The Colorado Cave Survey currently administrates access to four caves: Groaning and LaSunder Caves in Garfield County, and Fly and Marble Caves in Fremont County. The Survey has been requested to provide day-to-day access management for these caves by their respective land managers (by the United States Forest Service for Groaning Cave, by the BLM for LaSunder, and by the private landowners in the case of Fly and Marble Caves). The mandate accepted by the Cave Survey is to protect the caves and to ensure continued cooperation between the caving community and the land managers.
Access to Groaning Cave has been managed by the Cave Survey since the late 1960’s, shortly after the cave’s discovery. Groaning is gated, and cavers desiring to visit the cave must request the lock combination from the Cave Survey. More information regarding Groaning Cave is available on the Groaning Cave website.
LaSunder Cave is a unique and beautiful cave in lower Deep Creek Canyon. Discovered in 1989, the cave suffered from excessive visitation, and was gated by the BLM in 1994 (with help from the Colorado Cave Survey). Following extensive negotiations between the CCS and the BLM, a management plan has been completed and the cave has been re-opened to limited visition. Details of the management plan and access requirements are available on the LaSunder Cave website.
NOTICE ! Fly and Marble Caves are have been reopened. Please see the Fly and Marble Caves website for more information.
Fly and Marble Caves had been open to public access until a change in ownership in 1999 resulted in the caves being closed for several years. Recently, however, efforts by the Cave Survey (spearheaded by Rick Rhinehart) have resulted in renewed access to these historic caves. For more information regarding visitation, please see the Fly and Marble Caves website.