Caving Projects
There’s so much going on underground in the Rocky Mountain West.
Current projects in the region welcome new participants. Reach out to the project coordinator or coordinators to see how you can become a member of the team.
CAVING PROJECTS
How can you get involved?
For many cavers, becoming involved with an active project provides a continuing opportunity to interact with other cavers in some of the region’s most interesting caves and karst. Activities may include exploration and survey; digging through cave fill in search of additional passage; applying science to study the features – geology, mineralogy, biology, and microbiology; conservation activities including restoration and protection; and cave management, including access policies, gating and protection, as well as preservation of the cave environment.
Cave projects can be informal between a group of friends or colleagues, a loose organization between grottoes of the National Speleological Society, or a formal, organized project that includes directors with agreements with federal, state, local, or private landowners and managers. Many national parks and monuments have ongoing organized caving projects. Some parks work with the Cave Research Foundation, others work with local and regional grottoes.
Are there costs with a project?
Sometimes projects ask participants to split associated costs, such as fees for packing gear and equipment to a back-country camp. Many other projects have no associated costs other than your own expenses.
Do you need to be experienced?
It depends on the project. Some are very technical, with extensive rope work, scientific study, or extensive surveying and documentation. Others welcome participants of all abilities and experience.
Do you have to attend every session or expedition?
Most projects welcome participants for set periods of time. This may be a day or two, a week, or a few weeks. It depends on the project what expectations are expected.
Do I need to be a member of the Society?
Most projects do not require participants to be a member of the National Speleological Society. Members and non-members are welcome; the desire to participate and assist in the goals of the project are key to a participant’s success.
Are there limits to participants?
Many projects do have limits to the number of participants at any one time or for a particular expedition or session. Ask the coordinator if a trip is full, and if it is, do they accept waiting list participants.
Is there specific gear required to participate?
Many projects require specific gear to join the session or the expedition. You may need vertical gear and know how to use it, survey equipment, or even tools for digging in cave passage. Basic caving gear, including lights, footwear, clothing are required.
COLORADO
Fairy Cave Project
The Fairy Cave Project at Glenwood Caverns began in 1999 when Steve and Jeanne Beckley arranged with former Colorado Grotto treasurer Peter Prebble for a lease to buy the long-shuttered Fairy Cave. They intended to develop the cave as a modern commercial attraction and invited Colorado cavers to assist in various projects in the cave. This included a new survey, searching for new chambers and passageways, and undertaking scientific studies including mineralogy, microbiology, geology, biology, and more. Cavers also were invited to assist with ongoing commercialization efforts.
Fairy Cave was opened to the pubic in 1896 and closed between 1910 and 1915. In the early 1950s, Colorado Grotto members began a multi-year effort to explore, survey, and document the cave. Through these efforts, the known cave was expanded, including discovering an extensive lower level. Since 2000, significant additional passages and chambers have been discovered through exploration.
The leadership of Glenwood Caverns manages the project and coordinates access to the cave. Recreational trips are allowed. Trip leaders must be approved by the cave management.
COlorado
Williams Canyon Project
The Williams Canyon Project was chartered with the National Speleological Society in 1989. Its beginnings, however, date back to 1978, when the Cave of the Winds invited members of the Southern Colorado Mountain Grotto to secure the entrance of Huccacove Cave from trespassers. This effort led to the Cave of the Winds leadership inviting cavers to undertake additional projects in the caves of the canyon.
New projects included science and conservation, as well as surveying known caves in the canyon both large and small. Cavers also began excavating passageways filled with clay and rock fill to discover new extensions.
Throughout the history of Cave of the Winds and the adjoining Manitou Grand Caverns, digging had successfully found chambers and passageways previously unknown. For cavers, access to the caves allowed for numerous significant discoveries within the Cave of the Winds system and in other canyon caves.
The development of the Project in 1989 was built upon early friendships and collaboration. The project includes elected representatives from each member grotto, along with representatives appointed by the Cave of the Winds. Trip leaders are limited to those who have actively participated, and who are familiar with the caves.
