John Brown's Cave (Iola Ks)
37.903559,-95.383420
Location
John Brown’s Cave is located along Cave Trail South. To visit the cave, you can park at the Eastern Trailhead, and walk or bike along the South Loop Trail heading south and east. Just past the entrance to the Rubble Ridge Trail, a new Cave Trail Connector splits off to the east. After a short distance, it meets up with 1650th Street. After yielding to any road traffic, cross the pavement to enter the Cave Trail. Follow Cave Trail South for about a half mile, first heading east along a straight path, then south paralleling a small limestone bluff (the cave “exit” is located here), then south to a rock wall, then north along the top of the bluffs, before heading back west a bit. The cave entrance will be on your left, and will first be seen as a large depression. As you get closer, and enter the depression, you’ll see the large cave entrance heading east. After exploring the cave, you can either retrace your steps to get out, or continue following Cave Trail South, which creates a large loop that will eventually lead you back to the entrance path. - quote: (Leihigh trails)
Description
Nothing special required to enter entrance
Check recent rainfall, cave will likely have standing water.
Comments
Caves nearby
Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
---|---|---|---|
75.8 | Jesse James Cave (Pomona KS) | 0 | 0 |
199.0 | Elisha Cave [Small Spring Cave] | 0 | 0 |
208.7 | Attner's Cave | 0 | 0 |
220.2 | Spears Cave | 0 | |
222.3 | Dry Sink | 0 | 0 |
225.7 | Natural Bridge Cave | 0 | |
275.3 | Rocheport Cave [Boone Cave] | ||
377.8 | Meramec Caverns | 7400 | |
378.0 | Fisher Cave |
JB cave comment
Simple walk through for a bit, crawl if you want to go "through" the cave. Standing water, on private land (park) but welcomed to anyone. warning, lots of mosquitos. Learned about this cave from "Caves in kansas" by James Young and Jonathan Beard.
KScaver (31/07/2025)
🔦 : 15m 🚶: 5m