Post by madratdan on Oct 18, 2006 9:51:49 GMT -5
I was invited on a trip this last weekend, to Sweetwater Indian Cave, about a month ago. Mike Frazier had approached the manager of the property it's located on, in an attempt to gain access and know some more of the history behind it. The land and resort are managed by AJ Brink outfitters and has a long history indeed. Here are a couple of links to help fill in the gaps.
www.brinkoutfitters.com/
www.coloradodirectory.com/sweetwaterlakeresort2/
During his conversation with them, the possibility of caver's helping preserve this cave, came up. The main things they wanted were, help with removing some recent graffiti and a plan to help protect the cave for the future. In exchange, they would give us a free room for the night, which turned out to be a three bedroom cabin, complete with kitchen.
The cave has several panels of old Ute Indian rock art paintings and is littered with historical graffiti, most of it dating back to the 1800's. Back in 1998, three people from Leadville Colorado came along and painted their names, in several places, with blue paint and a brush. Our ultimate goal is to remove this paint and prevent future vandalism.
Surprisingly, this is the only painted graffiti in the cave. For only being 160 feet of cave, it is heavily visited year around, and for the most part, very well preserved. The access is from USFS property, but you pass through a cattle gate to get there. The hike consisted of a very muddy horse trail of about 1/2 mile. Basically it is on the opposite side of the lake from where we were staying.
Mike invited several of us to join him on this newly found project. Ryan Gosciejew built a register box so people could record their visit without leaving their mark on the cave walls. He modeled it after a USFS type register, that you typically find at locations like this. Mike created some informative signs to place inside and outside the register box. I supplied a 6"x6"x8' treated timber, to mount Ryan's register box on, along with the tools and supplies to complete the job. Patricia Malone and LP Lawrence rounded out our crew, for the weekend. (Ryan ended up bailing on us, at the last minute, with an excuse of having to stay home and paint his house.
)
Patricia and I met up in Frisco Colo. on Saturday, where we car pooled together to Sweetwater. LP and Mikie joined us around 8:00pm at the ranch. That evening, Pat and I enjoyed a delicious home style meal at the ranches restaurant. If your ever in the area, make sure you stop in for a meal. The food was fantastic.
It had rained all day Saturday, but Pat and I hiked over to the cave earlier that day to check it out. We were both impressed with the size of the cave and it's contents. People have really respected the cave over the years, from what we could tell. We spent quite some time studying the walls and reading the historical signatures. Before we can begin to remove the annoying paint, a plan and more studying must be done. Personally, I don't think the paint will be that hard to remove. We have big hopes that the new register box and signage will detour any future damage. It's all about respecting your surroundings.
Sunday morning brought an end to the rain and another great meal at the ranches, restaurant. Nothing like a good hot meal to start you off on a cold, wet morning. Our goals for the day were to install the new register box on a 6x6 post, near the entrance to the cave. We also brought along some rope to replace the existing hand lines in the caves two pits. We had plans to start a new survey of the cave,in order to create a detailed map. This new map is needed to help with the historic inventory of the cave walls, before we start the graffiti removal.
Mike carried the 6"x6"x 8' timber, Pat took off with the register box, and LP and I brought up the rear, with the tools and shovels. What a muddy trail it was. Once we arrived, Mike and I started digging the hole for the post. We argued over if the post was level or not, then proceeded to hang the box and argue over it. Between the four of us, I think it came out looking pretty good.
Next we set off to replace the old hand lines. These turned out to be some very old and stiff gold line rope. When you get to the back of the cave, you go through a short crawl to the edge of a 10' pit. At the bottom are several crawls, one which leads to a second pit of about the same depth. Both are free climbable, but for safety, need a hand line for assistance.
At this point in the day, we decided to wait on starting the resurvey. Besides, we wanted Ryan to get in on some of the fun. With our first two goals complete, and a long drive home in front of us, we decided to call it a day without survey. The cave is complexed enough with the two pits and all, that it is going to take a good long day to do a proper and detailed survey. Instead we explored the cave to it's fullest and hiked to a near by resurgence.
