New sights, sounds, feel at Oregon Caves

Sunset, May, 1992 by Bonnie Henderson

Renovation leaves everything more like before ... way before

THE FIRST THING repeat visitors to Oregon Caves National Monument, south of Grants Pass, may notice is the sound of running water in sections that for decades were silent. Also, most of the old asphalt paths and smooth-walled tunnels are gone, replaced by new trails and walkways across gaping crevasses and through irregularly shaped chambers.

Oregon Caves is nearing the end of a major renovation designed to return the marble caves as nearly as possible to the condition in which local rancher Elijah Davidson found them while bear hunting one day in 1874.

For a century, well-meaning tour operators had made the caves passable to large numbers of tourists (80,661 in 1991) by blasting out entrances and passageways, laying down paths, and installing high-wattage lights. Unfortunately, their efforts were slowly destroying the cave environment. For five years, crews have worked to haul out rubble (nearly 1,000 tons), unstuff blocked chambers, and unbury the creek.

The changes are expected to improve air flow so stalactites and stalagmites won't freeze and break in winter, and so bats and other cave dwellers can move freely. Removing asphalt, a material that attracted foreign organisms as it decayed, should rejuvenate the ecosystem. Starting this spring, the National Park Service will add the final touches: high-tech walkways made of hardened concrete, PVC, fiberglass, or stainless steel, and (if funds come through) less obtrusive, lower-wattage lights to replace the current bright bulbs, which encourage moss and fungus.

Tours of the caves are offered year-round and provide a look into the caves' geology, ecological role, and inhibitants (for instance, the Townsend's big-eared bat and a cricketlike species discovered in 1989 that's believed to be unique to the caves). If you visit this month or in September, the 1-1/4-hour tours are offered roughly hourly from 9 to 4. During the busy summer months, they are offered 8 to 7, with waits as long as 1-1/2 hours. October through April there are tours at 10:30, 12:30, 2, and 3:30 daily. Cost is $6.75, $3.75 ages 6 through 11, $3 under 6 (if they can prove to the tour guide that they can handle the caves' 12-inch-tall stairsteps). Child care is available.

From Grants Pass, follow U.S. Highway 199 south 28 miles to Cave Junction, turn east on Caves Highway, and continue 20 miles to the monument parking lot. Take along warm clothes: the cave entrance is at 4,000 feet in the Siskiyou Mountains, and inside the caves the temperature is a fairly constant 41[degrees].