WV caves and DC trip.

[wyandottecaver]

Since I am driving to Washington DC from Indiana next week for work I am considering hitting some commercial caves along the way. Any recommendations for the better show caves in WV or northern VA? Right now leaning towards Organ and/or Seneca.

Of course if anyone wants to volunteer a led trip to virgin borehole feel free......

I plan to do "something" both this weekend and next.

[Squirrel Girl]

Welcome to the metro area. I'm super busy these days, including having to work OT (I'm at work now as I type this--giving my brain a break from debugging code). So I can't take you anywhere. :-(

But Luray is the famous commercial cave in the area. It's certainly very beautiful, but it's very commercial. I recently took someone to Shenandoah Caverns and really liked it. Much more personal and still lovely with a lot of shields and other formations. Both are really expensive. Endless is nice and personal, but not many formations. I haven't been to Skyline. Grand Caverns is pretty nice.

[wyandottecaver]

Thanks SG. I visited Luray many moons ago and yes...when the guides use a stopwatch to time their tours right in front of you....LOL.

[Cheryl Jones]

The Organ tour and cave are interesting, particularly for the cave's saltpeter history and archaeology--a recommended stop. At about 40 miles, Organ is the 9th longest cave in the U.S.

Also in the Lewisburg WV area is Lost World Caverns (self-guided tour.) The owner is a friend to cavers, and supportive of the WVCC.

Both offer "wild" or "extended exploring expeditions " tours as well that you might want to do to see more of the caves.

Grand Caverns, in Grottoes VA, is the oldest continually operating show cave in the U.S. and a National Natural Landmark, and in addition to formations, contains a lot of interesting signatures from the1800s and Civil War. (It's also been a project of the VA Region for several years, with NSS members doing all sorts of restoration, surveying, documentation, and facilities work.) Grand is owned by the town of Grottoes.

Heck, hit all of them along your route and report back!

This weekend BATS grottos is caving and camping in Bath Co VA. You're welcome to join us. PM me if interested. Not likely that virgin borehole will be included, however--just some fun recreational caving.

Cheryl

[PYoungbaer]

Wyandotte,

All good advice from earlier posters. Just visited Grand on the way to Convention - a real treasure with tons of shields as well as the aforementioned history. Also, huge new discovery section of great interest.

Skyline (Front Royal, VA) is also interesting, mostly notable for its large rare anthodite lower section.

Luray is gorgeous, but the tourist traffic can be overwhelming. Last time I was there they didn't have guides walk with the tours, but rather stationed them. That way, people could move at their own speed, but still get the talking points when they arrived at a feature. Seemed to handle large amounts of traffic better.

When is Wyandotte Cave going to reopen (he says, plaintively)? It is a crying shame that cave isn't open for visitation.

[wyandottecaver]

Cheryl,
Bath County looks like it will be right along my way.... I'll send a PM

Peter,
I agree. I am not "in the loop" with IN DNR as much anymore but I am not hopeful the cave will be open anytime soon :(