Garner Cave (North Ogden)

[Derek-Jennings]

Yea I found it. I used Scout Masters co-ords - N41 16.905 W111 56.193 I did not use a ladder. There was a rope to help you climb up. I went in pretty far. You go a bit past mtnman1830's picture of the dude with the stalagmite. There is rope tied to that. Then you can go left, down, or right. The rope goes down but is really hard to fit through. The left goes pretty far but there's a crevice that goes deep and if you fall your screwed. My brother and I went pretty far down that but it was getting very close together when we turned around. It supposedly opens up to "the mud room". You can also go right after the stalagmite. It is a pretty small crawl space and it looks like it goes in a bit. I think the center and the left are the only promising ones (mainly the left.) I have yet to explore the whole cave but I'm planning on doing it soon. It gets pretty creepy the farther you get in and the closer the walls come together. Luckily there are red painted arrows on the wall telling you how to get out. Make sure you bring lots of light. You need to go slow and take your time. Have fun and be safe! D A J

[Bootboy]

I've explored that entire cave several times and measured it all the way to the back. It's 380' to the mud room at the back. It's worth taking the vertical section to the bottom to see the 2 big rooms and hang out in for a bit. Sadly much of the cave's natural wonders have been destroyed by countless scouts and high-school kids who thought it would be cool to have their very own stalagmite/stalactite and broke one off and took it home. The vertical section can be bypassed by going left at the initial junction and then back underneath but its kind of a tight squeeze. It's slow going to get all the way to the back as you are stemming most of the time and only take a few steps on flat ground. Take care not to fall as a rescue in that cave would be horrendous. The most interesting thing about it is trying to figure out who would bother taking all the garbage down there to begin with. A neat cave none the less.

[rockgremlin]

A few snaps from our hike to Garner Cave over the weekend....

Overlooking Ogden - this is the approach hike


The knotty rope ascent to the cave entrance -- this is roughly 15' - 20'


Group photo just underneath the cave


The view looking south from the cave

[oldno7]

did you go in?

[rockgremlin]

^^^Nah, we had our dog with us, and you've gotta hand-over-hand your way up that knotted rope for about 20 feet to gain entrance. Maybe next time when I drag Sombeech up there and he takes his drone so we can get kewl action shots of us on rope.

[Sombeech]

I can see how that cave would be difficult to locate. Was there any worn trail leading to it?

[rockgremlin]

There's a pretty decently worn trail snaking through the underbrush all the way up to the cave. The problem is there are a lot of trails snaking through that area, and it's difficult to know exactly which one is the correct route. I could see a lot of paths snaking off into outer darkness, and others winding their way towards a large a spacious building, but we held fast to the iron rod of GPS that delivered us safely to the cave. At two separate places you have to do some light rock climbing over dryfalls. At first we turned away from these dryfalls because they looked like dead ends, but it turned out that you're supposed to climb up and over those. It's easy to find if you have good gps coords or if you go with someone who has been there previously. But if you're going blind with no prior knowledge you'll likely get lost.

[jman]

There's a pretty decently worn trail snaking through the underbrush all the way up to the cave. The problem is there are a lot of trails snaking through that area, and it's difficult to know exactly which one is the correct route. I could see a lot of paths snaking off into outer darkness, and others winding their way towards a large a spacious building, but we held fast to the iron rod of GPS that delivered us safely to the cave. At two separate places you have to do some light rock climbing over dryfalls. At first we turned away from these dryfalls because they looked like dead ends, but it turned out that you're supposed to climb up and over those. It's easy to find if you have good gps coords or if you go with someone who has been there previously. But if you're going blind with no prior knowledge you'll likely get lost.

That’s how it was maybe 5 years ago too. Definitely gets confusing if you have never been.
Glad you found it though. It’s a neat a little cave so close to suburbia.


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[Sombeech]

Well I say the three of us should hit it before the year ends.

[rockgremlin]

How's your claustrophobia? I've read it gets really tight in there with some off deck sideways stemming. Tricky to get all the way in, and damn near impossible for S&R crews to extract once you're all in.