In keeping with my
collecting of National Park stamps, we decided to visit Oregon Caves National
Monument today. We had never heard of this park, but people told us it was very
nice and a good day trip from Grants Pass. It is located in Siskiyou National
Forest, at about 4000 ft., an hour and a half drive from Grants Pass. We had
another beautiful, windy drive through pine, madrone, big oak, and spruce
forest. The cave was discovered in the late 1800’s by a hunter and his dog. It
has been under the park service since the 1920’s. There is a beautiful and
historic chalet where guests can stay (similar to Yosemite Lodge). In the
1930’s the CCC did a lot of work on the trails, retaining walls, fountains and
pool (for the stream coming from the cave). It was a very beautiful spot.
We bought tickets
for the cave tour. I was not sure I could do it – over half a mile walk with
about 500 stairs in 42 deg temperature. However, I did do it with Don’s help and
was so glad. It was an interesting and exciting journey through a fairyland of
geological formations. The cave is a marble cave (most are limestone, but
marble is just limestone that has been hardened by more heat and pressure). The
formations are still formed by the action of the carbolic acid in water. We saw
them all – stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flows, riffles,
popcorn, and maybe others I have forgotten. Before they would let us on the
tour we had to verify that we had not been in Mammoth or Carlsbad Caverns in
the last 8 years. White nose syndrome is a fairly new disease that has
devastated the bat populations in Europe and some places on the east coast.
They are trying to prevent it here.
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