Closed and Restricted Access Caves

As many of you are aware, Geraldine Freeman passed away this winter. Since that time, the cave has a new owner and rents the house out. There have been a number of incidents at the cave over the last month involving various groups of cavers, which has caused a lot of friction between the tenant and the caving community. In some cases, cavers should know better, in some cases, there is no way the cavers could know better, and in some cases, they just may not be true. Also, it is important to know that there is a renter on the property that also has needs that are different from what we've all known in the past.

Until we can sit down face to face with the owner and discuss the issues, please avoid caving in McClungs from Geraldine's entrance. The Lightners entrance is open and you can get to most parts of the cave from it in three hours or less. The parking area is now posted with No Parking signs and unless you have specific permission from the owner, the tenant says he will call the police. Let's try and keep this cave off the Closed Cave list by avoiding it until the issues have been worked out. WVCC has some contact going on with the owner about these topics, and will keep the caving community posted on developments.

Despite extensive efforts by many area cavers to improve landowner relations, caves seem to be getting closed faster than ever. The vast majority of Virginia Region caves are on private property, and the landowners get annoyed by public nudity, visitors leaving trash, overuse of their caves, being disturbed at all hours of the day and night, and many other reasons. Cavers are not always the problem, but we all have to deal with the consequences.

The only real long-term solution is for cavers to own caves, be it by individual purchase, cave conservancies or conservation funding programs such as Cave Bucks.

We all need to do our best to maintain the best possible landowner relations; being friendly and courteous to landowners, respecting their wishes and access restrictions, and leaving their property in at least as good a shape as we found it. Even those who cannot afford to donate towards cave purchases can try to educate non-cavers that they meet at various caves, and try to pass on our ethics.

Planning a cave trip soon? Please check these lists to see if your destination has any access restrictions. It is always better to ask first than to be sorry later.

• Virginia Region Limited Access Caves
• Restricted Cave Access Listing for Pennsylvania
• Western Pennsylvania Restricted Access Caves
• Closed and Limited Access Caves of TAG