Fitzpatrick Cave b/w Springfield & Nixa

[William_mcneely]

Went to Fitzpatrick cave last night with a friend! It’s supposedly a huge cave system but is gated about 50 yards in. I’ll post some pics. It’s private property but had permission to be there. It’s a real pretty area. I’ll post pics later

[William_mcneely]

[Deleted]

[William_mcneely]

F9E3F505-9967-481C-98CA-3FFC3E120FC4.jpeg (106.94 KiB) Viewed 6522 times

[William_mcneely]

Pics

[Nicotti]

Nice pics! So they've gated it finally huh? I was there about 15 years ago and all the speleothems were broken/trashed, so I'm not too surprised by that. Did they gate it at the keyhole?

If you weren't aware, Breakdown cave is between Fitzpatrick and the buildings, higher up on the hillside. It's also gated, but it's a "classroom cave." So it's fairly easy to get into through different groups/college courses, etc... or at least it used to be.

Back when I explored it, they thought the southwestern passage may connect to Breakdown, but it's too small to go through. Peeps may have connected it by other detection means since then, I don't know.


It's kinda hard to see on the map, but the way to the upper passage from the sump pit is to go back towards the T and get on the ledge about 4' high along the northern wall. It's a little scary crawling on it, especially in the sump room as by then it's 15' above the floor, only 10-12 inches wide, slightly angled to where you can slip off, and usually wet/slippery.

[William_mcneely]

Nice pics! So they've gated it finally huh? I was there about 15 years ago and all the speleothems were broken/trashed, so I'm not too surprised by that. Did they gate it at the keyhole?

If you weren't aware, Breakdown cave is between Fitzpatrick and the buildings, higher up on the hillside. It's also gated, but it's a "classroom cave." So it's fairly easy to get into through different groups/college courses, etc... or at least it used to be.

Back when I explored it, they thought the southwestern passage may connect to Breakdown, but it's too small to go through. Peeps may have connected it by other detection means since then, I don't know.


It's kinda hard to see on the map, but the way to the upper passage from the sump pit is to go back towards the T and get on the ledge about 4' high along the northern wall. It's a little scary crawling on it, especially in the sump room as by then it's 15' above the floor, only 10-12 inches wide, slightly angled to where you can slip off, and usually wet/slippery.

Yes sir, gated at that point. It was still really cool getting the opportunity to explore the area.
I might go again with my friend who has permission to hunt there and look for Breakdown cave. When my son and I were there, we went exploring in the opposite direction it sounds like.

Is Breakdown a small entrance?

[William_mcneely]

Actually, I meant to point out that they gated it before the keyhole:

279735FA-21C6-4A71-84F5-311D1502399E.jpeg (63.49 KiB) Viewed 6484 times

[William_mcneely]

It's kinda hard to see on the map, but the way to the upper passage from the sump pit is to go back towards the T and get on the ledge about 4' high along the northern wall. It's a little scary crawling on it, especially in the sump room as by then it's 15' above the floor, only 10-12 inches wide, slightly angled to where you can slip off, and usually wet/slippery.

I like how you described that. Sounds like it would have been very cool