The 2026 Florida Cave Cavort was organized by the Florida Speleological Society and was held at Jerry’s Farm near Archer from March 26-29, 2026. I wanted to highlight the critical need to protect the Florida aquifer, which directly affects access to, and the health, of Florida’s cave systems as well as the entire region. Why is the aquifer so important? The Southwest Florida Water Management District reports:
Most of the freshwater supply in west-central Florida comes from groundwater in the Floridan aquifer system. The Floridan aquifer system is divided into the Upper Floridan aquifer and Lower Floridan aquifer. The Upper Floridan aquifer is the primary source of water supply in most of north and central Florida. In the southern portion of the state, the Lower Floridan aquifer is deeper and contains brackish, or slightly salty water that needs additional treatment to be used for drinking water.
During my trip to the Cave Cavort, I had the opportunity to visit two caves: Warren and Crumbling Rock
Warren Cave Nature Preserve
Warren Cave in Alachua County is the longest known dry cave in Florida with more than four miles of mapped passage. The cave was dissolved out of limestone and limey sandy clay at a time when the water table in the region was at or above the present level of the cave, around 30,000 years ago. The cave was donated in 1991 to the NSS. Warren is a vertical cave with a two-part drop and a climb almost immediately after that. They added a rebelay to the climb, which I feel helps navigate the multi-angled pitch of that section. Some consider Warren to be the premier cave in Florida, as it presents many challenges for the experienced caver.
Scott Thompson led the trip. We navigated the vertical section and moved on past two squeezes: the first, Cashew (“catch you”) and the unnamed second squeeze. Once past these two squeezes, you enter the main part of Warren. Before the squeezes, the passages have ample standing room. However, once you pass the second squeeze, it becomes mostly a crawling space which requires worm crawl/belly crawl, as well as stoops and traversing various canyon-type sections.
We went to the Sand Room which contains a register. Then, we did a loop around the mud section, the Flat Room, and past the Virgin Rooms. Near the Flat Room, you can see a dugong (manatee) bone embedded in the rock as well as a shark tooth. There are fossilized shells throughout Warren as shown below.
The cave does continue southward from the loop that we did. However, it becomes progressively difficult to navigate as you have to crawl essentially the entire way to the end. Thus, sheer fatigue limits who can access the farther sections.
There are resurvey efforts, as well as active digs to open new sections of the cave. A dig has also been completed towards the southern end to bypass the aptly named Agony Alley.
An interesting story about Warren is that they ran telephone cable into a part of the cave. Some cavers were in the cave when the JFK assassination occurred. To commemorate the event, they installed a plaque in an obscure area.
Crumbling Rock
This cave is located near Floral City. Due to drought conditions, the water level was very low and you could call this mud city in such conditions. Billy Renkaur (sp?) led the trip along with Derek.
Crumbling Rock is one of Florida’s more recent cave discoveries. In contrast to most caves in the region, it features well-developed speleothems, many of which are periodically submerged as water levels fluctuate with the local aquifer. The cave’s namesake comes from its unstable, friable limestone, which can break loose if handled too roughly.
The cave has two entrances. I descended on a cable ladder and exited through the side rigged with a rope. Did I mention that the cave was muddy? It also has a lot of crawls. I didn’t see many formations in this cave beside a small flowstone and a small helictite growing on a stalagmite. I didn’t bring my phone for pictures in the cave, as it was almost unbearably muddy.
