Walk With Me to Meeting House Cave
The cave is located about 20-30 minutes from our hometown alongside the Jacks Fork River. We drive down a state highway and then turn onto a gravel road to a river access point where we hike along the bluff-side for an additional 20 minutes or so.
Although it's mid-September, it's still incredibly hot and humid here in Missouri. Luckily, we had a little shade as we walked along the cliff to the cave.
A small cave in the wall of the bluff along the way
We were surrounded by a forest of paw-paw trees! Some of them had ripened and fallen to the ground, and others were still very green and hanging in groups from the branches. I should have gotten more pictures of them, but man, it was HOT outside!!!
Paw-paw leaves
I thought about taking a few home, but I wouldn't really know what to do with them. From what I've heard, they taste like a cross between a banana and a potato....haha.
Between the three of us, we had 5 dogs along for the trip! Heather had a neat little water bottle that folded over into a bowl so the pups could get a drink while we weren't next to the water
The ceiling in this cave is fascinating!
A little splash of color along the way
On the way back, we opted to hike down the hill and walk upriver back to the car instead of taking the original route
In this photo, you can see the bluff that I mentioned. Looks a lot smaller from back here, huh? ;)
It was incredibly hot, so we didn't mind a bit to walk through the water on the way back
The doggos loved swimming back down after that trek up the bluff side!
Almost back to the car. It was a hot and humid Missouri day, but we had a great time!!!
Thanks for checking out our adventure today in the Missouri Ozarks!!!!
Very nice! Exploring Missouri is definitely something I hope to experience some day
Come visit anytime! We would be more than happy to be your tour guides!
I went to Nova Scotia in May and visited @hendrix22 & @lyndsaybowes so you never know i just might take you up on that ☺
I remember seeing and reading about that! Fun times! I’m absolutely serious though; you are 100% welcome here anytime, it just might take a little bit of planning since we all have kids and jobs. Also, the Southwest US is on my bucket list since the farthest we’ve ever gone west is Colorado. We might just end up out your way one these days soon :)
Thats awesome thanks Melody! Oh yeah if you guys come thru Utah you will have to let me know. I'd love to meet you guys and would enjoy showing everyone around!
Woohoo! :)
Nice post! We have the same post style 😃
It appears that we do! I like your style! ;) Following you now to keep up to date with your adventures!!!
Thanks I'm happy, I'm glad you appreciate my style!
You guys do have the best caves! I've been in a couple of them that have commercial tours. My mom and dad had one down at the base of their little road and at one time it it functioned as a speakeasy I was told. They had that one blocked off with an iron grate so that you could no longer go inside it. This looks like a wonderful hike! *waves at heathur!
We do have some incredible caves here in Missouri!!! I’ve been through a couple of the commercially guided tours at Fantastic Caverns and Meremac, which are super cool! But we prefer to explore off the beaten path ;)
And a speakeasy Cave?!? What a neat tidbit of history! A lot of our caves are barred up now because of “white nose syndrome” that affects the bats because of human contact. Meeting House has a wide open “mouth”, so it’s easily accessible and we are able to poke around a bit without disturbing the wildlife. I was so happy to go have a nature day with Heather!! Thanks for stopping by, Melinda. Hope you’re doing well! :)
I've been through Meremac and the one that takes you through in a Jeep. I had my four year old grandson with me and I thought the Jeep Tour might be a little more manageable for us! He loved it. He's a teenager now and he still talks about it. Do you ever worry about snakes when you go into the caves? that would worry me.
Was the Jeep tour at fantastic caverns (just outside of Springfield)? We’ve taken our girls a couple times and they loved it! Lots of neat history there too, about the women that explored it and marked their names on the wall :) They also had a piano in one of the bigger rooms and people would gather in the cave for music!
And yes, I constantly worry about snakes since I am completely terrified of them. But I can’t let them stop me from enjoying our beautiful Ozarks! We have a couple venomous breeds out here and see them almost every time we are out and about. The golden rule is: If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid and it seems to work. Although one time, we were chased by a very aggressive/ angry cottonmouth and my brother ended up chopping its head off with his machete. As much as I hate snakes, we try to leave them in peace because we are in their territory. But I’m that particular instance, it was more or less self-defense :)
Yes I think you might be right about Fantastic Caverns it's the one that has all the Billboards for Miles along the highway. I do remember the piano. I am so glad that we do not have venomous snakes here in southern Wisconsin! I can understand that you still go out and explore all the beauty that surrounds you. Do you take any precautions? I probably be wearing knee-high boots!
@melodyrussell
What an awesome place to go exploring...!!!!
Truly amazing photos.
(:
Thank you! It was nice to go exploring with friends today!!!
UPDATE: Hi @melodyrussell this post has been featured in Exponential! C² Featured Posts, a daily publication of the @c-cubed blog. Check it out :)
https://steemit.com/curation/@c-cubed/exponential-c-featured-posts-september-20th-2018
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
Awesome! Thanks so much! :)