Whipple Cave
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| | Difficulty:Cave 3A III (v3a1 III) Raps:1, max ↨66ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:High Clearance Rock type:Limestone | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Best season: | All Year
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38.5122, -114.9691
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WaterflowIntroduction[edit]
A vertical drop into a beautiful cave with many large and finned stalagmites, stalactites and other features. Quarter sized big eared bats. Actively forming cave features that are drippy and wet.
Please be gentle with this place, the unrestricted access to this wide cave is a rarity in the USA.
Approach[edit]
Driving here is a little weird. RoadTripRyan's description pretty confusing and GPS gets you near but doesn't tell you correctly which roads to take once leaving the free way.
Directions are as follows:
- Leave Highway 318 and turn East onto Shingle Pass Road. (38.520859, -115.024956)
- Pass several right turns and fences until the road curves right and take a sharp right (38.534723, -114.966196)
- The road will wind back and go along the culvert unit it turns left an become a straight line (38.526609, -114.981474)
- Take a left the the T-intersection and drive up towards Whipple Cave (38.516252, -114.976886)
- Park by the Whipple Cave interpretive signs or the 30m up the hill.
You need at least an standard SUV level clearance. The roads were rutted and had many hidden rocks.
From parking the car its a 50m walk down a clear trail to a cave with two openings separated by a rock bridge.
Descent[edit]
There is one pair of bolts near the lower cave entrance and two more sets further back. It seems large groups must come through here.
It is one rappel about 20m to the ground.
Exit[edit]
Fix the line on the descent so you can ascend / jug / jumar your way out of the cave on your line.