Pole Creek Cave

Pole Creek Cave is a large horizontal cave that is great for beginners to explore. It is only accessible in the fall since the Pole Creek river comes out of the entrance at high flow levels. The dry portion of the cave is roughly 900' long and ends at a pool of water that remains year round. The pool is diveable and is roughly 200' long and then continues 500' in another dry portion of the cave until another pool is encountered. Currently Underwater Dynamics is exploring the second pool in hopes of pushing it further. The end goal is to connect the entrance with the upper sink that is 1.5 miles away.

When I visited the cave in the spring (see image below) a heavy flow of water was coming from the entry. Warning! No attempt should be made to enter this cave when water is flowing out of the entry!

The Pole Creek Sink (see image below) located about 1.5 miles upstream from the cave entrance is where the river disappears into the cave system. With the high runoff this spring (2011) the sink filled up to where you could barely see the top of the right mine entrance.

The two large black holes in the photo are an attempt by Gale Rhoades to open an old Spanish mine he located in the sink. You can read more about the venture here.

Cameron Coles standing in front of the sink.

Garners Cave

Garners Cave is a good hour hike and a short climb up a cliff face to access. There is a rope in place there since this cave sees a good amount of traffic. Inside there is one main passage and two small side passages. Most of the cave is wet and has several tight crawls that would not be suitable for the large in stature, so please be careful in these areas. The cave has been trashed over the years and you will find a lot of graffiti, trash and broken formations inside. If you visit the cave, please pack out any trash you come across.

Looking up at the entry from below.

Interstate Caves

The Interstate Caves are comprised of Interstate Cave, Highway Cave, Roadside Cave and Left Cave with Interstate cave being the largest by far at approximately 1062 ft. in length and 200' deep. Roadside cave is the second longest at approximately 224 ft. long.

As you can see by the photos these caves are mostly tight passages. To enter Interstate Cave requires a permit as well as about 300' of rope as it requires a rappel to enter the cave and to descend to the lower passages. Entrance to this cave is highly discouraged as there are delicate gypsum formations in it's tight passages.

Glory Hole

Glory Hole has about a 40 foot entrance rappel and was supposedly a large cave system. There is no official map and there may never be now that the cave is being mined and there is no longer any access into the cave.

Cascade Cave

Cascade Cave is an interesting geological feature. The nearby Navajo Lake drains into sink holes and the water flows through Cascade Cave and empties out a waterfall at Cascade Falls. The water level in the cave changes based on conditions in the lake.

Bower's Lava Tube

Not as well visited as Mammoth, but with signs directing you to this cave Bower's sees a lot of traffic as well. This is closed during winter for hibernating bats. Please respect the rules to keep this and other caves open.

Mammoth Lava Tube

Not the same as the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. This is a very visited lava tube system. The tubes are more sustained than the Tabernacle Hill lava tubes. This and Bower's Lava Tube are closed in the winter because of hibernating bats.

Duck Creek Ice Cave

Duck Creek Ice Cave is a single room, limestone cave. It's one of the most commonly visited caves in the area, if not the state. Ice and snow can be found year round. There isn't much to see, but if one is in the area, it's worth seeing.

Limestone Cave

The only name we have for this cave is 'Limestone Cave'. It is obviously a well traveled and well known cave. It is in the Wendover area and it's up a very cool little canyon.

The cave goes back about 15' or so to a tight crawl at the back. The cave smells like smoke and juding by the charcoal black ceiling it has been a common place to light an evening campfire.

As I was dressed in my business clothes and did not bring along my coveralls I did not attempt to crawl thru the 'moon dust' to see where the tight crawl went.

The only formations that I noticed in this cave are what appeared to me to be mamilaries. These bulbus formations are said to form only underwater.

Because this apparently is a well known and visited cave I am posting these wider angle shots showing the topography, and the trusty 4Runner as well.