Whitings Neck Cave, West Virginia

We went to explore the Whitings Neck Cave in Berkeley County, West Virginia. The cave is big enough to have an adventure visiting but small enough that it has not turned into a commercial enterprise, like the many caverns in the Shenandoah Valley. The cave is not on private property and has an unassuming trail from the road leading to the cave entrance.

Start of trail to cave

My kids ahead of me

At the cave entrance

My eldest had visited three other times with his Scouting America troop, so he was very familiar with the layout inside. Not far into the entrance is a drop into a large, empty chamber. Ladders have been put in to climb down into the chamber and climb up the other side for further exploration.

Entrance ladder

The chamber has a lot of formations but no interpretive signs to explain them. I took a bunch of pictures.

Cave ceiling

Lots of colors

Some burned wood?

I went up the second ladder and lost my nerve when I saw the fifty-foot crawl down a two-foot diameter passage. The kids went on without me. I trusted the Eagle Scout to be safe. They took my pen to sign the cave's log.

A famous formation (famous for this cave) is called the Wedding Cake because of its tiered shape.

Wedding Cake (good luck getting a slice!)

Picture from sister's phone

My son claimed this next picture was of cave paintings but I don't see it. I guess you had to be there. Too bad I wasn't.

Ceiling

Holes in rocks

Same holes with different lighting/angle?

The cave's log book

I loitered in the main room while they explored. I heard them coming back and climbed the other ladder to get some snaps of their return.

Doesn't look so tight in the picture

Approaching from deeper in the cave

The fifty-foot crawl also has a small hole at the start (to the left in the picture above). I went underneath and took a shot up as they passed by.

My son (or at least his shirt)

My daughter had a good head lamp

Coming down the second ladder

The same as above but with my daughter

Me climbing out

The entrance is also the exit

My daughter exits

I exit

Got a little dirty

And where was my third child all this time? He was off with Mom finding ice cream and a book shop in nearby Shepherdstown.

Not at all dirty