Oregon Caves: who knew?

For my birthday in January, I booked a few nights on the coast where we enjoyed beautiful sunsets, a cozy fireplace and wonderful pizza.  Patrick decided he wanted to see Oregon Caves National Monument for his birthday in June.  For being an Oregon boy, he's seen very little of Oregon, and I didn't even know these caves existed, so we were pretty excited about a weekend exploring Cave Junction.  The other enticing factor was our lodging: the Oregon Caves Chateau is really the only place to stay near the caves, but hey - birthdays call for splurges, right?

On the 5(ish) hour trek we stopped in The Vine Restaurant, a little taste of Tuscany in Grant's Pass.  (Our tagline, not theirs - but the gaudy burgundy and cream decor and older crowd reminded me of my hometown Italian restaurant, which bears little resemblance to an actual Italian dining establishment.)  I'm pretty sure they don't serve turkey burgers in Italy, but the friendly service and tasty food made up for that fact.  That, and the marshmallow goo.

foreground: turkey burger, Tuscan stylie
background: sweet potato fries with marshmallow goo dipping sauce

We arrived at the Chateau after dark, settled in and took a little walk around the grounds to admire the moon.

caves moon

The lodge was open, airy and warm thanks to the open fire in the main sitting area.  Antiques and random art projects were scattered among modern but comfortably worn furniture. Because of it's status as a national historic landmark, the grounds and indoors are kept immaculate and customer service is over the top.  While we were there the lodge received its monthly inspection by very serious-looking ranger-type people.  (Patrick actually had to defend my coffee cup to ensure that the inspectors didn't ding the staff for leaving empty dishes in the main sitting area.  If only we had those inspectors in the kitchens at work...)

keeping cave junction weird

The staff were really friendly (and a bit quirky) and the views of the forest were lovely.  And because it was so early in the season, we were among a handful of guests the whole weekend.  Our room was right over a small pool with a manufactured waterfall.  Man-made or not, it was peaceful and the noise from the falls helped us sleep like rocks.  In the morning we ate bagels and peanut butter by the pool, then set off on a day hike around the grounds, stopping mid-day for a snack at the lodge cafe.

seeing for miles and miles from the cliff nature trail

it's no map of joseph, but it's pretty close

 aforementioned big tree - the largest known Douglas Fir

Early that evening we took a candlelight tour of the caves.  More kitschy than a typical ranger-led tour, this quick breeze through the caves gave us the background of Elijah Davidson's discovery and subsequent explorers who tried to make money off tourism.  It was interesting and entertaining, but brief, and we looked forward to the next morning's longer lit tour that would take us deeper into the caverns.

After a day of exploring it was time for a quiet happy hour overlooking the forest, followed by the celebratory birthday dinner.  The restaurant at the lodge is the only dinner option when you stay there.  While the food was alright for the rather hefty price, they let us bring our own wine and the service was really friendly. 

happy birthday hour

 

let him eat cake!

In the morning we ate breakfast at the lodge cafe, famous for its milkshakes.  We did not try a milkshake.  I may live to regret that one day.  But I did try the cave bacon.

tastes suspiciously like regular bacon

The 90-minute tour was much more informative, and we went deep into the caves to see some pretty amazing formations.  I've visited caves in California and New Zealand but I've not seen anything quite like this before.

 rare to see stalactites and stalagmites joined like this

above the ghost room

Before heading back to I-5, we wandered around No Name trail for a bit.  Overgrown, rustic and people-free - my kind of wandering.  There were a few spots with several benches and lots of places where benches had been built into the valley walls with rocks.  Unlike the day before, this trail didn't offer much of a view but the "dead end" trails were anything but...

dead end falls along no name trail

All in all, a great weekend getaway celebration.  This "plan your own birthday present" idea seems to be working out really well.  I'm already thinking about where I want to go in January... 

I also like Sam the Eagle.

The whole reason for the Southern Oregon adventure had to do with something I read in a guide book about 500 bald eagles nesting there in the winter. I'm not a big bird fan... Well, I'm a Big Bird fan but I'm generally not into birds other than the very large, very small and very odd varieties. So, although the bird refuges just across the border in CA did not excite me, they did interest me.

