Mountain Cove Cave Complex

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Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby Signalfire » Apr 4, 2009 9:04 pm

Hello All,
I've been caving for 6 years now in TAG and stumbled across a public cave in the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA. I know that this area is most notably known for Ellisons and perhaps Pettyjohns, but is anyone familiar with the cave on ******** Road? According to the kiosk it goes by several names; Ulla, Drag Fold, Richards, Four Kings and MCF 2 &3. I've googled these and about the most I've been able to find is that the Mountain Cove Complex is on the Long Cave list for the US.

If the entrance is near the road, then it appears to be a stream cave, and at least due to the recent rains, quite a powerful stream.

Any info would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby Don Hunter » Apr 6, 2009 4:47 pm

Signalfire,

The cave you are asking about on ******* Road is actually five or six different caves. I have not seen the kiosk but if the term complex is used, it is probably referring to the fact that four or five of the names you have referred to are caves that are hydrologically/structurally related. Two are one and the same cave. Ulla and Mountain Cove Farm #3 are the same cave. Ulla is an alternate name that many use in place of MCF#3. MCF#3 had been known for years but all who had visited it had visited at the wrong time of the year. It was thought to be a nasty little 300 ft. long crawl/stoop that terminated at a pool in breakdown. Richard Schreiber and I visited on an August day during a dry time and found much more and came up with the name Ulla Cave. At the time, since we saw so much cave, we didn't know that the cave we entered was little ole MCF#3. It is probably sumped shut right now and will not be enterable for some time.

Mt. Cove Farm #1 (or is it #2), Richards, Four Kings and, I suspect, Drag Fold Pit are all related but connections don't seem likely. They could be loosely considered a complex. Richard's and Drag Fold are fairly advanced wet caves requiring rope and a lot of experience.

I am glad that the state was able to purchase this land and open up these caves.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Apr 17, 2009 11:11 am

[quote="Don Hunter"]Signalfire,

It is probably sumped shut right now and will not be enterable for some time.

quote]

Yes Ulla is sumped right now.. see picture below that i took there 2 weeks ago. We also visited Drag Fold and it is a wet muddy drop...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/undergroun ... 393341110/

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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Apr 17, 2009 4:21 pm

PS - here is a picture of the new Kiosk that was built there.


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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby rebelfirefighter » Sep 6, 2009 8:59 am

What is the name of the very first cave you come to? It has two entances right there together. We thought it was MCF #1 but met some other cavers that said it was Four Kings. They had just left Ulla and we met them in the parking area when we came out.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby Don Hunter » Sep 6, 2009 11:06 pm

If you are talking about the cave entrances right at the road, that is Mt. Cove Farm #1. Four Kings is a good hike up the stream bed, probably as far up the cove as Ulla is down *** **** Creek from MCF #1, and it has only one entrance. I also saw the information sign in Kelly Rowland's post and it is a little misleading. For cave name, it list ALL of the caves in the area for which we now have access, which are somewhat strung out along the ridge and up and around the cove. As I indicated in my earlier post, these caves aren't a system in the traditional sense but a few of them are hydrologically connected/related. But basically the names on the sign just represent all the caves in the area and not some monster, multi-cave system.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby rebelfirefighter » Sep 7, 2009 7:04 am

Are these fairly good sized caves? Or just small ones without much to see?
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Oct 4, 2010 8:32 pm

Well, almost a year later... I finally made it into ULLA Cave (AKA Mountain Cove Farm Cave #3)... Here is a link to my pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/undergroun ... 094307470/

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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby CKahl » Oct 4, 2010 9:24 pm

Awesome photos! :kewl: Did you just go this past weekend or are those from a while ago. That is one that I have been wanting to do for a while and seeing the pictures makes me want to do it even more.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Oct 5, 2010 7:49 am

CKahl wrote:Awesome photos! :kewl: Did you just go this past weekend or are those from a while ago. That is one that I have been wanting to do for a while and seeing the pictures makes me want to do it even more.



Thanks...! and Yep, those are from Saturday October 2nd. It's an awesome cave.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby josephhillpiette » Jan 1, 2011 3:15 pm

Wow I was not even aware of those caves! I've been in a few on Pigeon Mountain and was actually looking for a vertical cave nearby, but those might be worth checking out!

Are they hard to find? (anyone feel free to answer! THANKS!)
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby foxbat » Jan 10, 2011 10:59 am

I have been into that area 3 times in the past month. I was there 2 days ago. Took a different approach to d fold than the previous times. Took advantage of the terrain. However,we were there as a continued exploratory- The one furthest out..'R''., ''R'' was hit by a landslide,and this is the one that has my attention the most. Has anyone been in it since that occurred? It doesnt look it,but its also really difficult to tell.. . .We are returning to that area possibly next Sat,.. Either dropping into d fold,going to Nash,or digging-seeing if the entrance to ''R'' truly is forever blocked. If anyone wants to come, you are welcome to join us. Speaking of Nash,that also was an exploratory.We were prepared to drop it,however..when we got there, I was expecting to find a pit. Never did. searched the entire area. As we were ready to leave, I had one last thought. The water from the fall- does not pool at ground level. Could this then be the pit?. Believe it is.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby trogman » Jan 12, 2011 1:34 pm

The cave you are wondering about, "R" Cave, had two entrances. According to my info, one of them was lost in the flood/landslide. After seeing the devastation up there, I can believe it. The other entrance is still passable, though. (Are we not even allowed to mention cave names now? I thought the only restriction was on giving out locations. Just wondering.)

As far as Nash goes, I believe that the place where the waterfall drops into is the "pit." It has been many years since I've been there, but from what I remember, I went down and was unable to go past the pit bottom because of the high water flow. I didn't have a wetsuit at the time, but that is probably what you would need to access it safely, especially this time of the year.

Also, I am willing to bet that Ulla is totally sumped, and will be for quite a while. It is a nice cave- when I was there, we couldn't find our way to the waterfall dome at the end. It wasn't for lack of trying, either.

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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby Amazingracer » Jan 12, 2011 9:50 pm

Richard's Cave (R Cave referenced above) sustained the loss of E1 in a landslide from all the flooding. E2 is still passable.

As far as I know it hasn't received much visitation. I know it was visited in Early October for the first time since the floods. I was there over Thanksgiving. E2 now involves a 20' pit to about 100-200 of crawling to get to the old pop out point of E1. You can still see the mud pile that swept into the cave. From there the usual route through the cave applies.
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Re: Mountain Cove Cave Complex

Postby foxbat » Jan 13, 2011 8:01 am

''R''.. I called it that,I did not want to draw a lot of attention on to it,I was thinking that its not listed at the Kiosk. I am wrong. I took a picture of the sign,and it sure is listed..There is something interesting. ''others''. What others? All the ones are mentioned-and then theres' ''others''..hmmm.The very 1st thing I noticed about this area when exploring it-was how rugged it is.Its a hardship to wlak it. Real knee killer.steep.military crests,walking sideways,one leg below the other. Its tough.will definetely keep out any one who lacks desire.The deeper in I went,you could see the top clift band.so much untapped potential.Spend a lifetime in here.
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