Caving in Southwest Missouri

Urban exploration in Missouri
moarkexplorer
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Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by moarkexplorer »

Hey everyone, been lurking on this site on and off for a few years and finally decided to join recently. I've always thought caves were really cool, but never had much experience with them outside a couple show caves when I was younger. After a discovering some over a few recent hiking trips, I have become completely fascinated with this underground world. I understand locations of caves aren't just handed out freely, but I was hoping to at least maybe find the locations of some more "well known" caves in southwest Missouri. Or even better would be to tag along with someone else on a caving adventure. I'd love to meet some new people who are into this as well.
moarkexplorer
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RE: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by moarkexplorer »

Well I guess this is pretty much the response I expected from my post since I'm new and no one knows who I am. But on the bright side, I've managed to find a couple local caves on my own, and after a good amount of searching and reading through old posts on here and other forums, I believe I have found the general locations for a few others to check out as well. Still would be nice to meet up with someone else to go on these adventures though. Feel free to send me a PM if you live anywhere in the Joplin/Springfield area and would be down to meet up and explore some caves sometime.
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by mindwaave »

We do have a handful of Springfieldians on here, but really just a handful. quazar7tator lives there and I've done some caves with him before. Otherwise, PANIC! on the Titanic is our resident caving expert, and checks his messages here pretty often. Glad you were able to find some stuff using the search, though. Welcome, and good luck!
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by BROUSER »

Search Skylight or ash grove cave. Pretty extensive, ungated.
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moarkexplorer
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RE: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by moarkexplorer »

Thanks, mindwaave. I may have to message them and see if they'd be up for having a new guy along sometime. And thanks for the suggestion, BROUSER, looks like a nice place to get some experience with a longer cave. Is it one of those places that's ok to just go, or is there a land owner I should contact first?
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by jammer_smith »

I don't get to be the Springfield area cave expert? I'm offended. All that hard work and no title.




MoArk, IM me and I can point you to some good ones.
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RedRook
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by RedRook »

jammer_smith wrote:I don't get to be the Springfield area cave expert? I'm offended. All that hard work and no title.

MoArk, IM me and I can point you to some good ones.
I'd consider you the Springfield Area Cave Expert. I figured you could identify yourself if you wanted to, since you are fairly active.
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by BROUSER »

On the internet you can be whatever you want to be. But I'd say you have earned high consideration. I don't know about asking permission for Ash Grove cave. Anytime you just go in you are probably taking a risk, but I'd say it's not a high risk. That cave has more people than Willard's mom going in and out of it.
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by jammer_smith »

The guy that actually owns Ash Grove cave is not even remotely restrictive about people going in, I guess he is resigned to the fact that it is going to happen. All he asks is that you fill out an all-purposed accident waiver and mail it to him prior to going. That's it. Easy peasy.

The guy's name is Gayer (yes, Gayer) Dixon, and I don't recall his address or phone number. I know he wanted the form mailed to a PO box not his home address.
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Re: RE: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by liesreality »

moarkexplorer wrote:Well I guess this is pretty much the response I expected from my post since I'm new and no one knows who I am. But on the bright side, I've managed to find a couple local caves on my own, and after a good amount of searching and reading through old posts on here and other forums, I believe I have found the general locations for a few others to check out as well. Still would be nice to meet up with someone else to go on these adventures though. Feel free to send me a PM if you live anywhere in the Joplin/Springfield area and would be down to meet up and explore some caves sometime.
Sent you a message.
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ans015
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by ans015 »

I was shown a cave in Seligman MO. and with some more investigation and thanks to a guy named RedRook on here i have leads on 2 more caves in the same area near Roaring River..
Check out a topic i started called "Seligman Cave?"
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PANIC! on the Titanic
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Re: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by PANIC! on the Titanic »

Well I'm late to this thread but oh well. So, if you want to know about caves in phelps or pulaski counties or have any karst geology questions, I can help you out there. But Springfield isn't really my area and I've only done a couple caves down there. Although I'll admit, I am jealous of the thick crinoid beds your caves tend to dip into. Gives me a semi just thinking about it.

I also have a ton of cave maps for Greene County if you want one to take caving with you. Just print it, laminate that shit, and off you go.
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RE: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by moarkexplorer »

Hey ans015, I've actually been looking at the topo maps on Google for that exact area. Looks like lots of potential down there in that whole area east of Seligman. Almost went down there today to wander through the woods for a while, but ended up going to Springfield for a couple things and exploring some of the caves in the Lost Hill Park area and Ash Grove instead. I plan to make a trip down there as soon as all this rain subsides for a little bit, hopefully as early as next weekend.
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RE: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by moarkexplorer »

And PANIC! I wouldn't mind making a 2-3 hour trip over there for some nice caves at all, so I'm up for anything you're OK with sharing. And I don't have any questions about the geology right off hand, but I don't know a whole lot about it yet and I love learning, so I'll probably have some questions later on. As for maps, I found that SW MO cave maps download link on here, but unfortunately no one is seeding anymore and I'm stuck at 30-something percent, but at least ~5 percent of the maps are at 100% and viewable, so I'll just start searching for those caves first, haha.
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Re: RE: Caving in Southwest Missouri

Post by PANIC! on the Titanic »

moarkexplorer wrote:And PANIC! I wouldn't mind making a 2-3 hour trip over there for some nice caves at all, so I'm up for anything you're OK with sharing. And I don't have any questions about the geology right off hand, but I don't know a whole lot about it yet and I love learning, so I'll probably have some questions later on.
I'll try to find something outside of the typical 300 - 1000 ft caves you find around here to make it worth your time. A lot of these caves in phelps and pulaski counties can be explored in half an hour or less, and the really long ones (like roubidoux or Piquet caves) require owner permissions, and usually the answer is gtfo.

Bring on the geo questions if you got em. I dont know everything, but I certainly enjoy researching on stuff I've never thought of or heard of before.
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