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Wild Cave Adventures in Virginia State Parks with Ranger Erin Pitts (Ep 74, Part 1) · Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!

• 0:01
  Jessica Bowser: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia outdoor adventures Podcast is your local guide for hiking, camping, kayaking, travel and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure right here in Virginia, I'm your host, Jessica Bowser, descend with us into Virginia's spectacular underworld as we explore the hidden realm of wild caves.
• 0:34
  Jessica Bowser: Unlike commercial show caves, wild caves offer an authentic adventure where nature remains largely untouched. Virginia State Parks Ranger led caving programs provide the perfect gateway into this mysterious environment. Ranger airing pits from New River Trail State Park shares insights about cave ecosystems, rare species and the delicate formations found in these subterranean environments, whether you're seeking adventure discovery or simply a cool respite from the outside heat, Virginia's caves offer unforgettable adventures that you must experience for yourself to truly capture their wonder.
• 1:14
  Jessica Bowser: Let's go with campgrounds open and summer on the horizon, Virginia State Parks is offering visitors of all ages the opportunity to explore the natural and cultural wonders of Virginia. Diverse programming is designed to inspire curiosity, foster environmental stewardship and provide enriching outdoor experiences for families, students and nature enthusiasts alike, join us at Virginia State Parks for exciting, family friendly events that invite you to explore the outdoors. For a full schedule of events including park locations and program details, click on Virginia State Parks events in your show notes. Aaron, welcome to Virginia outdoor adventures.
• 2:00
  Jessica Bowser: Hi. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. What do you love about Virginia's outdoors? Well, one thing that I love
• 2:06
  Unknown: is how uniquely biodiverse it is out here in the Blue Ridge, and particularly this time of year. Right now, it's springtime, and there's lots of spring ephemeral wildflowers that are blooming specific to caves. We have unique and rare cave dwelling organisms, and also just a unique geography as well.
• 2:23
  Unknown: There's some caves in Virginia that have extensive speleothems, which are rock formations. And there's just really something for everyone in Virginia state parks, which makes my job a lot of fun, too. I want to thank you
• 2:37
  Jessica Bowser: for taking me into a cave at New River Trail State Park. We had such a fun day. And what I love about Virginia's caves is that they're all so unique from each other.
• 2:46
  Jessica Bowser: So just because you have an experience in one cave doesn't mean that it represents all the caves in Virginia, because you could go into another cave that's nearby and have a completely different experience.
• 2:56
  Jessica Bowser: Do you have a memorable first cave experience that you want to share.
• 3:03
  Unknown: They are all so unique and different, and I sure do.
• 3:06
  Unknown: Unfortunately, my first cave experience wasn't in Virginia.
• 3:09
  Unknown: I've lived in Virginia for about two and a half years now, but about 15 years ago, the first cave i ever entered was Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, which is a grand show cave. I think it's one of the longest caves in the world, and about 40 miles of it have only been mapped, but it has about 10,000 years of history, and I learned about the mining. There's saltpeter mining, and then, of course, the current recreation that they're offering there. But it was my first introduction to caving and show caves. And I think that's when I got the bug. I've
• 3:40
  Jessica Bowser: been to Mammoth Cave too, and it is so different from Virginia caves, and I didn't want to be that person, but I remember telling the Ranger that I was not impressed with Mammoth Cave compared to Virginia's case. I think there's so much more beautiful here.
• 3:54
  Unknown: I love hearing that.
• 3:54
  Unknown: That's awesome.
• 3:59
  Jessica Bowser: Can you tell us how caves are formed? Yeah, absolutely
• 4:03
  Unknown: caves, especially in the state of Virginia, they're primarily formed through the dissolution of soluble rocks, so like limestone or dolostone, and that's specific to Virginia, by acidic groundwater. So I mean, there are other processes like glacial erosion and volcanic activity, but in Virginia, it's mostly going to be through the act of acidic groundwater that seeps through cracks and joints in the rock, and it gradually dissolves it and creates these cavities. And what's interesting is that this isn't dissimilar to ocean acidification, what's happening in our oceans. So when water and carbon dioxide combine, they create a weak carbonic acid. And so what's happening in our oceans is that carbonic acid breaks down the limestone, or the calcium carbonate, which we know as coral reefs and shelled animals.
• 4:50
  Unknown: And so that's the same thing that's happening in our cave formations, is that acidic water is slowly breaking down that limestone and forming crevices.
