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Submission
Sleep under the boughs of an old growth forest beside Cave Creek. This campground is located 15 miles up Highway 46 from Cave Junction and just four miles from the cave entrance. The campground has fire rings, water and vault toilets. The spaces are too small for large RVs or trailers and no pull through sites. The campground offers 17 sites available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Maximum vehicle length: 20 feet.
From Grants Pass, OR, travel south 29.5 miles on US Highway 199 (Redwood Highway) to Cave Junction, OR. Turn left (east) onto Caves Highway (Highway 46), and continue for approximately 16 miles to the right-hand (south) turn to the Cave Creek Campground.
A very interesting hike with a decent amount of history behind the caves. My tour guide was very knowledgeable and considerate while leading the group through the caves.
I will admit I was a little disappointed by how constructed (flat platforms, grated walkways, and spotlight lighting throughout) the cave was; having explored other less frequented caves before I enjoy the natural/rugged atmosphere of caves but I understand the reason for the construction to make it more accessible as a national park, just not as much my cup of tea.
Regardless a really unique and interesting experience, at ~$20 per person, that is very easily accessible by anyone regardless of age. (Light stooping required for taller individuals, and ~500 stairs total over the whole 1 mile tour.) Plenty of flushing bathrooms at both the lower parking lot (1M 1F) and at the visitor center (1M 1F).
I loved the Oregon caves! It was a magical experience!
I visited on a Saturday in July. My companion and I hadn’t reserved a tour. We ended up calling the Illinois Valley Visitor Center - they gave us a heads up about available tours and timings. So, we drove to the Illinois Valley Visitor center (which is on the way to the main Oregon Caves visitor center from where the tours start) to make reservations for the discovery tour. You can purchase the tour tickets here and then proceed to the caves.
Since self-guided tours are not permitted(and for good reason), do plan for and get reservations in advance if you can!
The route from the Illinois Valley visitor center to the caves is only 15-20 miles - but takes an hour due to the uphill winding road.
The caves themselves were awesome!! The stalagmites, stalactites, columns, draperies, bacon ribbons, etc. were so beautiful! The tour itself was super informative too! A shout out to the rangers here - they were awesome and shared very interesting geological information throughout the tour. My favorite parts of the tour were the ghost room, lost paradise and the part where the ranger turned off the lights to give a feel of how dark it truly is down there!! 😅
While we didn’t have time to explore other trails in here, the whole Siskiyou forest around looked gorgeous!!
I was on a retro tour of my youth an revisited the site after a couple decades. I was pleased to see the place was largely the same as when I was a kid. The lodge where my family and I stayed was closed, but the pool in the back that used to house a breakfast cafe was still accessable thought the ghosts of breakfasts past were all that remained of my memory of the place. Tour was informative, path was user friendly for the most part and even in clostrophbic conditions I still felt fairly uncaged. Wouldn't recommend sandals tho... definitely bring a hoodie
It was a nice cave to visit and very easy. The roads are being repaired. You need to arrive 30 minutes before the scheduled ticket time. Drop off your party way past the parking lot at the visitors center. Google may route to the gate entrance, it's 6 miles past this to the parking lot
It's pitifully small compared to caves back east. Mostly a local attraction.
They have a nice trail continuing in a loop up the mountain with some small canes after you are done with the tour.
