Logan Cave and Ricks Spring

On our quick weekend getaway to Bear Lake we stopped by these two neat features in Logan Canyon. I decided they deserved their own article.

Logan Cave

Logan Cave is apparently a pretty cool cave system, that unfortunately suffered a lot of vandalism. Due to that, and wanting to protect the endangered Long Eared Bat it has been fenced off and is no longer accessible. However it is a pretty neat little spot to stop by.

Quick Details:

Length: About 150 Yards to The cave
Difficulty: DR4 Steep and loose rocks
Elevation Gain: 50 Ft
Restroom: No
Dogs? Not sure going with a no due to the bats.
Extra Info: You cannot get into the cave. If you were hoping for a cool cave adventure this is not it.

Directions: It is approximately 11.9 miles up from the mouth of Logan Canyon on the left, north side of the road.

View up the canyon.

And the waterfall coming out of the cave.

Some of it going back underground.

And some of it coming up out of the ground.

Picked up some hitchhikers.

This area is cool! Lots of little caves and alcoves!

The main cave has been fenced off. Unfortunately there has been years of vandalism that have destroyed a lot of the interesting features, and they are trying to protect an endangered Long Eared Bat.

Looking Down Canyon.

Ranger sign advising of the closure.

The waterfall again. It is definitely no Spouting Rock, but similar features caused it, just like similar features in Logan Canyon remind me of Glenwood Canyon.

Looking down canyon. Well that was pretty neat! It’s a shame you cant explore the cave anymore, but it was still cool to see the water coming out of it. Going with 8 out of 10 squirrels.

Ricks Spring

Ricks Spring is well, not really a spring at all. There is a fracture line in the rocks and years of rain and snowmelt eroded away a cave that connected to the Logan River upstream. During the summer months a good amount of the Logan River bubbles up out of a hole in the ground in this cave and it flows back down into the Logan River again. It wasn’t until one winter that the “spring” started flowing again unexpectedly. They found an ice dam on the river. Which started to lead to understanding just what was happening here.

Quick Details:

Length: NA right on the side of the road
Difficulty: DR1 Drive up and see
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: No
Dogs? Not sure but I think they are okay.
Extra Info: Best seen from April to November.

Directions: This is approximately 15.4 miles up from the mouth of Logan Canyon on the left, North side of the road..

What gives? I thought this was a heavy flowing spring? Its just a cave.

Oh, well there is a small pool at the bottom.

You can see the fracture line at this location. Which actually helps explain why this is not a spring.

The little pool. So yes, back to why it is not a spring. That fault line goes back aways and connects up river to the Logan river. April to November the water is typically high enough that the water flows out of here at a pretty good pace. Wintertime, it is just a pool.

Now here is a cool thing the signs don’t tell you. There is an underground waterfall back there through this little entrance. Don’t try to get there unless you are a professional diver, with proper equipment. You won’t make it, it is at least 2000’ of swimming underwater with no air pockets. I was a bit skeptical until I saw video of divers emerging from here on youtube. Pretty nifty we have something like that here, even if I may never get a chance to see it myself.

Looking out of the cavern.

Little side caves.

The whole thing again. During summer there will be a whole river flowing out of there. Well not a whole river, part of the Logan River but you know what I mean.

The small side cave. Supposedly it goes back about 20 feet and leads to a small room. It’s a little small for my comfort so I didn’t check it out myself.

One last shot.

One of the informative signs shows what it looks like when it is really flowing, and talks about the fracture line.

Lovely view down canyon with the snow striped cliffs.

Well even if I showed up during the inactive period it was still a really neat pit stop and I am glad we stopped to check it out. Going with 8 out of 10 squirrels for this one as well.