Gollum's Cave (The Cave of Death)
My search for a forgotten sealed cave with a dark past
Introduction
Gollum's Cave, or the Cave of Death as its known to some. The name itself was enough to pique my interest. As a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings, the name of this cave would be very hard to stay away from. If you aren't familiar with Gollum, you really need to sit down and watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy (yes, the extended versions, it's the only way to watch them), and educate yourself... or you could pick up the books (which are even better), but I find the movie to be a better gateway for those unfamiliar to Lord of the Rings, which should be no one.
Several years ago my brother, some mutual friends, and I had received the coordinates to a secret cave hidden in the mountains of Provo, Utah. Early one drizzly spring morning we gathered the troops, and began the several hour hike to this undisclosed location. Eventually we found it! It was a blast exploring the cave. The hike had been intense. We found ourselves on the side of a mountain, maybe an hour or two off the trail caught in a rain storm. It was absolutely thrilling and like nothing I had ever experienced before. The wind up there was blowing hard as clouds swirled around the mountainside. It was just the type of adventure I had always craved.
About a week ago I was thinking about that day. I began googling around for other caves, and that cave in particular to see if anyone else was posting about having been to it. I found a few cave bloggers posting pictures of their visits. One cave blogger known as Utah Caves had a list of caves in the state, and pictures of the ones he had explored. Among the caves listed was one called Gollum's Cave. It was only about a mile away from where I have been living for the last several years, yet I had never heard of it. As it would turn out for good reason. The cave had been sealed shut with cement after a horrible tragedy.
Layout of the Cave
The entrance features a small pool of water you must crawl through, and then a 90 foot passage which contains a fork. One way leads to a pool of water which is two feet in diameter. If you submerge yourself into the pool, there is an underwater passage about three to four feet high, and 15 feet long that leads to another room about eight feet in diameter which is where you emerge. That rooms holds about six to eight people. There is a rope that runs the length of the underwater tunnel, tied from one end to the other, that swimmers can hold onto to guide themselves through. The other fork is dry and about 200 feet in length. An actual surveying of the cave can be seen here.
My incredible drawing of Gollum's Cave.
Tragedy in Gollum's Cave
NOTE: There is a lot of conflicting information in the news articles and blogs I have read about this tragedy. I have done my best to provide all the details from them, and hopefully provide all the information so that you can decide for yourself what you think happened, and read what I think happened.
On August 17th, 2005, five friends in Provo Utah (Ariel Singer, Jennifer Lynn Galbraith, J. Blake Donner, Scott K. McDonald, and Steve Hundley) were at dinner when one of the girls began talking about Gollum's Cave, which she had previously visited. According to the news articles I read, the girl mentioned on a previous visit that the water had been so cold she had passed out, or almost passed out as claimed in other sources I read. Another stated that she had to be treated for hypothermic symptoms during that previous visit. The group jokingly dubbed it "The Cave of Death" and decided they would go that night.
The whereabouts of the cave wasn't public knowledge or known by city officials. A few people knew of its location, but it had for the most part fallen out of public memory. At the time the friends were at dinner, the cave was circulating again among people causing more visitors to seek it out. It wasn't very far up the mountain, but it was concealed by some bushes so it wasn't exactly easily spotted. To top it off, the entrance was a slit in a rock that could be easily missed.
One source says it was missed by city park employees sent to inspect the land when it was turned over to them as part of a development proposal to ensure open space. Another source states that a city parks employee had found the cave when tracking the origin of some water that was coming down the mountainside. They had found it a year previous to the tragedy, but the entrance was only 9 to 12 inches wide. I'm not sure I believe that this is the same cave or that this source can be trusted since it sounds like people have been going in for years prior, and a person can't fit through a 9 to 12 inch hole.
