Grandpa’s Hole Cave

An immense pile of trash at the walk-in
entrance of Grandpa’s Hole Cave
The cave was discovered in January/February of 2009 when members of the SEMO grotto, started digging trash out of a sinkhole. The more trash they dug out, mostly tires, the deeper into the sheer bedrock walled sink they went. In no time at all, a hole was exposed where a large black void was exposed. As there was a large amount of metal and other sharp items in the sink, a cable ladder was rigged where a 45 foot downclimb was conducted into a large room on top of a massive pile of tires. The cave was mapped in its entirety on this same day.
Unfortunately, the crawl between the two entrances is heavily filled with glass and will likely have to be cleaned up with meticulous collecting of glass with buckets/sleds and other containers. The cave is likely a satellite cave to the Blackfathom River Cave, which is just to the north, across the valley from this cave; however, a dye trace has never been conducted to prove where this water goes.

Trash littering the floor of the crawl between the
two entrances of Grandpa’s Hole Cave

A mountain of tires that sits below the 60′ deep
pit entrance of Grandpa’s Hole Cave
You can request a permit to explore this cave through our online permit system (beta). If you have questions or trouble with your permit, send an email to bfcm@mocavesandkarst.org. Trip request must be made at least 2 weeks before the desired trip date.