Whippoorwill Cave and others

Urban exploration in Arkansas
ChigChig
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Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by ChigChig »

Hello everyone. I was curious as to if anyone could pm me the coordinates to the entrances of Whippoorwill cave as well as other caves that you know of in NWA? I'm trying to start exploring more as well as do some photographic research and trash cleanup. Thank yall!
87DieselMerc
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by 87DieselMerc »

Long timer lurker and resident of NWA, I'm also looking too start exploring more into the summer season, Did a lot of hiking last year in the Boston mountains visiting a few cave shelters, but Id like to start going underground more and have no idea where to start. I've visited a couple of spots in Fayetteville as well. Seems a lot of coordinates for locations are kept secret for obvious reasons, which is understandable but seeing a few posts on this forum the past couple weeks finally pushed me to create an account and see if anything else will stir up...
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NoahsArkansas
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by NoahsArkansas »

Maybe read some older post, I see that spot in titles alot. I like to go the very beginning of the group and read all the old post from like 2008, some interesting stuff!
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LTRP
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by LTRP »

I too would like to know about some spots in fayetteville
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by miloparker »

Whippoorwill is really easy to find, you just have to try. Go put feet on the ground in Madison county wma. Drive those dirt roads and follow the bluffs and springs. There’s a ton out there to see, enough to keep you busy all weekend. Best of luck!
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zriggins
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by zriggins »

Sorry to bump a dead thread, but if anybody is willing to pm me coordinates to whipoorwilll I have a couple caves and an abandoned house in the White Rock area I'd be more than happy to share with you.
Irish9
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Irish9 »

I'm sorry fellas but I must call BS on whippoorwill being easy to find. I've seen that said more than a couple of places online. "It's not hard to find. It's easy to find". Not true.

Armed with a topo map and strategy, I spent two days from sunrise to sunset. I Went through every single wma/county road. Followed every spring I could see. Took multiple trips down every road. Hiked multiple miles. At the end of day two I searched the pine Creek area with pine Creek cave and picnic cave just to be certain. I explored Jericho hollow quite a bit. Down there I found a cave. I thought it may be the wet entrance of whippoorwill.
It looked similar to the photos I've seen of the wet entrance. But, it was not.
Despite not finding it, I saw a lot of great stuff and did find a couple of caves, but alas not THE cave.
I double checked myself making sure I covered all ground. I'm waking up tomorrow morning in Eureka Springs and heading home and back to work.
And I get it. I would never give a cave location online. You can't hand out coordinates to caves to anyone online. It may be a dumbass that will put a spray paint can and a six pack of tall boys in their gear.
I found coordinates online to a cave in Golden, Colorado. It is a dry cave, has no bats, (Thankfully)and also looks like the vampire lair in The Lost Boys. If the coordinates of caves were online they all would.

Strangely my obsession to find Whippoorwill has grown stronger. Any time I have off work will most likely be spent in NWA.
I have seen members on the forum state that they looked for Whippoorwill for years before they found it. I believe them.
If it were easy to find, I would have found it sometime in the past two days. Thanks for reading.
Irish9
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Irish9 »

My Bad. I reviewed my videos from yesterday. I DiD find the wet entrance and didn't even realize it. Sorry for the rant. It was easy to find if you drive every road and follow every spring to it's source.
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Nicotti
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Nicotti »

Irish9 wrote: Mon May 13, 2024 6:50 am My Bad. I reviewed my videos from yesterday. I DiD find the wet entrance and didn't even realize it. Sorry for the rant. It was easy to find if you drive every road and follow every spring to it's source.
No worries. And congrats on joining the elite UO club of peeps who constantly get dm'd for it's location. :wink: :lol:
More online investigation than onsite exploration these days.

“My dear fellow, who will let you?”
“That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
-Ayn Rand
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Joe Momma
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Joe Momma »

I am planning on taking a trip to look for whippoorwill cave soon.
I will post pictures and an update if I find it.
Wish me luck.
8) 8) 8)
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Nicotti
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Nicotti »

Joe Momma wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 12:00 amWish me luck.
luck
More online investigation than onsite exploration these days.

“My dear fellow, who will let you?”
“That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
-Ayn Rand
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Joe Momma
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Joe Momma »

I went up today and drove along the roads in the area, getting out a bunch of times and following bluffs and chasing down sources of running water.
I did find a cave, but its not whippoorwill I dont think.
I poked my head in and looked around a little and it looks like it opens up pretty far inside.
Its likely that i will explore this cave and the WMA area more in the coming days/weeks.
Pictures and maybe videos will be posted soon.
8) 8) 8)
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Joe Momma
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Joe Momma »

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/200837798 ... ateposted/ <<Video
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Joe Momma
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Joe Momma »

Just an update on my search. I have gone back to the WMA three times since my last post, doing more of the same, driving around looking for streams and bluffs to follow. I have found several more caves, one flooded with water, one that was kind of short and packed full of beer cans and trash, and then another one that I'm 99% sure is upper pine creek cave. At the rate I'm searching, its gonna be quite a few trips before I get close to covering the entire area. I'm a broke college student so the best I can do is head up on a weekend every now and then. I will say this though, there are signs that say you need a special pass or a hunting license to camp there, but I successfully have spent the night in my car without anyone bothering to come and check.

Pine creek cave was pretty cool. I have been to the caves at lost valley and a handful of other small caves, but the sheer size of pine creek was almost reminiscent of the feeling you get inside of a guided tour of Blanchard cave. It feels more like an underground realm than a passage of rock. It is relatively a straight forward cave with a straight shot back to the waterfall room, with some side passages off to your left as you are heading in. I have seen several pictures of more complex and pretty formations including a big column that claim to be from pine creek cave, but I never ran into any of those. The side passages were tight and complex and I pretty much ignored anything that would require me to crawl or get my clothes dirty because there was so much other stuff going on. I'm going to need to revisit that cave for sure. Also, it was my first time running into bats. There was a cluster of about 100 bats on the roof of the cave, but when I hit them with my flashlight beam they kind of wiggled and squeaked a bit so I didn't end up taking any pictures of them. I did get a snap of a lone bat that wasn't snuggled up with the others though. I'm hoping to find whippoorwill before summer's end so that I can explore it without disturbing the bats.

All the pics are of pine creek cave. Sorry about the poor quality, but I was having issues with those waterfall droplets that make lighting difficult.
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Joe Momma
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Re: Whippoorwill Cave and others

Post by Joe Momma »

After further exploration, I did in fact find the decorated area of pine creek cave.
Farther back in the main entrance room, nearby the waterfall, is a passage about 2 foot tall with a mud floor. Crawl down that and explore the passageways that branch out from there and you will eventually find another huge room. I was making my way through a tall and narrow passage when I looked up through a crack to my left and saw an opening up. It was that huge room, although at first I thought I had looped back around to the entrance. Inside the huge room is a breakdown pile that slopes up towards some stalagmites on the roof. From there is a steep downwards crawl to a tight area that is adorned with flow stone, cave bacon, stalactites and stalagmites, and a variety of other formations whose names I do not know. Sadly, it looked like some jackass had smashed off half a dozen really nice, large formations and did god knows what with them. There was also enough trash to completely fill the two extra backpacks that we had brought with us. There is a special place in hell for those who vandalize caves.


The pictures I have of the formations are not that good because of the poor lighting and cramped positions that made holding the camera at a reasonable angle impossible. Also I'm not that good of a photographer.
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