Onyx, Bruce & Mikes Road trip

Onyx

Bruce & Mike's Arizona Roadtrip

Although not a grotto event, Bruce B. & Mike W. would like to share a recent Road Trip they took to Arizona. Our webmaster belongs to a diverse group of cavers known as the "Trolls in Holes", who in other lives are officially members of the So-Cal Grotto, Columbia Grotto, and others.
Bruce & Mike met with "Formerly Big" Bill R and his wife Mary., Mike D. and John W. of the So. Cal Grotto, Jay & Abby S. from Sequoia Nat. Park, Jean Paul J. from the Escabrosa grotto ( he was our trip leader, and is an "AWESOME" dude to cave with!!!), and a few others.... in Tucson, AZ. to visit Onyx Cave on Saturday, and Crystal (Chiricaua) Cave on Sunday... in southern and south eastern Arizona. A good time was had by all, both in the caves and after hours shmoosing. BTW, Rich (CaveJunky) and Tony were also there on Sunday for the second trip.... ( good to see ya, guys!!)

Following is Bruce & Mike's trip report, with just a few photos

After a long drive south, we met up with the rest of the group at a motel in Tucson . Introductions were made, a check of gear done, shower and bed so we could get an early, fresh start. Near the Mexican border, we took a short hike into the hills.... If you've never seen a desert in bloom, this was the time of year to be there.

Entry into the cave was interesting. The gate was built to limit entry due to massive damage from mining in earlier years and proved to be the smallest squeeze of the whole day. "Cool Idea". Once inside the destruction was evident, but the amount of formations made up for it.

"Look at all the soda straws, there's gotta be thousands of them"" exclaimed Mike. And he was not exaggerating... everywhere we looked they could be found, and helectites too. What impressed Bruce was the Shields. They too were everywhere! " I lost count sometime after 30 or 40".

We were underground for over 9 hours, and the trip entailed numerous descents, a 40-50 ft. horizontal line traverse along a gorge, some challenging free climbs. tight crawls and even easy walking. The rich minerals in this part of Arizona led to some spectacular coloring, note the blood red stalagmite below. Sadly, the cave was so large we did not see as much as we would have liked to, and not all our photos turned out as we had hoped.

Both Bruce & Mike have been caving here locally in the Mother Lode (and elsewhere) for over 20 years and thoroughly enjoy our Sierra caves. However, the size of the cave, shear spectacle of the beauty, even with the damage led us to say (for Bruce at least) this was like graduating from Lodi's Mickey Grove "KiddieLand" to "DisneyWorld"

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Onyx Bruce & Mike's Arizona Roadtrip Although not a grotto event, Bruce B. & Mike W. would like to share a recent Road Trip they took to Arizona. Our webmaster belongs to a diverse group of cavers known as the "Trolls in Holes", who in other lives are officially members of the So-Cal Grotto, Columbia Grotto, and others. Bruce & Mike met with "Formerly Big" Bill R and his wife Mary., Mike D. and John W. of the So. Cal Grotto, Jay & Abby S. from Sequoia Nat. Park, Jean Paul J. from the Escabrosa grotto ( he was our trip leader, and is an "AWESOME" dude to cave with!!!), and a few others.... in Tucson, AZ. to visit Onyx Cave on Saturday, and Crystal (Chiricaua) Cave on Sunday... in southern and south eastern Arizona. A good time was had by all, both in the caves and after hours shmoosing. BTW, Rich (CaveJunky) and Tony were also there on Sunday for the second trip.... ( good to see ya, guys!!) Following is Bruce & Mike's trip report, with just a few photos After a long drive south, we met up with the rest of the group at a motel in Tucson . Introductions were made, a check of gear done, shower and bed so we could get an early, fresh start. Near the Mexican border, we took a short hike into the hills.... If you've never seen a desert in bloom, this was the time of year to be there.
	Entry into the cave was interesting. The gate was built to limit entry due to massive damage from mining in earlier years and proved to be the smallest squeeze of the whole day. "Cool Idea". Once inside the destruction was evident, but the amount of formations made up for it. "Look at all the soda straws, there's gotta be thousands of them"" exclaimed Mike. And he was not exaggerating... everywhere we looked they could be found, and helectites too. What impressed Bruce was the Shields. They too were everywhere! " I lost count sometime after 30 or 40".

We were underground for over 9 hours, and the trip entailed numerous descents, a 40-50 ft. horizontal line traverse along a gorge, some challenging free climbs. tight crawls and even easy walking. The rich minerals in this part of Arizona led to some spectacular coloring, note the blood red stalagmite below. Sadly, the cave was so large we did not see as much as we would have liked to, and not all our photos turned out as we had hoped. Both Bruce & Mike have been caving here locally in the Mother Lode (and elsewhere) for over 20 years and thoroughly enjoy our Sierra caves. However, the size of the cave, shear spectacle of the beauty, even with the damage led us to say (for Bruce at least) this was like graduating from Lodi's Mickey Grove "KiddieLand" to "DisneyWorld"

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