Was this to be the "almond roca" of the Spur? I've heard the hype before, only to be disappointed, so our hesitancy was certainly not unwarranted. But when Kelsey said the cave in Low Spur was the most unusual feature he'd ever seen in a canyon, I figured we better check it out.

We knew going into the day that this would be a very short canyon. How short, we didn't know. But man, it doesn't get any shorter than this. Pull up to a wash and park. Walk down said wash. Set a rope, down climb into the darkness. Poke around in the cave. Climb back up, and eat some lunch. Literally takes about 3 hours.

That said, it was definitely worth the 3 hours. The canyon isn't really much, outside of about 100 yards on the upcanyon side of the cave, and about 300 yards downcanyon of it. The downclimb is fairly straight forward going down, but could be a bear coming up. We did follow Kelsey's advice and set a handline to get back up though. While not mandatory, it certainly saved us some work.

After a quick downclimb through some really pretty nice features, we found ourselves in a very dark slot, and the floor completely belled out below. With a slow slide into darkness, and feet dangling in space, we popped out on the bottom and were standing inside the cave.

Continuing downcanyon, the slot is overhead, maybe 8 inches wide, and probably 50-60 feet deep. And at the bottom, just a huge cavern, with a walk out to a nice little alcove downcanyon. I think there is some truth to this being a bizarre feature. Definitely unique among the slots that I've been in. Of course, the photographer side of me was wondering when (or if) this place would light up nicely, but I'm not so sure it ever does, based on it's orientation. Nonetheless, it is a puzzling place, and one that will leave you scratching your head for a few moments.

Down from the cave is a nice tunnel that is from a huge rockfall that cleaved off the canyon walls. It is skinny down low, but doable for most folks. We came out covered in mud. Around the corner is some more tight narrows, and then what looks like a big rappel to an open canyon.

Has Low Spur become the new almond roca? Again, hard to say. But worth the time if you have other objectives in the area.

Lost Park - Bluejohn - E. Water - Low Spur - Smallcatraz - Li'l Bull - Chambers