Ask Cavers: What is the Best Cave Name?
March 6, 2013
Hello my name is Sticker. Image by InverseHypercube/Wikipedia
For this weeks ask cavers question, we want to hear about the best cave names you’ve ever come across.
We know there are some great ones out there that should be brought to light.
Imaginary bonus points for anyone who tells the story behind the cave being dubbed such a fantastic title.
Share the names and your stories in the discussion below.
Comments (16)
OK, I’ll give one – Sypder Cave in the Adirondacks, NY. At the entrance of this small cave were a bunch of spiders behaving oddly. The cave namers thought they might be dyslexic, So, instead of naming it Spyder Cave, they figured they’d name it after the dyslexic spiders, hence Sypder Cave.
Something like the ‘Piss-pot Cave’, in the Algarve, Portugal!
When the show cave Indiana Caverns, opening in May 2013, was discovered, three people in wet suits crawled through a water filled long tube with only a few inches of air space so they turned their heads to be able to breath. One of them name Joy sucked in some in water and was coughing and choking. So they named this small section of the cave “Joy’s Gulp.”
Many years ago, prior to my first visit to a unique cave here in South Africa, I thought the cave’s name – Mbobo Mkulu – was so sexy. On my second trip I found out the name (in Zulu) simply means ‘big hole’ – what a disappointment!
We were trying to come up with a name for a Florida cave that had three solution pipes, or wells, leading from the surface to its main chamber. One person suggested “Well Well Well,” which is to be repeated while tapping a foot lightly and holding hands on hips.
My all time favorite is “Smell Well”
Bruised Springstream cave is very near Nicked Jagged and the Rolling Stones cave. Both names accurately describe the caves.
Llygad Llwchwr – bet you can’t pronounce it properly (its Welsh meaning the “eye of the Loughor” – a river in South Wales whose name has been interpreted as the” glittering, shining water” though that is debatable).
I’ve always considered Black Shiver Pot at Chapel Le dale to be one of the most suitably named caves in our region.
My personal favorite name, although I’ve never been there is Masshole in Massachusetts.
I’ve always thought “Manhole” was a cool cave name. Its located somewhere is New Mexico, if they could ever find the darn thing.
We also have Perseverance Cave in Vermont, a nice vertical marble beauty with drops of 40′, 70′ and 90′. Most people think the names is because you have to have a lot of perseverance to hike up the mountain and do the challenging cave, but it’s really because the landowner’s name is Severance. Ergo: Per – Severance.
There is the ‘Cave Without a Name’ near Boerne, Texas. An example of a paradox.
Twin Titties Swallet 0n Mendip is one of the best names around!
ILLYUZIYA (Russian for “illuzion”, located in Abkhazia) and Soaring bird (Fisht mountain, Kaukas mountainsSouth of Russia)
The Hole. Greenbrier Co. WV
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