Caving / Spelunking
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Devil's Hole (or Hell's Kitchen) is part of the "Smith's Crack" caving system. There are many different caves in the area, but not all have been documented yet. Devil's Hole is basically a 300 yard decent into the earth. There is one forty foot shaft at the entrance of the cave, that would require a rope to descend. The cave requires some experience in climbing. It is a nice intermediate cave. The cave is often wet and muddy, even in the dry season. As implied by its name, once you get to the bottom, you have to climb back out. Be careful.
Caving / Spelunking Reviews for Devil's Hole Idaho
When we first discovered and dove this cave, we didn't think anyone had found it before. It's pretty well hidden, and due to the indent where the hole is located, tumbleweeds have a tendency to get stuck, making it all buy impossible to find. Myself and a group of friends found it by accident, and decided to take a venture through. Originally calling it the Deep End, we had a bit of an adventure going through. As the description says, it starts off with about a 40 foot drop from the opening, which is pretty much impossible to traverse without a rope. The cave levels off for bit, with a slight downslope through some pretty tight fissure settings, then drops straight down, so far that the lights that we had couldn't even see the bottom. It was possible to do without ropes, as that's how we did it, but i would highly suggest the use of them if you try, as it is VERY slippery, just on the way down, and the way up is ever worse, which i'll cover in a second. At the bottom, depending on the time of year, you'll find a wonderful pit of sticky mud. We went mid spring, and found ourselves almost knee deep in water, but when we went again mid summer, the water had sunk in, but it was still very muddy. At the bottom, there's a small open area, maybe 40 feet around, and a tunnel leading down into a separate area only a bit smaller than the first.Nothing really to see The descent up is far more difficult that going down, due to the mud buildup on your boots or shoes, causing tenuous footing at best. Be very cautious, and take your time. Between the mud and the wet rocks, we had a few close calls and a very very close fall. Again, i suggest ropes, at least 300 feet in length, unless you are a veteran climber or spelunker. Happy diving!
-Tonsai
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