Explore More - Rippee Conservation Area
This past November Andrew (@tinswel) and I went exploring at Rippee Conservation Area just outside of Ava, MO. I had been told about Brown's Cave being in the area. So the night before going, I pulled up google maps to find public lands that might be close to the cave. I knew about the cave being on Assumption Abbey's land and that they let the public explore the area. They also accept donations for allowing people to be on their land. The map showed Rippee Conservation Area just a half mile up Bryant Creek from where I thought the cave might be. The adventurous part about this trip was I didn't know the exact location of the cave. We parked our car along Bryant Creek after entering Rippee Conservation Area and started walking south east down Bryant Creek. 
It was an overcast day but the temperature was great for being late November. We traded off wearing the orange hat due to it being the last week of deer hunting season. After walking down a ways the river started bending away from the gravel road. We turned to follow it leading down to a large open rocky bank. 
The open bank didn't last long. Soon we we're bush whacking thru tall stalks of bamboo and dead fallen trees. We came to another clearing that let us walk out to the river's edge. On the other side of the river we saw what we thought to be a bee hive hanging from a tree limb. 
We kept moving, now through a more open forest, with the creek to our right and a large open field to our left. We saw a hunting blind on the other side of the river. Even having the orange hat on it still brings a bit of anxiety knowing someone might be aiming a gun at you. Not to much further after we saw the hunting blind we reached the Conservation Area boundary. There was no fence just a sign on the tree. I looked down at my phone to view the GPS map. We were really close to where I thought the cave was. We made the decision to keep walking. After passing another open field on our left the river took a sharp 90 degree turn south to our right. Up ahead a large bluff line ran along side the river. We saw a large opening that we thought might be an entrance.
After a closer look we found there wasn't an entrance besides the hole above. We did find a small spring creating a waterfall off the bluff. Definitely the reason for all the lush green vegetation.
Further down the bluff line we were led onto a narrow ledge helping us avoid bushwhacking down below.
The bluff line became lower and eventually tapered down into the hillside. Next to where the bluff line ended there was a dried up drainage creek. We split up to look around the area for the cave entrance. I had a feeling it might be a little further down river. We went around the next small hillside and I could feel the cool air blowing down on us. I looked up through the trees and saw a big dark space along the bluff line. We climbed up the hillside finding the large entrance to Brown's Cave. 
We cleaned up some trash we found at the entrance and headed into the cave. Its a really cool entrance and continues to be quiet a large passage as you get deeper into the cave. After the first sharp turn the cave became completely dark. Andrew found a spare flashlight in-between rocks on the cave wall and decided to take it with us just incase. The cave offers a lot of geological features as well as wildlife. We saw bats, frogs, and a bunch of salamanders.
The deeper we got into the cave we noticed a small creek forming. We had to walk with our feet on the sides of passage to keep dry. It also became very muddy. The game of staying dry and keeping traction was becoming a lot harder. Eventually it led to us turning around. It was taking to much time to solve each new problem for jumping the creek. We had been in the cave for over an hour and a half. If we had better prepared it would have been really easy to continue on. Even though it was really muddy the room size was still large and comfortable. Turning around was hard and left us with the desire to return.
On our hike back Andrew found a spot along the bank that offered some deeper water. He unpacked his collapsible fishing rod and through a few casts out. 
As he set up his fishing rod the sun was setting and a bald eagle flew overhead. The deep peacefulness really sank in at this moment. Just after a couple casts he caught a good size Small Mouth Bass.
We packed our things and moved up river. Andrew caught two more fish at the next spot. With little sun light left we hiked back up river stopping off for a cast here and there.
!
It was getting dark as we reached our vehicle. We turned back the direction we had just hiked. Just over the horizon and through the trees we saw a gigantic full moon. It turned out to be the largest full moon of the year! It was a great way to end an awesome day of exploring.