On March 3, 2011 Callie Bouchard, Edward Smith, and Janet Tinkham walked a property of about 20 acres near the airport in Luray on Rout 211 as part of the Page County Survey. The property has one known cave (Ellie’s Cave) and one good dig. There are also dozens of sink holes, some as much as 75’ in diameter. The dig is at the bottom of a hole about 12’ deep following limestone walls almost straight down. Rocks dropped into a small hole at the bottom bounce and fall into water about another four feet below. This hole sits on a hill about 25’ above a large creek nearby. We surveyed Ellie’s Cave (60.2’) in about two hours. It is relatively flat and linier trending southwest to northeast ending in a soil filled drain. Five healthy bats were found hibernating on the ceiling. The walls are smooth and serpentine. We found some graffiti and an old chain nailed to a wall. An old, small trap was found nearby presumably attached to the chain at one time. There was also a 1” galvanized pipe coming out of the ceiling. Another pipe was found going in to a tight side passage and disappearing into a crack. We were done for the day by about 1pm.  |
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