Cave

Geology, Fossils, and aMAZEing Passages

Cricket Maze Cave is developed in the Keyser Limestone. It has lots of thick gooey mud and a number of nice formations. In addition, it offers something even more unusual—the passages are developed in a Silurian/Devonian-aged coral reef complex. The walls are loaded with fossils of crinoids, bryozoans, and coral. The only other locality like it is in a quarry in Ohio. We first and foremost preserve and protect this unique natural resource.

We are unique among conservation organizations in working to preserve extinct species. One passage was named Not Crinoid Corner due to the piles of “crinoid stems” in the walls. The problem was they did not look quite like the other crinoid stems in the cave, hence the “Not.”

Normal crinoid stems consist of little flat rings stuck together, but these were tapered. We thought maybe they were some kind of worm tube. Tim Rose was able to collect some loose specimens from a pool and take them into work at the Smithsonian, where they were ultimately identified as parts of a cystoid, a close relative of crinoids and starfish.

The cave passages are tubes laid out in classic maze cave fashion. The maze is deceptively simple until you are well into the cave. Even experienced cavers have gotten confused. The survey began on January 9, 1985, under the leadership of chief surveyor and map drafter Bob Gulden. Many cavers from all over the Virginia Region helped survey the cave. By March 3,600 feet had been mapped. By August over a mile had been mapped. When the survey wound down to a halt in 1990 after 5 years, there were 8,300 feet mapped.

A new discovery during the survey led to relatively dry passages with small gypsum flowers visible for those who took the time to search them out. Then, beyond Harah’s Hidaway, the new New Section was discovered. This was a series of miserable crawls and digs. The mapping pushed on, down the Lubricous Climb, through the I’d Rather Walk crawl, to break out into the largest room in the cave. Named in honor of the discoverer, Meredith Hall is canyon passage and well decorated. It ends in a flowstone-choked pinch.

One of the early exploration parties thought they heard the sound of a well pump beyond, but it was just water dripping. Early on, work began to gate and clean up the cave. There are two entrances—the main entrance and a skylight entrance. We filled the skylight entrance with concrete, leaving it open for animals, but too narrow for even a small child to fit through. We gated the main entrance. There were many early trips into the cave to remove trash and clean up the spray-painted graffiti. Fortunately most of the cave remains pristine.