• 5:00
  Unknown: It's in the Earth's surface.
• 5:00
  Unknown: What's the
• 5:02
  Jessica Bowser: difference between wild caving and a commercial or a show cave? We're
• 5:07
  Unknown: talking about mammoth caves, right? So the Mammoth Cave is definitely a show cave.
• 5:09
  Unknown: They're going to be a little bit more developed for public tours.
• 5:12
  Unknown: The trails might be paved or have railings and staircases.
• 5:16
  Unknown: Oftentimes there's a specific type of lighting that prevents different types of algae or other organisms from photosynthesizing. And sometimes there's a little bit of entertainment features as well with show caves or maybe different types of lighting. And so wild caves, which is going to be what our tour at New River Trail State Park is. And of course, the tours at natural tunnel as well. They're going to have sometimes specialized equipment, and maybe there's going to be more accessibility and development considerations as well. You might have to bend, crouch, stoop, crawl, and you're probably going to have to wear helmets and gloves and knee pads and wear headlamps as well. So
• 6:00
  Jessica Bowser: for this episode, we're going to focus on the Ranger led caving programs that are available in our state parks. But I also just wanted to point out that listeners can find the Virginia cave and karst trail that has more than 20 stops, including wild cave showcase and other features on the DCR website, and I will drop a link to that in the show notes. So if people are looking for other opportunities outside of state parks, they'll have a list available that they can visit. Aaron, how many Virginia state parks have Ranger led wild caving programs
• 6:32
  Unknown: I just mentioned, natural tunnel State Park, they do wild cave tours in their bowling cave and panel cave, and then, of course, New River Trail State Park, my state park, we offer cave tours of lonash cave, and so right now, those are the only two state parks in the Virginia state park system that are offering cave tours. But who knows, we might add some more in the future.
• 6:53
  Jessica Bowser: I enjoyed the cave at new river trail because I think it's excellent for beginners. It's not too large that it's overwhelming, but it still has all the features of wild caving. And so just like, it's like a great intro to caving, yeah,
• 7:07
  Unknown: that's a really great point. That's one thing that I like to advertise, is that if you've never done wild caving before, the new river trail lonash Cave is just really great for beginners or people that are interested in learning caving, because it is a linear cave, there's not a lot of twists and turns and passages. And really the most narrow section is the entrance, where you might have to crawl a little bit, but then once you get into the main cavern area, you can stand upright, and it opens up into a great space. So if you're a bit claustrophobic, it's just that entrance spot that's going to be the tightest climb.
• 7:40
  Jessica Bowser: Yeah, and even the entrance was not that bad at all. I mean, when you describe it to me, I thought we were going to be like, you know, down on hands and knees and maybe even on our belly, squeezing into a small space. It was not like that at all. There's a little bit of crawling, but it was also wide. So you're not going into a really small space, even if the ceiling is low enough that you need to crawl a little bit, and it's not that long either, so within like, a minute, we were out of it. So yeah, I don't want to deter anybody who is claustrophobic, because I'm claustrophobic. I don't like some of those tight spaces, and I had no problem at all getting into this cave.
• 8:12
  Jessica Bowser: That's good
• 8:14
  Unknown: to hear, and I do remember you saying that. And yeah, so it's definitely not a walking cave tour, but it's certainly accessible to most people,
• 8:22
  Jessica Bowser: right? And I also, after visiting new river trail, I also got to do the two caves at natural tunnel State Park. And I just want to give a quick shout out to Rangers, Lillian and Stacy, who took me on those two tours of bowling and panel cave. And those are two completely different experience as well. So even if you do any one of those, it's a great opportunity and a great experience. But I would encourage people to do all three, because they are so vastly different from each other. They were completely different, completely different experiences. And if you want to see like a lot of cascading pools, or you want to see a lot of formations, or you want to see a lot of salamanders, like bowling cave was really cool for that. Whereas, like panel cave was completely different. There was a lot more stooping. There was a waterfall inside that cave. I mean, just totally different features. I think panel cave was also used during Prohibition, so that has an interesting history as well. So all these caves are so unique and so special. And I just think it's really cool that we have access to
• 9:27
  Unknown: them. Yeah, I completely agree. I think if anybody wants to introduce themselves to wild caving, Virginia State Parks has three really wonderful opportunities for that.
