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Three Days, Three Caves
Three Days, Three Caves
By: Austin Goodsell
In January, I joined Blake Goodsell and Weylan Dickey for a three-day caving trip that took us from Logan, Utah out to the Nevada desert, west of Great Basin National Park. We visited Gandy Mountain Cave, Dad's Cave, and Whipple Cave — each one surprising us with its size, formations, and character. Between caves, we covered a lot of ground on long stretches of open desert highway. The remoteness was part of the draw; there's something special about being that far out, surrounded by cold air and quiet country. The nights were brutally cold, dropping below zero, but the trip delivered at every stop.
Day 1: Gandy Mountain Cave
We left Logan early on January 17th and made the long drive south to the Utah-Nevada border. Gandy Mountain Cave sits just inside Utah, tucked into the hills above the small community of Gandy. The cave is gated and not currently open to the public, but access is managed by Kirsten Jacobson and Evan Allred, who live nearby and help oversee the site on behalf of the BLM. We were fortunate to have both of them join us, along with Gretchen Baker, who would be conducting biological and geologic research while we handled the survey.
The hike to the entrance is short but steep, climbing up a side gully from the parking area. The entrance itself is hidden beneath a pile of rocks. Once cleared, you reach a barrel sealed with a tire rim and padlock, an unusual but effective gate. After crawling through, we entered a low, dusty chamber where we were greeted by a live skunk and a very active packrat.
We spent about five and a half hours surveying the cave. Blake handled the sketching while Weylan and I ran instruments and shot stations. Gandy isn't a long cave, but it more than compensates with beautiful decoration, raft cones, columns, stalagmites, flowstone, and bright orange cupolas lined with mammillaries and calcite crystals. There are even a few tight leads at the back that may be worth digging.
Gretchen documented a wide range of cave life, from pseudoscorpions to cave crickets, and located several bone beds throughout. She also noted several features worth further study, including crystal-lined ceilings and a possible midden floor several layers thick.
By the time we finished the survey, the sun had set. We packed up and drove west to camp just below the summit of Sacramento Pass. The temperature plummeted well below zero overnight.
Day 2: Dad's Cave
We woke up frozen; even our water bottles had iced over. After packing up, we drove into Ely and found a diner to thaw out and eat a proper breakfast. It was a much-needed reset after the long, brutal night on Sacramento Pass. From there, we headed to Dad's Cave, a lesser-known vertical cave.
After turning off the highway, the drive continued on dirt roads that were in decent shape. We passed through a couple of gates and eventually parked not far from the base of the hill. The hike up was easy, and the entrance is hard to miss, a large opening set into the slope with a commanding presence. We rigged off a tree on the south side using a single rope pad and dropped in.
The first drop is short, around 40 feet, and opens into a large decorated chamber. Both the scale of the room and the warmth of the cave came as pleasant surprises. From there, we rigged a 200-foot rope off a pair of stalagmites near the center of the room and began the next descent, a long, steep rappel that eventually goes free-hanging before landing in another massive chamber below.
The lower room was striking. Flowstone, stalagmites, and bones were scattered across the floor, including the remains of a mountain lion. The body was mostly intact, though missing its head, which previous cavers had apparently buried somewhere in the room. We searched briefly, but whoever did it had been thorough; we came up empty.
After exploring the lower chamber, we made our way back out, pausing to photograph the formations along the way. Dad's Cave isn't particularly long, but the scale of its rooms and the quality of its formations make it well worth the drive.
By late afternoon, we were back on the road, heading toward Whipple Cave. We camped in the parking lot that night and braced for one more freezing night before the final cave of the trip.
Day 3: Whipple Cave
We woke to another frigid morning in the Whipple Cave parking lot. Fortunately, the entrance was only a short five-minute hike away. We quickly located the two main openings, separated by a natural arch. Only one was bolted, so we rigged our rope there and dropped in.
The rappel was short, maybe 50 to 60 feet, but it opened into an impressive passage. Whipple Cave is big: tall ceilings, wide passages, and massive formations throughout. From the bottom of the drop, we started with a side passage off to the right. It extended farther back than expected, with several offshoots that looked promising, though we didn't have time to push them.
Back in the main passage, we followed the downward slope deeper into the cave. Scattered along the way were four or five dead crows, which felt oddly out of place. The cave itself has the feel of walking through a subway tunnel, tall ceilings, wide floors, and long stretches of decorated walls. The right side was lined with flowstone, and we explored a few side leads on the left. One required a short, exposed climb of maybe ten feet. Above it, the passage opened into a pristine, untouched section filled with clean formations; it was obvious that few people made their way up there.
We spotted around a hundred bats throughout the cave, hanging in small clusters from the ceiling. Continuing on, we eventually reached the back of the cave, where a massive 40-foot column stood alongside an impressive set of rimstone pools. It was one of the best-decorated wild caves I've seen, and remarkably intact for a cave as well-known as this one.
We spent a good while exploring, taking photos, and simply taking it all in before heading out. After three days of driving, freezing nights, and a lot of time underground, Whipple Cave was the perfect way to end the trip.
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