Looking for Caves in the Snow

Last Sunday (3 Jan 2010), Don O. and I went looking for caves on the property of some friends -- Cheryl and Steve S. They live in a small valley in North-central Arkansas, and the hills around them have many areas of exposed bedrock. Arkansas had one of its rare snow days on Saturday so I decided that the snow might make searching for caves easier. Caves in this region tend to be 58 degrees F or so year-round. A cave entrance, even a small one, should show up as bare ground in the snow.

Cheryl showed Don and me around the property, and we found several areas where the rocks were bare, but no openings were evident. After about an hour of hiking, the sole of my boot separated from the rest of the boot, and was making a flopping noise every time I took a step. We returned to my car, and I changed into a spare pair of boots.

We resumed our hike. This time, Cheryl took us over to her neighbor's property where we found a sunken area that was about 15 feet in diameter and 5-6 feet below the surrounding level. Several smaller areas within the sink felt deeper, but they were will with leaves and debris. Two fairly large trees grew from within the sink. There is a good chance of a cave associated with this sink, but we decided to postpone doing any digging until the snow disappeared and the weather improved.

As we returned to the car, Cheryl told us that during the summer, the hill tended to be much cooler than the air out on the pasture -- more so than could be accounted for by the shade. The previous owner told her that there is a cave on the property, but she doesn't know where it is. Previously, she showed me a small pit near their barn. It drops about eight feet down, and connects to a small tunnel that extends horizontally for 10-15 feet -- not much of a cave.

Even though we didn't find any caves on this trip, the we enjoyed the hike. As we drove home alone the snowy back-roads, I was struck by the similarity of the scenery with that of Northeastern Washington State in the winter. My parents used to live just South of the Washington-British Columbia border, and visiting them in the winter required long drives on snowy roads as well.