Coral Cave (Pershing County, Nevada)

For our final site of the day, we return to a series of tufa caves that Nick discovered a few years ago. Located about 5 miles south of Lovelock, NV and a couple of miles north of the much more famous Lovelock Cave, these caves were also formed underwater when this entire area was covered by Lake Lahotan.

After arriving at the coordinates, we drive the jeep off-road a bit and head up the rock outcropping on foot. The entire outcropping is full of caves, some small and some a bit larger. Around the ridge a bit, a deep cave leads 20 or so feet back into the cliff. While it wouldn't be comfortable, it would be large enough to provide some decent shelter for a weary desert traveler. 

Looking above, outcroppings of tufa encrustation are in the process of flaking and crumbling off of the inner rocks. The top of the cliff, some 120 feet above would seem to make a nice perch for raptors searching the desert for easy prey and the graveyard of small mammal and reptile bones at our feet provides evidence of the feast.

As we make our way on around and up the cliff side, we approach the much large cave, the one that Nick named Coral Cave, due to the tufa formations on the roof. The walls of the 'cave' have been scratched with a few petroglyphs and the overhang has protected them from the ravages of time and erosion. Obviously, these caves provided some amount of shelter for ancient travelers.

In the distance, we see another cave and while it appears to be something of a rough hike to get there, we decide to stretch our legs and check it out. Upon arriving, I make the first approach and scramble up a flow of small, sharp loose stones that have crumbled from the cave roof. It's actually a really difficult climb/scramble to get to the cave, but I finally get there without incident. The cave turns out to be nothing more than a large overhang. Interesting, but not worth the effort to get to it. Nick decides to remain below. 

As the sun moves lower in the sky, we decide it's time to head back to Reno. This last site gave us a bit of a workout, but was interesting nonetheless. I look forward to the next trip exploring the bounty of history and nature this desert landscape has to offer.