• 9:40
  Jessica Bowser: Adventure seekers will find endless opportunities in Grayson County, where many of Virginia's iconic trails and landmarks excite hikers, cyclists, paddlers and happy campers alike. Imagine this. You're hiking on one of the most scenic sections of the entire Appalachian Trail through the George Washington and Jefferson National. Forests summiting mount Rogers or white top mountain, the two highest peaks in Virginia, or strolling through the valley of elk garden, where the now extinct Eastern elk once roamed. Or maybe your perfect day is on the water. Grayson County is home to the New River, one of the oldest and most scenic rivers in the world. Enjoy a leisurely class one float with the family or adrenaline packed class three rapids. Navigate the waters using the New River float calculator to plan your trip.
• 10:30
  Jessica Bowser: The app factors flow rate, water levels, weather conditions, vessel type and more to calculate float times from point A to point B. Prefer two wheels.
• 10:37
  Jessica Bowser: You won't want to miss the grace and gravel traverse a 72 mile mixed surface gravel bike route that connects the Virginia Creeper trail and new river trail over well maintained and remote roads featuring a variety of challenging climbs in the foothills of Virginia's highest peaks. This overlooked gem of Virginia presents some of the best gravel cycling in the state, mostly unwritten and undiscovered after a day of adventure, there's nothing like gathering around a campfire under a sky filled with stars.
• 11:12
  Jessica Bowser: Grayson County offers plenty of spots to pitch a tent like the New River campground or cozy up in a rustic cabin at the buck wild reserve. Discover why Virginia is for outdoor lovers.
• 11:24
  Jessica Bowser: Start your Grayson County adventure at the historic 1908 courthouse and visitor center, or access the visitors guide online by clicking on visit Grayson County in the show notes of your podcast listening app.
• 11:36
  Jessica Bowser: So what are the goals of the Ranger led programs? I would say,
• 11:45
  Unknown: in general, most of our ranger led programs, and specifically our cave programs, we want to educate the public about the unique fauna and flora and ecosystems and food webs of cave adapted creatures. There's a lot of really unique organisms to learn about, and so I think oftentimes caves might be a little misunderstood, or perhaps people don't know a lot about cave ecosystems. And so it's kind of exciting to learn about all of these unique features that make them so special.
• 12:15
  Unknown: Another thing that we try to really focus on in our ranger led programs is, of course, conservation messaging, so talking about how to responsibly recreate and leave no trace, and just also why these resources need to be protected for future generations. And we always try to tie that messaging in, because, in essence, that's what we do as public programmers. And of course, recreation opportunities, like I said, there's always something for everyone in Virginia state parks. And so once again, just offering unique recreation opportunities for the public.
• 12:47
  Jessica Bowser: Can you talk us through a typical Ranger led program at new river trail? We
• 12:52
  Unknown: limit the group size to 12 individuals, and we do have to travel down the trail, so we all hop in a van and we have all of our caving gear, and so you will need helmets and headlamps, knee pads and gloves. Once everybody gets geared up, we hop in the van and we drive down the trail. It's probably about a 15 to 20 minute drive. It's not a short drive to the cave entrance. But what's really great is that you almost get a mini Park tour on the way. We point out cultural and historical points of interest along the trail, and we also point out some maybe perhaps unique geologic formations and flora and fauna along the way, and we talk about the park history. So you do get a mini Park tour along the way. Once we get to the cave, we just talk about what to expect and all of the kind of rules and policies to follow once we're in there, but then the fun starts once we go through the entrance in the cave, it opens up into our main room, and that's where there's some really unique features. So there's hydrophobic bacteria that forms a biofilm mat, and it sparkles, and we call it the starlight room, because it kind of looks like there's constellations that are glowing on the cave ceiling. And so that's probably one of the most notable features, right when you walk in. Another really interesting feature that we offer in our cave tours is we like to talk about the Twilight Zone, so where the light is just permeating the entrance of the cave, but we also go down into the Dark Zone, and so that's where there's no light whatsoever. And we do a lights out activity where we turn our headlamps off. We all get really quiet, unless it's with the school group. It's impossible for everyone to be quiet, but we try, we try. And so we turn the headlights off, and then we just take a deep breath, and it's almost meditative, and you can hear water dripping inside the cave, and just have a moment of silence and just experience pure darkness. And then once that moment's over, we walk back up into the main room, and then we talk about some of the unique cave formations, like stalactites and stalagmites. And then we go up. Proper area of the cave, and it's probably about, I want to say, maybe, about 100 feet worth of climbing. So you'll probably need about three points of contact moving up into the cave.
