National Park – Exploring Oregon

In southwest Oregon, just outside the city of Cave Junction. There is the Siskiyou mountains. A part of these mountains contains the Oregon caves often call the marbles halls of Oregon. Officially these caves are called Oregon Caves National Monument. Oregon’s national park services have designated the caves as a national park and the general public is allowed to visit these parks and go on tours.

While the caves have existed for many centuries, they weren’t established as Oregon’s cave national monument until 1909. Before then these were regularly old caves that not even natives used. Before 1909, the first use of these caves was when Walter C. Burch had heard about from family and in a desire to make money viva giving tours to these caves. But Walter was unable to obtain the rights to the land and abandon the idea. in 1903, President Teddy Roosevelt had taken away millions of acres of land from the public domain to create national parks. This area also included the southwest area of Oregon that included the national caves. Three years later, Congress had passed the antiquities act which allowed presidents use unused land to establish national monuments. In 1909, president Taft had officially establish the Oregon Caves National monument at the land.

The Oregon Caves are typically open from March to end of September. But as of right now due to covid the 2021 season for tourist as closed with plans to hopefully get the caves back up and running in March. Though once open you are able to book visits to the park and go on tours.

The park services offer four kinds of tours, that tourist can go on. First one is the discovery cave tour these tours have you explore the dark depths of the caves with a tour guide. Lasting 90 minutes and limited to 15 people you will make various stops during the visit such as an huge room that is 220 feet below the surface.

The candlelight tour lets you explore the caves in the same way that first who set foot exploring the cave did. By going through pitch darkness with candle as you’re only source of light. Held at the end of the day, these tours are 60 minutes and limited to 12 people and children younger then 10 aren’t allowed to explore, as long you stick with the guide you should be safe though.

Off-trail caving touring is perhaps the most interesting one for those looking for a thrill. This three hour experience takes seven people through the more cramp areas of the cave, teaching them to get out off dangerous paths such as having to crawl through tight spaces such as boulders. These caves are considered both emotional and physically draining and need to be 15 or older to be allowed to take the tour. The last kind of tour is one for family’s,

The kids and family Cave Tour is a safe tour through the caves where the caves are suppose to be family friendly and safe to go through. However though children under the age of 13 must be at least 42 inches tall and parents are not allowed to hold their small children, therefore forbidding small kids from entering.

Areas outside of the caves are allowed for visitors to camp the night there. For 10 dollars a night, you will be able to camp in a forest besides Cave Creek which is just four miles away from the Cave’s entrance. There are 17 sites for camping within the campsite and its a first come first serve bases. There is also a lodge for visitors to stay the night if they prefer a more indoor environment. Having 23 bedrooms in the lodge, its a big place for those looking for a more comfy option to staying the night. There is a dining room located within the lodge that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner to those that are staying. However, the lodge is currently being remodeled and is closed for the time being with an reopen date unknown. There is also a coffee shop called The Caves Cafe and a restaurant called Chateau Dining Room, but much like the lodge both of them are ongoing remodeling and its suggested you bring you’re own food for a picnic.

As for the wildlife, the place is full of birds, mammals, and amphibians. There are various birds that can be found outside of the caves such as owls, ravens, stellar jay’s, and sooty grouses. For amphibians, there are the typical ones you can usual find in places like these such as frogs and lizards. Now as for the mammals, you obviously have dear and squirrels, but there are also both couag’s and black bears. While both of those can be considered to be dangerous its animals, they tend to leave humans alone and its in you’re best interest as a whole to avoid making contact or interacting with either of them.

Oregon’s caves are a fun and interesting place. The park offers a nice variety tours for those looking to go on some kind of adventure. This is also an fun place just to stay the night regardless if its just camping a few miles away from the caves or just spending the night at the lodge. Though due to remodeling and covid, none of those things can be done right now. But once everything has fully reopen, make sure to book you’re trip because they might end up filling up fast.

Being one of the 7 wonders of Oregon. Carter Lake is perhaps Southern Oregon’s most famous location as its Oregon’s only national park. Known for its blue-looking and yet very clean water. The park is compromised of 183,224 acres that span mountain, forests, and of course its signature lake.

Crater Lake is known to be the deepest lake in America, and the seventh deepest lake in the world. It is approximately 1,943 feet deep. It consists of getting its water purely from rain and snow because of its no outlet structure. The water sits in a bowl land shape structure that has water level change periodically. The precipitation rate is a lot higher than the evaporation rate which doesn’t help explain where the rest of the water goes when the water level drops. This is what makes Crater Lake very unique, it is one of America’s greatest mysteries and a great place for scientists to be involved in solving this mystery.

Illustration of a cross section of Mount Mazama with present day Crater Lake, Oregon, USA. Mount Mazama’s summit collapsed during an eruption which formed Crater Lake.

Crater Lake was initially formed from the fall of a volcano 7,700 years ago. The volcano was Mount Mazama that was 12,000 feet tall. You can see on the image above, the volcano stood on top of what’s now called Crater Lake. The fall of Mount Mazama was a symbol to the Makalak natives who would explain the origins of it’s fall. It consisted of two spirits getting into a brutal battle which then the destruction of it all signified the end of the battle. The spirits were Chief of the Above World (Skell), spirit of the sky and Chief of the Below World (Llao), spirit of the mountain.

The park is also home to various wildlife most common of which are known mammals such as squirrels, dear, bats, and even bears. There are a total of 41 bears in the park and while there are more female bears than male bears, the male bears are known for traveling outside the park, so try and be safe when adventuring in the area. American Pika also inhabit the park, these little guys are small creatures that can be around rock slopes and in the meadows throughout the summer and fall, but go into hibernation once the snow covers their den. Bat’s also can be found in the park, living in the various caves in the area obviously. Amphibians is another species that can be found in Carter Lake with the most common of which being Frogs and Lizards which are often seen around the lake.

Pika sitting on a boulder — Image of a Pika taken from natural park services website

For activities you can do at the lake there is obviously being able to go out on a hike. There are multiple trails throughout the park that can be walked such as the mount Scott trail, Garfield park trail, Plaikni Falls Trail, and Cleetwood Cove Trail just to name a few of these trails. They range from 2 to 4 miles and are fairly simple to walk. Cycling is another activity that is popular in the lake though bikes are not allowed on the trails, there is a single dirt road you can bring a mountain bike on. As for camping, there are two campsites at Crater Lake. The first campsite is the Mazama campgrounds, open through June to September the site provides 214 rentable sites areas for showering, laundry, and even internet connection as well as a store. The second lake is the Lost Greek Campground which has 16 sites to reserve and operates from June to Mid October. Lost Greek lacks a lot of the features compared to Mazama as it was built for a more traditional tent set up. For those looking to swim in the lake, an area within Greekwood Trail has been made safe for swimming and it opens mid-June and is open throughout the summer, but be warned the water in the lake is known to be very cold.

Crater Lake is a place full of wonder and mystery. As Oregon’s only national park, it has earned its reputation as one of Oregon’s seven wonders due to some of the strange things about the origins of the lake. As a national park, the government has made sure its safe for both visitors and the wildlife that live in the park. For those visiting the park, there are plenty of fun activities that can be done there such as camping, hiking, biking, and swimming. All of this has made Crater Lake perhaps Southern Oregon’s most interesting place to visit.

Category: National Park

The Marble Halls of Oregon: Oregon’s Caves

Crater Lake: Oregon’s Only Natural Park is a Must Visit