MK tunnels in the San Rafael Swell?

[hike.higher]

Does anyone know anything about them? (Not even sure if this is the right place to post this.)

I heard about these a while ago, but beta is tough to find.

I found this indicating they are back filling them, http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?...rticle_id=7659, but that the "powder magazine" in buckhorn draw will be left open for "historical value".

Anyone know where that is, or even much else about these?

[jumar]

If they are the ones i'm thinking of, I visited them about 10 years ago. But I don't remember where they are :(

[Udink]

The tunnels are gone now, filled in and/or grated off. I rappelled into the main tunnel through one of the "skylights" about 15 years ago--it was a pretty neat place. I'm not exactly sure where where the powder magazine in Buckhorn Wash is. There was a ~300' deep, 8'-10' tall tunnel there that they may be referring to, but I haven't checked it out since they filled in the main tunnels to see if it was left alone.

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[Iceaxe]

Military Cave (aka: M-K Tunnels)
N39

[asdf]

That place has some pretty creative tagging, my personal favorite is the wall that says "I LOVE BLACK CLOCK".

[Udink]

Directions: Once you turn and drop into buckhorn wash you'll drive about two miles until the road makes a long hard bend to the right. You can pull off to the left side of the road here. If you drive to the second cattle guard you have gone to far. From where you park you scramble to the southeast up a steep hillside and through a natural weakness in the rock. Once on top of the hill you will follow the drainage east and the caves are right there.

Or, you can drive right to them in a 4x4. Come in from the north, turning south off of the Green River Cutoff Road at N 39

[Udink]

Oh, and here are a few shots of the tunnel I think the newspaper article may have been referring to as the powder magazine.

[hike.higher]

Thanks guys, thats some great info. I think I'll try and get out there.

[Iceaxe]

If you visit let us know what the place looks like now...

I have visited the MK tunnels since they closed the mine off. The main entrance was sealed with metal grate and it seems as if the top shafts were sealed off completely or filled in with dirt.

[maxpower]

Udink's Pictures are of the same place I was thinking of as well as the comments about it being a party spot and trashed. I was there 3-4 years ago and there is grafitti everywhere. The locals in Huntington (where I grew up) call it the "Government Caves." Word is that decades ago the government drilled these tunnels to see if they were suitable for bunkers or something like that. The turn off is one of the roads just a little past Furniture Draw/Wash on the right hand side.

[ExpUt]

As noted the main MK Tunnel has been reclaimed in a most gross fashion, a sad reality of our litigious world. There is a very easy to spot adit on the west side of Buckhorn in the general vicinity of the canyon that MKT's are in... it too was part of the testing, one can see the same white paint used on the walls of the adit. I've spent some time hiking around the immediate canyons and on the opposite side of Buckhorn, there are some very blatant indications of other workings in the area, its my understanding that the powder shack is the shack that is still standing in the old campground at the north end of Buckhorn (shooting club campground??). I'll have to go dig through my notes.

[Chromag]

Digging up an older thread, and as mentioned, it looks like the majority of the MK tunnel has gone through a pretty thorough reclamation. Google Earth shows the vertical shafts being completely closed in... damn. Lots of memories exploring that area back in the day...

Here's a photo showing the rappel into the largest vertical shaft back in 1996.