They have regularly scheduled trips, along with spur of the moment ventures. Also, they are generally familiar with the cave locations and owners. In many cases they will be capable of getting access to many places you may not be able to on your own. However, grottos are not a clearinghouse for cave locations or maps. For many reasons, cave locations are not indiscriminately given to anyone who requests them.
People go caving for many reasons.
Many people are only interested in the recreational aspects of the sport, while in recent years, many others are becoming involved more deeply in many of the research possibilities of caves. Probably the most common of the research projects actively pursued is the location and mapping of caves for a state or regional survey. Most states with caves have some form of a cave survey, although they generally do not have any connection with a government agency. Virginia s version is the Virginia Speleological Survey. Another research field seeing more activity is karst hydrology.