Weeks cave is located along a steep walled valley known as Flag Hollow. Flag Hollow runs East/West and drains into the Dry Auglaize which is ˝ mile due West of the cave’s entrance.
Weeks cave has two entrances that are only 10 feet above the valley floor. The entrances are separated by 15 feet of bedrock. The cave’s stream exits from this 15 foot span as a lower, gravel filled recess in the bluff face.
The smaller entrance is 10 feet wide and 3 feet tall. It quickly becomes a belly crawl, with ceiling heights of less than 1 foot in spots. This passage intersects the main entrance room along the left side as a floor level hands and knee crawl.
The main entrance is 35 feet wide and 8 feet tall. Slope wash has severed the entrance into two separate openings in the hill side. The entrance room is the largest room found in Weeks Cave. It measures 65 feet long, 35 feet wide, and averages 5 feet in height. The floor is dusty. Small pieces of breakdown and remnant stream gravel lie scattered around the room. Dig sites from artifact hunters were also found in various places.
An upper level room can be found along the left wall 45 feet from the drip line. A four foot wide circular hole gives access to the room. It is 25 foot long, 9 feet wide. The ceiling averages 3 feet tall and the floor is hard packed clay.
Continuing towards the back of the entrance room along the left wall a slump pit of sorts can be found. Stream gravel and small breakdown is found at the bottom of the pit which is 6 feet deep. The cave stream can be heard here but not seen.
Just to the right of the pit the cave passage continues as a hands and knee crawl over smooth clay. Larger pieces of breakdown can be found here.
Approximately 50 feet from the entrance room, a large bear bed takes up the entire passage. Crawling through the bear bed, the passage suddenly intersects the stream passage. The stream passage lies in a North/South direction. The downstream portion can only be followed for 25 feet before ending in a low and narrow passage too small for human entry. The upstream portion can be followed as a 3 foot tall, 5 foot wide crawl. Chert fragments, intermittent clay banks, and a shallow stream lead the way. Ahead another smaller bear bed is found roughly 160 feet upstream from the previous larger one.
A low stream passage room exists 375 feet from the drip line. The ceiling is 2 feet high, and 8 feet wide, thin breakdown pieces lie in the stream. Just beyond this room the passage makes a right hand turn and the ceiling drops to 12 to 14 inches. The stream water is 3 to 4 inches deep here. 25 feet ahead the passage again turns right and the ceiling raises to 3 feet. During our survey of this section of the cave, Missouri was in a severe drought, and we assume water levels were unusually low. The clay banks in this area were untouched and no signs of human presence could be found.
Ahead the passage continues low and wet. At 465 feet from the entrance the first formations in the cave can be found. A small stalagmite sits delicately on a low clay bank. A spathite and two soda straws feed it from above. 33 feet further ahead the cave passage becomes too small to continue. Many soda straws, most of these being spathites hang from the ceiling here. None of them have been molested in anyway.
Weeks cave was surveyed in August of 2005 to be 572.4 feet in length. Over 400 feet of the surveyed length is hands and knee crawling, and roughly 100 feet of it is a belly crawl.
Weeks cave has a variety of cave life. Life witnessed during its survey and exploration consisted of the Eastern Pipistrelle bat, the Eastern Cottontail rabbit, Cave Crickets, stream amphipods, and most commonly the Grotto Salamander which makes its home in the cave’s stream. Caution should be expressed when crawl through the stream passage. Juvenile through adult stage salamanders were observed in good numbers.
Eric Hertzler
Lake Ozarks Grotto
Ozark Highlands Grotto
