Lost River - Karst Information Portal

Buckner Cave will be open during convention
week. See the caving kiosk for access rules
and requests during convention. For access after
the 2007 NSS National Convention, see Dave
Everton’s article, “The Richard Blenz Nature
Conservancy” on page 265.
Buckner is one of the largest and most
interesting of the Garrison Chapel caves. It
offers a wide variety of dry, dusty passages as
well as an intriguing history. Dates found
within the cave indicate that people explored
its passages as early as the late 1700s. More
recent dates suggest that the cave was visited by
settlers from neighboring areas in the 1840s.
3 8
Monroe County Caves
Buckner Cave
Only since the 1960s have cavers fully explored
Buckner Cave.
Buckner Cave has a history of being the
most trashed cave east of the Mississippi River.
Recent efforts by the Richard Blenz Nature
Conservancy and the Bloomington Indiana
Grotto the cave is emerging from it’s bleak
past. Buckner is an interesting cave with varied
passages and a long, easily-followed circle
route.
The entrance is a big collapse sink where a
large, old cave passage intersects the hillside.
The entrance passage is about 15 feet wide and
15 feet high and opens into a room scattered