ADAM HAYDOCK

Belize is known to have exceptional and historic ancient artifacts that have been a major focus of study by scientists for over 50 years now.

 Mapping and remapping of the caves have been at the forefront for more precise and detailed cave documentation while providing government Institutes the means to have the necessary information to protect the Mayan heritage.

Over the years, cavers have put out a tremendous amount of dedication into the success of their expeditions and the results have been accurate documentation and preservation of these caves.

Belize has hundreds of caves that not only provide education and a beautiful look into our past, but also protect Mayan artifacts and provide clues as to how the Mayan civilization have used these caves. 

I was surprised to see how similar that caves of Belize were in relation to the caves that I have been to in Puerto Rico.  The Limestone in Belize and the respective cave passages had a very similar look and feel to that of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico lifted out of the south American ocean millions of years ago so the Limestone might have similar properties and story as the Belize caves have.

Recently, there has been some damage that has been documented that has shown the impact on the caves due to tourism and vandals.  There is a constant effort to improve training programs and ensure that continued damage to the caves in kept to a minimum or, Ideally, stopped in its entirety. 

This is a beautiful country with the jungle flourishing with life.  We were able to see some monkeys swinging around on the tree branches on one of the days which was a nice occurrence.

Fortunately we did not get any of the bot fly's that have been well noted to be a problem in the rain forest. The bot fly is a mosquito that lays an egg inside of a wound after a fly bites you and the lave grow inside the wound and eventually pop out.

Its pretty nasty stuff but its not a big deal if you get one as they can be removed pretty easy.

Most of our days were spent inside the caves mapping passages and snapping a few photos here and there when we had time.

One of the caves that we visited, has trail tape marking the designated trail as the impact by going off trail can be damaging to delicate formations and the cave as a whole. 

The project focuses on quality work and also strives to ensure that the members have a comfortable time in Belize.  We stayed in a small but really nice hotel in San Ignacio.  Every meal was fantastic and the staff members were extremely helpful.

We also had a few land rovers rented as well as a van to transport all of us around which kept us centered within the group and not having to take cabs or buses around.  

The accommodations spoiled me which was a nice relaxing approach to the rain Forrest environment, than what I typically accept on trips into the jungle.

Sketching is absolutely a point of improvement for me and I am glad I was able to get more exposure with the sketch priority because I now have more of a drive to become proficient at sketching as it is a very important to understand.

We spent four days caving in some nice Belize caves and we were able to continue to develop multiple maps and complete another map for another cave. 

Afterwards, we headed out to the ocean to visit San Pedro and Caye Caulker for 3 days to wrap up the trip and change the pace a bit.

We took a water taxi from Belize City which is a reliable way to get to the islands. It took around an hour and a half to get to San Pedro on the water taxi which was not all that bad since we made a couple of stops and we were on the ocean.  San Pedro was a nice stop a nice island to spend a day on.  we rented a cart and drove around the island a bit enjoying some of the hotel amenities and food which was a relaxing twist.  No diving for me was a surprise but I did get into the water and found a place under a pier where tons of fish hung out. 

We stayed a Caye Casa hotel on the island which was a good place to rest.  Overall the island is a bit busy and if you are not diving or staying active with some kind of activity, I don't see what San Pedro can offer that the other Keys can offer.

Caye Caulker was a bit more chill and relaxed which had a bit more of an island feel to it. We also were able to find out more about the islands as they are similar to the Yucatan karst with very solutional rock and submarine caves.  There are multiple caves that must be entered from under the ocean. The caves have pottery and formations which was really interesting to see. I am looking forward to returning to Caye Caulker to learn more about the extensive cave systems under the island look forward to helping with the survey.

 About a half hour south of Las Vegas on a lonely highway with a few shiny and remote casinos, there are some mountains of limestone hills that have some interesting geology to them.. I have been wondering if these hills will be home to a few caves but I have not been able to locate anything as of now. There are a few mines in the area but, more importantly, the state line hills have 4 canyoneering routes that might appeal to a lot of canyoneers. This particular canyon was a rough road to the TH and only about an hour hike up to the top.

 Ladder of Doom canyon was not that appealing to me as the drops were a bit open but the limestone was interesting to see.  regardless, it only took 2 hours to get through the canyon and I was back at the car, driving off the alluvial fan.  There are three other canyons here and I am willing to make another stop here to check them out.

 Keyhole canyon is a excellent Sunday afternoon canyon for the winder due to the mild conditions and close proximity to the Las Vegas area.  The canyon itself is less than an hour from Las Vegas but make sure you have a high clearance car to get to the trail head.

 Once we got to the trail head, Laura and I hiked up a wash and followed a ridge around a couple of draws to the head of Keyhole canyon.  This canyon was surprisingly beautiful as each of the 4 drops had a polished pastel pink dry fall with some sculpting and small pockets of limestone embedded in between strata. The first drop was around 40ft in length and had a small seepage spring trickling down the drop.

