This is the women's version. It has an Omega easy-to-adjust, semi-rigid headband with a pronounced notch for wearing the helmet…
Goshute Cave is an awesome cave with many chambers to explore. It is located at the boundary of the Goshute Canyon Wilderness Area in Nevada. Even though it is not the easiest to find, this cave is quite popular among the locals and cave explorers. Because I grew up reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, I had an obsession with caves. So of course, we had to make a stop here on our road trip through Nevada, despite having a broken toe and bruised rib ( a canyoneering injury). To get to the entrance of Goshute Cave, you will need to hike and scramble up a steep trail, gaining over 600ft in less than 0.5 miles. Inside the cave, there are over 4000ft of underground passages and chambers to explore. To be honest, Goshute Cave exceeds our expectations. We can’t wait to go back.
Goshute Cave
Ely, NV 89301
Unpaved parking lot in front of the trailhead
Free
There are no restrooms
Leave your pets at home.
0.4 mile hike | over 4000ft of passages
600ft
Moderate
Takes average 2-4 hours
Best time to explore this is the end of the Spring to Fall. Winter can be icy and dangerous
Because this cave is primitive and located in the middle of nowhere, here are a few things we recommend bringing to make sure you have a safe and awesome adventure
Before we get to the fun stuff, there are a few things we want to go over to make sure that we can protect this place for years and years to come!
Goshute Cave is located in eastern Nevada, about 1 hour drive from Ely. It is at the border of Goshute Canyon Wilderness. If you’re coming from Ely, don’t follow Google Maps directions. It will take you on off-road trails, some flooded with soft clay and water. So, unless you’re ready for that, it’s not a good idea. We had our Jeep but we had to turn back because we didn’t want to get stuck in soft clay.
The best way is to come from Currie, Nevada. To protect the Goshute Cave, we won’t tell you exactly how to get there. After all, it is half the fun to find this place. However, the main road to Goshute Cave is a well-maintained dirt road. You’ll need to turn off this well-maintained dirt road to go toward the mountain, and the rest of the way is more bumpy. For this, we recommended taking a high-clearance car. If you find yourself off-roading, you’re on the wrong way.
From the parking lot, we could see a big cave opening on the hillside. There’s also a big weathered sign about Goshute Cave at the trailhead so we knew we were in the right place. There is a picture of the cave’s map on this sign. Unfortunately, the sign was damaged by the sun so we could barely make out what was what.
To get to the entrance of the Goshute Cave, you’ll need to hike up. This trail is steep. It climbs over 600ft in less than 0.5 miles. This trail is also gravelly and rocky most of the way. There are a few sections where we have to scramble up. The way up is not that bad besides the fact that we had to stop and take a few breaks. Be careful on your way down. It can get slippery.
The cave’s entrance sits on a steep rock face, about 15-20 ft above the ground. When we were there, there was a fixed rope that we could use as a handline to scramble up. It is not that bad to climb up. There are many hands and footholds to use. We found that it was more challenging on the way back down. If you go with a group, and we recommend you do so, send your strongest climber up and down first to help spot others in the group. Also, don’t trust this rope too much. You don’t know how long it has been out in the elements, baking in the sun.
Once you get up the steep rock face, you’ll be at the entrance of the big cave, the same one you could see from the parking lot. This is not the main cave where we’ll be doing our exploration. By all means, go in and check it out. It is super cool to get some pictures from the inside of this big cave looking out.
However, the actual entrance to Goshute Cave is at the base of this big cave, near the handline. Once you’re at the base of the big cave facing it, look to your left. You’ll see a smaller opening. This is the correct entrance. You’ll know because there is a big “Goshute Cave” sign on the cave’s wall. There’s also a wooden sign-in post once crawled through the entrance.
Goshute Cave is quite big with over 4000 ft of underground passages and many chambers to explore. There are 2 main sections of the cave, the right and left of the entrance. The left section is quite dry with a lot of dust. This section has many large rooms such as the Dance Hall and our favorite room Robbers Roost. The section on the right goes through the Main Cave, down Devil Slide toward the Fountain and Liberty Bell. This section is wet and very slippery.
