Oregon Howards: Summer Regional 2014 - Hiking a lava tube cave near Bend, Oregon

Every year the company Deven works for, Edward Jones has a summer regional meeting where the whole family is invited to attend. This year the summer regional was held at the Sunriver resort, near Bend, Oregon. One of the mornings Deven had meetings from 8am till noon. So to pass the time without dad, we decided to go do some exploring. We went to the Lava river tube (cave) right outside of Bend, Oregon. It is a cave formed long ago from flowing lava traveling through the area and eventually cooling forming the round underground, cave.

This picture was taken in the parking lot on a tree stump. The boys were very excited about the gigantic ants crawling all over the cut down tree.

When we got there we rented a propane lantern and took off down the path to the cave. It was around 9:30ish when we got there. We were advised the cave is very cool which is why we were wearing sweat shirts during the summer. This picture is Oliver standing in the pathway that leads to the cave.

So at the beginning of the cave it drops down a ways and with the help of built in stairs we made our way inside. The temperature began to drop way faster than I would have expected. The light also did not last very long as one can see from the picture it is truly pitch black in there. The lantern was very much appreciated for it's light and warmth. Luckily the boys were old enough to traverse down the beginning rocky part with a little help. Needless to say we were moving very slow.

The next picture is taken with only the lantern light inside the cave. Before our journey into the cave began I gave the boys some rules that they should not run away from me or run around crazy in the cave. The other rule is that they had to be brave because it was going to be dark and cold.

Well the cave was way too foreboding for running around and acting crazy in so that was not a problem. I must say that the boys were indeed very brave! They walked all the way to the end of the cave with me, which was over a mile journey! I think they felt a little weary about walking with only a lantern in the pitch dark and silent cave. I certainly was but I tried not to let it show. It felt really disconcerting to walk in the complete darkness with only a lantern casting shadows on the walls. Because it was early in the morning there weren't very many people there. We probably passed about 10 groups of people in the 2 hours we were down there. I was so happy anytime I saw someone. It made me so happy to see another human being walking towards us with their lights. I can see now why solitary confinement drives people crazy. Seriously just give me one day without people and light and you would find me in the fetal position singing songs to myself.

If nothing else the cave gave me a great appreciation for the trust that my two little boys have in me. After all they let me take them on a roundtrip 2 mile journey into a very dark and lonely place. We were very happy when we finally came out into the light.