A one-sided viewpoint by Thorpe Cox, Timpanogos Grotto

February 17-20 2006 - Robert Cranney

Location: Great Basin Nationl Park Trip Leader: Robert Cranney On Trip: Robert Cranney, Thorpe Cox, Ralph Powers, Tamie Jensen, Dave Shurtz, Glenn Shurtz, Michelle Shurtz, Jordan Shurtz, Charissa Shurtz, Jared Shurtz Ever wonder what's around the next corner when you're inside a cave that is new to you? I had that experience during a President's Day weekend trip to Great Basin National Park with Ralph, Tami and Rob Cranney. We visited 4 caves that were completely new to me (Antelope Springs, Indian Burial, Little Muddy and Snake Creek--visited in that order), and several times I got to lead when exploring a passage. It was great to see some new caves, and is always surprising to me how each cave is unique. I admit to not being the most adventurous, and some of the passages were small enough to make me think about my mortality, and the possibility of getting stuck when sliding through a tight spot, especially in Little Muddy. It had a lot of passages that just kept getting smaller and smaller until I lost interest in pursuing my curiosity, but seemed to go on and open up again. At one time I thought that we had followed every lead, but the last unexplored lead proved to open up another twenty, only 2 of which Ralph and I took the time to follow, one dead ended (this one was discovered to be a dead end, as Ralph and I thought we were headed back to the entrance, which was enough to make us pause and think about whether we were lost or just disoriented), and the other looped back around to the main passage. The nice thing about the cave is it has a mostly flat, smooth, packed mud floor. The marbling on the walls is blue striped, which Tami's photos may show. One note to this cave, beware of crawling with your camera inside your pocket--Tami's LCD was cracked at this cave. Antelope Springs has a lot of fun passages that I was able to follow and satisfy that curiosity and explore to their end. There are some neat translucent formations as well. It will take another trip or two to see it all though. The entrance was a bit tricky since we opted not to bring our verticle gear, but Ralph showed a neat trick on how to use the rope and body rappel to get in (although Rob had too much friction while using the body rappel, and pulled his shoulder), meanwhile Tami went back for her verticle gear, which proved usefull on the way out for all of us, in addition to some improvised foot loops Rob tied into the rope. A handline was usefull in several areas, although not an absolute guarantee against injury, as Tami's scraped and bruised arm showed. Snake Creek Indian Burial was a fun cave, with a recent skeleton of a small animal right at the bottom of the 40 ft. verticle entrance, and a snake off to one side that looked like it must have recently died. There were what I thought may be human bones layed out on a big flat rock, and neat folia and mamaries further down. A funny side note- We camped out near this cave, and the night previous to our entry watched a DVD called "Alone in the Dark" which discussed evil creatures that were sealed underground by an ancient American Indian tribe, and released again by a archeological professor in our time... I understand Tami had a hard time sleeping that night, only 200 feet away from the entrance to Snake Creek Indian Burial's entrance. Though I had been to Lehman Cave before, I'd never been on the 90 minute tour, and after experiencing a dozen or more caves since that first visit, I have grown to appreciate all the grandeur of Lehman's for size and quality of formations. Snake Creek was intimidating because of all the rat droppings and smell, but a dust mask for the dry entrance portion, coupled with gloves and overalls helped Ralph and I explore the long slippery and difficult crawl. We made it to the cave's rewarding end (rewarded by massive rooms and some formations) and back in just over an hour. If you plan on visiting Great Basin National Park's wild gated caves or others near-by, a high-clearance vehicle is advisable. Rob's car made the trip, but required taping the fuel line that was pinched and nearly completely severed, and we kept our fingers crossed that the tape would hold the remainder of the trip. Additional note: camping in the winter can be fun when prepared for cold tempatures and snow. We did get some snow, but mostly had cold nights to about 17 degrees that had me grateful for my 2 sleeping bags and for Ralph's tent where we cooked our meals and kept warmer with the stoves and body heat while we were awake and at camp.