Does anyone have info on diving to Bower Cave?

[Jake]

I'm currently re-reading the excellent "The Cave Divers" by Robert Burgess. One chapter describes a dive by Jon Lindbergh (son of Charles Lindbergh), who discovered the hidden "lake" inside Bower Cave.

I may just be failing at searching Google, but I can't find any info on whether this site is actively dived. It sounds super interesting though based on Burgess' account and this description I found in an old issue of "The Western Cave Conservancy" (which I've attached):

The cave consists of a collapse sinkhole in marble, nearly 100 feet in both diameter and depth, with a small pool at its bottom. Formerly, a “bower” of maple trees partly canopied this large roofless chamber. Several short, decorated passages can be reached by exciting climbs up the walls. An enormous submerged passage only accessible by cave diving leads over 800 feet into the hillside bordering
the Merced River, dropping to at least 240 feet deep. The cave continues inward and downward, but to follow it would require extreme cave diving expertise.​

That article goes into some detail about a mapping expedition in 1969, along with some other random diving attempts over the next several decades. The article, published in 2005, suggests that the system was mostly abandoned between 1991 and its publication date. I'd love to know what has taken place with diving it since 2005.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I went so far as to contact the USFS and BLM in 2002 to inquire about diving there. I got a massive runaround and finally a giant NO! I'm usually pretty good dealing with government entities but hit massive brick walls. I'd be up for an exploratory dive if someone can get in there.

 

[rjack321]

Have you contacted one of the California grottos about this system?

 

[Jake]

Have you contacted one of the California grottos about this system?

I haven't. I'm not a qualified cave diver so can't do this dive myself. I was just generally curious since the dive sounds interesting.

 

[rjack321]

I haven't. I'm not a qualified cave diver so can't do this dive myself. I was just generally curious since the dive sounds interesting.

There are some videos of it on youtube, looks to be closed and gated. As of ten years ago you could get a USFS pass to the site from the FS station in Groveland but not access to the actual cave.