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Bloomington Cave has just topped the mile
mark. Bloomington
Cave has reached a
length of 1.30 miles and a depth of 240 ft. This length makes Bloomington Cave
the fifth-longest cave in Utah!
Other Utah caves over a mile include: Little Brush Cave (5.93 miles), Big
Brush Cave (4.92 miles), Duck Creek Lave Tube (2.28 miles), Main Drain Cave
(1.47 miles), Nielsons Cave (1.26 miles), and Candlelight Cave (1.04 miles). Bloomington Cave still contains many unmapped
passages. Several thousand feet remain to be surveyed.
Bloomington Cave is a fault cave. The cave
trends north and south with a western plunge of about 40 degrees. This plunge
allows the cave to be descended to its maximum depth without ropes. The cave
is three-dimensional fracture maze. The cave’s floor consists of large steps
that are pinched off by a consistently sloping ceiling. Many of the walls
turn up to be low connecting passages. At many locations the walls are
indefinable. And many passages overlie each other. Many of the passages
appear as if they were carbon copied at hundred of locations throughout the
cave. The cave is truly a mapping nightmare!
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Kyle exiting Bloomington Cave
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Caving in Bloomington Cave
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Bloomington Cave has been known since the
turn of the century with the establishment of the nearby St. George. With the
city growing only miles away, this well-known cave is facing increasing
vandalization. In the mid-1950s, the Utah Dixie Grotto actually dynamited the
cave’s entrances shut because they believed the cave was too dangerous. The
cave was quickly dug open. Spray-painted graffiti litters the walls of the
heavily traveled routes making Bloomington
Cave the one of the
most colorful caves in the country!
A cave register was added
to the cave in March 2000 despite the belief that it would be stolen,
trashed, or burned in a short matter of time. It wasn’t until November 2000
that the PVC register had been whacked to bits. The register was replaced.
The register has recorded a total of 753 people visiting the cave in the 11
months from April to March. This is an average of 2.2 people/day!
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Kyle
Voyles, President of the Color Country Grotto, has been working to educate
the public how to conserve the cave. He has created a cave education
curriculum that he teaches to scout troops. The register shows that these
groups are now independently performing trips to collect trash from the cave.
Kyle is working to develop larger scale cleanup projects. A change is visible
in the future.
The
survey and cleanup trips to Bloomington
Cave are occurring on a
regular basis. Plenty of work is waiting. Anyone interested should contact
either Kyle Voyles or Jon Jasper for details about how to get on the next
trip.
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Map of Bloomington
Cave
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