January Caving Trip

[mojaveunderground]

Hello fellow Mojaves!
We are planning a trip to the Uintas of Eastern Utah to explore some of the caves and mines in the area. Caves included are Big Brush Creek Cave and Little Brush Creek Cave.

http://www.mojaveunderground.com/viewtopic.php?t=63

We are planning on a Friday/Saturday outing. We have two options available. For those wishing to do some winter camping, we will camp out at Iron Park. For those not quite inclined to that extra bit of adventure, we have a hotel room with two beds and lots of floor space that will be available.
The date of the outing is still slightly up in the air. January 4-5th and January 25-26th are out options here. Please respond in the poll which one would work better for you. The poll will close in two weeks. The advantage of the earlier date is that we can get farther and deeper to the caves before we have to hike (snowshoe for those who have them) in. Snow levels up top the mountain are an issue. The latter date will provide for more detailed structures in the cave systems.
We are very excited for this trip! We hope to get a good 8-10 people coming. More if possible. Please respond whether you will make it or not. Thanks!

-Mojave Underground Admins

[Stuart]

Caving Date

Looks like right now both of those options are open for Crystal and I. So our final decision will depend on a group vote. Mojave Democracy!

-Mojave

The structural integrity was not compromised.

[Mike]

Nice! Well I'm up for earlier, but both work.

[Crystal]

First we need to get Mr. Mojave snowpants and snow shoes for both of us.
I'm excited to go, it will be much fun!

[Stuart]

Yes looks like more blood!

Looks like I will need to really rack up the overtime this week to afford some shoes. I'm expecting to get about 60 hours, that should be just about enough for some good shoes. The pants will require a little Mojave ingenuity.

-Mojave

Canned Air!

[Jake]

Sweet! I cant wait to go.

[Mike]

Ok everyone, the official date of the trip is the 25th and 26th of January. Start getting prepared!

[Stuart]

Alrighty.

Alright chief, Ill get it off!

-Mojave

Liquid nitrogen.

[Crystal]

What do we need to bring Sir Mike? How much snow are we expecting to go through?
Should I bring my metal dectector? How far are we walking to the cave?

-Crystal

[Mike]

We will need to make another check on the snow levels. Its been a while since the last snow, so hopefully its not too deep. We will be hiking in snow anywhere from 1-2 feet deep for most of the hike. Its around 1 mile round trip of hiking. You can bring your metal detector if you please, but I do not believe you will find much with it. If you have snow shoes, bring them. Otherwise, a high top boot is a must. If you don't have that, improvise by taping your pant legs shut.

-Ankles should work properly.

[Mike]

Ok here is the update. The snow is deep, I need to get another set of chains for my back tire. With those, I will be fine. If anybody else is bringing a truck, It will need to be 4x4. It will follow well in tracks. Otherwise, I'm planning on packing 4-6 people into the bed of the truck. Dress for it.

[Stuart]

Alrighty.

Sounds like things will work out just fine. Fish can get the chains, and the rest of us can get some warm gear. I'm really quite excited for this trip.

-Mojave

Salad with ranch dressing please.

[Mike]

Bad News

Well everybody, a little bit of bad news. Poor weather has made it impossible to drive close to big brush creek Cave. With all four tires chained up, we got high centered on a drift. Unless they plow the roads, we are forced to snowshoe in. I charted a path we could follow in Google Earth that would be shortest and easiest. We are looking at six miles each way. Travel in these conditions is not easy. Coming out of the cave is a steep 1/2 mile that will wear you out. We've got to get some ideas together on what we want to do. Snowmobiling is an option. We could get 4 people back to the caves within half an hour with a snow mobile. The cost of renting one is around $200 per day. Perhaps we could all split the cost, $30-$40 a piece. This would save us a lot of time. This would also be a major safety benefit, due to the fact that the nearest cell phone covereage is 5 miles from the cave. Lets collaborate on this and see what ya'll think.



Thanks to the handyman jack for getting us out! Love that thing!

[Stuart]

Clive Berton

Great recon job Fish! I'd say this sounds like a great Mojave opportunity! Im up for hiking the six miles in on snowshoes. If we do this we will need to start training now.
Anyone who is interested should make sure they;
1: Have proper equipment (Ie: Snowshoes, boots, gloves, coat, snowpants, headlamps, first aid kit, water, flashlights. etc.)
2: Know how to opretate their spaceshoes. Practice using them and get them properly adjusted.
3: Prepare yourself physically and mentally. This will be a very strenuous day in many aspects.

Now I don't want to be the only one making this decision so lets open this forum up to any comments. Snow-machining in is still an option.

-Mojave

Let this rock fall off the cliff!

[Mike]

I did a little bit more research in the area for rental costs. We can get a good snow mobile for about $125, or $20 per person were six people to come. It would hold three people. We'll still be able to snowshoe from the road where the trail starts, although it would not be required. We could get a snowmobile all the way to the cave. It would be cheaper to rent a single snow mobile than it would to buy or rent snow shoes for the day... interesting notes... And again, the safety. Were somebody to hit thier head in the cave or break a leg, it would be six to twelve hours until we could get help for them. With it being as cold as it is up here... not to good. Crystal, Chris and I have quite a bit of experience operating them. Knowing the terrain and roads, we could get a person out in ten minutes. But to be practical, it will be about twenty minutes each direction. We could have the whole gang there within an hour. This gives us a lot more time to gally around and do what ever! I just think a twelve mile hike at these temps and conditions and being so far away from civilization is rediculous.

Oh! Hot tub afterwards! Forgot to mention that.

Whats Crystal think about all this? And where do I pick up spaceshoes?