Lost River - Karst Information Portal

Jamie Winner at Big Mouth Spring Cave.
Photo by Brandon Stephens
To reach Little Mouth Cave walk 50 feet
west from the mouth of Big Mouth Cave and
then walk up the steep dirt and rock slope. The
entrance is near the top of the hill and will be on
the right. The entrance
is about 125 feet above
Big Mouth Cave and
15 feet below the top
of the hill. A nice
sitting rock is at the
entrance along with
some in-place, openair
stalagmites. The
trail continues to the
right of the entrance to
the top of the hill and
can be followed back
to Tobacco Landing.
From the entrance
the floor slopes down
and there is some
Harrison County Caves
dried flowstone with packrat dung on the left.
In about 30 feet one must crawl in a 3-foot-high
by 2-foot-wide passage. Above this crawl is a
packrat nest. The passage opens back to walking
size in about 25 feet. The walkway continues for
about 150 feet before ending. This section of
the cave has numerous broken-off formations,
and would have been a beautiful cave at one
time. In two places one must crawl a very short
distance because flowstone has nearly filled the
passage. At the end of the walking passage there
is a crawlway off the left-hand wall. It is a belly
crawl and ends in 30 feet at the top of a 28-foot
pit. A 60-foot rope is required for descending
the pit. The rope can be rigged to a couple of
flowstone columns in the crawlway. The top of
the pit is tight and awkward. The walls of the pit
are decorated with dripstone.
Only normal caving gear or less is needed to
see either one of these two caves. The entrance to
Big Mouth Cave can be seen from the far end of
the cave, hence only a flashlight is needed. Little
Mouth Cave requires normal gear and knee pads
would help in the flowstone crawls. If you must
do the pretty pit a 60-foot rope and vertical gear
would be needed. The entrance to Big Mouth
Cave is a great place to cool off and have a picnic.
Reference: BIG Newsletter 15#3, 5/80, K.
Komisarcik
A packrat in Little Mouth Cave. Photo by Dave Black.
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