I know a thing or two about caves growing up in southern West Virginia. We used to walk high between the river bank and rock ledges when we played in the woods growing up, spelunking for coal fossils.

Any trip to any good state park included some nice rocks to squeeze between or climb up.

It wasn’t until I got deep into researching some must-see caves in Alabama that I discovered the Southeastern Cave Conservancy (SCCi). This nonprofit manages over 170 caves across seven states.

SCCi is the largest land conservancy solely focused on protecting caves, this includes conservation, education, and recreation; recreation being where cave permits come in. In protecting some of these astonishing caves that sit along privately-owned woods and off backroads, the Southeastern Cave Conservancy is where you acquire your permits for visiting these special geological wonders.

Permits are required for all SCCi preserve caves, they’re free of charge and can be reserved here, where you can also get an overview of some of the caves you can explore. I travel across the South alone a lot, so other than letting my brother know to be concerned if he doesn’t hear from me, it’s nice to know someone else somewhere knows I’m in a cave, because let’s be honest, things go South sometimes.

I didn’t have time to truly go caving as I stopped by Neversink Pit on my way outta Alabama back towards Washington, D.C. But I did snag a hiking permit– which was fun enough navigating up the side of a mountain of rocks for a couple hours. It was a fitting feature to add into my personal “Geologic Tour” of Georgia and Alabama I set out on in fall.