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Caving 101: how to cave like a pro Bat cave canoe trips in Nickajack Cave are popular local offering
AKERS, Mo. – The open gate, unlocked after more than three decades, represented fulfillment of a boyhood dream and a tribute to a pioneer in Missouri cave science.
Wet-suited and rope-rigged, Tony Schmitt stepped through the gate and rappelled 90 feet through darkness, alighting at his inflated raft. It floated in a subterranean lake nearly the size of a football field.
With his descent, the veteran caver became the first explorer since 1971 known to have entered the huge dome-shaped cave under Devil’s Well. The well, a natural wonder in Shannon County owned by the National Park Service, is a steep, funnel-shaped sinkhole almost hidden by towering trees.
At the sinkhole’s lowest point is the cave opening, a sheer drop. A small waterfall trickles from a mossy rock face and cascades into the lake below, sending up mist and eerie echoes, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1M4tUtu ) reported.