Blowhole

Sunday, July 20th 2008 - Jason Baxter

Trip Leader: Jason Baxter We took an exciting trip to Blowhole Cave. Key was obtained by the cavers spending Friday night camping in the area, and the rest of us showed up Saturday morning. (I managed to make it there from SLC before the crack of 10....rough morning getting out the door.) We then proceeded to the cave following vague memories and GPS--always good for fun in that maze of criss-crossing roads. Only one major missed turn, and a few folks suffering through my musings on when the next time the roads will be graded as we were bouncing our way up the final approach. :-) We anchored on the metal bar with all the extra crossbar features(that is an interesting mish-mash now), and used the boards over the hole to redirect the rope. No one had previously dealt with the new gate, so I was given the honor of carrying the key and battling the lock. Lock was easily opened, getting the sliding parts to move inside took a minute.(Much longer time to get the thing to close properly!) We then proceeded to drop down the hole and steep slope about 250' along the rope in rapid succession. I believe the Corkscrew is where we took a breather. After listening to a kicked rock or two, everyone independently decided on their way down to drop quick, and take pictures on the long haul back up. The Corkscrew was also the first place that we weren't worried about rocks coming down on our head from the person above us if we got off rope. We sat and talked about the cave for a bit, found a cricket that seemed to have been there a while, and the remains of a rabbit that had been there much longer. We then proceeded down the cave, and shortly made a fascinating discovery. It turns out people's memories about previous trips were a bit off. We had been told 400' of rope continuously tied from the top was long enough to get to the very bottom of the last pit. It turns out 400' is enough to get right to the top of the last drop. We contemplated our options, and decided to take the safe route and save the bottom trip for another day. The real issue was that no one was willing to climb all the way to the surface and bring back down another length of rope so we could avoid rappelling on webbing. Instead we took pictures and admired the multicolored deposits making our way back to the surface. The last bit of adrenaline rush for everyone was at the last vertical ascent to the gate. There was a snake quietly lying on a ledge right about eye height. It had everyone's full attention when you lifted off the floor and swung toward it.... :-) (For those that haven't noticed already, most of my trip reports are restricted to Grotto Members only. If you are paid member of a UT Grotto you can sign in to see them. Contact site administrator if you have not obtained your own login information.)