• 15:10
  Unknown: And then, of course, you know how you can look at clouds in the sky, and you can pick out animals in the clouds. Well, there's also cave rocks. Some look like elephants or turtles or dragons, and so we like to point out those fun formations as well. And then, of course, along the way, we're looking for different cave organisms. So we might find bats or crickets, salamanders, and maybe even isopods or cave shrimp, cave beetles, things like that. Our tour, it lasts about an hour overall. And I would say, you know, once again, it's a really great introduction to wild caving, and it's a great beginner cave.
• 15:51
  Jessica Bowser: I think we saw all of those organisms when we were together, didn't we like?
• 15:54
  Jessica Bowser: We saw bats right at the entrance. I think there were two of them we saw in a puddle on the floor near the entrance, the isopods and the little shrimp that some were walking and some were swimming. And I thought that was absolutely fascinating.
• 16:07
  Jessica Bowser: And then somebody else in the group found, I guess, baby salamanders, like in a puddle up in the higher part of the cave.
• 16:15
  Jessica Bowser: Oh yeah, that's
• 16:17
  Unknown: right, we did find some salamander larva, which was interesting. And we saw some big brown bats and tri colored bats as well. Oh,
• 16:26
  Jessica Bowser: see, I don't, I didn't even remember that they were different species. I just was. I was so amazed at the fact that they were letting us pass by, and they didn't seem to be bothered. They just kept sleeping. And I was also surprised at how small they were. They're just, they're only, like, a couple inches big, I know. Yeah,
• 16:43
  Unknown: they're really tiny, and yeah, they don't seem to mind us. Now we do have a pretty conservative timeline when it comes to recreating, and so when natural heritage or other biologists or groups come in to do population counts, they can come typically when we would have the cave closed for recreation, and that's just to be sensitive to the bats and other species, and so typically, our cave programs run from Memorial Day to Labor Day, so from May until September, and that just makes it so that we're not negatively impacting the wildlife while they're the most sensitive in their hibernation.
• 17:21
  Jessica Bowser: That makes really good sense. Are there any risks to entering a cave? And if so, how does the part mitigate
• 17:27
  Unknown: them? Oh, sure, there are plenty of risks to entering a cave. Luckily, our staff is trained in cave safety, but you know, you can fall in a cave.
• 17:36
  Unknown: Rocks can fall on you. There's hypothermia, and, you know, in very extreme cases, there's toxic gasses, but we don't have to worry about that in our parks. That's for very deep caves where the air quality changes at certain depths. But I would say, yeah, so hypothermia, you know, our caves, year round stay about 54 degrees inside the cave. So it's really nice when we do summer programs, because you get in the cave and you're like, Oh, this is nature's air conditioning. It feels really good. But if you were stuck in a cave, or perhaps you were there for longer than you had originally anticipated, and especially if you're sitting on a cold rock, that cold rock is going to steal your body heat from you, and so if you're in a cave for prolonged period of time, there is a risk of hypothermia, but some of the ways that you can mitigate these risks is first of all training.
• 18:28
  Unknown: So make sure that you're trained in cave safety, you're trained in the appropriate gear, you're trained in the appropriate techniques of being in a cave, also bringing the correct equipment, making sure that you have headlamps, but also backup batteries, backup light sources that you bring layers to prevent hypothermia from sticking in. So especially if you start sweating, you can also get cold pretty quickly, making sure that you have the proper equipment to recreate safely, and then also just having a level of awareness around you. So once again, rocks can fall. And so just seeing where there's maybe a ledge or perhaps there's unstable ground, so just making sure that you're aware of your surroundings,
• 19:09
  Jessica Bowser: I forgot to ask you if any wildlife that can be found in our caves are rare or protected.
• 19:16
  Unknown: Yeah, well, that's kind of going back to when we were in the cave. We did see some species that were pretty rare.
• 19:23
  Unknown: There are some cave beetles that are found just from a single cave, and they're found nowhere else. Some researchers, and even our Virginia natural heritage team believe that many of these species, they share a broadly distributed surface ancestor that's adapted to the cave environment. So it's really interesting. Some of these cave beetles, they're eyeless, or maybe they lack pigment, so they're specifically adapted for that cave environment. You know, that's really unique. There's species that are still being discovered right now in our state parks that are found nowhere else. And so yes, there are some very unique cave adapted i. The pods and pseudoscorpions and beetles and things like that in our caves.
