Cave Valley Cave

We have heard of, and believe to be true, the story of a cave in a hanging valley high above Provo called Cave Valley Cave. We have even seen a rough map of the cave drawn around 30 years ago. So this weekend we hiked to this valley and attempted to locate the cave. It was about 1600 vertical feet to the valley from our parking spot.

The valley was awesome!

After about 2 hours of four of us scouring this valley it was apparent that no one had been there for a long time. We did not find the cave but we did find a few interesting things like an old shelter, an aluminum pot with plastic plates inside, rubber boots and a two old fire rings.

The forest was very dense and had an eerie feeling to it.

On our way out of the valley we did find a few holes that looked promising but that were clogged with dirt and leaves. Could this be Cave Valley Cave after 30 years of debris?

An unexpected find on the edge of this valley was this bunch of Barrel Cactus.

The valley deserves another look. We will be back again to try and find this long lost cave.

Woody's Hole

Woody's Hole is a very small Rock Canyon cave. It is only 20' deep or so and has tons of cave crickets and a really big ugly spider living inside. I believe it is named after Woody Carrol who first explored it in the mid 1970's. Rodney Horrocks did a paleontological excavation with Chris Laycock there several years ago, and the bones from that dig are in the BYU Earth Science Museum collections.

The entry is very tight and uncomfortable.

There is a thick layer of Flowstone around the entry.

Shane climbing out.

The tight spot.

Looking down the steep chute to the dirt floor bottom.

Some serrated bacon.

We found this old glass cup at the bottom. It looks to be filled with wax, and could have been used to light the cave during the dig.

These are some of the collection of bones that were extracted during the paleontological dig. They are held at the BYU Earth Science Muesum.

The sunset was catching the tops of the trees on the hike down the canyon. Beautiful time of year to be out!

Jolly Roger

Jolly Roger is a small Rock Canyon cave that is about 40' deep. There are two chutes that are both filled with dirt and would require a lot of digging to continue downward. It appears that rainwater continually brings debris in. This cave has good potential of continuing if you are ready to work. Apparently there was a skull and crossbones drawn on the wall when it was discoverd, thus the name Jolly Roger.

A very cool entrance.

Looking down into the entrance pit.

There are three separate entrances but I would just call the other two "skylights".

Looking down the East tube.





Looking down the South tube.

The is a room at the bottom of the South tube that has some good growth in it. The column to the right of center is about 3 ft. long.

Not a very big cave but it has some great photo ops.

Oak City Cave

The cave is located at the top of a small hill in the bottom of a small sink.


The entrance is tight and there is a short downclimb just beyond. It is estimated that there are about 600' in passages. It is in the process of being surveyed and mapped.


I didn't get a chance to go in this trip as I was by myself and running very late in the day.

Apparently there are very few formations, mostly gypsum crystals that have received a coat of florescent green spray paint by local taggers. Lovley! Also, watch out for rattlesnakes.