Northern Colorado Grotto

Forth of July weekend, the weekend of the Rocky Mountain Regional held at the White River Plateau. A time where cavers get together, see some of Colorado's most popular caves and overall have a good time. But did Randy and I go, hell no; we went off to find our own caves at Tibbetts ridge. Wanting to find Spector cave we took off honking by the regional camp ground at 2:00 AM.
Starting from the lake where we camped, we headed to the ridge that day with high hopes. We found several patches of limestone along the trail and one of the five sinks; we knew this was a promising area for caves. However, if Randy or I wandered to the west side of Tibbetts ridge, we would hit some of the thickest forest I've been in. We did not know how high or low Spector was or how far down the ridge it was. After stumbling around most of the day we turned back to camp both disappointed and excited at what we saw and didn't see.

September 10th and 11th weekend was our next trip up to Tibbetts ridge. Arriving about noon, we parked, geared up and started walking. We soon found all five sinks, becoming even more impressed with the area than before. Having a better idea as to where Spector was and was not, we started walking the west side even further towards the very end of Tibbetts ridge. It soon became very steep and cliffy, making walking slow and difficult. We found many small cracks and fissures but no Spector. Becoming tired of this terrain I headed up to the top of the ridge where the walking was easier. Up top I ran into a fissure like crack which I followed to a hole in the ground about three by four feet, going straight down. It was the most cave like thing I saw all day. After clearing many loose rocks from the entrance I climbed down a twenty foot zigzag fissure, stopping at a keyhole where it looked like it continued. I climbed back out to find Randy so we could explore this virgin cave. After yelling for several minutes at the top of the cliffs, Randy scrambled his way towards me. He geared up and down we went.

Sliding under the keyhole, the fissure flattened out into a walking passage extending about 100 feet and ending up in breakdown at an up lead to the surface. However, the fissure kept going down except there was too much breakdown blocking the way. If this could be removed, I'm sure there would be more cave. In all, there is about 125 to 150 feet of passage in this cave we named Porter Cave.
It was getting late and still no Spector, but we did find a new cave. We decided to call it a day and find Spector next year.