A bunch of friends and I went up to do some exploring in Fulford Cave this weekend. We didn’t arrive till late on Friday night and ended up setting up our tents in the dark at the Yeoman Park Campground. We still had enough time in the evening for some smores and a few beers though.

We woke up relatively early in the morning. I had my traditional camp breakfast of eggs-in-a-corned-beef-hash-nest. Then we headed up to the cave. The cave entrance is about a mile climb up the side of the hill just outside of Fulford Campground.

Once you reach the top of the trail there is a culvert that is about two feet in diameter and 75 feet long, with a broken, metal ladder that drops you into the cave.

The cave has two separate levels. We only explored the lower level this time around but we still spent about three hours underground, in the complete darkness, exploring and climbing around. Getting around is slow while trying to take note on directions to get out. Multiple tight squeezes, rope climbs, slick surfaces, and a bunch of scrambles through mud, water made the cave physically challenging. Fortunately we came prepared for the consistent for 40 degree temperatures inside.

Thoughts of the recent mining accident, knowing the fact that you are several hundred feet underground, memorizing your way around, and a several minor claustrophobic episodes made the experience mentally challenging as well.

There were all kinds of cool features inside. The large cathedral like rooms the Lower Room and the Breakdown Room were probably my favorite areas. But many enjoyed climbing the underground waterfall the most.

There were also plenty of strange geological features.

After the cave we headed back down to camp for some relaxation under the wide open sky’s of the Holy Cross Wilderness. The caves are a lot of fun for you adventurous types. If your interested in visiting, Margaret Harrison, over at Colorado Caving as a great write up about the cave. Here is fairly detail Map of Fulford Cave. Also, if your not into the cave thing, both the Yeoman Park and Fulford Cave campgrounds are beautifully located in large aspen groves with surrounding beaver ponds and fishable Brush Creek running through it all. It is all located on the edge of the holy cross wilderness and has some great hiking trails to boot.

Caught a great Beastie Boys show at Red Rocks last night. I was pretty impressed with the whole crew but it was Mix Master Mike that blew me out of the water. He made each of there songs sound spankin’ new. Even instantly recognized songs like “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” were reworked with different beats to create a song that was fresh yet familiar. You can tell the boys were having a lot of fun and relishing their time on stage and that can really make or break a show to me.

I also forgot to mention I was in Salt Lake last week for business and got to stay at the wonderful Snowbird Cliff Lodge. I also made my first ever visit to an Ikea store. To describe it in a word - overwhelming.

Cirque Du Soleil’s show Corteo was gravity defying amazingness - completely brimming over with incredible acrobatics requiring superhuman coordination.

I have never been to a Cirque show before but I had a bit of an idea of what I was in for and it didn’t let me down, it fact it far exceeded my expectations. This was nice. Basically the show is a rumpus of gymnastics, costumes, emotion, live music, and humor.

Tickets are pretty expensive but worth it and there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. I’m really excited to see love in vegas sometime in the not-too-near future. There are a few youtube clips of favorite acts after the jump.