Rocky Mountain Region cavers are invited to participate in the project during the winter season, from late September through May.
MONTANA
Bighorn-Horsethief Project
Located along the Wyoming/Montana border, the Bighorn-Horsethief cave system is one of the Rocky Mountain Region’s most significant caves with 15 miles of known passage.
Surveys of these caves on Bureau of Land Management, Crow Tribal, and National Park Service land includes efforts over a 40-year period. Much of this survey data is not up to today’s standards or is lost.
The Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto has undertaken the Bighorn-Horsethief Project to resurvey the full system and to search for passages known but never surveyed. Likely, there are additional rooms and chambers that have never been visited in the system.
Monthly project weekends are scheduled during mostly the summer season on Little Mountain, reached by high clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Cavers throughout the Region are invited to participate in the project.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Wind Cave Project
Wind Cave in South Dakota is one of the greatest maze caves of the world. It has been surveyed to a length of greater than 160 miles.
The Wind Cave Project is an official project of the Colorado Grotto in cooperation with the National Park Service. It is open to cavers throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and beyond.
Volunteers explore, survey and inventory within the cave on mostly weekend expeditions. Occasional cave camps lasting longer are occasionally scheduled.
Trip leaders are approved by the National Park Service, who also provide specific training for trips into the cave. Survey participants must be knowledgeable, with the sketcher approved by the Park Service.
The second Saturday of each month is scheduled for many trips. Most trips are scheduled during the winter. Depending on the season and availability, a park building is available for sleeping and meals.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Jewel Cave Project
South Dakota’s Jewel Cave is one of the world’s most extensive three-dimensional cave system. Greater than 219 miles have been surveyed.
The Paha Sapa Grotto has undertaken a project to explore, survey, and document the National Park Service cave.
Trips into the cave include one day trips to passageways close to the cave’s elevator, and trips that are many days requiring hours to reach an underground camp site.
Exploration in the modern era began in 1959, when Custer rock climbers Herb and Jan Conn were invited to undertake exploration of the cave. Their efforts concluded in the early 1970s, with 75 miles of passage.
In the years since the Conn’s exploration, multiple caving groups have extended the cave to the southeast and southwest. Still, extensive discoveries are made in these remote regions.
Contact the grotto for information on how to join one of the project trips into Jewel Cave.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Black Hills Cave and Nature Conservancy
The Black Hills Cave and Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing conservation, restoration and preservation of caves and natural resources in South Dakota’s Black Hills.
The organization’s Dark Canyon Cave Preserve, created in the spring of 2020, protects 45 acres and eight caves. These include Dahm Spring Cave, Brooks Cave, and Brooks Jr. Cave.
Contact the organization for more information and for access to these caves.
UTAH
Little Brush Creek Project
The Timpanogos Grotto is currently surveying and exploring Little Brush Creek Cave, Utah’s longest known cave.
Survey efforts first began in this cave in the Uintah Mountains north of Vernal in the 1950s.
By 2021, the project had surveyed more than six miles in the cave.
Any caver who is interested in joining in the project is welcome.
Contact the grotto for more information.
UTAH
House Range Project
The House Range in far western Utah is remote and little known. Limestone has been documented by geologists mapping the range in the West Desert. Through ridge walking, caves are being discovered in this range.
Project members with the Timpanogos Grotto have documented numerous caves, pits, and shelters in the range in the last few years. Additional exploration will identify more caves.
Contact the grotto for more information about this project.
WYOMING
Bridger-Teton Project
West of Grand Teton National Park along the Idaho border is a vast wilderness in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. This is high altitude karst with disappearing streams, limestone pavement, and resurgences far below.
It is also a region of extensive and deep, wet caves requiring vertical expertise. A partnership between the Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto and the Bridger-Teton National Forest has undertaken the systematic exploration of this karst region, with multiple new caves being discovered, surveyed, and documented in recent years.
The Project hosts an extensive field camp during the summer season. Many cavers participate for long weekends, or a week or two. Greater than 40 cavers from across the United States have joined in this effort.
Contact the grotto for more information.