Their friend Steve Hundley had been to the cave previously but decided not to join them as he had work that morning. Another friend, Joseph Ferguson, ended up joining the group. They entered the cave at 3:00 AM that night, however Joseph wisely decided not to join them and wait for his friends outside. Some reports say Joseph entered the cave, but turned around when they reached the water hole. A cave blog I found claims that Joseph had entered the cave and stayed a bit longer after his friends swam through the watery hole to the other side, and that they had tugged on the rope when they had reached the room on the other side of the water tunnel to indicate to him their safe passage.
Whatever happened, after waiting 45 minutes Joseph began to worry. He called some friends who were familiar with the cave. They said that being in there longer than 45 minutes was too long and reason for concern. Joseph then called the police who promptly arrived. Search and rescue was assembled, and a plan devised. Pumps were brought to pump the water out of the cave, and pump air into the cave in case the group was in need of oxygen.
After the water level lowered about six inches, search and rescue discovered the body of a female, quoted in some sources as being the 18 year old, Ariel. As the water continued to lower, the second body of a man was found at the bottom of the water, as well as the other two bodies close by. Based on the direction the deceased were facing, authorities believe the friends made it to the far cavern and somehow failed to make it out on the return trip, as they were all in close proximity and facing the same direction. The medical examiner ruled the deaths as drownings. Some have speculated that they were either drunk or on drugs but there was no evidence of this.
Search and rescue found a few candles (one source says a few were lit, but I doubt this) in the far cavern. Two flash lights were also found in the water tunnel that seemed to have belonged to the group, but they were unsure if these belonged to the friends or previous visitors. Some speculate that the friends brought the candles, and lit them in the cavern which then burned up the oxygen leaving them without air.
Others speculated that the friends emerged from the water tunnel and were greeted by a room full of bad air which can sometimes gather in caves. It can be poisonous, but if not it can still prevent oxygen from occupying the space. The friends would have then made an attempt with less oxygen than normal to swim back through the passage, at which point the lead person may have passed out or become disoriented blocking the underwater passage for the rest of them.
Another article posted a year after the tragedy says that "a sensor later measured the oxygen concentration at only 19 percent." However this leads one to question, why were the levels so low after oxygen was pumped into the cave? Perhaps it wasn't pumped in long enough before the bodies were discovered or maybe the oxygen never reached the far cavern. Not that it would have mattered, but I found it curious. Its also possible that maybe a previous visitor had burned candles in the cave and caused the oxygen to deplete, and it had not had enough time to replenish with oxygen before the ill-fated group arrived in the cavern.
Another Utah resident, Brian Lamprey, said he had previously traversed the cave himself, and when swimming through the tunnel it was easy to kick up dirt which then clouds the water, and prevents you from seeing. He actually swam past the entrance into the six foot long dead end of the water tunnel, but was able to back up, and find the exit. This happened to Brian even with a rope to guide him back. If you throw in the possibility of bad oxygen into the mix, the franticness of the situation, and the group trying to swim back under already difficult circumstances, it seems like the most credible and likely scenario.
After the bodies had been removed authorities decided to seal the cave with cement to prevent any further disaster (one report says rocks were piled on top as well). A plaque now stands in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the cave. Friends of the deceased visited the cave after the incident to pay their respects, and put their hand prints in the still wet concrete.
In memory of those who perished.
My Visit
As a lover of adventure, and having discovered that this cave was so close to where I have been living for the last six years, I decided I needed to go and find Gollum's Cave. I was amazed that I had never heard of the incident. I have lived in Utah my entire life, and was 15 at the time of the tragedy's occurrence. We had all heard about the tragic death of John Jones in Nutty Putty Cave, but never had I heard of this.
After reading about the tragedy at Gollum's Cave, and learning that the location was less than a mile from where I live, I decided to do some research and see if I could find out where it was. No one seemed to be talking about the location or how I could find it. On November 19th, 2021, a Friday I had the day off of work, I decided that I was going to go look for it. News articles had mentioned the approximate location as being south of the "Y" on the mountain, and east of the old Seven Peaks Golf Course.
