ADAM HAYDOCK

MUD SPRING CANYON, NEVADA

Adam Haydock May 22, 2017

Justin and Asher Thompson at the last sequence of Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

Towering over the horizon west of Las Vegas is a beautiful Limestone and sandstone range called the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area.

Justin and Asher Thompson at the top of Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

There is some world class climbing, hiking and Canyoneering within and just outside of the Red Rock area.

Justin and Asher Thompson at the top of Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

Within the the towering walls that rival Zion, canyoneers have found a bunch of fantastic routes that have some interesting variation and beauty within the canyons themselves.

Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

Two friends came for a convention and we went for Giordano's Pizza on the strip.

Justin Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

We were talking about what they could do in their free time and Justin had some experience canyoneering but his brother, Asher, was keen on going canyoneering and was excited to hear about the routes.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

We decided to venture to the more straightforward canyon on the west range called Mud Spring Canyon. This canyon is rated at a 3BIII for the potholes of static water.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

I got some gear setup for them and they rented a car because we needed a shuttle to complete the full route. We had to set their car at the Late night parking spot since their car was not to dirt road friendly.

Justin and Asher Thompson at the last sequence of Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

We all got into my car and drove to the trailhead for Mud Springs. Once we got there we parked and headed up the trail to the top of the range looking and we could look down onto Mud Spring Canyon.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

It was quite hot out but we worked our way down and made it to the head of the canyon. We practiced a few techniques and worked our way through the gear. Asher is familiar with vertical caving so we were all equipped to work through the canyon safely and efficiently.

Justin Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

The canyon itself had some nice sand stone layers at the top and a section where we had three raps that took us down to another small gorge.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

The canyon reminded me a bit of Spry Canyon in Zion but a bit smaller. The size did not matter so much as it was still a nice canyon and a great route for beginner canyoneers with more experienced people to assist. We worked down 4-5 drops and came to a confluence and figured that we were done with the canyon. we put our gear away and kept hiking down.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

To our surprise, we were not done and found that there was a bottom section to the canyon with some high walls and interesting drops.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

We by-passed a couple of the drops but once we got to the slab rock, we rapped down to the final sequence and we made it to the bottom.

Justin and Asher Thompson at the top of Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

we had a couple 30-40 footers and a 50 footer for the final drop.

Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

After that we headed out of the canyon and onto the desert.

Justin Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

The canyon was complete but we still had to hike back to the late night parking spot which was 2-3 more miles crossing over a bounder field, arroyos, and a desert in search of a trail that could take us to the car.

Justin Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

After about 8 hrs from the drop point we made it back to the car. We also passed a rattlesnake along the way too.

Justin Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

We started to unpack and rest as Justin realized that he left his keys in my car at the top. We were able to find a father and son in a jeep that took us up to the top.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

Mud Spring canyon is a nice canyon if you got two cars and at least a half day to spend. I recommend it and I feel that it is worth doing again.

Justin Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

I am glad Justin and Asher were able to experience this together and Asher got to experience canyoneering.

Asher Thompson in Mud Spring Canyon, Nevada

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CIMA LAVA TUBE, CALIFORNIA

Adam Haydock May 08, 2017

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DYNAMITE CAVE, NEVADA

May 07, 2017

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MORMAN MOUNTAIN & LITTLE MORMON MOUNTAIN CAVE, NEVADA

May 07, 2017

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.

If these two caves connect, it appeared that the total passage was about 125 ft in length or a bit more.

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.

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ADAM HAYDOCK

CHARLIES FOLLY CAVE

MUD SPRING CANYON, NEVADA

CIMA LAVA TUBE, CALIFORNIA

DYNAMITE CAVE, NEVADA

MORMAN MOUNTAIN & LITTLE MORMON MOUNTAIN CAVE, NEVADA

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ADAM HAYDOCK

CHARLIES FOLLY CAVE

MUD SPRING CANYON, NEVADA

CIMA LAVA TUBE, CALIFORNIA

DYNAMITE CAVE, NEVADA

MORMAN MOUNTAIN & LITTLE MORMON MOUNTAIN CAVE, NEVADA

PURCHASE NFTS HERE:

Welcome to my personal writings:

EVEN FURTHER PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE

SEARCH THIS BLOG

recent posts

Blog Archive

VIEWS

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ADAM HAYDOCK

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