Bowl Cave

This cave is located in a small bowl directly behind an old mill. It is very small as we were only able to measured 11' of length. The only formations found inside were a couple of very small pieces of bacon on the ceiling.



The entry is pretty well hidden behind some trees, but it is not hard to find if you are looking for it.

This tiny piece of bacon is the only formation we found.

This is a picture of the old mill/smelter. The cave is located just behind it in the bowl.

Ireko Cave

Ireko Cave follows a limestone fissure straight back into the mountain and has a very strong breeze coming out of it. We measured 110' from the entrance to the squeeze that was too tight for me to comfortably try on my own. When I tossed a rock through the pinch point I could hear it roll for a good 6 seconds. With how much air movement there is in this cave I would expect it to continue on much further.


You can see an old PVC canister with aluminum lids on it laying on the floor in the photo above. The only reason I think that it could be there was that it was used to haul dirt out of the cave.

This cave has a lot of small stalagmites and soda staws.

This is the tightest squeeze in the cave. As you can see, it was not much bigger than my helmet. I was able to fit through it with some wiggling, but I don't think Shane would have made it. He waited for me on the other side of this squeeze.

Just past the tight squeeze there is an open fissure headed up into the ceiling. We did not get a chance to explore it on this trip however.

I was a little weary about squeezing through this one. It did not look much bigger than my boot, but once I got down in it I slipped through pretty easily.

A little past the third squeeze we found a off shoot. It was tight and made two 90 degree bends fairly close to each other, so I did not attempt it this trip either.

I stuck my camera around the corner of the turn off and you can clearly see it opens up to another passageway. We will have to go back up for another mapping trip.

These two small stalagmites remind me of the "salt and pepper shaker" in Timpanogos Cave.

At the end of this tunnel is where the tightest squeeze was encountered, and with no one there that could pull me out if I were to get stuck.... I decided not to push it. When I tossed a rock through it I was surprised to hear it bounce and fall for a good 6 seconds before coming to a rest. The airflow through this squeeze was very strong and cold, just as it had been through the entire cave. This is a great indicator that there is a lot more passage to explore.

Right before the last squeeze we found this old anchor bolted into the wall. I was very surprised to think that anyone else could fit through that hole if I couldn't.

Hiking up to the cave I discovered this small solution tube that day lighted at the top through a crack in the cliff. This was a very encouraging sign that Ireko may be close since we did not know of it's exact location.



We also found this interesting caterpillar. I believe it is a spotted tussock moth caterpillar.

And a Tarantula crossing the road.

GMZ Cave

GMZ is a 198' deep pit. It may have some possibilities of continuing at the bottom, but some digging in the snow pile at the bottom would be required to push this cave further.

Map courtesy of Brandon Kowallis. Copyright 2006.

Matt Broadhead dropping into the entrance.

Looking up at the snowpile at the bottom.

A little bit of flowstone decoration.

Looking up toward the entry from the bottom.