Mystery Hole is a vertical cave pit in the Utah desert with interesting geological features. The approach provides scenic desert views and the pit itself offers a rewarding vertical experience. Like many desert pits, it rewards the effort required to reach it with a unique underground environment. The cave has interesting geological characteristics and is part of the broader Utah cave and karst landscape. Location remains undisclosed. If you are interested in learning more ab

Box Death Hollow is a non-technical canyon located deep within the Box Death Hollow Wilderness of Escalante. Pristine, remote, solitude — starting to become harder to come by. But places have natural filters in place to keep out people not willing to put in the effort. Lucky for this canyon, the only thing slowing people down is the approach and shuttle to gain access. Our preferred route was via the Boulder Mail Trail from the southwest — where the adventure begins. The deep

The Tushar Range is alpine terrain formed through volcanic activity and lifted to the beautiful place it is today. Delano Peak is just over 12,000ft of elevation and provides a beautiful depiction of the range from its peak. The grassy region was surprisingly colorful — the minerals in the rocks make this place pop with vivid hues. The landscape is reminiscent of the Andean Range. There are great hiking trails out here and you can hike to Delano Peak from several different ar

Arizona has some excellent C-class (moving water) canyons as long as you catch them when they're flowing. Tucked into a beautiful region of Arizona, Parker Canyon delivers a scenic stab in the eye of geology and color. Two streams feed into Parker — we were nearing the end of the season but still got enough flow to make the canyon acoustics reverb with white noise. A few rappels dropped us deep into corridors where towering walls erected into a cavern-like spectacle. Slides a

At around 8,500ft elevation and 7 miles from a main road in the Ashley National Forest is one of the longest and most impressive cave systems in Utah. Big Brush Creek Cave extends over 5 miles in length and over 800ft deep. It's the bigger sibling of Little Brush Creek Cave just a few miles east. The cave features a large entry corridor room that follows into crawlway and stoop-walking maze-like passages. Deeper in, small drops and downclimbs can be wet — adding to the 40-deg

Located in the White Mountains, Boundary Peak is Nevada's highest peak at 13,146ft at the summit. Heading to the trailhead can be a challenge — the south side road gets continuously worse and quite steep. I recommend parking at the start of the final approach, or better yet, head up the north road to the saddle trailhead, which is where most hikers come from. The hike to the summit is straightforward — no snow was encountered. There is a false summit that is a bit steeper tha

Bear Canyon is a North Arizona canyon we decided to grab at the last minute before heading back to Vegas. At 2.5 hours car to car, the canyon is quite short and didn't take long to get through. Rappels were straightforward and under 100 feet — check a canyon beta site for specific rope lengths. The approach was not all that steep and it was easy to find our way in. The water was a bit cold so a 3mm wetsuit came in handy for the short swims. The scenic section was nice but sho

When canyoneers look for the best canyons in Arizona outside the Grand Canyon, you might hear the 'I' canyons echoing. There are three — Immaculate, Insomnia, and Illusions. Illusions is, in my opinion, the most scenic of the three. Narrow corridors, deep pools of cold water, and a few questionable anchors encountered throughout. The approach from the car was straightforward with a bit of bushwhacking to the first rap. THIS IS IMPORTANT: BRING THE PROPER THICKNESS OF WETSUIT.

Rancor Cave is a new Nevada cave discovered on a ridgewalk in the Mormon Range. The cave has an interesting entrance — complete with the skeleton of a bighorn sheep that had clearly been consumed by something at the entrance. The tall, narrow entry with the bighorn skeleton made for quite the welcome when I walked in. The passage has a nice red color to the walls and ceiling. I wish I had brought my proper camera to photograph the passages, but I will be returning for more. T

North Wash is a micro-mesa of beautiful sandstone canyons tucked into Navajo sandstone — over 10 routes accessible by all cars in most conditions. This morning we selected Blarney Canyon. We hiked up to the ridge and around to the proper canyon to ensure we didn't go down the wrong drainage and end up in a less than favorable situation. Once in Blarney Canyon I was surprised to see how narrow and scenic it was. One section had beautifully fluted walls with an array of pink to

