At the very least, it's a great yarn. But if some cavers are correct, it might also be a massive, fabulous cave tucked beneath the Rockies. The Colorado Sun explains: Back in the 1880s, a journalist named Orth Stein wrote of visiting what he dubbed the Cyclopean Cave via a mine shaft in Leadville, Colorado. He described intricate caverns, a waterfall he likened to a "hushed Niagara," countless stalactites, and even an underground river where miners were panning for gold, writes Jason Blevins. Unfortunately, Stein had a reputation for telling tall tales in print (including one about a sea serpent of the Twin Lakes), and his amazing cave was largely relegated to hoax status in the ensuing years. Today, however, a small group of dedicated spelunkers led by Richard Rhinehart thinks Stein may have been onto something.
Rhinehart, editor of the Rocky Mountain Caving Journal, pored over all the old stories, as well as maps, and pinpointed the abandoned shaft he believes should lead to the cave. For the last few years, he and a small team—with the landowner's permission—have been digging out the shaft. They've made it down about 45 laborious feet so far, and if the myth is true, that means they are closing in. Stein described the shaft as being 52 feet deep when it opened up into the legendary cavern. "The potential here is pretty fantastic," says Mike Frazier, a member of the team who has previously found caves considered lost or forgotten. "All the signs are right. But honestly, we could be in the wrong spot. You just don't know." (Read the full story.)
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