On Trip: Ted Campbell, Cami Litchford, David Morrey, Duane McCully, Randy & Sara Clement
This was the Salt Lake Grotto caving trip for the month of May. The general idea was to see what the spring runoff situation was at Big & Little Brush Creek Caves. The bottom line is that even though at this time spring runoff is raging along the Wasatch Front, it was rather mundane at the Brush Creek area.
After spending the night at Iron Springs campground, we went to BBCC to assess the situtation and explore the Ice Cave. During this time, we managed to miss Randy & Sara who did not camp but were to meet us in the morning. The Ice Cave is still quite full of ice with many interesting and spectacular formations. Cobble Crawl has no water flowing down it. We then came out of the cave via the Shower Room which produced some interesting differences in the amount of mud that sticks to some people vs. others.
Upon exiting the Ice Cave we found Sara sitting on a log waiting for her Dad. I was glad to see them; it would have been a long drive for them to come up empty-handed. After Randy made it down, we did it all over again minus the Shower Room.
We then went to Kaler Pit. The amount of water in the stream next to the pit was extremely minimal; crossing it was no problem. The conditions in the pit were wet and icy. At the bottom of the pit, there was a stream of water flowing from the passage/dome on the east side. The bottom of the main pit was covered with snow. Obviously, the lower passages were completely inaccessible. Everyone bounced the pit except Sara. This was the first pit Randy had ever done.
We then headed over to Little Brush Creek. The water flowing out of the culvert above LBCC has been strategically levied in certain places to prevent flow either into Toothbrush Cave or over the lip at LBCC. I could probably guess who did that. We went into Toothbrush but did not go to the top of the 40' pit. It was getting late and we didn't want to spend the time to rig it. After walking into the entrance of the cave, we could hear quite a lot of water dripping but we could not hear the sounds that flooding would likely make in the borehole passage below. My guess is that we would have been able to do the entire cave.
We then spent some time around the entrance of LBCC playing, taking pictures, and preparing for the trip home. This was an enjoyable trip and the majority of the participants had never seen any of the caves in that area. I believe they were suitably impressed.
| Photography | ||||
 Spring Runoff at BBCC Duane McCully |  Entrance of BBCC Duane McCully |  Ted Campbell Near the Entrance of BBCC Duane McCully | ||
 David Morrey & Cami Litchford Duane McCully |  In the Ice Cave at BBCC Duane McCully |  Entrance of Little Brush Duane McCully | ||
 Spring Runoff at LBCC Duane McCully |  Entrance to White/Black Pit Duane McCully |  Entrance of LBCC Duane McCully | ||