I drove as close as I could to that area and discovered that I wasn't allowed to park anywhere near there, even on the street, as strict parking rules were enforced unless I had a permit. Angrily I cursed "freaking government regulation", and went back to my car and drove to the entrance of Slate Canyon. From there I hopped on the Shoreline Trail, and headed north. I spent about three and a half hours combing the hillsides looking. Eventually it was about an hour from sunset, and I was getting pretty tired from hiking straight up hillsides looking for a cave of which I had no real idea of its location or appearance. I returned home and figured I would do deeper research and see if I could find anything.
I came home and combed over the news articles again. I discovered an image on one of them I had overlooked. It showed a really low resolution image, shot from a helicopter (or maybe it's from Google Earth) in 2005 with an X on it of the approximate location. I compared that image to the current satellite view of the same hillside on Google Maps and was able to find two places on the map between the X that were still distinguishable. One being a pattern of bushes on the hillside. I also noted that all the pictures of the cave and rescue attempt were surrounded by bushes and trees. I picked the clump of bushes nearest to the location on the old map, set a pin on my map app, and determined I would go back tomorrow.
The next day I started the same as before. I drove to the Slate Canyon parking lot and noted that it was looking a bit rainy but decided to go anyway, because... well... adventure awaits! I walked for a bit and found that I had actually been heading down the right trail the day prior, but turned around as I thought it wouldn't be that low on the mountain. I was wrong. I made my way down a really steep trail that required me to slide on my bum (I found a better way on my way back), and made my way to the bushes.
I was pretty close to civilization, but it's still a bit creepy wandering through some bushes on the mountainside, and realizing you haven't seen another human in over an hour. The ground under the bushes was covered in leaves and very soft. I came across a tarp that was buried under the leaves, and I started wondering what horrors might lie beneath, but figured maybe I didn't want to know. My mind was running wild. I wasn't able to find anything in that cluster of bushes, and I was eager to get out of there.
I had read online that there was a pile of mine tailings about 30 yards south of the cave. I found the mine tailings and then headed due north to another cluster of bushes. I walked around the their perimeter and spotted inside of the bushes a plaque, and what looked like a trail leading into their center. I moved a few branches and followed the trail deeper into the bushes. Sure enough the plaque was the one I was looking for. It was in remembrance of the deceased.
The cave was sealed, but a small trickle of water was still coming out from somewhere inside, and going down the hillside into the thicker part of the bushes. I touched the water and it was cold. I would not want to swim in that. I looked for the hand prints left by friends on the cement but was unable to find them, however a lot of the cement was covered in leaves and natural debris so they might have been concealed under that. When I left I checked down the hill for any signs of the water, and found a pipe from which water was flowing, going under nearby trail. I followed it no further.
There was a peaceful feeling there. I stayed a while and listened to the water and thought about the events of that horrific day. I thought about all the times as a kid I had done things that might be viewed as "not very smart" (like the time we put an M80 in a glass jar, yikes), and yet I was lucky enough to walk away unscathed. I would imagine many people have at least one such experience where they have done something foolish, or on a dare, but luckily for most of us it ended well. For the four friends who entered Gollum's Cave that fateful night it did not.
I think like many I wish that the tragedy had never happened. That they were still alive, and that the cave was still open and inviting us to explore its depths. Although I assure you I would never want anything to do with an underground river. I would like to have at least seen it up until that point.
Water still visible coming from the sealed entrance.
Water Mine
I discovered that Gollum's Cave was also known as Water Mine by some. Apparently when the cave had originally been found it contained a vein of precious ore. Deeming the natural tunnel to be too difficult to haul the ore through, another tunnel was dug which would provide easier access to the ore, and an easier way to extract it. There is evidence of this today as there are still two piles of mine tailings (the left over rocks and debris after they have mined it out) about thirty yards away.
I have no idea what kind of ore was found here, who mined it, or even when it was mined. I was unable to find any of the shafts or alternate entrances that were dug to access the ore which leads me to believe they have been covered up to prevent access and long forgotten. I hope some day to find some record that will provide more detail as to who created the mine and what was found here.
The mine tailings.