I spent a lot of time that day watching raptors float mid-air on their way to doing nothing. I was guided through the auto tour by the same gorgeous golden eagle. It was a little early in the season for bald eagles en masse, but I encountered three of the nine bald eagles recently seen in the area. Two are here:

Grungy and scrappy and scavengery and therefore worthy of being our nation's emblem? Sure. Creepily watching me as I ate my sandwich and photographed them? Definitely.

These weekend trips have been tolerance experiments. I'm quite the planner, but to stay flexible (and sane) in South America I need to let some of that go. For these recent trips I knew where I was staying (and generally speaking, what was in the area). Hells Canyon Scenic Byway and Crater Lake were planned, and they were nice. The John Day Fossil Beds and Lava Bed caves were not planned - I ran across them in a guide book the night before and they ended up being my favorite part of the trip...

All of which is to say, I think the experiments are working.

Isn't she...

Klamath Lake

Miles from nowhere, not a soul in sight...

Schonchin Butte trail ~ Lava Beds National Monument

Oregon's Hellmouth

Oh yeah, but it's alright.

Here we are now going to the south side...

I headed out with a purpose: to see what Klamath Falls, Crater Lake and some other southern Oregon towns were all about. Turns out, not much. That's not a complaint. It was nice to take a break from multi-everythinging everything and just be.

Crater Lake is pretty, for sure:


And they have a nice gift shop, and they keep the road plowed to the lake's rim in the winter, and the post office at the visitor center closes at 2pm. That's about all I can say about Crater Lake. But I hear it's lovely in the summer.

Earlier that weekend I headed a bit farther south on my way to Lava Beds National Monument and ran across this sign...

... and I got a little nostalgic. I then bought a couple of postcards and got charged sales tax, and the nostalgia went away. (I suppose if I'd pumped my own gas I could've brought it back?)

I did have a lot of fun in the caves. The others I've visited (Sacramento, South Dakota, Colorado) required guided tours. Here I showed up around noon and asked the gal at the front desk what she recommended. She sent me off with two flashlights and a map. Because it's winter there, the park was empty... and as a result the whole experience was pretty amazing.

Most of the caves are upright-walkable. Some you have to crouch in places, and a few require crawling. I didn't do the crawling ones out of respect for my knees (and my closet claustrophobia), but I definitely got deep underground in a few.

(Golden Dome)

In one of the first caves I explored, about 200 feet in I turned off the flashlight and stood in the dark listening. Outside, the wind was loud and gusting and the temperature was around 25 degrees. Inside the cave it was a balmy 55, slightly humid and... absolutely silent.

It was amazing.

After a few minutes of silence I was reminded of recent mountain lion attacks in the area and I freaked out a little. "Surely they wouldn't just let people wander around solo if mountain lions were in the area. Surely. Right? I mean, this is a national monument, after all."

And then 25 years of pop culture kicked in. I saw a flash of the Indiana Jones scene where the water comes gushing through the tunnel, and I freaked out a little more and turned the flashlight back on. And then I saw flashes from The Lost Boys and I jerked the flashlight up to make sure no vamps or bats were lounging over my head. And then I remembered the cave scenes from The Goonies, which I'd watched on fuzzy cable the night before... And then two dozen scenes from Buffy ran through my head, and then...

And then I laughed at myself, appreciated the adrenaline rush, and moved on to the next cave. (And? That night on fuzzy cable? The Lost Boys! How serendipitously odd.)

Driving sideways, taken in by the scenery...

Five more random pictures taken on the way to Klamath Falls...

Waldo Lake ~ Highway 58

Tree photobomber ~ Waldo Lake, Highway 58

Where they hide the stumps ~ Highway 58

They don't waste time with superfluous words in Southern OR

Trailhead Cafe (good stuff!) ~ Oakridge, OR

Seasons change with the scenery.

Approximately 10 minutes after I commented, "wow, it's gorgeous and sunny on the way to Klamath Falls" on my friend's Facebook status where she was lamenting crappy PDX weather, I hit the dreaded "chains required" sign and 30 degrees. I begrudgingly turned my car around and headed to the Les Schwab I'd passed a few miles back for the quintessential-but-rarely-utilized PNW car accessory.

A mere 20 minutes later I was suited up and ready to brave the snowy mountain. I didn't end up needing those chains, but let's all take a moment to thank our various deities for strategically placed Les Schwab dealers in the middle of nowhere...

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Take the last train to Clarksville.

along Highway 58