We had a vertical cave weekend on September 6 and 7, 2025. Both Pig Hole and Clover Hollow are located in Giles County, Virginia. We camped at the Bat Ranch.

Pig Hole

Mike Broome and Lisa Lorenzin led the trip. Jacob and I were the acolytes. This was the first cave I got to use my new climbing rope in.

The main rappel is about 120 feet. It is a beautiful moss-covered rock wall leading to a large room of breakdown to explore. From there, we climbed down towards the Mud Bridge and Hess’s Hollow for a second descent. On the way there, a few challenging climbs to different levels will await you. No webbing is needed, but one will want to be careful when navigating the climbs, as they are done on to narrow ledges, with a significant fall if you were to slip.

Hess’s Hollow is another impressive vertical section to explore. There’s a giant stalagmite (pictured) that’s used as part of the rigging. Once we were all at the bottom, we signed the register and saw that many other Tritrogs had also visited this area. At this point, we decided to return to surface.

Clover Hollow

Mike, Lisa, and I did a short trip into Clover Hollow. It was basically a pit bounce, as we did not bring additional rope or webbing for crossing the two drops (8 foot and 20 foot) which lead to the rest of the cave. Before those drops is a fun little traverse that we did. At the end, I decided to haul out a hubcap I saw near the entrance to be claimed as cave booty.

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