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Bear Creek Caves
The Bear Creek Caves are hidden very well in the mountains up from Skutz Falls, but once found, the caves provide a rewarding challenge. Not only finding the caves, but diving into them is a challenge. The trek to the caves is half spent walking up what seems to be a dried up creek bed and a quad trail which then connects to an old logging road. The logging road provides stunning view down the bank where it has been clearcut almost all the way to the creek, as well as a clear view of the surrounding mountains. Once you reach the caves, which are well hidden along the side of the trail, only being marked by a bit of flagging, a small entrance is on the hillside. This cave starts out small and gets even smaller before opening up to reveal a large cavern complete with stalactites, bats and branches in every direction, the smallest section before the large cavern is about 2'x1.5', the hardest section to climb down. After that, exploring the rest of the cave is a simple walk.
Update: My first time venturing into the caves I was the only one in my group that wanted to climb inside, and because of that I decided not to go into any of the smaller sections of the cave which left most of it unexplored. This time my friend and I were both comfortable going inside, past the large cavern and through the small sections. Beyond the first area where you can comfortably walk around and stand tall is a passage that you have to squat down to walk through, at most this section is 4ft tall and about 25ft long with a large rock formation coming through a hole near the end where you can stand tall next to it before crouching down for the rest. At the end of that stretch there is a small hole both of us barely fit through which opens up into another passage about the same as the last but only about 15ft long before narrowing down to a small tube. At this point both my friend and I were doubtful if we could go any further but we decided to give it a shot. This last part was by far the smallest and only I could fit through successfully, to pass through this 15ft long tube I had to extend my arms out in front of my head, lay down on the rock beneath me and slide forward using my fingers and toes to leverage myself through. If anybody planning on exploring this section is the least bit claustrophobic I wouldn't recommend this part. About half way through this tube it narrows down even further, now my chest was touching the rock below and my back was pressing on the rock above me with very little room for movement. As I continued to slide slowly slide through I came to a small opening at the end which I could pull myself out into that appeared to be the end of the cave for me, being that the only other passages were about 1ft in diameter and only 5ft long. The end of the cave here provided just enough room to turn around and go head first back through the small passage that I entered through. Throughout the cave there are many small stalactites, salt and rock formations, glittering moisture on the ceiling and signs that we were not the first to reach the end. Crawling out of the cave was easier than entering which calmed the only worry of getting stuck that I had and I'm sure I'll explore the cave again.
Update: My first time venturing into the caves I was the only one in my group that wanted to climb inside, and because of that I decided not to go into any of the smaller sections of the cave which left most of it unexplored. This time my friend and I were both comfortable going inside, past the large cavern and through the small sections. Beyond the first area where you can comfortably walk around and stand tall is a passage that you have to squat down to walk through, at most this section is 4ft tall and about 25ft long with a large rock formation coming through a hole near the end where you can stand tall next to it before crouching down for the rest. At the end of that stretch there is a small hole both of us barely fit through which opens up into another passage about the same as the last but only about 15ft long before narrowing down to a small tube. At this point both my friend and I were doubtful if we could go any further but we decided to give it a shot. This last part was by far the smallest and only I could fit through successfully, to pass through this 15ft long tube I had to extend my arms out in front of my head, lay down on the rock beneath me and slide forward using my fingers and toes to leverage myself through. If anybody planning on exploring this section is the least bit claustrophobic I wouldn't recommend this part. About half way through this tube it narrows down even further, now my chest was touching the rock below and my back was pressing on the rock above me with very little room for movement. As I continued to slide slowly slide through I came to a small opening at the end which I could pull myself out into that appeared to be the end of the cave for me, being that the only other passages were about 1ft in diameter and only 5ft long. The end of the cave here provided just enough room to turn around and go head first back through the small passage that I entered through. Throughout the cave there are many small stalactites, salt and rock formations, glittering moisture on the ceiling and signs that we were not the first to reach the end. Crawling out of the cave was easier than entering which calmed the only worry of getting stuck that I had and I'm sure I'll explore the cave again.