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Imagine this situation. You're in central Oregon on a hot summer day and you're looking for some adventure. It's going to be toasty, with temperatures guaranteed to be in the 90's. You're looking forward to a hike, but you also want a break from the heat. What do you do?
Starting from Bend, drive south on highway 97. After approximately eleven miles, you will see the Lava Lands Visitor Center on your right. After another mile you'll see the signs for Lava River cave on your left. A short, paved drive will take you to the parking area. Pay the modest admission, rent a lantern, and prepare yourself to enter another world. A paved trail takes you to the cave entrance. Soon you find yourself descending a long staircase that descends into the earth. The air grows dark and cool as you enter a subterranean world that may have just leapt from the pages of a Jules Verne novel. Take one, last look at the sunlight entrance above and behind you. You aren't going to see daylight again for the next couple of hours. After negotiating rubble from the collapsed roof, you come to the main, intact tunnel. The cave here is about fifty feet wide. The ceiling is more than fifty feet above your head. The passage descends gradually for more than a mile, actually passing some eighty feet beneath highway 97. There are several interesting features to see along the route. Eventually you near the end of the tunnel. The ceiling here becomes quite low. Much of the last three hundred feet will require stooping and crawling. When you finally return to the cave entrance, you may be surprised to find that it is now that staircase that ascends to a sun-drenched landscape that appears to lead to an alien world. I've hiked the Lava River Cave once, a couple of summers ago. I fully intend to do it again. This is a hike of a different flavor, a refreshing, interesting change from the ordinary. This is a great hike for kids. Younger ones should be watched pretty closely through the early, rubble filled area of the cave, but after that, it is a perfect environment to let them run around and burn off some energy. With only two directions to go, forward and back, it isn't like you can lose them. Besides, if you've got the lantern, they aren't likely to be wandering too far. I can only guess at how awesome an experience the cave would be for a child.
The copyright of the article Lava River Cave in Pacific Northwest Hikes is owned by Wayne R. Brown. Permission to republish Lava River Cave in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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