Overview

Hype:

Small crystal fragments in mine tailings and fossils in nearby limestone rocks.

Time:

Fees: None

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Features:

Mining
No Drinking Water
Mountains
Wayfinding
No Restrooms
Road Access is Dirt - Low Clearance
Access Road is 2WD Accessible

Getting There

Navigate to 40.116278, -111.826955.

Park on the shoulder of the road then walk 600 feet down the ridge to the prospect.

Location

Closest City or Region: West Mountain, Utah

Coordinates: 40.114463, -111.827519

View larger map

May 17, 2021 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Savannah Dye, Madilyn Dye, Cooper Dye,

Story

For family night, we grabbed some fast food and headed over to West Mountain and explored around a bit.

We stopped at the Cave of the Chocolate Drop first. Everyone but Tara dropped into the entrance pit, but only Savannah could fit down the crack in the floor. She wriggled down a ways until she got to a dropoff that was too big for her to safely climb down on her own then she came back up. We were amazed by how much air was blowing through the cave and by how hot and humid it was.

After the cave, we walked down the hill to a prospect. The prospect doesn't have a name as far as we know, but it shows up on the USGS topo maps. We found some cool crystals on the wall of the mine, so after we took some pictures inside the prospect, we dug around in the tailing pile for a while. We found a bunch of small crystals and geodes and had fun rockhounding a bit. Immediately to the side of the tailing pile, we found a bunch of limestone rocks with a high concentration of fossils in them, so that was exciting too.

Next we drove up to the peak of West Mountain and looked out over the valley. It was windy and starting to get chilly, so we didn't stay too long.

On the way back down the mountain, we saw a small cave on the side of the hill next to a shooting range, so we stopped to explore it. There was a sign about protecting rock art, so we explored around a bit and found several petroglyphs on the boulders and several more small saves or alcoves.