 Once we got to the second canyon, looking down canyon we could see a pink hue with more of a fire dark orange glow near the top which was quite beautiful.  The canyon meandered through a narrow corridor with the remaining raps yet to be encountered.

 The second drop was around 50-55ft. but the anchor is a long chain which is not exactly to the safest way to rap down this drop.  There is some webbing backing up the chain but should be tightened a bit more to narrow down the dynamic forces if the chain were to break.

 So far the canyon was beautiful and the drops were straightforward and nice.  The third drop opened up into more of a gorge but had a fluted meandering canyon wall and was around 40ft in length.

 It was a bit cooler in the canyon than it was on the outside but the weather was still really nice for this winter day in the desert.  I was imagining just how cold and boring Chicago would be at this time and we are able to enjoy a sunny day with 55 degree temps in a nice canyon, awesome!!!

 We showed up at the last drop and it was indeed the best drop out of them all.  The flutted walls were really nice and almost Zion like in nature but the rock was a harder looking rock in nature. This drop was 100ft in length and had a good anchor setup.

 We could see the desert sun setting in the distance among the corridor and hear stone monkeys climbing trad and crack climbing on the walls in the foreground.

 Once we got to the bottom of the canyon and headed out we noticed a lot of petroglyphs on the walls which was surprisingly abundant and covered a lot of the larger rocks in the area. I have not done much research on this area so I do not know more about these artifacts but I can rate this canyon as a 3AI and one of the best choices for a cooler day in the Lake Mead/Las Vegas desert region.

Anyway, we went our separate ways as she had a day off on Monday so while she headed out to Joshua tree, I headed over the desert near Lake Mead to visit a straightforward canyon loop called Sheepbone-Quarry Canyon.

Sheepbone canyon had a series of climbs that were straightforward and fixed with ropes.  The ropes appeared to be in fair condition but will need to be replaced soon.  There is some webbing that had some abrasion and cuts that should be replaced in 2017.

The canyon climbs up around 600ft weaving through this, almost volcanic mineralized rock to a saddle where you soon descend down into Quarry Canyon

I started to descend down Quarry canyon you will encounter 7-8 raps, some of them are down climbable, but most you should rap from.  Isn't that why we are in this canyon anyway?

I give this canyon a 3AII for is dry straightforwardness and beginner friendly with leadership capability.

I think that there are some tour companies that take their customers to this canyon but I am not sure. I wouldn't blame them for the relative ease of access and technical challenge. You also get some views of Lake Mead which is nice.

This took around 3 hours for me to complete, car to car, and it is worth a visit if you are in the Lake Mead area.

Panamint Dunes is located within the north tip of the Panamint range in death valley.

The area is only 3000ft above sea level and has a 4 mile ( one way) gradual slope that takes you to the heart of these dunes.

The views are spectacular and huge.  You get a massive amount of landscape with just being on top of these dunes.

Camping appeared to at large so a tent was pitched right on top of one of the dunes for the night time stars and incredible serenity.

The sand blows up from the basin below and reaches the range where it is deposited. 

The sunset made for some of the most fantastic scenery out here on the dunes.

Nobody else was out here which was another huge plus to this visit.

I am looking forward to coming back out here many times for its remoteness and the scenery is some of the best that I have seen for a desert landscape. 

If you are into remote sand dunes with very little people, this is the place to go.

Lava dreams pit is a short volcanic pit that is located in a lava field in the state of Nevada. 

I must say that this pit, although classified as a lava tube cave, was a bit under whelming. 

If you are in the area and know where this pit is located, than visiting will only take an hour out of your time. 

After October Gypsum cave we headed over to Paiute Cave, which is actually a lava tube cave on the Arizona strip region of North Grand Canyon.  This cave was more of a pile of breakdown beyond a room inside a volcanic sink. The drive was a bit long but once we got to the entrance, we could drive right up to the cave itself.

The Paiute inhabited this region for thousands of years and are thought to have drawn these red and yellow pictographs inside the Lava Tube cave.  I can not remember the last time I saw colored pictographs anywhere in the southwest, especially rock art like this inside of a cave. The lava tube cave appeared to be a cold sink as the temperature dropped 15-20 degrees as we got into the cave. I have recently read a report that this cave might extend down another 300ft through the breakdown but there is nothing more to see, other than more breakdown rubble.  We also checked out another lead in the cliffs nearby but it turned out to be a small alcove with bedding remains for an old animal house.   I am curious to know if this cave actually ends in breakdown, or with a little extra push, will Paiute cave pop into a tube passage?

To learn more about safe caving activities, caving in Nevada, or to learn how you can get involved and visit caves like these, please reach out to your local caving grotto, The Southern Nevada Grotto.  If you have any questions or you need help with reaching out to the right caving organization, please reach out to me directly.