Utah Caves

Juke Box Cave

Juke Box Cave was used as a dance hall by airmen stationed at Wendover during World War II. A concrete floor that was poured in the cavern for dancing and recreation during that time.

Looking back up at the entry.

Some Rare Indian writings inside.

Images courtesy of Tee's Adventure Blog

Danger Cave Prior to the gate being installed.

Danger Cave today.

Danger Cave is a cluster of dry caves near the western edge of the ancient Lake Bonneville, in the eastern portion of the Great Basin. The caves contain the archaeological remains discovered by Jesse D. Jennings, Sr. in 1949. The caves contain remains spanning most of the post-glacial time, the earliest carbon-14 dated to 11,000 BP.

Evidence in the cave shows that hunter-gatherers lived in the area as early as 10,000 BP, which is believed to be shortly after the extinction of the mammoth and saber tooth tiger. The evidence from Danger Cave presents a compelling view of a long-lived Great Basin Desert Culture and dates the Archaic Native American Culture to 11,000 BP.

Some of the lithic artifacts found in Danger Cave were different types of projectile points, scrapers, gravers, knives, and drills. Other artifacts that were excavated were twined matting and basketry, course cloth, coiled basketry, hide moccasins, wooden knife handles, dart and arrow shafts with broken projectile points in place, bundles of gaming sticks, and milling stones.

The land surrounding the caves was set aside as a Utah State Park, but funds have never been provided to develop the site.

Danger Cave Archaeological Site
Utah State Parks and Recreation
Administrative Office
1594 West North Temple, Suite 116
P.O. Box 146001
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-6001
801-538-7220

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Spencer Coles

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Midnight Cave

This is a small cave, within walking distance of Massey's Cave. It doesn't appear to go back very far, and may just be a rock shelter or grotto. More info to come.

Cobweb Cave

This is a small cave, within walking distance of Massey's Cave. It has about 70 feet of passage. It may have once been part of the larger dry fork cave system. Dry Fork Arch is an interesting feature to check out while in the area as well.

This is a small cave, within walking distance of Massey's Cave. It has less than 100 feet of passage. It may once have been part of the main dry fork cave system.

Ricks Spring Cave - 2,200+ ft. long

There are two caves at Ricks Spring. One is the small entrance you can see just left of the spring. It extends back about 25' and then turns to the right and dead ends into a round room. The second cave is inside the spring itself. As it turns out, the spring is a continuation of the Logan river that has found its way into a natural fissure and ends up resurfacing here. There is currently an estimated 2,200 ft. of explored underwater passage. At one point it opens up to a dry area with a waterfall that required some climbing, then the cave continues even further underwater. You can read more about it here after signing up for a free subscription. http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40220

The following pictures are courtesy of Wendell Nope and Josh Thornton of inside the submerged Ricks Springs Cave. You can see all the pictures from the trip on Wendell's website (http://www.wendellnope.com/rickspic.htm)

This sign is just inside the entrance. How many of you would turn around once you read it?

After nearly 2000' of passage a waterfall and open cavern is encountered.

Above the falls the passage continues submerged until this breakdown stops any further progress in the cave. Hopefully in the next few trips they will be able to break through and map another 2300' of passage!

Snow Canyon, outside of St. George has a variety of small lava tubes that can be fun to explore. None of the ones I've been in are deep enough that you are unable to see daylight. But they still provide a fun experience. Maps of some of them can be found on the website for the Timpanogas Grotto:

http://www.caves.org/grotto/timpgrotto/

Massey's Cave

Massey's Cave (aka Main Dry Fork Cave) is a frequently visited and vandalized cave. It's easily accessible with a passenger car, and easily spotted. If you're looking for a pristine wilderness type of cave, this is not it. But it is a fun little cave if one is in the area. It has about 1300 feet of passage, and has a few speleothems.

Michael Mimbach and Spencer Coles at the entrance to Dan Clyde Cave. Michael was kind enough to be our guide for this trip and show us the ins' and outs' of the canyon. It is a very interesting and beautiful place with a lot of potential for some more big caves.

Spencer down climbing the entrance pit.

Looking up from the bottom of the entrance pit.

Michael on rope starting the 60' descent into the pit. This is the largest drop in the cave and quite a spacious room.

You can see how much water has been coming down this pit.

From a ledge midway down the largest pit Shane took this great shot. It is difficult to see how large this cavern is in these photos, but it is an impressive one. Even more impressive are the log jambs right up near the ceiling, indicating that this pit fills completely with water in heavy run off years. The small white dot (bottom middle) is Spencer's headlamp at the bottom of the pit.

Michael dropping the last 15' into the big pit.

Michael looking into a muddy lower passage. In the bottom of the big room there are 4 small leads that will take you into some of the tighter passages of the cave.

Spencer attempting to climb a lead into an upper passage.

On the floor of the big room is this interesting feature. The dripping water is eroding away the sand that is not protected by small pieces of wood.

Spencer exploring one of the tighter slots at the bottom of the pit.

Looking up from the bottom of the large pit. Spencer on rope, ascending out of the big room.

Looking up from the bottom of the large room. Spencer on rope, ascending out of the big room.

The road is best traveled by four wheeler (or Polaris Ranger) as it is very narrow and quite rough. We made it just fine (but much slower) in the 4Runner adding only a few more scratches to the many it already has.

We really had a great day! Thanks again Michael!

Chert Valley Cave

Chert Valley is located near the bottom of this sink at the base of a small cliff. The stream from the canyon flows into the cave system during the spring and brings sticks, logs and soil into the cave clogging its passages and at times opening up new ones.

While the cave only extended down into the mountain a good 50' or so until it was plugged with silt, next years run off could push through the plug and turn this cave into one of Utah's most extensive cave systems.

Lost Josephine Cave

This is a natural cave that has been mined for several years. It is not very exciting unless you know which turn to take, and most who visit here never see the beautiful formations within. There are still active mining operations underway, and visits there are prohibited. We are currently working with the owners of the claim to survey the tunnels, as well as develop a management plan so that the cave can be visited when mining operations are inactive.
There are three entrances in this photo, with several others around the hill.