Day 58: Cave Junction, OR to Lava Beds National Monument, CA

After a beautiful sunrise, we packed up and headed off for gas and groceries before heading out of town.

We left blue skies at the state line and headed into rain in California. 

Our destination was Lava Beds National Monument. We got our cave permit, found a campsite and ate lunch, and headed to the visitors’ centre for some expert advice on which caves to explore.

Schonchin Butte.

Campsite 18 at Indian Wells Campground.

You can’t tell from the surface that there is anything special going on underground. But there is…

We spent the afternoon in cave exploration mode. There are over 800 lava tubes in this area! Unbelievable, eh? 

We started in Golden Dome Cave which has a layer of hydrophobic (water hating) bacteria on the ceiling and in the cave’s cracks that looks like sparkling gold. If I was an early explorer, I would have sworn we’d struck it rich. It was gorgeous - golden dome, indeed!

Seamus’ butt as he crawled through a tight passage.

Lavacicles as lava drips dried hanging from the ceiling.

We also checked out Sunshine Cave which had two skylight openings in the ceiling where parts of the tube had collapsed.

Posing in the skylight.

Upper and Lower Sentinel Cave connected - which was cool - but these caves were absolutely filled with pack rat poop - very ew! We were careful not to disturb the poop and sanitized our hands thoroughly afterwards for what that is worth. I hope we don’t get hantavirus!

Mushpot Cave was paved and lit with electric lights.

Indian Well Cave had no water or well anymore, but it did have rock scrambling which the boys enjoyed. I have come to the realization that rock scrambling is a young person’s game - I had flash backs to our trek a few days ago at Ape Cave - but both Ian and I made it through relatively easily today (albeit slowly) since the cave was a pretty short stretch.

Indian Well Cave had a big cave opening.

Cool lava formations on the ceiling.

Luckily the weather cleared up by dinner, allowing us to make hotdogs over the campfire. We are wiped out! Looking forward to bedtime.

Day 57: Canyonville to Cave Junction, OR

Our sleep in the casino parking lot was safe but a bit on the noisy side. Casinos are busy places - even overnight! This morning was laundry day, so our first stop was Sunshine Laundromat in Grants Pass. The eight load capacity washers were a game changer, turning washing from an eight hour extreme event to a manageable two hour task.

The boys were mostly well behaved and helpful. After everything was cleaned, dried, folded and put away, we treated them to brunch at Powderhorn Cafe and Pie Shop. As always, anything that results in full bellies is a huge hit. Liam opted for enormous pancakes, Seamus and I for eggs and bacon or sausage (Seamus chose the biscuit instead of toast which turned out to be a very tasty move), and Daddy and Ali had hamburgers and fries. 

After dropping off our trailer at the KOA Campground in Cave Junction, we navigated the switchbacks up a mountain to visit the Oregon Caves. This was an underrated cave, for sure. Available to see only by guided tour, there were not very many visitors given the diversity and quality of the formations inside. The cave height was on the shorter side meaning we had to bend to get through many passages which made walking through the cave really interesting. Our guide was a very enthusiastic volunteer, so the tour was fantastic. We saw stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, draperies, columns, popcorn and more. The tour wove right through and directly beside the formations, which was very different than other tours we’ve been on where the formations are far away or even caged off. It was definitely a worthwhile place to visit. We even saw a teeny tiny brown bat and a humongous centipede. Thank goodness we didn’t see their resident salamanders; apparently they are a foot long (no joke, we Googled it) which would have been way too much salamander for me.

Heart shaped moonmilk (cave bacteria).

Sleeping brown bat.

Liam sized column.

Jellyfish room.

Dinner, back at the campground, was the last of our flounder catch. We have joking named this meal “trash fish” because, while it tastes fine, it stinks like burning garbage. Needless to say, while we are grateful for its nourishment, we are glad to have the flounder out of our freezer and out of our lives.

After showers - the best of the trip so far - and firing up the AC in the camper for the first time on the trip, we will all be climbing into beds made with clean sheets tonight. Looking forward to a great sleep.