So there’s Mammoth Cave National Park, which is in south central Kentucky. Then there’s Mammoth Cave, which is just up the hill from me in Iron County, Utah.

I’ve been writing about an entirely different kind of spelunking. It’s kind of hard to explain. Still, when some of the guys decided to head up to the lava tubes, I thought it sounded like a fun thing to do.

Located in the Markagunt Plateau in the Dixie National Forest, Utah’s Mammoth Cave looks pretty underwhelming when viewed from the surface. A hole in the ground, basically, with a dirt parking lot. There are several chambers and tubes that open up from this hole. One has a set of bars that have always been unlocked when I’ve visited.

It’s through this “gate” that you access the main lava tube. As you can see from the pictures below, there’s plenty of room in the tube. You can rock-hop for about a quarter mile until you reach the last little section. where you squeeze out a narrow exit point to get out. Or you can walk back and leave the way you came in. Still, some pretty fun spelunking.

I took my son and some of his friends. We did our spelunking and headed home. Not a bad afternoon.