Road Trip

[Mr. X]

I'm how you say an out-of-towner. I normally do a majority of my exploring in and under the great state of Minnesota and over into Wisconsin when I run out of ideas in the Land of 10,000 lakes. I've frequented other boards such as UER and dot org in the past, but just signed up here to see what there might be to do in my old hometown. I actually came here looking for white rabbit's website but was pleasantly surprised to see a community of people crawling around underground in Springfield.

Well a buddy and myself are heading down to the Ozarks for a vacation. We'll probably be spending two or three days in and around Springfield.

If anyone wants to meet up and do some exploring/photographing the underworld of the Ozarks, post here. If anything I could use some help from the locals finding cheap/free places to camp around the outskirts of town.

[White Rabbit]

Hey, when are you going to be in Springfield?

[Mr. X]

I'm leaving tomorrow morning and hope to be in the area tomorrow night. I don't have any concrete plans to be in town at a certain time, so we may end up taking back roads the whole way there to look for abandonments in small towns.

Looks like late Wednesday night, Thursday morning for sure.

[Mr. X]

Well, I'm on the road now. I stopped into Waterloo, IA to visit a friend. I can't get out of here any faster.

I'm going to end up camping somewhere in middle Missouri tonight.

If anyone wants to explore around Springfield shoot me a meesage or email and I can reply with my cell#. I should get there sometime tomorrow.

[Mr. X]

Since this thread is more or less a personal blog of mine I thought I'd chime in while I'm in Jefferson City, MO.

I'm off to do some caving in Phelps and Pulaski County today. With a resource I have containing literally hundreds of caves around MO and their coordinates I should have a busy day ahead of me.

After caving I plan on rolling into Springfield to find a campground or hotel to crash at for the evening.

Tomorrow I might check out some various caves in the counties south of Springfield such as Smallin, Cathedral, Gentry, Indian and Pine Run. If anyone's been to any of these or knows reasons not to see them go ahead and chime in on the discussion I'm having with myself.

Did I mention you guys are lucky to have Fat Tire Beer here in Missouri? We aren't as fortunate up in Minnesota. No one distributes it that far north. Tasty stuff.

[White Rabbit]

I'm going to be out of town this weekend or I'd try to join you. I do know about one of the caves, though. Gentry cave is kind of out near Galena. I've never been in it personally, but my father, mother, and brother all have. I don't know much about it, except that it is on privately owned land (not that that should stop you, just letting you know). Be sure and let us know what you check out. How long are you going to be in the area?

[Mr. X]

Well, here I am, Springfield, MO.

I arrived last night at around sundown and shacked up in a motel on the edge of town. My buddy and I spent yesterday at a couple caves in Phelps County; Gourd Creek Cave and Hamilton Cave. Both weren't very extensive but Hamilton Cave had an impressive ceiling height and was more of a challenge finding than Gourd Creek Cave. The latter cave you can literally follow a road right up to it.

So what's there to do in Springfield? The rain today is probably going to keep me out of any drains, but abandonments and caves are still an option.


WR: I'm leaving Sunday morning. I'll be around here or a little closer to the Arkansas border tonight.

[Sparkle]

If you in the lake of the ozarks area...let me know via PM.

Man, you were 30 minutes away but are now in Springfield. What route are you returning to MN from?


Was springfield your home town?

[Mr. X]

Sorry Jake616, I didn’t get a chance to get online until today. We ended up taking 63 all the way to Rochester, MN.

Friday during the day we headed out to Arkansas to check out Dogpatch. It was a good time. We checked out nearly every structure there minus the ones in direct view of Hwy 7. We didn’t get a chance to see the Marble Falls Inn though. Some barking dog and its owner made us hightail it back down the hill to the park. After that we drove back to Missouri through Hwy 125 and took a ferry across the lake. We stayed in a motel in Houston, MO that night.

Saturday we explored B u s h w a c k e r Cave in P u l a s k i County with the permission of the landowner’s daughter. The cave is over 7,500 feet long, so we spent most of our day there.

Overall it was a good time. Not much UE but not much effort in networking, scouting or homework either. I definitely plan on returning to Missouri for a cave exploring session sometime in the future. Maybe then I can better plan some urban exploring.

[White Rabbit]

Yeah, I hope you get back down this way. I would've liked to met up with you for a lot of that stuff, but by the time I knew you were coming, I'd already made plans to be out of town that weekend. It's awesome that you got to see Dogpatch, though. It's pretty amazing.

[Mr. X]

Dogpatch was pretty cool. It was so neglected and forgotten. It was hard trying to imagine that place being any fun, but every once and a while I could imagine a laughing child or concession worker. I'm sure people have memories like that from Dogpatch USA.




Here a shot from inside the massive opening to G o u r d C r e e k C a v e. Still not as large as some cave openings in MO.


Finally a shot taken using flashbulbs in H a m i l t o n C a v e in P u l a s k i County.

[White Rabbit]

Awesome pictures! I especially like the one taken with the flash bulb. Very cool. How exactly do you do that? When I've taken cave pics, I've always used a bright light (like a lantern) and really long exposures, but yours look better than mine do, so I'm curious.

[James the Red]

yeah good shots, post a couple more if you have them. I had no idea missouri was aka the cave state. I need to get out more.

[Mr. X]

Flashbulbs are fun. If you need to light huge spaces underground they're still the best option, IMHO. The Guide Number on a decent flashbulb is still more powerful than most electronic strobes. Flashbulbs are hard to find though; eBay is a fine resource for them.

I can post some more shots from my trip when I get some medium format film processed and download pictures off my digital.

[Sparkle]

Well, maybe next time! When in Jefferson CIty did you take Highway 54 south? If so..you were like right next door to me haha. Oh well. Looks like you had fun and got some really good pictures!