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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Dead Horse and Teapot Caves



On our recent trip to Denver (see previous postings) we stopped in Gooding for a visit with son, Clint, and family.  Saturday, Clint and I along with Nellie had a great time exploring a couple of caves located in the lava fields northwest of Gooding.  I had visited the general area a year before with Clint looking for some geocaches.  Most of the geocaches in this area are placed by one person and judging from our lack of success in finding them, I think they are gone.  We found only 2 out of 6 attempts on this trip and the two we found were hidden by someone else.

The first cave we visited was called Dead Horse Cave.  It had a large opening and extended back a couple hundred feet or so.  It was very large inside almost like a small auditorium.  Some years back one of the local service clubs in Gooding had built some concrete steps and benches in the cave.

 The second cave was Teapot Cave and probably one of the neatest caves I have ever seen.  We had the choice of taking a very rough road or hiking the 2+ miles to the cave and we decided to walk.  We saw several large craters in the lava field on the way there and climbed through one looking (unsuccessfully) for a geacache.  The cave has a very small entrance (about 3’x4’) and opens almost immediately to a 15’ chute down to a lower level.  On that level is a small bench above a large round cavern with the floor about 8 or 10 feet below.  You have to climb down this fairly abrupt cliff to the bottom.  At this point there is good visibility because of a round 50 foot diameter hole high above in the ceiling of the cave.  We found an owl and a pigeon down in the cave.  There was a little grove of ferns growing directly under the hole in the ceiling.  

 Clint in Dead Horse.
 One of the geocaches we found near the entrance to the Teapot.
 Clint in the Teapot chute.
 Clint at the bottom of the chute.
 The hole in the ceiling.
 Fern in the bottom.
 Another look at the hole.
 This shows no more than 1/4 of the area at the bottom of the cave.
 The adventurers at the mouth of the cave.
 The hole from ground level.  You don't want to slip down there.
Clint looks across the lava fields.

10 comments:

  1. That looks fun! Does Clinton live near Craters of the Moon? What are the items behind you in the cave? A couple signs?

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  2. Yes, it was fun.

    I think it's about 80 miles from Gooding to Craters of the Moon. We thought about taking that in but decided against it because of the driving time. We'll definitely do it later.

    The items in the cave are a plaque telling about it and a register to sign.

    After the posting I noticed I had no pictures of Nellie in the cave and I thought you'd probably ask if she made it down. Yes, she did but I had to give her a boost part of the way up the cliff to get her back out - No Fear Nellie.

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  3. Mike took great pictures of this adventure. I could have gone -- sure I could have -- but the round trip walk would have been tiring and Mike would have had to boost me out of the cave, too. Also, spelunking is not quite my thing -- just a bit claustrophobic. Instead, Elisha and I enjoyed shopping the thrift stores in Gooding. I wonder why small towns have thrift stores and if they are lucrative.

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  4. I am enjoying the one picture where it looks like Nellie is "photo bombing". Too funny! Is camping allowed in that area? That might be a fun destination--we could fly into Boise and go from there.

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  5. What's "photo bombing?" I agree that she looks funny in that one picture in which she appears.

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  6. The ever credible Urban Dictionary (online) defines photo bombing as "the fine art of ruining other people's photos, usually by running in the background or making a silly face."

    Doesn't she look like she's running in at the last moment? I might have to print it--I've giggled more than once.

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  7. I think I wouldn't be in the caves, either. I think I'd even pass on the thrift shops. I'd be home making a pot of soup to eat when everyone returned. Muffins anyone? :-)

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  8. If it had been my kitchen, I might have cooked, but since it wasn't and we knew we were going out for dinner, I didn't make muffins and soup. Besides, it wasn't quite cold yet. Today is a muffins and soup day, but two weeks ago it was still quite warm.

    When Clint returned, he and Elisha made a delicious apple pie using phyllo (sp) dough.

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  9. I hope you didn't think I was saying you should have cooked! I just meant caves are not my thing and neither is shopping so my preference would have been to say I'd stay home and cook. :-)

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  10. No, I was making small talk -- just like you were. And I was (hopefully) just making an analogy about the change in the weather. A nice bowl of soup would be good for supper tonight. It's always good to hear from you.

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