When we were there, there were ropes to help with the descent. However, if you can, bring your rope just in case. We included a map of Goshute Cave. The map at the entrance was damaged so we could barely make out anything. So, we tried to reconstruct this map based on the official BLM map and our memories. We hope that you can find it useful.
This left section is our favorite. After entering the Ball Room, we crawled through a small entrance to reach the huge Dance Hall Room. From the Dance Hall, there are a couple of entrances to the right that lead to 2 other rooms, one of which is Robbers Roost, our favorite room. We love the little hallway leading there. The narrow walls are full of these popcorn formations. With the light shining on them, they kind of sparkle. It reminded me of the inside of a geode. Besides these rooms, we found multiple smaller caves and passages that were very interesting to explore. At the end of the Ball Room, there was a passage that you could climb up to the upper room. It looked kind of sketchy so we opted against climbing up.
Around the Main Cave area, there is also a small room that has tons of what look like marshmallows, piling all around the cave’s walls. They are super cool to look at. Don’t forget, look only, DO NOT TOUCH!
After crawling through all the nooks and crannies, we headed back to the Main Cave and toward Devil Slide. The right side of the main cave slopes downward with many off-shoots. We crawled through many of these small rooms to check them out. Some of them are small enough just for me. Dustin couldn’t make it through.
This section of the cave has a lot of moisture. So, the floor is wet most of the time. This means it can be very slippery. When we were here, there were ropes attached right after the fountain. I recommend using it if it is there. You’ll need it.
As we went further down, we reached the Fountain first. The fountain is an interesting rock formation to the left of the cave. We found a small entrance behind the Fountain. Dustin didn’t feel like crawling through that small gap so I did. It opened up to a room with more marshmallows. There’s also another gap with a rope attached to it, dropping down about 20 feet, maybe? We didn’t bring any appropriate gear, and with a broken toe, I didn’t want to chance it so I turned back. Maybe we’ll come back next time with ropes and caving gear.
After the Fountain, we followed the handline to go further down. The cave got more eerie as we descended deeper and deeper. The ground also got more wet. As we made our way down, we saw more openings to the right. After crawling through these openings, we found ourselves in more rooms, one of them being the President Wilson Room.
Once we were done checking out this section, we returned to the Main Room and continued our way down. It can be a bit disorienting in the cave, so make sure to pay attention to where you’re at. There are also red arrows pointing the way. We found them to be helpful. After reaching Liberty Bell, this was a short distance before we reached the end of the Main Cave.
We spent over 3 hours here but I’m pretty sure we didn’t explore all of this cave. It was such an awesome adventure. We can’t wait to go back for more. If you love caves, we recommend checking out the Carlsbad Caverns. Another spot not too far from here is the Cathedral Gorge State Park. That place is super awesome!
Happy Adventuring. Don’t forget to check out the related posts below for more inspiration on your upcoming adventures. While at it, follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel! We’ll love you forever!
These are the gear that we personally use and find helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.
This is the women's version. It has an Omega easy-to-adjust, semi-rigid headband with a pronounced notch for wearing the helmet…
This is the Men's version. We love the adjustable lateral webbing and a fully adjustable chin strap that help keep…
A great starter helmet, perfect for canyoneering or Via Ferrata
These gloves are perfect for climbing, scrambling and canyoneering
Our favorite head light! It's super bright and long-lasting. We bring this on hikes, caving, and more.
This is Vy's favorite hiking bag! It has tons of room for snacks and water!
This is our go-to camera for all of our adventures. It comes with us everywhere!
Compact GoPro pole that extends to 25", perfect to bring on your adventure.
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Hi! We are Dustin & Vy, the proud creators of Live That Adventure. We created this website because we wanted to inspire others to live their lives to the fullest. On here, you’ll find everything from hiking, canyoneering, kayaking, and snorkeling to adventure and travel tips, gear reviews, and bucket list items such as bungee jumping or wing walking. We’ll show you the ropes so you can do them too!
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