Way Out West

From my recent trip to California, Oregon and Washington

Click on any photo to see an enlarged version.

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Fossil Skeleton in Sea Lion Cave (Oregon-Largest sea cave in the world, so they say) The view through the fence Looking out the window in Sea Lion Cave
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Some of them can't even fit in the cave! Panorama of the window in SL Cave One of many shelter sized caves in the next cove from Sea Lion Cave More of the same Sometimes you just have to give up exploring a cave...
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Enter Lava Beds National Monument - California Formations are all pretty small, the tubes are too new for that big stuff we usually see
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Go in Lava Brook, come out Labyrinth Next... You can just see James in the path Multiple entrances and skylights make for fun shooting in the lava tubes
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Next... There were two direction choices entering this cave, since the entrance is in a collapse
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We went right...well, there's a dome, anyway... No luck... let's try going left instead Hmmm is that gold?
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Fungus all over walls, ceiling and floor finally indicate the reason it's called "golden" dome We never saw another dome though Garden Bridges first... Basically a collapsed lava tube that left a little bridge or two behind
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Stable now And nice views looking upward Let's turn around now Why's it called "Chocolate"?
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James found a bat... some people just can't see him at all, can you?
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Last one for the day This one had a nice big entrance Seems pretty short... the entrance is right behind me in this photo But no, it turns out Hercules's leg is pocked with skylights. Time for a little fun, running through the caves on well-worn paths
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My favorite of the skylights By the time we got to a real exit, we were a quarter mile from where we'd started. This isn't it, if you were wondering A new day, a new cave. Mushpot is the tour cave, lit up (moderately), and containing several signs to teach about different lava formations... probably should have done this one first Unfortunately, they neglected to describe formations that grew after the lava had hardened This one was very tunnel-like compared to others
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That's enough of the tour cave, so let's move on Another big entrance, our favorite! Looking back out And again, from around the corner
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James taking photos Not an exit Reported to have ferns hanging over the entrance, making for cool photos It didn't. . . Pretence is fun... Sunshine had about 3 different entrances in one spot, James is in a hole between them
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I wish I knew why the wall looked like this- it's all natural
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At some point I realized I had no pictures of the above-ground part of the park This one sounded promising... the bones are gone though... too bad But wow, what an entrance... keep an eye out for James Looking back
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One of several 'pedes James found in the back around the ice-- and now my batttery is dead

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Click to see other (non-caving) trip photos in my "new" folder



Last updated: 7/19/07