Oregon Caves National Monument
Welcome to the
Oregon Caves National Monument.
Elijah Davidson is credited with having first discovered the cave when his dog Bruno chased a bear inside the cave in 1874.
It did not officially become the Oregon
Caves National Monument until 1909.
The visitors center has two upper floors which serve as dormitories
for the seasonal guides. The lower floor of this building houses the
ticket office and extensive gift shop run by the National Park Service,
which has souvenirs and a large book selection. There is also a large
theater which continuously runs a feature on the caves and the area
surrounding the monument.
The Chateau has guest rooms on three of its' six floors, a large
dining room, a retro coffee shop (built in 1937, and hardly changed
since), and large gift shop. Enjoy lounging in the massive lobby with
its' huge native marble double fireplace. And of course, no attraction
such as this would be complete without its' ghost stories. This one
seems to have more than its' share.
See
Ghosts In Southern Oregon's National Monument!
The tours are enjoyable and informative. They will take about 90
minutes, and are rated as strenuous. The tour guide will take you at a
brisk pace, as a fresh tour leaves every 15 minutes, and averages 12 to
15 people.
The "River Styx" exits the cave near where we began our tour. It was
this river that carved the massive caverns we were about to enjoy.
The entrance discovered by Elijah Davidson and "Bruno" was higher up on
the wall.
Photos are allowed in the cave, but no personal flashlights. Average temperature is 44 degrees, so dress accordingly.
Heather was our guide, and she did a great job! She was able to
answer our many questions. It took from 1909 to 1968 before the caves
allowed women guides. I guess only men had "tunnel vision" back then.
As we travel through the tunnels, I take pictures randomly, and
periodic shots of the "River Styx" as it runs beneath the man-made
walkways.
These are called "soda straws" because they are hollow. When blockage occurs, they fill up and become stalactites.
In many cases, we walk through tunnels that were created by the
Civilian Conservation Corps. of the depression era. These C.C.C. boys
did wondrous work, which enabled us to travel throughout the cave
network without having to double back. Several of these short passages
were cut by hand.
The next photo shows the results of souvenir hunters which have
ruined thousands of years of formations by breaking off the stalactites,
as you see in the center of the picture.
In the lower left corner you can barely see some signatures of early
visitors to the cave. Many names were written in pencil, and are now
permanently inside a layer of calcium carbonate, and the park service
cannot risk further destroying the cave by trying to erase them since
they were in there before careful monitoring began.
The oldest signature that was recorded was in 1905, and it is still
visible to this day! A coach of a major university and his team came
through on a tour not too many years ago, and signed their names, to the
shame of all Oregonians!
The latest vandalism occurred a couple of months ago when someone
etched his name in the wall. They may be able to remove it with acid,
but it is a very difficult process, and it was done over the top of an
earlier signature which is now categorized as "historical graffiti!"
The caves staff is very careful in instructing everyone to please not
touch or lean against anything in the cave, except the steel
handrails. Volunteers and employees run an annual "lint patrol" where
they have to remove lint left behind by humans from the cave walls.
When a stalactite (from the top) and a stalagmite (from the bottom)
meet it is known as a column. This column shows evidence of a fracture,
which likely occurred from a major earth movement in the past. The
caves are about 6 1/2 million years old, so little is known of major
earthquakes that may have caused this type of damage.
This is referred to as "drapery."
This is the "Grand Column" at a little over halfway through our journey.
The "River Styx" is visible in the lower left hand corner, and the
orange on the water's surface is reflected from the floodlight. The
dark gray in the upper part of the photo was not visible, but I have to
assume it was steam, there is no other explanation, unless it's a
ghost.
Which brings up a question I wanted to ask our guide, but since there
were two small children present, I chose not to; but when you visit
the cave, ask about the murder that was committed inside.
In some rooms, stalactites were abundant, while in others they were
non-existent, which indicates that the roof structure varies as we
travel upward, and in some places does not allow any seepage. Stalagmites in this cave are a lot more rare also.
This is known as "the Heart" of the cave.
The jagged, dark fracture on the top of this cave is evidence of a
lava flow that at one time made its' way through a fissure, and reached
the top of the cave. Possibly at that time, the cave may have been full
of cold, running water that solidified the lava and plugged the crack
in the marble ceiling.
This, the largest room discovered so far in the cave system, is called the "Ghost Room," and it has a variety of formations.
The cave itself is mostly marble, and sometimes referred to as the
"Marble Halls" of Oregon. Our guide reminded us that the substance
creating the formations in the cave is calcium carbonate and other
minerals. She said it's like being inside of a giant "Tums."
This is called the "Nightlight." It is actually the guides'
flashlight on the other side of this rock, which was several inches
thick. It is translucent, and it would be interesting to see what it
would be like if polished. Of course this will never happen, because no
one can afford that much time in prison.
We exit the cave about 230 feet higher than where we entered.
As we exited, there were several deer standing outside wondering about these strange creatures that came out of the mountain.
The cave is climate controlled by two steel doors in the tunnel
system, which maintains the temperature and the humidity so that all of
the visitors don't upset the fragile ecosystem. Bats winter in the
cave, but in the summer months they are down in the valleys. The
temperature in the cave is said to up go up 2 degrees on the average
when the bats are in residence.
Grated doors are closed in the off-season so that only the bats and
the occasional small animals can have access to the shelter. There is a
bear skeleton protected inside the cave, and we have heard that there
is evidence of jaguars and grizzly bears having sheltered in the caves
in the past.
A new cave has been discovered, and is being explored, very near the Oregon
Caves National Monument. The monument presently occupies about 480 acres, and once the new cave is added to the
Caves National Monument the area will be increased to 5000 acres.
