Need Help Caving

[dburgener]

I am trying to get into caving but need some help. I need some one
that while take the time to teach me some techniques and take me
caving. I know there are alot that would help but my schedule is
different than normal M-F. I don't get Saturdays and Sundays off.

Right now I have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Thursday through Monday I
work 2 pm to 10 pm. It will be like that until September 28th.

After September 28th, my schedule will be Monday and Tuesday off.
Sunday and Wednesday I work 6 pm to 2 am. Thursday I work 7 pm to 3
am. Friday and Saturday I work 8 pm to 4 am.

If there is anyone that is willing to help and teach me, please tell
me know. I will be able to purchase my own equipment. Anything will
help me.

Just for your information: I live in Provo and have been rock climbing
for 3 years. Now I want to go inside of the mountain.

[Jake]

Hey welcome to Mojave Underground. I am sorry I don't do much caving but, I am sure someone on the site would. As you can see most of us are into Mine Exploration.

[Mike]

Welcome dburgener. Good to have you on with us and to see you share interest in being underground. There are lots of caves and mines all around us in Utah, and many members of this site would love to teach you anything it takes to cave. While we focus more on mines, many principles are the same. We'd love to have you along with us on one of our events, which we'll be posting about here soon.

As far as equipment goes, the most important thing to have is a low profile helmet and a good bright white LED headlamp. Since you've been climbing, I'll assume you have the helmet.

Most of the mines and caves worth visiting require traveling a distance to get too. Ophir would be the best nearby location for mines. As far as caves are concerned, I know mymania off these forums knows about anything there is to know about caves. You might also consider joining the Timpanogos Grotto and becoming a member of the NSS.

In my opinion, mines are where it is at. Caves require too much crawling around on your stomach in water for me... Mines are usually easy to travel through, have amazing minerals in them (Photo of the day for today), are full of artifacts, and provide a bit more of an adventure and danger than does a cave. Although many caves have all that too (for you caving gurus). Many of us are wanting to head back into the Little Brush Creek cave here soon.

Several of us have either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Sunday off. T,W for me. Keep posted on these forums and we'll let ya know. I think we've got a BBQ coming up soon too! (any date on that, crystal?)

[Stuart]

Looks like the BBQ will be the 27th around 7pm. The location is still undecided, but we should have one locked in by the end of this week.

[MA-Caver]

Guess I'm going to be the first to suggest the Utah Grottos. NEVERMIND what some of the nay-sayers talk about those people, I am one of them and love 'em. Great folks and will teach you what you need to know in all aspects of caving. Safety, and most importantly (IMO) conservation. Get to know folks and find the ones you want to hang out with. There's enough diversity in personalities there that you'll find someone to enjoy hanging out and caving with.
Go to caves.org and find organizations, grottos, and Utah and you'll find the group closest to you. Meeting times/dates/locations are up there so just show up. Introduce yourself around and get to know folks. Be assertive and soon enough you'll go caving.

[ExpUt]

Guess I'm going to be the first to suggest the Utah Grottos. NEVERMIND what some of the nay-sayers talk about those people, I am one of them and love 'em. Great folks and will teach you what you need to know in all aspects of caving. Safety, and most importantly (IMO) conservation. Get to know folks and find the ones you want to hang out with. There's enough diversity in personalities there that you'll find someone to enjoy hanging out and caving with.
Go to caves.org and find organizations, grottos, and Utah and you'll find the group closest to you. Meeting times/dates/locations are up there so just show up. Introduce yourself around and get to know folks. Be assertive and soon enough you'll go caving.

Ummm, did you miss this in Mike's reply :P

You might also consider joining the Timpanogos Grotto and becoming a member of the NSS.

[MA-Caver]

Guess I'm going to be the first to suggest the Utah Grottos. NEVERMIND what some of the nay-sayers talk about those people, I am one of them and love 'em. Great folks and will teach you what you need to know in all aspects of caving. Safety, and most importantly (IMO) conservation. Get to know folks and find the ones you want to hang out with. There's enough diversity in personalities there that you'll find someone to enjoy hanging out and caving with.
Go to caves.org and find organizations, grottos, and Utah and you'll find the group closest to you. Meeting times/dates/locations are up there so just show up. Introduce yourself around and get to know folks. Be assertive and soon enough you'll go caving.

Ummm, did you miss this in Mike's reply :P

You might also consider joining the Timpanogos Grotto and becoming a member of the NSS.

Guess I did... sorry Mike... that's what I get for reading too fast.

[Mike]

Haha no worries! Don't know if you ever take a gander in mines, but how are they over in TAG county?

[MA-Caver]

TAG & mines? If there are any they're privately owned on private property and off limits to just about everyone. That's the big difference between the east and the west; the land is not public like the BLM. The USFS does own a good deal of it and the Park service likewise (Smokey Mountain NP) but everything else is private property. So I don't hear about a lot of mine exploring out this way. Still with roughly 2000 caves within a 50 mile radius of where I live (Chattanooga aka Heart of TAG) anyone with a hankering to go underground can take their pick.
I do miss mine exploring however.

[Stuart]

If there are any they're privately owned on private property and off limits to just about everyone. That's the big difference between the east and the west; the land is not public like the BLM.

One of the big reasons I stay out west! Although I wouldn't mind having 2000 caves within a 50 mile radius, I know that I do have over 2000 mines within a 100 mile radius so that makes life quite nice here in Utah.

Next time you are out here you should come get into a couple good mines with us, I would love to learn a thing or two from a veteran caver. I enjoy your posts on the forum.

[MA-Caver]

If there are any they're privately owned on private property and off limits to just about everyone. That's the big difference between the east and the west; the land is not public like the BLM.

One of the big reasons I stay out west! Although I wouldn't mind having 2000 caves within a 50 mile radius, I know that I do have over 2000 mines within a 100 mile radius so that makes life quite nice here in Utah.

Next time you are out here you should come get into a couple good mines with us, I would love to learn a thing or two from a veteran caver. I enjoy your posts on the forum.

Thanks for that.
I've explored quite a few mines out in the Tintic District and around Eureka and several other places in the state over the years. CaverStretch (new member) has seen quite a few, he'll chime in with his input here sooner or later. Seen some neato stuff with him, and some scary stuff too, those shafts sometimes seem to be waiting for us to make a mistake. I've come to the conclusion that caves are a lot safer. But it IS an added bonus when a cave has found to intersect a mine like Crystal, Green Eyed, Candlelight, Silveropolis and many others.

[mymania]

dburgener has been to some of the grotto meetings, and him and I went and hit some caves up Little Rock Canyon