Oregon Caves NM & Preserve

The Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve offers adventure above and below ground. There are historic buildings, the cave tour, and several hiking trails leading to dramatic overlooks, deep forest, babbling creeks, and flowing waterfalls.

We made our cave tour reservation months ago, as they go very quickly in the summer. So, we check in and then head out to explore our first trail.

No Name Trail

Yes, the trail is literally named “No Name Trail”. This 1.6 mile trail descends sharply into Oregon Caves National Preserve and has several short offshoots.

Waterfalls along No Name Creek

We find the offshoots as the trail begins to ascend back up to the Visitor Center & cave entrance. They are short, and worth taking as each leads to a waterfall view.

Visitor Center Chalet

Built in 1924, the Visitor’s Center Chalet is the first permanent structure in the park. The breezeway and third floor were added in 1942 and now house the summer cave guides.

Chateau

Completed in 1934 the Chateau was built from local material in a very rustic style. It features a grand marble fireplace, massive ponderosa pine pillars, and beams of Douglas fir. The building itself is a National Historic Landmark and was an operating hotel until 2019. It closed temporarily for remodeling and updating; but unfortunately has yet to reopen.

Cave Tour

After exploring some opportunities in the forest around the cave, we head back to the truck to drop our hiking packs and grab our warmer top layers. They only allow you to bring yourself and a handheld camera into the cave. No bags and absolutely no food or water.

The Path

Ranger led tours through the cave have been available for over 100 years. Today’s tour traverses over a half mile of twisting, turning passages while learning about the cave’s natural and cultural history.

The cave’s foundation was formed long ago by bacterial reefs depositing calcite in layers; thereby creating limestone. Later, the limestone was exposed to intense heat baking it into marble. Afterward, the marble rose up with other lightweight rocks to form the Siskiyou Mountains.

The caves themselves are formed by water mixing with carbon dioxide in forest soils to make a weak acid. This acid then trickles down into the bedrock dissolving openings through the layers of marble, creating caverns below. The caverns we explore today have been formed over 100’s of years and they are continuing to evolve each day. Below are some of the more interesting formations found in the cave.

Flowstone

The most common of all cave deposits, flowstone is a sheet-like deposit formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave.

Drapery

Probably the most beautiful of the cave formations, these incredible sights are formed when waterdrops flow down a sloped ceiling, building up in a line, before finally dripping to the floor.

Stalagmites

Stalagmites grow up from the cave floor in a mound shape, often appearing like an inverted stalactite.

Stalactites

Stalactites hang down from the ceiling or sides of a cave in an icicle shape, often with a pointed tip.

Columns

Columns form if stalactites and stalagmites continue to form and eventually meet.

Water

Groundwater continues to carve and decorate the caves as it’s done for the past millennia. Once the water flows out of the caves it empties into the Illinois River; which we learn is one of the last free-flowing, undammed rivers in the Pacific Northwest.

Marble

Going through the cave, we find some really spectacular patterns in the marble.

Animals

We are also lucky enough to see a few animals along the way.

Unusual Sights

Nature Trail

The end of the cave tour comes out on the Cliff Nature Trail. So we quickly remove our top layers (needed for warmth while in the cave) and head up our second and last trail for the day. This short; but nice hike leads to an incredible overlook of the Siskiyou Mountains. We also find some interesting little holes in the mountain releasing very cold air from the caves below.

Roadside Surprise

On the way down the narrow, winding road back to town we come across this interesting fellow. It is dinnertime; but he’s definitely not on the menu.

Laughing Alpaca Campground

We opted to stay in Cave Junction at the Laughing Alpaca Campground for our visit to Oregon Caves. It’s a wonderful little campground with great amenities right on the Illinois River. There’s a mix of permanent and long term residents in addition to the regular short-term stays like us.

It was also helpful to have power given the temps were in the high 80’s or low 90’s, and we were stuck indoors a few days due to extremely unhealthy air quality from nearby fires. Air conditioning to the rescue!

Next stop… Crater Lake National Park