Curtain Cave

Curtain Cave

We drove back to the Lechucas and off-roaded into Bear Canyon. We passed many (~5) border patrol cars. Bear canyon is one of the more frequently used routes by illegal immigrants. The border patrol said a lot of Mexicans would be coming back soon because they go home to see their families over the holidays. Alan told them where we were hiking because he’s tripped border patrol sensors before. We parked in a small clearing and begin hiking the gently, uphill, sloped trail. We saw an illegal trail as we walked and later begin to see a good deal of trash left behind by the Mexicans including electrolyte drinks (used by drug runners), panties, cans, a tree with two, tied-together jeans slung over the branches. The trail became steeper as we ascended. Today we were hiking about 1.5 miles, 3 miles round trip, and going ascending 1500 feet. Eventually, we cut off trail to the right and Alan led us to an obvious, rock-covered entrance. Alan briefed the three of us on how to reach the curtain room, Greg de-rocked the entrance, and we were on our way. The entrance is below a large limestone boulder or bluff. It is 1.25’ h x 2’ w. The climb-down corkscrewed around to the cave floor. A duck-under crawlway to the left brings you into an 8’ long, elliptical, crawling room. The rocked E2 is visible in the left wall. Snails were clinging to the ceiling which was also heavily covered by daddy long legs many of which were doing the upside-down hump. Ahead and to the left, a hole sloped up and then pinched. To the right, a crawlway descended. A belly crawl immediately took off to the left which quickly became tight. I retreated and descended further into the crawl staying along the left wall. A short squeeze deposits you on a downward slope. Hugging the right wall crawls you through passage with small holes in the floor leading to the same place. To the left a tight belly crawl ascends into a small room where you duck under formations and squeeze through a small slot in the floor climbing down and crawling ahead to a ledge overlooking the Curtain Room. From here you climb down to a rock, avoiding the drop off below and to the left. The far wall is covered by flowstone which descends 15’ from ceiling to floor. Going upslope around a bend to the right exposes more pretties. On the way out Jeff and I both waited at the tight spots so Brandon could entertain us. He became a less cooperative subject during the last and tightest spot but I still managed to take 3 pictures. We exited the cave and Greg and Jeff buried the entrance. To Morning Glory Cave

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Curtain Cave Gallery

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