Heading down the highway toward Page we checked out another short canyon right off the road. Straightforward — could be done as a lunch-hour meetup. The cream-colored canyon walls and somewhat deep and shallow sections gave some decent scenery for this desert drainage. The last rap is a 50ft drop to the canyon floor and into a short, scenic narrow section. Upon pulling the rope — we stuck it! Of course we stuck the rope. A reminder to ALWAYS pay attention to what you're doing

The Southwest desert is full of shelters — rock alcoves and natural overhangs that have served as refuge for both animals and humans across thousands of years. Exploring these features on ridgewalks and canyon descents, you begin to see the desert not just as wild terrain but as a landscape of deep human history. These shelters range from simple overhangs to decorated alcoves with significant archaeological features. Conservation of these sites is critical. Every visit must b

The 'I' canyons of Arizona are great classics — people flock from across the Southwest to visit these three gems. We toured Insomnia from the very top, which proved a minor detour. Back on track heading into Insomnia with a bright eye toward the void in the back. Interesting rappels along the way; anchor maintenance has not been a priority here, but the AZ Canyon Response team came through with a refresh. Then came the infamous 320ft drop. The bolt had been blown out — temp e

Vertical caving in the Southwest desert is somewhat hard to come by, especially when there is little published information about vertical caves. We continue to keep locations quiet for protection and preservation. That said, there are ways to gain access and inspire curiosity — join your local grotto, get involved, train, and become an ambassador to continue the protection of these caves. On a recent trip into the desert we encountered a couple of hypogenic vertical shafts wi

Jumbos Clown Room is actually an iconic bar in LA known for wild times. This cave was a bit wild to get into and had a great crowd to visit this newly discovered decorated Nevada cave. It became a 5.3–5.4 climb to enter the final approach into the cave itself. The cave was decorated with lots of flowstone and formations on the ceiling and walls. A wild approach to a beautiful cave — classic Nevada caving at its finest.

S'mores Canyon is a fun waterpark of a canyon located behind the Frye Canyon Reservoir in southeast Arizona. An excellent half-day C-class option to cool off and get some great views of waterfalls in the region. We arrived around 9am after camping in the desert and headed up a 2WD high-clearance road to the trailhead. The granite is quite slick so be careful with your footing. The upper section has about 5 rappels under 100 feet. After the last slide there is an escape route

Driving through Zion valley, I was not envious of the lines of people waiting to get on shuttles — some appeared longer than waiting for a rollercoaster at Disneyland. Continuing up the road to the east side of Zion and leaving the park, the people disperse. One canyon not as visited as others is Mineral Gulch. We entered via Meadow Gulch Canyon — 8 miles one-way on relatively flat, slowly descending wash. Two main obstacles: a waterfall with a fixed rope for downclimbing, an

Ridgewalking is freedom — freedom to find what lies hidden in the desert mountains. Some of the caves and shelters I have stayed in overnight as jump points for deeper exploration. In this case, finding bulbous formations, hundreds of feet of passage, and a torch at the entrance was quite the find. Lord Sargoth Cave is a newly discovered Nevada cave with some interesting features inside its hundreds of feet of passage — a massive entrance and a series of separated passages go

Robbers Roost has some of the most scenic and amazing canyons throughout the desert southwest — sculpted sandstone drainages extending from Hanksville to Canyonlands. The far east side of Robbers Roost is called High Spur. High Spur Canyon is rated 3AIII, incredibly scenic, and straightforward to maneuver through. We camped at the trailhead and got an early start. We found very little obstacles in the way from moving through quickly. The canyon got increasingly scenic — the l

Kronos Cave is another horizontal cave discovery I made in Nevada earlier this year. The cave is around 120–150 feet of passage that is mostly walking. I was not the first one in this cave — I found a knife in the back. Most caves in Nevada are kept quiet, but if you are interested in learning more about Nevada caving please reach out directly.