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Upper Pasture is a mesa surrounded by canyons. The canyon forming its eastern side is Spur
Fork. Cowboy Cave is in Spur Fork. It gets its name from an inscription on the
wall dating back to 1893.
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Since the
outlaws were based so close to the cave, it is easy to assume they visited
it. If it’s not enough for you to
imagine you are standing in the same cave Butch Cassidy stood ink take a good
hard look at what you are standing on.
Take a deep breath. Suck it all
the way in and let it out. What’s that
lingering taste in your mouth? Why
that’s dried dung. Yes siree. You are standing on dried dung three feet
deep, but this no ordinary dung. Some of
it dates back 13,000 years to the days of sloth, mammoth, and bison. There’s a sign at the entrance warning you
not to take any of it which means pooper-scoopers are not allowed.
Rangers at Hans Flat are very protective of Cowboy
Cave. If you ask them about it, they
deny any knowledge of its existence. I
suppose they are saving it for future generations. It has been nominated for the National
Register of Historic Places.
Archaeologists have performed numerous tests on the floor of Cowboy Cave
and fond several distinct layers of deposits ranging throughout the 13,000
years the cave has been used for such deposits.
You will quickly recognize the most recently deposits left by local
cows.
Cowboy Cave is about a twenty minute hike from the end of
the road. Don’t take your 4x4 beyond the
parking area or you will give the rangers an excuse to close the road all the
way back to the ranger station.
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