Skull Cave

Hike Review

• We walked to the bottom floor of Skull Cave and walked back to the entrance.

• The ceilings were extremely tall and the walking trail was well-groomed. The stairway to the bottom floor was solid, and while steep, easy to walk using handrails.

• This cave was very straightforward with no forking paths.

• The cave was short, at only 177 meters.

What I Learned

There was ice at the bottom of the cave, as advertised. We could feel the temperature fall every time we descended, but it was another thing to see icicles and bits of ice at the bottom of the cave.

What Happened?

 

After Sentinel Cave, we drove north to see Skull Cave, as it was described as one of the two must-see caves. We parked in the large parking lot and descended to the mouth of the cave, which was enormous. From there, we walked the smooth trail down to the metal stairs which led us to the bottom of the cave, where we saw icicles, bits of ice, and bones—of pronghorn and bighorn sheep. After gawking and taking lots of pictures, we hiked back to the cave entrance to explore other ones.

When we arrived at Lava Beds, we weren’t sure how much we would enjoy caving, but after Skull Cave, we were hooked. We decided to go back to the cave loop and check out some of the intermediate caves (the caves are categorized as beginner, intermediate, and expert) and see what they were all about.