Big Brush Creek Cave, Utah

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-degree cave temp, you get cold fast.

This cave has taken lives — extreme care must be taken. We snowshoed in 14 miles with 30–40lb packs in winter, camped at the ridge, and descended the following day. At the massive entrance, an ice palace awaited us — pillars, columns, bacon-drapery ice formations, and a chandelier I named after its ribboned, wave-like hanging ice. A large column ice pillar stood year-round but in winter was in its prime. The lower water level room has high CO2 from organic decay — be careful in this already high-altitude cave. Survey continues to push the system further. Come back in summer to photo document and ridge walk for new systems.