority of my life I didn't get much chance to go exploring any by myself.

Back in my earlier days there was a time a group of us got drunk one night and decided to go skiing. We woke up in Carlsbad NM so we went to the caverns instead.  :-)  :rotf:
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Chris_ on January 08, 2011, 11:00:25 AM
The smart ass in me just has to say, Yes, but, lets not bring anyone's mother into this.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: debk on January 08, 2011, 11:51:29 AM
The Blue Grotto, Isle of Capri, Italy.

Only because everyone else went and no one told me I would have to lay down in a little bitty rowboat to get through the opening. If I had known, before I climbed into the rowboat... there is no way in hell I would have seen the inside.


This is not one of my pictures, but this is what it looks like inside. That little bitty hole of daylight is the entrance.   :o

(http://ts3.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=384291581666&id=db74f56ea6259876ed4681c6c338bb79)
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: olde north church on January 08, 2011, 12:30:46 PM
Yes, touristy caverns in PA and VA when I was a kid.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: BattleHymn on January 08, 2011, 02:01:06 PM
Yes.  Being in SW Missouri, it is hard NOT to have been in some sort of cave, at least once.  Also, caves in Upper MO, Arkansas, and South Dakota. 
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: BlueStateSaint on January 08, 2011, 04:15:20 PM
Yup--Howe's Cave off of I-88.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: ColonialMarine0431 on January 08, 2011, 04:46:23 PM
Cumberland Caves when I was about 12 with the family.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Eupher on January 08, 2011, 10:15:54 PM
Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico (big and impressive) at age 9, and Timpanogos Cave, Utah (small and disappointing, probably because I was spoiled by the Carlsbad experience) at 12 or 13.

I did Carlsbad in 1982 on a wee little junket from Ft. Hood to El Paso, return via Carlsbad. I lived in Salt Lake City for a time and have been to Timpanogos, but not the cave. Beautiful area.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Chris_ on January 09, 2011, 09:28:09 PM
Carlsbad Caverns--really liked the bats at sunset
Colossal Cave Mountain Park in Tucson--my tour guide was nuttier than a fruitcake

Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: franksolich on January 09, 2011, 09:39:36 PM
Oh man, too many to list, none of which I found especially interesting.

South Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and probably a couple of other places.

I was a kid, and had to go with the big people.

I don't recall anything remarkable about them; they were just holes in the ground.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Attero Dominatus on January 10, 2011, 07:17:38 AM
Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico (I loved seeing the bats at sunset) and Ape Cave in Washington.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Wineslob on January 10, 2011, 11:43:34 AM
At one time I belonged to the Motherlode Grotto, a chapter of the NSS. I've been in so many "wild" caves that I lost count many years ago.
I've see some of the "big" commercial caves, Moaning (Ca), Carlsbad, Caverns of Sonora (Texas) etc...
One of the best was rappelling into Samwel cave near Lake Shasta.
Oh, I also have a cave named after me. It's not much, just a pit cave, called Patterson's Pit.    :-)
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Eupher on January 10, 2011, 11:46:12 AM
At one time I belonged to the Motherlode Grotto, a chapter of the NSS. I've been in so many "wild" caves that I lost count many years ago.
I've see some of the "big" commercial caves, Moaning (Ca), Carlsbad, Caverns of Sonora (Texas) etc...
One of the best was rappelling into Samwel cave near Lake Shasta.
Oh, I also have a cave named after me. It's not much, just a pit cave, called Patterson's Pit.     :-)

Well, now, that's unusual. What did you do to warrant this?

Never mind, I don't wanna know!!!!!  :lmao:
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Wineslob on January 10, 2011, 01:58:34 PM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
While we were coming back from another cave I nearly fell into an almost perfectly round hole in an exposed flat area of Marble (no Limestone in Ca). We could look down into the "pit", but couldent find an entrance. I noticed a small deperssion off to one side and it happened to be a way into the "cave"
Because I found a way to get into the pit and no one had ever seen it before I got to name it.

I use "cave" loosely because none of it was truly in the dark. It was just the top of a much deeper pit that had filled in over many, many years so it was only about 40-50 feet deep and wide, and almost perfectly round. Hole we found was at the "top" of the pit.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Chris_ on January 10, 2011, 02:01:31 PM
Did you get your own sign?
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Wineslob on January 10, 2011, 02:17:00 PM
Did you get your own sign?

At best, it's on some topographers map. I doubt I could go back and find it.   :p

Another excellent cave was Lilburn in Sequoia Natl Park. We spent about 14 hours mapping sections of it, so I was able to see areas where not many people had been, not that many get down there as it's well over 400 ft down just to get to the areas that needed mapping.
At the bottom there's a "lake" with trout that get trapped from the stream above. How they survive getting that far underground beats me. The cave was formed from the stream above eroding the Marble away. The "outlet" or resurgence in the stream is pretty cool to check out also.

I wish I could find all my old pics and transfer them to disc.    :(
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: ironhorsedriver on January 10, 2011, 03:19:10 PM
I've got a few caves on my property. My son and I explored a few, untill a bobcat ran us out of one and a rattlesnake out of another.
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: njpines on January 11, 2011, 09:54:32 AM
I've been to (and in) Mammouth Cave in Kentucky, back in the mid-80s.  Amazing place!
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: littlelamb on January 11, 2011, 10:03:53 AM
I've been to (and in) Mammouth Cave in Kentucky, back in the mid-80s.  Amazing place!


Me too with school and Girl Scouts when my dad was stationed at Fort Knox :-)
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: BattleHymn on January 11, 2011, 07:22:38 PM
At best, it's on some topographers map. I doubt I could go back and find it.   :p

Another excellent cave was Lilburn in Sequoia Natl Park. We spent about 14 hours mapping sections of it, so I was able to see areas where not many people had been, not that many get down there as it's well over 400 ft down just to get to the areas that needed mapping.
At the bottom there's a "lake" with trout that get trapped from the stream above. How they survive getting that far underground beats me. The cave was formed from the stream above eroding the Marble away. The "outlet" or resurgence in the stream is pretty cool to check out also.

I wish I could find all my old pics and transfer them to disc.    :(

OK, I have to ask something I was told when I started looking into seriously doing cave exploration a few years back. 

When you are deep, deep down inside bowels of a cave, do you really have to carry your number 1s and number 2s out with you?



Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Eupher on January 11, 2011, 08:26:26 PM
OK, I have to ask something I was told when I started looking into seriously doing cave exploration a few years back. 

When you are deep, deep down inside bowels of a cave, do you really have to carry your number 1s and number 2s out with you?






 :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:


Sides.are.hurting.can't.stop.laughing.....
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: IassaFTots on January 11, 2011, 08:28:55 PM
Oh hell.   :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
Title: Re: Caves and Caverns
Post by: Wineslob on January 12, 2011, 11:26:57 AM
OK, I have to ask something I was told when I started looking into seriously doing cave exploration a few years back. 

When you are deep, deep down inside bowels of a cave, do you really have to carry your number 1s and number 2s out with you?






Believe it or not, I don't think I had that issue. Maybe #1, but I think I just dug a hole in an out-of-the-way spot. Most of the caves I Ca are small, so it was never a big deal to get out in time.
As far as #2, yup, carry baggies is the rule.