Navajo Gold
As I was scouring the internet for details on the history of the cave, I came across an old archive of a Geocities page (yes, that ancient website of an age long forgotten, the 90's, and which you should definitely check out after because webpages from the 90's are an absolute treasure) dated "3/4/99". On the site a man known as Terry had written about his experience with the cave.
Terry had heard a story from another man (let's call him Fred) who told Terry that his grandfather-in-law was a Navajo medicine man. The grandfather-in-law once told Fred a story about a treasure the Navajo had brought to the mountains of Utah Valley, which they "hid in a cave where a river ran through it." Fred then told Terry the approximate location of this cave. Terry had often explored this area and was familiar with several caves in the vicinity, but only one that had water flowing from it. Terry had never bothered to explore it because he was never prepared to deal with the water.
Terry says a month before he wrote about it, so some time in February of 1999, he and his friend Ben visited the cave and determined they would need additional gear to make it through the water tunnel. Originally they thought to use scuba gear, but deemed that the passage would be too narrow. They decided instead to rent a pump, and a generator (foreshadowing indeed), and pump out all of the water themselves. They did this under the cover of nightfall at 9:30 PM as Terry says the cave was on "a barren hill just east of the city where they could be easily observed." Eventually all the water was drained and they entered the passage but found no gold.
Throughout his account he describes the cave and it seems to match Gollum's Cave in every way. Terry believes that the cave is definitely man made, and that there were signs of another shaft that he thought had been intentionally filled in (maybe this is the other fork). This would explain why I have been unable to find the other entrance. Terry wrote that no tailings were found near the entrance to the cave, so someone must have scattered them to conceal them. Gollum's Cave clearly has mine tailings as I have pictures to prove it, and its not by any means a small pile. Unless perhaps those aren't the mine tailings and I am mistaken. However I am convinced that they are tailings, as there are big beams of wood in the pile (that were probably used as supports) and big thick rusted cables.
In one of the news articles I read that covers the deaths at Gollum's Cave, a man said that although he had never known of the existence of Gollum's Cave, he was familiar with a similar cave about a fourth of a mile from the location that he and friends would go to in their younger years. Could this be Terry's cave and perhaps he had never found Gollum's Cave? Terry was worried about being seen on the hillside and went under cover of night, but based on maps of the hillside in 2005, and from my visit a few days ago in 2021, the cave was very concealed under a big cluster of bushes and trees. It's possible the trees may not have been there in 1999, but seeing as the trees are visible in 2005 and are still there in 2021, I think it is possible that maybe it is a different cave. Only Terry knows. Maybe he'll see this one day and we can figure it out.
Conclusion
We may never know exactly what happened to the group of friends in Gollum's Cave on that awful night, but we may learn from their experience. Many articles I read noted that even experienced divers and cavers often meet their end in underwater sections of caves. If you come across such a thing stop and think long and hard about whether anything on the other side is worth dying for because the probability is real and it is high.
I think what we all are desperately wanting to know though is if the legend of the Navajo gold is true. Only Fred knows. Come clean Fred. We all really want to know. You know who you are.
It excites me to know that there are other caves still out there. Known to some, but not me, or anyone I know. I'm sure I'll spend some time out there looking for them. Maybe I'll get scared by a deer again coming through a bush, or maybe I'll make another couple uncomfortable like I did my first day out as I came huffing and puffing unexpectedly over a steep hill directly in front of their parked car as they were getting out at the "Y" parking lot.
Sources
https://www.ksl.com/article/95690/four-hikers-found-dead-inside-provo-cave
https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4176043&itype=NGPSID
http://www.nuttyputtycave.com/N4Die82005.html
http://web.archive.org/web/19990819222155/http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Outback/5018/wtrap.html
40°14'26"N 111°37'48"W -- Is this right? I've spent way too much time researching this, but based on your description of the mine tailings as well as the X on the old picture, I'm 99% sure it's here or very close; certainly in one of those groups of trees in that area. I wish I lived close enough to investigate myself just to see the place.