Buchanan Saltpeter Cave

Name: Buchanan Saltpeter Cave
Start: 2025-12-13T09:00:00-05:00
Location: Sur 81

Schedule

Sat, 13 Dec, 2025 at 09:00 am

UTC-05:00

Location

Sur 81 | Marion, VA

Buchanan Saltpeter Cave is an old saltpeter mine with remnants of its mining history still visible—stairways, wood scraps, pick marks, and mounds of dirt scattered throughout the passages. The cave has two main trunk sections: the upper passage, a 5,000-foot-long phreatic trunk averaging about 20 by 10 feet, is beautifully decorated with flowstone and once connected to nearby caves before collapses sealed them off; and the lower active river passage, roughly 30 by 30 feet and of similar length, which ends in sumps on both sides. The total surveyed length of the cave is about two miles.

The entrance is slightly sporty, requiring a short 4-foot downclimb to reach ladder two. From there, we’ll walk about 15 minutes to the river section (no crawling involved!) highlighted in green on the old map where we’ll continue resurveying a roughly 30-by-30-foot passage. One team will move about 500 feet downstream to begin collecting data, while my team will start from the junction and survey upstream until both groups meet.

No prior survey experience is needed for this trip! The passage is spacious and well-suited for running instruments and sketching, making it a great cave to learn in. For those not interested in surveying, the landowners would love to have updated photos of their cave—there are plenty of decorated sections, and I can point them out on the map.

Our hosts, Jane and William, are incredibly welcoming and have offered guest rooms for anyone driving a long distance. If you’d like to show appreciation for their hospitality, Jane enjoys California dry wines and William prefers local craft beers. If enough people want to camp or stay at their house, we’ll meet there at 9:00 AM Saturday; otherwise, we’ll gather at 9:00 AM at Sur 81 in Marion, VA before heading to the cave.