The drive home was uneventful, but beautiful as always. We are hoping to make another trip up there, in a few weeks. Heck, I'd go back just for the food and lodging. I hear the fishing and hunting are great this time of year, as the rest of the guest's were all wearing their hunter orange and carrying rifles. I'll try and post a few pictures later.
www.brinkoutfitters.com/
www.coloradodirectory.com/sweetwaterlakeresort2/
During his conversation with them, the possibility of caver's helping preserve this cave, came up. The main things they wanted were, help with removing some recent graffiti and a plan to help protect the cave for the future. In exchange, they would give us a free room for the night, which turned out to be a three bedroom cabin, complete with kitchen.
The cave has several panels of old Ute Indian rock art paintings and is littered with historical graffiti, most of it dating back to the 1800's. Back in 1998, three people from Leadville Colorado came along and painted their names, in several places, with blue paint and a brush. Our ultimate goal is to remove this paint and prevent future vandalism.
Surprisingly, this is the only painted graffiti in the cave. For only being 160 feet of cave, it is heavily visited year around, and for the most part, very well preserved. The access is from USFS property, but you pass through a cattle gate to get there. The hike consisted of a very muddy horse trail of about 1/2 mile. Basically it is on the opposite side of the lake from where we were staying.
Mike invited several of us to join him on this newly found project. Ryan Gosciejew built a register box so people could record their visit without leaving their mark on the cave walls. He modeled it after a USFS type register, that you typically find at locations like this. Mike created some informative signs to place inside and outside the register box. I supplied a 6"x6"x8' treated timber, to mount Ryan's register box on, along with the tools and supplies to complete the job. Patricia Malone and LP Lawrence rounded out our crew, for the weekend. (Ryan ended up bailing on us, at the last minute, with an excuse of having to stay home and paint his house.
) Patricia and I met up in Frisco Colo. on Saturday, where we car pooled together to Sweetwater. LP and Mikie joined us around 8:00pm at the ranch. That evening, Pat and I enjoyed a delicious home style meal at the ranches restaurant. If your ever in the area, make sure you stop in for a meal. The food was fantastic.
It had rained all day Saturday, but Pat and I hiked over to the cave earlier that day to check it out. We were both impressed with the size of the cave and it's contents. People have really respected the cave over the years, from what we could tell. We spent quite some time studying the walls and reading the historical signatures. Before we can begin to remove the annoying paint, a plan and more studying must be done. Personally, I don't think the paint will be that hard to remove. We have big hopes that the new register box and signage will detour any future damage. It's all about respecting your surroundings.
Sunday morning brought an end to the rain and another great meal at the ranches, restaurant. Nothing like a good hot meal to start you off on a cold, wet morning. Our goals for the day were to install the new register box on a 6x6 post, near the entrance to the cave. We also brought along some rope to replace the existing hand lines in the caves two pits. We had plans to start a new survey of the cave,in order to create a detailed map. This new map is needed to help with the historic inventory of the cave walls, before we start the graffiti removal.
Mike carried the 6"x6"x 8' timber, Pat took off with the register box, and LP and I brought up the rear, with the tools and shovels. What a muddy trail it was. Once we arrived, Mike and I started digging the hole for the post. We argued over if the post was level or not, then proceeded to hang the box and argue over it. Between the four of us, I think it came out looking pretty good.
Next we set off to replace the old hand lines. These turned out to be some very old and stiff gold line rope. When you get to the back of the cave, you go through a short crawl to the edge of a 10' pit. At the bottom are several crawls, one which leads to a second pit of about the same depth. Both are free climbable, but for safety, need a hand line for assistance.
At this point in the day, we decided to wait on starting the resurvey. Besides, we wanted Ryan to get in on some of the fun. With our first two goals complete, and a long drive home in front of us, we decided to call it a day without survey. The cave is complexed enough with the two pits and all, that it is going to take a good long day to do a proper and detailed survey. Instead we explored the cave to it's fullest and hiked to a near by resurgence.
The drive home was uneventful, but beautiful as always. We are hoping to make another trip up there, in a few weeks. Heck, I'd go back just for the food and lodging. I hear the fishing and hunting are great this time of year, as the rest of the guest's were all wearing their hunter orange and carrying rifles. I'll try and post a few pictures later.
