Exploring Virgin Cave in Ricks Springs Utah

[IowaCaveDiver]

tell Richard he owes the CDF a dive report... you've got me on the edge of my seat and I was thinking of you guys while diving this past weekend. I scolded myself for complaining that my fingers were cold after my second dive.

[Randy Thornton]

tell Richard he owes the CDF a dive report... you've got me on the edge of my seat and I was thinking of you guys while diving this past weekend. I scolded myself for complaining that my fingers were cold after my second dive.

Richard Lamb went up on Friday with a new member of the team, but Richard's dive buddy couldn't get through the entrance. (Name withheld to protect the innocent!) Consequently, Richard ended up just diving around in the cavern zone for awhile by himself which is when he found my strobes.

Josh and Matt are headed up on Tuesday to do another push and try to get some pictures of the underwater and dry sections. I'm sure one of them will log on and post a report after they get back.

[jackass]

In exchange for an introduction and beta to the cave, I'll come and clear rocks a time or two... this time of the year, I can only get out on weekends.
-John Glime

[Sam2000001]

What a great thread this is! Following this for sure. I can't wait till I get to read more. Good to see that you got your strobes back! Can't wait for the pictures.

[CCR Josh]

Matt and myself are headed up tomorrow with the goal of getting some great pics! If it works out you may see a magazine article coming soon........

[wendellnope]

This weekend Richard Lamb and I are going to shoot HD video from the entrance to the first dry cave. Then, hopefully next weekend we'll shoot video to the second dry cave. Standby ...!

[CCR Josh]

First off we have an announcement to make- Matt has officially named the second waterfall “Vestal Falls.” Very fitting being as the word “vestal” means pure, or virgin.



Now for the exploration update…
Oct 6th 2009-

I feel like I am always learning new skills while exploring Risks – like underground waterfall climbing.

Matt and I went up to Ricks for another exciting adventure. Our goal was to get some pictures that might be usable for an article I am trying to write. Well, as you can see, we took some pictures, but they didn’t turn out quite like planned.

I won’t bore you with another description of the cave leading up to the second dry section. Matt and I went around the second dry section taking pictures and taking in the beauty.

It wasn’t long before we decided to lay some line starting from the Smash Pool (the little, pool, just past Vestal Falls that we think is the way to go…). Matt led the way while I attempted to take some photos. You may recall from an earlier post that this passageway starts with a restriction and opens into a bedding plane type room that is maybe 5-6 ft tall and 30-40 ft wide. Matt hit a restriction that he could not fit through with his 98s and let me squeeze through with my 85s (I know what you are thinking, how could Josh fit through with his muscular build, right?). I made it about another 8-10 feet and hit a no-mount restriction. Although we both had plenty of gas, we didn’t feel up to it today, so we turned.


Matt laying line past the Smash Pool


Looking in towards the no-mount restriction past the Smash Pool



On our way out, Matt and I stopped to look at Vestal Falls for a few minutes. As we both looked up at it, I said “I bet we could almost climb that!” Matt quickly responded, “You wanna try?” Of course, I did. I scampered up the falls (scampered is most definitely the wrong word, it was pretty intense and quite difficult). I figured I would look around a bit to make sure it was worth Matt coming up too. See the pictures ☺


Matt “scampered” up the falls also and we spent a good 30 min exploring what turned out to be another 200-300 ft dry section filled with beautiful cave formations and another “waterfall” similar to Wayne’s Waterfall, but a scaled down version. We have decided to name this upper dry section (above Vestal Falls) “The Elysium.”




The view from the top of Vestal Falls




At the end of The Elysium the water flows heavily out of a pile of boulders and breakdown. We wonder if there is a passageway of any size behind them. Perhaps if the no-mount section past the Smash Pool turns out to be too small, we may have to find out…

[Randy Thornton]

Josh and Matt,

Congratulations! You guys rock, although you about made my heart stop when I found out that you climbed up that waterfall without any climbing gear!

Nice pictures by the way.

Sounds like the tunnel past the no mount restriction could be promising.

Keep up the good work,
Randy (Dad to Josh!)

[Webmaster]

Your no-mount crawl looks like it take a lot of water judging from the scallops. You're lucky too in that it looks like easy digging with real clean loose rocks and gravel.

You should be able to open that up no problem, it'll just take a little work.

Have you pushed out all the leads back toward the entrance yet?

[sskasser]

Wow, great pictures and write up! WOW!