By: AJ Parker Neff's Cave

Discovery Neffs cave was discovered in 1949 by a group of teenage boys that happened to come across the entrance while hiking in Neffs canyon. They returned to the cave several times to explore the depths of the cave but lacked the proper equipment to travel very far into the cave. During one of their last visits to the cave they became trapped at the bottom of a slippery shale slope. The boys were rescued by a local rescue group. The result of this incident caused the state to limit entry into the cave, putting a gate across the entrance.

Entrance to neffs cave

Discovery After the rescue, word about the cave began to spread. A party of inexperienced explorers reported that they went an estimated 2000 feet into the cave and encountered a sheer drop of over 100 feet that prevented their further exploration. In 1951 a team under the direction of the National Park Service explored the cave for several hours and reported that the cave had no scenic value and was too dangerous to be a National Park Service attraction.

discovery In 1952 the Salt Lake Grotto of the National Speleological Society was established. Several weeks later the grotto's members obtained permission from the National Forest Service to explore the cave. They spent nearly eleven hours in the cave but had not reached the end of the main passage before they had to turn back. Teams from the grotto returned in 1953 and 1956, and in the last visit they succeeded in reaching the bottom of the main passage. They calculated a vertical depth of 1186 feet, which was later revised to the present figure of 1163 feet. Neffs Cave is the 13th deepest cave discovered in the United States.

geology Neffs cave is composed of limestone and shale. When Lake Bonneville covered Utah, coral reefs were created and distributed throughout Utah. When the lake resided the coral was exposed and buried. Due to pressure and heat, the coral was formed into limestone.

geology Neffs cave is located right on top of the Wasatch fault line. Its depths travel due north for 1,163 feet right along the fault. It is actually the fault itself. It was eroded away and widened by the continuous flow of water. The water is runoff from the melting snow of the Wasatch mountains.

geology At the bottom of the cave there is a river flowing due North. Making the cave deeper every year. Neffs cave is a very active cave and is still being formed today. All in all the combination of the limestone, the fault line, and the water runoff produced Neff’s Cave.

My father’s notes on neffs cAVE Randy and Rich Silver went to the bottom of neffs cave on 6-22-92. First rope required is a 30 footer then you need another 30 footer for the second rappel. The third rappel is 120 feet and the fourth is the big room which is exactly 150 feet, so you need to rig the cave with a sling. I connected the third rappel rope (which was 120 feet) to the 150 foot rope I used for the big room. Then I strapped the connection point to a rock at the top of the big room, to make a safety. I used a 165 foot rope for the next series of rappels. The cave dropped left around a corner then straight down to another corner then straight down again. The 165 footer was perfect for this series of rappels. The sixth rappel was only 100 feet long. I used a 165 footer and waisted 65 feet because it wouldn’t reach to the seventh rappel.

Continued……… The seventh rappel is the great pit, which was supposed to be a 200 foot free rappel into the pit from the ceiling. It was actually only 125 feet long to the floor. So we used the remaining 75 feet of the 200 foot rope we purchased special for this room to help us get down the loose and steep scree floor. This room had the most speliological formations. We saw soda straws and clusters of stalagtites in small rooms and areas along the right side of the pit. There is one more 30 foot rappel below the pit. We were out of rope so we used a long piece of sling. Now, you only have to scramble to the bottom to see the river, our marker, and a bottle with paper in it that has been signed by many other people. The most recently signing we read was in 1985. Rich stripped down and belly crawled through the river to where it disappeared in the wall but could not confirm our suspicion that there was a ledge there and a drop off. The rest of the story is about their long journey and battle to get back out of the cave.

references My father and his notes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neffs_Cave_(Utah) http://caves.org/grotto/timpgrotto/Neffs.html There wasn’t much info on the formation and geology part of the cave. What is explained in this powerpoint is my own and my father’s interpretation of how it was formed.