• 20:04
  Unknown: And then, of course, there's also the tri colored bats, which are not currently federally listed as endangered, but I believe that it might be listed as federally endangered, but I'm happy to say that researchers and scientists have seen their populations bounce back to healthy numbers, and so they may not be listed after all, which is a good sign.
• 20:25
  Jessica Bowser: How interesting.
• 20:25
  Jessica Bowser: So knowing that some of these species are really unique, some are rare, why do we need to be mindful of Leave No Trace and protecting delicate cave ecosystems? Oh,
• 20:39
  Unknown: I love this question once again, you know, part of our ranger led programs, we definitely tie in a conservation message to all of our programming. It's as simple as minimizing human impact and just ensuring that our caves, they remain these pristine environments for future generations. And I would say that's even the mission of state parks in Virginia is to make sure that we are protecting these resources for future generations. So if you know my child or someone's child comes back 20 years from now, it doesn't look any different. And so in order to do that, we have to minimize our impact, and we can do that by leaving no trace and making sure that, you know, we plan ahead and prepare we dispose of our waste properly.
• 21:26
  Unknown: We respect wildlife. You know, we leave what we find. We're not taking artifacts or rocks or any type of wildlife home with us.
• 21:36
  Unknown: Also that we don't vandalize caves, because some people do like to graffiti caves. And I'm sure you saw when you were at natural tunnel, there's actually historic graffiti in the caves too,
• 21:47
  Jessica Bowser: yeah. And that's what I think is so interesting about it, because usually when I see damage done in caves, it's because somebody had fires, because they were camping inside the cave, or they've written on the walls. And now some of that stuff is considered historic.
• 22:00
  Jessica Bowser: And so, like, we were, I just remember having this whole conversation about, like, what's trash versus what's historic artifacts? So, like, a beer can from 50 years ago could be historic, whereas, like a beer can from last week is trash. So it's like, I just think it's really interesting,
• 22:21
  Unknown: yeah. So I think that's also something that's important too. Is like, if there's any modern trash in the cave, we really want to make sure to eradicate it from the cave environment, because I believe it's after a 50 year time period, it is considered historic and so we don't want any historic trash. But I will say that it is kind of a finicky or tricky balance with removing graffiti or anything of that nature, because you also don't want to impact the cave ecosystem or the environment. So if you use any sort of cleaning solutions, or you're scrubbing the surface, you could also negatively impact the surface of the cave. And so it is a delicate balance of conservation in the caves.
• 23:02
  Jessica Bowser: And another thing that you pointed out when we were in the cave was micro plastics, and that really surprised me. I was not expecting to see it. I also would not have known what it was if you hadn't pointed it out to me. But once we, like, started looking really closely, you were able to pick out not just the plastic, but like pieces of fabric that had been washed through the cave. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
• 23:26
  Unknown: Yeah, I was actually introduced to this concept from a Virginia cave board member.
• 23:29
  Unknown: They had shown a UV light on the cave wall, and it glowed, and it lit up, and you could see tiny little fibers and pieces of fabric on the cave wall, and I was really shocked to learn that those were micro plastics. It's from fabric from our clothes.
• 23:45
  Unknown: It's from the environment. Comes from things like surface runoff or atmospheric depositions or even human activities inside the cave. But it was just apparent, like how widespread it was when you shine the UV light on the cave wall, so it really starts to paint a picture of the human impact when we're recreating in these spaces, and just how much micro plastics are actually everywhere. It's a little shocking. But once again, we kind of turn that into conservation messaging as well.
• 24:16
  Unknown: And just saying, you know, let's try to minimize our impact as much as possible, and, you know, try to reduce the amount of litter or microplastics that are in our immediate environment.
• 24:29
  Jessica Bowser: Tune in next week for part two of this episode, when Ranger Aaron describes unique features and formations you can experience in the underground memorable wild caving adventures and how to register for an upcoming Ranger led program Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and supported by listeners like you, which is why your messages and feedback means so much to me.
• 24:53
  Jessica Bowser: You can text me directly by clicking on Send Jessica a text message in your show. Notes, I answer questions, respond to comments and share your feedback on the show. Never miss a new episode. Sign up for my email newsletter and receive my listener resource guide with the top podcast episodes, a Virginia outdoor bucket list and exclusive brand discounts for my listeners. Click on newsletter.
• 25:19
  Jessica Bowser: Sign up in your show notes or visit Virginia outdoor adventures.com thanks for listening until next time adventure on you.