Timing the weather right in a potentially hostile environment can be almost like threading a needle but with a bit of luck and the right equipment, a trip like this was able to come together. 

Morman Mountain cave is a hidden gem within the Morman Mountain Range of Nevada.

A lot of the caves in the desert southwest have become victims of the mining industry and other problems related to harvesting minerals and artifacts from the caves.

This particular cave has a few filters that include the general secrecy of the cave itself, the remote and difficult to access environment it resides in, and the difficult access tot he region.

There is a lot that has to go into a trip like this and the Southern Nevada Grotto was able to formulate and organize a trip to the cave to finally have it mapped and photographed. 

The cave apparently has been visited only five times in the past and maybe a few more before it was originally discovered.

The cave is not that big in size but the back room has some nice formations and impressive features. throughout the cave.

It is walking passage towards the back and very decorated room has a resemblance of some of the other caves in the range but this cave might be the biggest one in the region. That being said its not all that extensive.

Survey was the top priority with this trip so two survey teams were established to complete the survey.  Laura and Barbara did a fantastic job with completing the survey.

Disto x instruments and a plan was created of the cave for documenting the cave itself and in comparison to other caves in the region.

Once we exuded a lot of effort to get tot he cave, we started survey operations and photography as we all went through the cave.

The colors inside of the cave did not appear to pop the way that I wanted them to but that might have been some other factors associated with that.

We took a few hours to fully document this cave and once it was all complete we left and headed back out.

We had some more time to do some ridge walking so we headed back out and one team went left and another went right.

The left side team went around the butte and checked some leads that were in the drainage to the west with no resulting caves.

The right team went around the ridge and peaked over the ridge which looked more like rolling hills than anything else and no sign of cave bearing escarpments, cliffs, or other features.

That being said there could be caves out there! We just did not go out there to check them.

I made it over tot he next butte and I was able to find another cave.

it was located inside a large shelter. the cave had small formations inside, it trended up and it was a bunch of crawling but it kept going.

There was another entrance just to the north of this entrance in another shelter that had flowstone and green mossy seepage coming out the entrance. 

I claimed this cave as "Little Mormon Mountain cave" as it was somewhat near Mormon mountain cave but was on the butte to the east of MMC.

These caves are continuing to be protected so vandals and other ideas will not enter these rare caves and potentially destroy them.

If you are interested in learning more about this cave, caves, in Nevada, or caving in general please reach out to your local grotto.