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Silers Cave
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Silers Cave
Almost since its inception, the Sligo Grotto has managed access to Silers
Cave in Berkely County, WV for the non-resident landowner.
For a good (and humorous!) introduction to the cave, read the trip report by Claire, age 10:
(Claire's report is reprinted from the Baltimore Grotto News courtesy of Dwight Livingston
Silers is a maze cave developed at the exposed junction of the Helderburg and
Tonoloway limestone deposits and currently has over 8400' of mapped passages,
making it the 2nd largest cave in the panhandle of West Virginia. The cave is
mostly developed on one level, with a total depth of 60'. Most of the
cave is an irregular grid, with tall and wide major axis passages and smaller
interconnecting crawl- and stoop-ways. The major axis of the cave follows the
local uplifting, leaving nicely parallel passages. The cave contains some
formations, but is better known for its mud. A very fine slip fault can be
seen in the aptly-named Fault Room. It is a great cave for both beginners
and experienced cavers.
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In 1967, Dr. David Culver discovered a new species of amphipod in the cave,
Stygobromus cooperi, which to date has not been found anywhere else.
Although amphipods normally live in parts of the cave inaccessible to humans,
access to the cave was limited to protect them, and the cave was subsequently gated.
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By long-standing agreement with the landowner, access is strictly limited to:
Two trips in any calendar month, first come, first served
All trips must be led by recognized experienced cavers
Absolutely no commercial or for-pay use
Non-profit groups (scouts, etc.) are permitted with adequate leadership
The cave is normally gated, unless the local vandals have dealt us another
setback. This means we will have to mail the key to you before your trip.
Please do not expect to get in on a day or two's notice, even if the cave
has openings that month!
The cave now has its very own e-mail address (SilersCave@myrealbox.com)
for information and reservations. The account is set up
to automatically reply to all incoming mail with the access policy and current
reservations. If you just need information, please use something like
"Just checking" as your subject line. Once you have picked a date, send another
message and you will get an additional response confirming your reservation.
The cave tends to be book solid in spring and fall, so please plan ahead.
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