Neffs Cave is a cave

Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...

 in the Wasatch mountains

Wasatch Range

The Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches approximately from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...

 near Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus, Utah

Mount Olympus was a census-designated place in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, that has since been consolidated with neighboring Millcreek CDP. The area within the former CDP is located on the slopes of Mount Olympus of the Wasatch Range...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Neff Canyon Cave is not a legendary cave that few have visited, located somewhere far back in rugged mountains. On the contrary, parts of the gully in which it lies can be seen from the windows of members of the Salt Lake Grotto

Grotto (National Speleological Society)

A Grotto is an internal organization of the National Speleological Society . They generally function as the local NSS chapter/club. Many Grottos however, operate in areas outside of their local area, with many operating in several states. Most Grottos also participate in Regions which are loose...

 of the N.S.S.

National Speleological Society

The National Speleological Society is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally located in Washington D.C., its current offices are in Huntsville, Alabama...

 Its mouth on the west face of the rugged Wasatch Mountains is about two thousand feet above their homes and less than five miles away. A jeep road even leads off a suburban Salt Lake City street and extends to a point which is only a 45-minute hike from the cave. When it was first measured, Neffs cave was the deepest known cave in the United States, and currently is the 13th deepest at 1,163 feet.

Today the cave is closed to the public due to safety hazards. To enter the cave a person must have written consent from the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

.

Discovery

It was in 1949 that some high school boys stumbled across the obscure opening of the cave while hiking in the Wasatch Range. They squeezed into the tiny, jagged opening and saw by the dim light that the cave continued downward at a steep angle. In 1950 they returned to the cave with friends of their own age, equipped with flashlights and ropes. They tied a rope outside the cave entrance, and began to climb down along its length. Soon they came to its end and had to return home to borrow more rope. In this way they made several visits, advancing deeper and deeper into the cave. Finally, on March 22, 1950, three of the young explorers came to a great pit leading downward into the largest chamber they had yet found in the cave. It was not quite vertical, and they had plenty of rope. One by one they slid down a drop-off of more than 150 feet and continued exploring until they came to still another pit and could go no farther. When they tried to climb back up, they found the slick rock unscalable, and waited until a rescue team found them.

See also

• Cave Conservancies
  Cave Conservancies
  A cave conservancy is a specialized land trust that primarily manages caves or karst features in the United States. Organizations that serve as cave management consultants to cave owners are usually considered cave conservancies. Almost all cave conservancies are non-profit organizations, but their...
  
  
• Cave Research Foundation
  Cave Research Foundation
  The Cave Research Foundation is an American private, non-profit group dedicated to the exploration, research, and conservation of caves. The group arose in the early 1950s from the exploration efforts at Floyd Collins Crystal Cave, now within Mammoth Cave National Park...
  
  
• Caving
  Caving
  Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
  
  
• Grotto
  Grotto
  A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
  
  
• List of caves
• National Speleological Society
  National Speleological Society
  The National Speleological Society is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally located in Washington D.C., its current offices are in Huntsville, Alabama...