Rock Rooms in Elk Mountain?

[EricN]

Glad I stumbled across this thread!   I have some family coming down from Colorado in early May and I was going to take them to the Wichitas.  I think if you have ever been in the Rockies, it only serves to enhance your appreciation for the incredible age of this mountain range.  Pretty sure they'll dig it.

I have heard about the Rock Rooms and made one half-assed (and wholly unsuccesful) attempt to find them the last time I was on top of Elk Mountain... looking forward to making a real attempt at it next month.   Any more information or help that anyone can post is appreciated.

[ctwist]

I was always under the impression that the boulder rooms entrance was on the south end of the Boulder field along  Charons garden trail, below and south of Apple and pear. I mean afterall the green hiking trail guide that you get at the refuge indicates that, and there ARE boulder rooms there complete with Bats.

On top of Elk Mountain, somewhere south of Apple pear in a canyon, I've also run into some chains that are attached to a wall above a narrow ledge where down below this ledge is a dark hole or cave that I can't see the bottom of to see how deep it is. There seems to be rooms in that area also.

To sum it up, the Refuge hiking brochures show the boulder rooms to be on or run along Charons garden trails.We entered these rooms by hiking north from Treasure lake until we reached the south end of the boulder field along Charons garden trail.

Is there more than one Boulder rooms?

More info on those chains would be appreciated also. What are they there for, who put them there, what for, how long have they been there, are they safe? I was afraid to use them with my 200 pounds plus. No idea how far it is to the bottom of that black pit below those chains.

[GuyB]

Can you mark this area on the map?

[mattking]

Yeah the chains were put there after a gentle men had died there crossing that gap years ago.  I think they go up to the Treasure Cove climbing area.  THEY ARE THERE FOR YOUR SAFTEY!  And no I don't think there is another rock room.  I'm sure there is some one on here that will know more than I about this.  Thanks for asking and enjoy our paradise!

--Matt

[BenTheGrate]

The confusion here is between two different areas, one called The Rock Rooms which are in Treasure Cove on top of Elk Mountain, and one called the Boulder Rooms which are in the Valley of Boulders along the Charons Garden trail west of Elk Mountain.  They are two separate areas.  But they are not the only talus caves in the wildlife refuge...they can be found all over the place.  (Talus cave means a navigable passage in total darkness beneath piled boulders.)

FYI, one of the longest talus caves in the US is at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area near Fredericksburg, TX.  It's just over 1000 feet long in the totally dark part, and it's a wild and hairy scramble if you go the whole length.  The area around Enchanted Rock looks a lot like the Wichitas...large granite boulders piled haphazardly on top of each other.

[rabbit]

Well, I thought about going up there and getting GPS cordinates for the entrance, but looking back on my 4 trips it took to find the route to the entrance made me realize seaching for the thing is alot of the adventure. I went in quite a few "wrong caves" that were short or dead ended. One of my best adventure memories was in an unknown cave we thought might be rock rooms watching my son's headlight disappear in a narrow tunnel under a boulder with water up to his neck, then seeing it slowly re-appear about 10 minutes later. "HOLY SH*T DAD! THIS IS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC"!! Yahoo......the meaning of life!

[frank]

Well, I thought about going up there and getting GPS cordinates for the entrance, but looking back on my 4 trips it took to find the route to the entrance made me realize seaching for the thing is alot of the adventure. I went in quite a few "wrong caves" that were short or dead ended. One of my best adventure memories was in an unknown cave we thought might be rock rooms watching my son's headlight disappear in a narrow tunnel under a boulder with water up to his neck, then seeing it slowly re-appear about 10 minutes later. "HOLY SH*T DAD! THIS IS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC"!! Yahoo......the meaning of life!

perfect

[roger fritz]

My family has visited the refuge several times. Last Thanksgiving my daughter and a nephew of mine spent a long weekend in these areas. We took 2-days to find the chains, and caves under them. That was the beginning of the adventures. On the 2nd day we found the chains just before dark and descended via rappel to the bottom. We played in the dark of the boulders and climbed out in the dark of the night. Hiking out in the dark is maybe not the best idea but thats what we did.
The use of a GPS and coordinates would have taken away from the fun days we had scrambling on those rocks and discovering all of those spots we found in persuit of the chain caves. A GPS would be beneficial in a medical emergency but other than that...explore!

roger

[thetravelor]

Uh... ya.  Same message as I just left for you titled Water Caves.

Alan Thode - author of HIKING THE WICHITAS

[rabbit]

I think I finally figured out how to post pics.