Oregon Caves National Monument--July 2, 2008

Wednesday morning we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Oregon Caves National Monument. It was not far, but it turned out to be a long drive. From Cave Junction about 22 miles from the caves it is a 45 minute drive. The road starts out fine, but then it begins to wind and switchback and there is very little shoulder on the road. I was able to look straight down into the valley several times.Here is the view to the right of the monument sign. It was a bit hazy due to the fires further south in California.The parking area was 300 yards from the Chateau. Most parks call their inns lodges, but at Oregon Caves it is The Chateau.
We looked around the Chateau for a while then went to get our names on the list for a cave tour. The trail in the cave is 1/2 mile long and the tour takes 90 minutes. One thing we found out about caves at high elevations is that the constant temperature is lower than that in caves in Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. This cave is a constant 42 degrees! Of course we were so excited to finally have warm weather that neither of us brought our windbreakers! Oh, well. We have to have something to complain about.

As we went down into the cave we learned there are 500 steps. Not as many as other caves we have visited.Roots of the trees surrounding the cave only grow about 15 feet deep, but one had to be different. Its root was found 55 feet down in the cave. The tree is no longer standing, but the root is still in the cave.We didn't see many of the formations that we usually see--stalactites and stalagmites. We did see marble and limestone flows. We saw a lot of formations in one room--the paradise room. It was a small room at the top of 45 steep stairs. In the middle of the floor was about 2 inches of water. One poor lady had on her pretty summer sandals and very frozen feet!Besides being cold, this was also the wettest cave we have visited.
As we left the cave, I was reminded of the hanging gardens at Zion National Park. There were flowers and ferns growing on the sides of the rocks at the cave exit. These caught my eye because of the colors--green, yellow and red--all on the same plant.
We exited the cave at a higher elevation than the visitor center. We went back to the car and ate our lunch. From Oregon Caves we retraced our steps almost to Cave Junction. We turned off on Holland Loop Road as there are 3 Oregon wineries along the loop. We visited all 3 and tasted reds and whites. As we drove back through O'Brien, Oregon we saw the sheriff waiting to get those with out of state plates. We were prime suspects as we had Florida plates. Oh, well. It was a great photo opportunity. (The car is an exhibit in front of the local gas station).
The attendant topped of the tank of the CRV and we continued back to our campground. Hmmm......
I wonder what we'll do on Thursday.