A trip to the Colorado Plateau was to be the first real out of town escape since July so I had plenty of time to make carefully laid plans. Two overnight off-trail wilderness hikes, an overnight packraft on the upper San Juan River, and an overnight backpack in the Needles District of Canyonlands were the key elements. Permits were obtained. I have been to the Colorado Plateau at least three times before over Thanksgiving breaks, always experiencing some punishingly low temperatures but enough good weather and lack of crowds to warrant returns. This time the temperatures seemed a good 10-15 degrees lower than usual with forecast lows of 18F. Then the misfortunes began. We had to delay our early Saturday departure to mid-morning which struck our first overnight backpack plans at the Petrified Forest and instead making a first night motel reservation. We exited the highway in Flagstaff for a quick Walmart stop. An impatient driver made a drastic mistake pulling into our lane with no warning or time to react and we ended up flipped on our right side. My first major car accident and ambulance ride, my right eye was foggy and my head with cuts and contusions. After 4.5 hours we were released from the hospital and into the hospitality of Flagstaff friends. We were beaten up physically, mourning the loss of the car, and suffering the headache of dealing with all the new insurance/police/medical/tow yard/car rental logistics we had in place of our long anticipated escape. Ultimately we are both thankful to seem to be totally OK despite the severity of the accident, but it is just so brutal to realize how a single moment of carelessness beyond your control can dash such carefully laid plans.
So Sunday we had a long day of dealing with the insurance company, speaking to the police, getting a rental car, reclaiming our gear from the probably-totaled car, and picking up a pharmacy prescription. My head and eye improved as the day went on and we reevaluated our plans. For starters I would feeling a desperate need to get out and do something rather than mull, sulk, or reevaluate and so I suggested checking out the neat local landmark of Lava River Cave about a half hour drive northwest of Flagstaff for the last couple hours of our afternoon. We drove past SnoBowl and turned onto well-graded partially snowy roads through the forest, eventually reaching the roadend parking lot. It had been several years since I had been to the cave and so unsurprisingly the parking lot was now well manicured with signage, picnic tables, and a bathroom.
The cave was as great as I remember it. The surface has zero indication of what is beneath but a chance roof collapse provides access into a 0.75 mile long section of one of the best lava tubes I have seen.
The cave is a frigid 35F near its entrance where ice stalagmites are able to exist and at the back of the cave it increases to about 45F. Once down the entrance breakdown pile the cave averages spacious subway tube dimensions with only about 20 ft of stooping passage partway through. The cave has many of the classic lava tube features including lava drip stalactites, lava curbs at the sides, and rafted roof blocks embedded in the frozen lava floor. Overall the cave has very little breakdown and next to no mud, soil, or silt like the Mojave caves I see more often. The walls have surprisingly colorful mineralized water stains.
Slowly we worked our way to the back of the cave. Heather was quite forgiving in letting me play with my camera. Without a suitable flash I used headlamps and long exposures to paint the scenes. It had been a while since I have had a chance to engineer such cave photography so it was a great thing to temporarily take my mind off things. Overall I'm really pleased with how the photos came out but have to admit it is quite a photogenic cave to begin with.
We ran into a few groups exploring the caves but most of the time enjoyed the silence. The cave did smell like pot though which was not appreciated. About halfway through the cave the lava river split creating two parallel passages that then rejoin (frontispiece), which makes a particularly neat feature.
We reached the back and turned around. I put my camera and tripod away to avoid further temptation so we could get out and get to dinner before it got too late. After dinner we both were feeling a little better about things and decided to try to limp our way around the Colorado Plateau for at least a couple days and see how it went. Escaping the day's troubles for a couple hours helped a lot. Many thanks to Joe and Linlee for taking us in in our time of need.
No comments:
Post a Comment