Boyd Cave/ Deschutes National Forest

[forestkeeper]

Hey everyone,
Amongst the thousands of trip reports here on PH, I haven't come across many on caving. So here is a short one. My son and I spent the weekend in Central Oregon where we attended the Sister's Rodeo Saturday evening. It was a pretty day with lots of sunshine and clear blue skies, something I'm unaccustomed to in the greater Portland area. The night at the rodeo was breezy and cold, with the wind rolling off the Cascades, making the temperature a whopping 39 degrees. But besides the typical bronc and bull riders, funny clowns and extra beautiful rodeo princesses, it was nice to gaze up at the Big Dipper.

Sunday we hit the popular Lava River cave, tucked in between Bend and Sunriver. This is more of a popular cave, with lots of people, including screaming children which made the 1/2 mile or so underground trek a bit unbearable. And while gazing at some of the deep, long cracks on the lava tube's walls, I was sure the high pitched wailing from the young children would definitely trigger a cave in. But it turned out to be a sort of life saving journey, as a middle aged lady, all by herself was struggling to make it back from the end of the lava tube, for the lantern that she rented from the Forest Service ran out of propane, and she was just using her illuminated camera screen to see in the pitch black.

So I informed her I was with the Forest Service and let her use my newly purchased Coleman lantern to get back safely, and I think she was about to cry with thankfulness. Which not only made her day, but mine as well, and the FS rangers up on top. It always feels good to do a good deed, and I never feel like I'm short on them. Maybe it's that old boy scout thing about helping a little old lady across a busy street that made me want to be a USFS volunteer.

After we left the business of the Lava River Cave, we made for the less popular Boyd Cave, which is about 10 miles SE of Bend on China Hat Rd.

When we first arrived there, we were the only ones there.

The cave is a good 2000 feet long with a constant 42 degrees. Unlike the smooth paths in the Lava River cave, Boyd is rather rough at times, with constant jagged, sharp lava rock as a tread. But the ceiling, while low to about 5 feet at times, offers excellent views of lava drips.

There's three cave ins that you have to climb over and/or around, that makes you wonder, while in the pitch blackness, if this could happen while you're in there.

It was pretty fun hiking in these caves. As we were trudging along, I brought up the movie Descent to my son. It might be called The Final Descent. But I began telling him about how these five women went caving in the Appalachian Mtns. They had to descend by rope down this long abyss, where at the bottom that had to crawl on their bellies and backs, to get through this long 2 foot tunnel. Then I told him about when they got through, the tunnel caved in, leaving them trapped, and having to find there way through this gigantic cavern, with no map and being chased and eventually killed by these carnivorous demon creatures.

So as we were hiking through these narrow passages, I said, "Isaiah.....Can you just imagine looking up and seeing red eyes looking down at you from the cave ceiling? Then as your headlamp shines upwards, you see them demon creatures crawling on all fours on the cave ceiling, hissing and coming towards you?"

He quickly said, "Dad! It's okay to tell bigfoot stories in the tent and jeeper creeper stories on Halloween, but Dad, we're 200 feet underground. How bout you finish the story on the drive home!"
I couldn't stop laughing.

The tread is very uneven at times, so I would strongly recommend bringing your trekking poles or a staff.
While we brought a lantern and some pretty powerful flashlights, this cave isn't good on lanterns, as when you are crawling over large boulders or crawling on your belly, a lantern is hard to hold onto. And this one, besides giving you a sense of adventure, you also get a pretty good workout.

[Splintercat]

Thanks, FK -- great report! Not sure how I missed this one, but they do roll in pretty fast this time of year...

I LOVE the story about the lady with the dead lantern -- that's sort of a universal anxiety about going into caves, and I must say, I would never go in without my own backup flashlights (or 2... or 3... or 4...) The screaming kids part is not so nice, but at least the roof of the cave didn't come down on you..!

Thanks for posting! This really should be a Field Guide entry.

Tom

[CuriousGorgeGuide]

Fun report FK!! I end up in Boyd Cave a little more nowadays, since the FS closed free access to nearby Skeleton Cave about 6 years ago (but they do allow a $$$ tour group access. Not my favorite FS decision for sure). The guidebook I've written about the Bend area, "Bend, Overall" details most all the caves you can access in Central Oregon. I mention this since the FS is nowadays tight-lipped about mentioning caves, since the Cave Protection Act was passed in the late 80s.
It's a great time of year to visit Skylight cave near Sisters, since the high-in-the-sky solstice sun shines into the cave's three skylight holes, making a fabulous triple-light-beam array from about 9am until 11am.
cheers, scott

[forestkeeper]

Hey Scott, I was about to check out the Skylight yesterday when I hiked Black Butte. I read online that it is only about 900 feet long so I wasn't sure if it was worth the drive plus my legs felt like hamburger after the descent. But if it is pretty interesting, I'll hit it in a couple of weeks. Besides The Lava Tube, Boyd, and Skeleton, what are some additional accessible caves in the area?

Will

[CuriousGorgeGuide]

Yeah Will, make sure to visit Skylight between 9-11am, or there'll be no ethereal light-beam show. Also there's Sawyer caves on the way to the McKenzie River...then near Bend I describe in my book the little-known route to Pictograph cave, as well as to the better-known Hidden Forest cave. Maybe most interesting is that Arnold Ice cave no longer has its ice-barrior plug that has barred entry to the cave for 30-odd years. You can now shimmy down into it, if you are willing to adventure that adventurously!
South Ice cave is awesome, but I reckon most of the icicles will be melted by now. Derrick cave is a long drive, but full of super-cool stuff! Stop by Rays in Sisters Will, my book will be WAY worth your $16.95. Guaranteed!.....scott