Cave clean out/ new member questions

[Explorer9325]

Hey y'all I'm a new member to the group I've been following for a while and I was curious if anyone gets together in a small group and goes spelunking or exploring I've been spelunking for quite awhile now and I have been working on taking trash out of caves and was wondering if anyone would want to go do a clean out or may have any information on river bluff cave I've always wanted to check it out but with it being closed I have no clue who to get ahold of to be able to go explore i if you even can I know how Pocky some people can be because of all the vandalisim that goes on and all the trash that gets left behind. Thanks for your time I look forward to hearing back from some of yall.

[Nicotti]

You're not going to be able to get into River Bluff as a random person off the street. You're going to have to join a grotto or have some caving cred built up with the MSS or have some type of Paleontology experience.

I know some people on here are all poo poo about grottos, but if you're wanting to explore exclusive caves, that is your best bet.

Plus if you're really into cave cleanup and restoration, you can make some real good friends fast, cause they're big on that stuff.

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/grottos.shtml
https://www.spgcavers.org/
http://mospeleo.org/
http://www.riverbluffcave.com/category/cave_team

[Nicotti]

If you want an ongoing, yet worthwhile clean up to take on, I recommend cleaning the Campbell Sinkhole behind the movie theatre once a month. I did that while I lived in the area, not affiliated with anyone, just on my own. It's crazy how much shit gets washed down there. I know it's not an explorable cave, but it will help keep the water table & rivers slightly cleaner.

[Nicotti]

And welcome to posting rather than just lurking!

[Explorer9325]

Yeah I knew they wouldn't let me in but it was worth a shot lol the reason I don't join a grotto is because they are usually in large groups and I like the fact of going in a small group of two to three people but you are right it would be a good start how much are they for a year? I'll go check out the sinkhole tomorrow thanks!

[Nicotti]

You'd have to ask the specific grotto about their prices. But many of them, like SPG, their meetings are free and open to the public to attend.

The meetings are usually large groups and maybe main caving events, but otherwise caving groups are usually 3-6 people in my experience.

I don't know your work situation, but if you need employment, you could try getting a job as a cave tour guide at one of the local show caves, that's also a great way to get into networking with people that explore caves. I did most of my wild caving while I was with Talking Rocks Cavern in Branson West, with my some of my co-workers.

Another link I forgot before, MVOR. Whole bunch of cavers get together at a campground for a few days for drinking, camping, and local caving.

[Explorer9325]

Awesome thanks I have to check into that and see if any cave tours are hiring. And yeah that does seem like fun to get together do some drinking and caving lol. I think im gonna see if it clears up today if it does im gonna go find the sink hole at Campbell 16 and I wanna go to the hall of fame and try to find the caves there. I know caving alone is dangerous but you gotta do what ya gotta do if no one can go with you haha.i highly doubt I'll find them but it's worth walking around and trying just gotta figure out where they are because it doesn't look like a place that would hold a cave on the property lol.