It's time for a Summer Fun Run to the Lava River Ice Cave west of Flagstaff!

Come on up and COOOOOOOOOOOOOL off for a day in the Pines! The Lava River Ice Cave is a 1 mile long underground hike in 40 Deg temp's- a major change from the summer heat! I recommend at least one light source for every person in your group, fresh batteries for flash lights or a fresh tank of propane for your lantern are recommended. The enterance to the cave is steep, w/ sharp rocks. Good footwear is required, sandles or flipflop type shoes are a bad plan, the lava is pretty sharp

This is open to ALL types of vehicals, and does not require 4x4, but we will be on typical Forest Service dirt roads. The road is very dusty, and it's usually a pretty rutted, washboard road. The area has lots of primitive camping spots available for those who wish to make a weeekend of it-

Let's meet at the Belmont Truck Stop on the north side of I-40 at 10:00 AM, that gives the Phoenix folks a reasonable starting time. From I-17, take I-40 west 9 miles to the Bellmonte Exit. I will be in my Grey SAS'd 1987 Toyota Exo-Caged trail rig- you won't miss seeing it. The truck stop has a conveniance market for last minute supplies.

Later

Mark

PS:

It would be good to bring a coat if you plan on hiking the full length of the cave- it gets COLD after short time!

 

btt

 

I wouldn't mind going if I can make it, maybe I'll bring along a buddy of mine.. even though he does drive a cherokee, hehe..

 

come on up!

I don't care what kinda vehicle people drive, they're welcome to join us.

later

 

i think i may come!

 

btt

 

Alright, I'll be there for sure with a friend of mine, she is riding with me though.

 

Anyone else? crawler, are you bringing anyone with you? I'm just curious how many people to expect.

 

My wife will be coming along, one of my wheelin' buddy's and his kid should be heading up, BajaTaco is a maybe, AzRain and family might be coming up, PMurf1 may come up w/ JackA, descendents is a maybe, and there may be a few from AzBackCountry.com attending. If 10 sign up, I usually expect a little more than half to show- we'll see on Saturday morning. I'm leaving Chino Valley about 8:30 AM, It's only an hour to Bellmont via I-40, even at my maxed out 65 to 70 MPH

looks like it's gonna be about 75 Deg's up north on Sat., thats mighty nice weather!

later

 

Sounds good! I like the weather up there, I used to live in Williams. Lookin forward to meeting you guys Saturday, cya around.
Oh, and I'll probably leave Prescott around 8:00.
-Bryan

 

Yes - I will be there!

BTT

 

What are you guys doing for food? Bringing lunch to eat there or planning to go somewhere to eat? Just curious weather or not I should pack much food..

 

Thanks for coming up to the high country!

We had 7 rigs- 4 Toy's (BajaTaco, Silver954Runner, and myself representing YotaTech) a nice Rubicon on 33 MT'R's, a SAS'd Nissan truck w a Currie built Dana 44 up front- he'd been thru 2 stock IFS front ends, and PMurf1'sFord F350 tow rig. The cave was cool, but not as cold as I'd remembered- prolly about 38 to 40 degs inside. The coldest part is right at the enterance. It took us about an hour and a half to walk in and out of the cave. It's becoming a popular summer destination- we saw several large groups heading in and out of the cave. We then headed up past Pumpkin Center on the west side of Kendrick Peak for lunch, and saw several dozen Elk prior to coming out on Hyway 180. Several of us then had a good meal at Garcia's in Flag prior to heading home.

See ya next time!