Providence Mountains

I had an unexpected day off on November 2nd, so Roy and I decided to go exploring. Years ago, 20+ I heard about a cave that had been found with a small opening. The opening is too small to even stick your head in, but the cave then opens up and goes vertically down an unknown distance. I found the cave and looked at it a couple of times and then haven't been back since. I had told this story to Roy and he has been intrigued ever since, so much so that he has put together a remote video camera system that could be lowered into the cave to see if it goes around the corner and dead ends, or if it could be the next big thing.

We start before dawn and watch the sun come up on a beautiful day. We drove out to the Providence Mountains reminiscing about other adventures (or misadventures) we've had in the Mojave National Preserve. After about a three hour drive we were at the visitor center. We checked in the Ranger to let staff know what we were up to so they didn't mistake us for ne'er-do-wells. Hey, you can't blame us for trying.

Soon we made our way out to where I thought I would quickly find the cave and we started searching.
According to the park web site, they have big horn sheep at the higher elevations, I don't know about that, but it appears they have deer.

We wandered around the hillsides and bases of the cliffs, searching and searching. We found that the area is very rugged, but not the cave we were looking for.

There are other caves in the area, one of the more famous ones, besides the Mitchell Caverns, is Cave of the Winding Stair, it's easy to identify because of the locked gate.

We searched high and low, note our vehicle in the distance.

I did find some potential caves, but not the one I was looking for. I also found lots of cactus, I was able to remove about a half dozen cholla balls from my legs. Of course, lot's of cat claw acacia found me, I have lots of scabs to prove it. Next time I'm going to wear long pants.
The rock formations are very interesting, in this area the rock is limestone, which can be very sharp. In places there are intrusions called xenoliths imbedded in the limestone. After more hours than I care to remember (sort of) we gave up. The day before in Joshua Tree I had been unable to find the iron door cave. Now I'm beginning to have real credibility problems.

As we drove back out to the visitor center we noticed this dead yucca. I thought someone decorated it until I got a closer look, how weird is that?

This barrel cactus is competing for the most suckers, I counted at least seven barrels.

I love the views from the porch at the visitor center.

Another view from the porch.

A cave formation on the porch.

I always enjoy the Providence Mountains, but this visit was very frustrating for me. I now have a grudge visit, I'm going to find the cave. It's just a matter of time and of course that's the real problem, we never seem to have enough time.