Utah Cave Dive Article

[jumar]

This is an interesting article about cave diving, including in Utah
http://www.wendellnope.com/cds-article-1.pdf

[uintahiker]

Sweet article. I've stopped at Ricks Spring several times...

[Deathcricket]

Really cool stuff!



I swear though, if the author of that article said "back-mount diver" one more time I think I would have puked.

[jman]

Wow that is really cool! Are there any other pics/videos besides just inside the article?

[Sombeech]

Cool, I usually stop by there each time on the way to Bear Lake, now especially with the boy.

Last time we actually caught these guys cleaning out the "hole" from the pile of rocks clogging it up. This was July '09.

[jman]

well, I did some searching and found the official forum and thread about this discovery.

Here are a few pics, until I copy and paste the website. And it's a very fascinating read on the other forums as they have mapped out more than 2500+ feet, and there are 3 waterfalls - but the best one is the Vestal Falls. And it averages a depth of 26 feet, with a maximum (as of currently) is 76 feet.

They carry two tanks - nitrix and have drysuits (obviously) to survive the 40 something degree tempertature and last about 80 minutes or so (given the altittude to add in too). Also they say there is a 6 week window to do this - in the late fall. Other times, the low current creates larger air spaces thus creating more time dragging the gear across dry land and damaging the formations - when it's just easy to swim through when its higher. Although, spring is worst time - due to the strong current (they can barely even enter the cave...)

[Sombeech]

That's awesome. I'd love to see somebody take some video down there.

I almost ALWAYS stop by Ricks Springs when passing.

[jumar]

Nice!

[jman]

That's awesome. I'd love to see somebody take some video down there.

I almost ALWAYS stop by Ricks Springs when passing.

ask and ye shall receive!

BTW, most videos are over 100MB.

I watched all these videos and only one video contains a small waterfall, named "Wayne's Waterfall (the 1st waterfall in the cave) and its within 10 minutes of the "drycave.wmv" video.

These are done by Wendell Nope so ALL CREDIT goes to him. Check out his website too for other cave diving videos.

http://www.wendellnope.com/video-wayne-vs-ricks.wmv
http://www.wendellnope.com/drycave20081004.wmv
http://www.wendellnope.com/ricksspring20080802large.wmv
http://www.wendellnope.com/ricksspring20080726.wmv

The land is within Forest Boundaries - so no permit is needed and it's free access (currently - could change later on).

And if you are interested in becoming cave diving certified, Dive Utah (located in Ogden) has a cave diving GUE instructor!

[Sombeech]

Cool. So where is the dry section with the falls?

[jman]

Cool. So where is the dry section with the falls?

what do you mean? The video. If so, I posted it above - or you can get it here too. http://www.wendellnope.com/drycave20081004.wmv. also the video is about 115MB. And Waynes waterfall is somewhere before 10 minutes....I think. Unfortunaltey there is no video of the bigger waterfall...yet.

Or did you mean th location of the waterfall? Waynes waterfall is about 1600feet after the entrance as it follows a north direction.

[Sombeech]

Or did you mean th location of the waterfall? Waynes waterfall is about 1600feet after the entrance as it follows a north direction.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I guess I found it strange as the water is flowing out of the ground, that there would be a waterfall somewhere.

[jman]

yea it is interesting. The stream is actually combined with two sources - one is a glacial lake, and other is Logan River.

Also, I hear the vis is close to 100feet. Although, once percolation sets in, it drops down to less than 15.

Anyways, here's the official forum and thread if you want a really good read:

http://www.cavediver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11223

[forum8fox]

Cool, cave diving is wild!

As far as having waterfalls and water flowing out of the ground, I don't think it's too unusual. It makes sense really due to the fact the stream probly starts above the point of which it comes out of the ground which makes it like a gravity feed, I would guess the falls just exist at vertical drops that are open enough to allow water to free fall.

The pressure of new water comming in to the pools below and the gravity feed nature would force the water down hill most likely even if it had to go up hill first due to hydraulics.

This is all just theory on my behalf but it seems to make sense to me.