Visiting Fly and Marble Caves with the CU Caving Club

I went on a caving trip last spring to Fly and Marble Caves, located in the sunburnt south of Colorado. The landscape is marked by mesas and cacti, and stunted conifers that don't give anywhere near the kind of shade necessary. The red granite caves cut into the ground like claw marks, and you have to climb straight down about 20-25 feet to enter them. They're on a small upland above a broad valley surrounded by mesas, and the entrance overlooks a creek that winds along below.

The caves were tight, with lots of crawls, low passages, and with plenty of loose roofs to stress over. That being said, the caves are simple, and easy to navigate. Of the two, Marble Cave is the more dramatic, based around a long, central hall that other paths branch off of. Fly Cave is muddier, smaller, and more of a tangle of narrow tubes. As an afterthought to Marble, I thought it was a poor one. ​

The landscape is gorgeous, hitting that unique blend of prairie and desert that you get in the American southwest. Outside, it was upwards of 90 F when our team visited the caves, but inside the caves, the temperature remains a comfortable 50-something all year round. Leading a club trip is always a bit like herding cats. People need helmets, kneepads, and headlamps. We have to do our best to make sure nobody with claustrophobia downplays how bad they can get and end up having a panic attack in a tight squeeze. Then there's the question of finding a ride for everyone, finding drivers, feeding people, and finding someone that we can get information on/access to the caves from. All told, its a few weeks of preparation for each trip.