For today's little adventure, my fiancee and I decided to take a short drive east to visit the famous Lovelock Cave. The drive to the cave takes out some dirt roads into the desert, but they prove no challenge for the jeep. When we arrive at the trail head, which is just below a small butte that houses the cave, we find a steep trail leading up to the mouth of the cave.
At approximately 80 feet long and 30 feet deep, the cave itself is relatively large compared to other examples of this type of cave I have seen over the years. A large wooden deck has been constructed inside the cave to allow more sure footing for visitors examining the charred ceiling.
Signs indicate that this cave was used by ancient Native Americans as far back as 4000 years ago. In fact, the discovery of some anciently constructed duck decoys in this cave from that period stirred a lot of interest in the archaeological community. Later, the cave became home to colonies of bats, whose guano became a much sought after commodity a century ago and which allowed for the initial discovery of the artifacts in this cave. There is also a Paiute legend of a race of red-haired giants that they warred with in ancient times. Supposedly, the last surviving members of that race hid in this cave and were killed by creating a large fire inside the cave. Reports indicate that the remains of these giants were found by modern survey's, but they have since disappeared and slipped into legend.
After a short time looking around and reading the various signage describing the legends and geology surrounding the cave, we make our way back to the parking lot and head home.
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