This was part of the annual New Years trip for 2015.  This year it was a long haul out to Tucson with the main goal of finally getting to explore Cave of the Bells after missing out the previous year.

New Years 2015

• 01/01 Muggins Peak 
• 01/02 Tucson Mine Exploration
• 01/03 Cave of the Bells (this entry)
• 01/04 El Dorado Hot Spring & home

Jen and I had tried to do this cave before.  Back in December of 2013 Cave of the Bells was planned as our last activity of a multi-cave multi-peak extravaganza.  We jumped through all the hoops, had our permit and the gate key, and spent the night camped out front only to have a freak occurrence hit when Jeff was bitten in the face by a skunk while sleeping out on the ground.

January 2nd & 3rd, 2015

Cave of the Bells

[Pics] [Map]

December 30th, 2013

This was the 4th day of an extended New Years 2014 Trip out to the Tucson area. We'd spent all day underground in Crystal Cave, used Peppersauce Cave as a recovery day, attempted Elephant Head, and then Finger Rock before planning to finish with Cave of the Bells. And we probably would have done that one if wasn't for a slight animal encounter the last night.

Finger Rock is the tiny spindle in the picture above.  It's not usually the sort of peak I go for but had the reputation for being a fun 5.6-5.8 climb with a relatively short approach.  This meant we could run into town and pick up the cave permit we needed in the morning.

Wheeeeeeee!  The previous day had been a mad dash flying back from Sacramento where I'd spent Christmas with my parents only to stay in Orange County just long enough to throw all my climbing gear into the jeep and take off east with Jeff and Jen reaching Tucson late that night.

A long long drive later we found ourselves driving down a slightly less remote dirt road that I generally prefer in order to find a quiet -ish place to bivy for the night.  We settled down amid the scattered debris and passed out.

The only reason we were camped this close to a major city was because the following morning we were picking up a key for Crystal Cave which would kick off 5 days, 3 caves, 2 5th class peaks, and a fair amount of driving.  Throw in a middle of nowhere speeding ticket, a technical peak bailout, and one skunk attack to the face while sleeping (yes skunk and yes to the FACE), and we were in for a suitably eventful few days.

December 27th, 2013

Chiricahua Crystal Cave

[PicsM] [PicsJ] [Map]