Category: National Monuments

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Paradise Lost Oregon Caves

When you reach the Ghost Room, you will first go to one side where there is a long staircase that will take you up to Paradise Lost:

Stairs leading up to Paradise Lost at Oregon Caves National Monument

Before going up these stairs, the cave tour guide will explain that the room is still actively growing and quite wet with a lot of dripping water. You will then be told that if you don’t want to get wet, your shouldn’t go. Even if you don’t like getting wet, GO! Seriously. You won’t regret it. The Paradise Lost formation is a pretty incredible sight to see and even if you get a bit wet, you won’t regret seeing it:

Paradise Lost cave formation at Oregon Caves National Monument

The Paradise Lost cave formation at Oregon Caves

Close-up of Paradise Lost at Oregon Caves

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at the Angel Falls.

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National Parks Free Days 2011 & 2012

One of the great things about National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreation Areas, National Preserves, National Seashores and National Lakes is that several times a year the ones that charge entrance fees offer free access days. The National Parks free days for 2011 are as follows:

Snow covered Bryce Canyon National Park in winter

January 15 – 17 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend)

April 16 – 24 (National Park Week)

June 21 (The first day of summer)

September 24 (Public Lands Day)

November 11 – 13 (Veterans Day weekend)

The 2011 free National Parks days are good for entrance fees, commercial tour fees and transportation entrance fees, but do not apply to other fees such as reservation fees, camping fees, tour fees, or concession fees. While national Parks are already a great value, National Parks free days make them even more so.

The 2012 National Parks free days have also been announced and as expected, they are quite similar to the 2011 free National Parks days with the main difference being the June fee free day which in 2011 was the first day of summer, but in 2012 will be on Get Outdoors Day in June.

January 14 – 16 (Martin Luther King Jr. weekend)

April 21 – 29 (National Park Week)

June 9 (Get Outdoors Day)

September 29 (National Public Lands Day)

Nov. 10 – 12 (Veterans Day weekend)

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Grand Column Oregon Caves

At the bottom of the Spiral Stairs in the Oregon Caves National Park is the cave formation named the Grand Column. Columns are formed when stalactites (formed from the cave ceiling) and stalagmites (formed from the cave floor) connect together.

Grand Column at bottom of Spiral Staircase Oregon Caves

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at the Paradise Lost.

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Spiral Stairs Oregon Caves

Spiral stairs is a spot in Oregon Caves National Monument where water once leaked in through an opening from above ground. Above the spiral stairs is what remains of the opening (no closed) where the dripping water created flow stones with bacon strips around the edges of the shaft:

Ceiling above the spiral staircase Oregon Caves

When looking down, the shaft doesn’t end, but continues to a level below. That shaft that now holds a spiral staircase to get to a lower level of the cave which you must descend to see other parts of Oregon Caves:

Spiral Staircase in Oregon Caves National Monument

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at the Grand Column.

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Niagara Falls Oregon Caves

One of the many highlights of Oregon Caves National Monument is the flow stone formation named Niagara Falls. As might be guessed, the cave formation gets its name because the flow stone resembles Niagara Falls:

Niagara Falls flow stones in Oregon Caves National Monument

While the formation is beautiful, it also is a testament to what happens when caves aren’t protected. As you look at the bottom of Niagara Falls, you can see that many of the tips o the formation have been broken off and taken as souvenirs:

Broken rock formations at Niagara Falls flow rock at Oregon Caves National Monument

When you learn that it takes 100 years for one of these to grow the length of the tip of your pinky finger, you realise that the damage done erased tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of years of work, and it puts into perspective the important work that the National Park system does to keep these beautiful places intact for later generations to see.

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at the Spiral Stairs.

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Dry Room Oregon Caves

Oregon Caves National Monument is one of the few marble caves in the world (only about 5% of all caves are marble caves) having been created when acidic rainwater dissolved the surrounding marble. In fact, Oregon Caves has long been known as the “Marble Halls of Oregon.” As you walk through the caves, you can see the marble in the cave walls and this is especially evident when you reach the Dry Room

Marble Hall in Dry Room Oregon Caves

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at the Niagara Falls.

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Petrified Gardens Oregon Caves

It doesn’t take long into the Oregon Cave National Monument Cave tour to get to some beautiful and interesting cave formations. After leaving Watson’s Grotto, you almost immediately reach Petrified Gardens where there are a lot of flow stones along the walls:

Flow stones at Petrified Gardens in Oregon Caves

Flow stone closeup at Petrified Gardens in Oregon Caves

And soda straws on the cave ceiling:

soda straws at Petrified Gardens in Oregon Caves

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at the Dry Room.

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Fire Just Outside Pinnacles National Monument

Heading up highway 146 towards the west entrance of Pinnacles National Monument (Paicines, CA) to the Chapparal ranger station today (5/14/2011), there was a fairly large, fresh fire outside the park (near Stonewall Canyon). The fire had been put out, but there were still areas that could be seen smoldering and there were still fire crews out moving about. You could definitely still smell the fire in the air. It didn’t appear that there had been any damage to buildings and although fairly near Pinnacles National Monument, it was still well outside the monument’s borders. If you do enter Pinnacles through the west entrance, you most definitely will see the fire scars:

Fire near Pinnacles National Mounument

Highway 146 fire near Pinnacles National Mounument

firetruck at highway 146 fire near Pinnacles National Monument

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Difference Between National Parks and National Monuments

As you travel among the National Parks System and see the many different National Parks and National Monuments, it won’t take long before you will wonder to yourself, “What is the difference between National Parks and National Monuments?” This is especially true when you realize that National Monuments that may not be as well known as National Parks hold just as much beauty and awe-inspiring sights as their National Park counterparts.

Although there has not been a steadfast criteria over the entire period that National Parks and National Monuments have been created, there’s a pretty specific set of criteria used today. The main difference is that National Parks are created through acts of congress and must be large enough for broad use by the public. National Parks should have inspirational, educational and recreational value. National Monuments, on the other hand, are made through declarations from the president and have historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest.

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Watson’s Grotto Oregon Caves

Once you have walked into Oregon Caves National Monument, you will immediately realize that the cave is pretty wet (there will be water dripping on you throughout the cave walk, so a waterproof jacket with a hood is highly recommended — and a hat at a minimum). The first stop is at Watson’s Grotto where you get a good look at the Oregon Caves river running through the cave:

Oregon Caves river

River at Watson's Grotto Oregon Caves

The walls of the cave at this point are a lot of openings and crevices, but no distinct formations:

Oregon Caves Watson's Grotto

The next stop on the Oregon Caves tour is at Petrified Gardens.