Desert near Vulture Mine – Wickenburg Arizona
After a delightful winter of play in the southwest’s deserts I returned yet again to Oregon Caves National Monument to lead cave tours as a seasonal Park Ranger.
Me in the Man-hole
This year, off-trail wild cave tours were offered once a week to visitors in groups of no more than six plus two Rangers. It was so much fun crawling on bellies through small passages while safely introducing people to the underworld.
Tour group reverse star gazing
I also returned to host at Cave Creek campground located only four miles from Oregon Caves.
Host site – Cave Creek campground Siskyou NF
This small campground of 18 tent sites along the creek and scattered around a one mile loop road offers peace and quiet in a diverse lush forest of Douglas Fir, Madrone, Oak, Maple and more.
Tiger Lilly
Coral Orchid
The Cave Creek trail runs two miles downhill from the cave to the campground. Going for a walk in the early morning always offered pleasant surprises.
Dew on a spider web
Roth Forest Snail
Rogue River, Oregon
A group of Rangers rented a raft to float about 15 miles on the Rogue River out of Grants Pass. We saw deer, bald eagles, turtles, and osprey. A warm day with rather low water allowed us to float in lifejackets near the raft.
Wizard Island – Crater Lake National Park
Seems like it was a busy and fun filled summer as I revisited some of the spectacular landscapes of southwestern Oregon.
Colleen at Redwoods National Park
While walking with friends through the Redwoods on a short nature trail we suddenly heard music drifting through the air. A sax player we never saw truly enhanced the experience that day. Even the little people were dancing.
Pelican State Beach near the California & Oregon border
After a delightful winter of play in the southwest’s deserts I returned yet again to Oregon Caves National Monument to lead cave tours as a seasonal Park Ranger.
Me in the Man-hole
This year, off-trail wild cave tours were offered once a week to visitors in groups of no more than six plus two Rangers. It was so much fun crawling on bellies through small passages while safely introducing people to the underworld.
Tour group reverse star gazing
I also returned to host at Cave Creek campground located only four miles from Oregon Caves.
Host site – Cave Creek campground Siskyou NF
This small campground of 18 tent sites along the creek and scattered around a one mile loop road offers peace and quiet in a diverse lush forest of Douglas Fir, Madrone, Oak, Maple and more.
Tiger Lilly
Coral Orchid
The Cave Creek trail runs two miles downhill from the cave to the campground. Going for a walk in the early morning always offered pleasant surprises.
Dew on a spider web
Roth Forest Snail
Rogue River, Oregon
A group of Rangers rented a raft to float about 15 miles on the Rogue River out of Grants Pass. We saw deer, bald eagles, turtles, and osprey. A warm day with rather low water allowed us to float in lifejackets near the raft.
Wizard Island – Crater Lake National Park
Seems like it was a busy and fun filled summer as I revisited some of the spectacular landscapes of southwestern Oregon.
Colleen at Redwoods National Park
While walking with friends through the Redwoods on a short nature trail we suddenly heard music drifting through the air. A sax player we never saw truly enhanced the experience that day. Even the little people were dancing.
Pelican State Beach near the California & Oregon border
I don’t think I ever visited the nearby coast when the sun was out, and I’m kind of like a plant when it comes to sun. So I headed back to Arizona.
Elderberry
Elderberry
Oh my goodness… I REALLY need to get out there and see those caves – especially now that you’ve shown that visitors get to crawl through tight spaces – I want THAT tour!
I’m not sure I could be that cramped in a cave! But I love seeing it with you!
You see so much that is wonderful and beautiful. Thanks!
there is so much to see in your post; all interesting. i fell in love with the tiger lily, how unique is that.
great post…and a place i like and have been to a few times growing up on the west coast.
glad that your postcard arrived.
take care
erin
Oh, what a great post! I do love Oregon!!! Your shot of the Rogue River brought back lovely memories of a boat trip I took down the Rogue, it was fabulous! Thanks for tagging my post! We can both share some of Oregon’s beauty. Your photos are marvelous!
I’d be a little too claustrophobic to enjoy that cave tour! But the scenery and plants nearby are beautiful. Someday I’m going to get out to Oregon!
I’m totally impressed by Your alternative lifestyle!
What a wonderful post and great time you have.
Gaelyn, that’s a wonderful picture of all of you blanketed by the earth. It certainly must make everyone feel quite alive to return to the earth. But I bet you must have had some people freak out on you?
You certainly did live at a great centralized area to be able to see so many natural wonders. I always looked at that area as a huge convergent zone of so many differing habitats resulting in some very unique and specialized species.
I love our National Parks! But I don’t think you’d get me in that cave.
Rather you than me in the cave. You do live in an amazing country, in fact each state is like another country to the next. Never ending virtual adventures.
I’m kind of afraid of being inside caves and that one looks like a tight squeeze. I am fascinated by the tiger lily, orchid, dew on web, snail, redwoods, and especially the elderberry with water dripping off. Oregon has beautiful scenery, thanks for sharing!
I love the photo of you in the manhole! How cool to hear a saxophone out in nature like that!
I’m hoping to be in Arizona this summer, but don’t have definite plans yet – I’ll let you know!
Rogue River looks spectacular.
What a beautiful spot and things to see. I’d love to see some caves but if I have to squeeze through things like that I’d wait. I literally used to have nightmares of winding up in spots like that.
Wonderful photos. What an interesting life you lead. I could never crawl through a cave like that. Happy Travels!
Those are great pics, especially the one of Redwood National Park, thanks for sharing these.
Have a great week!
Guy
Regina In Pictures
Gaelyn: Great photos with a lot of neat variations. The snail was cool.
What a great set of photos.
What a great set of photos.
Wonderful shots. I love how you showed us some specific plants as well as the larger landscapes and the tight spots in the cave.
What an amazing lot of experiences packed in one post! I liked the first shot – your shoulders taking all that weight 🙂
and all the nature shots. The sax player – bless him!
awesome pictures! you are braver than I would ever voluntarily be crawling into those holes!!!
Gaelyn some wonderful sights here, you really do get around! Not sure I could do that cave tour, a little too claustrophobic for me!
Thanks Gaelyn..
I will put the Oregon Caves on my list of places to go.
very cool..
Yay, I’m not sure either if I can be in that man hole. I love that photo with the big trees and a man looking so up up with it. Thanks for sharing your world, you are one brave woman.
How I would love to go cave crawling! That looks like fun.
What an adventurous life you live! Have done some caving in the past and would love to experience that again, looks like you had so much fun. Thanks for dropping by my world earlier and for sharing these cool photos and tour.
What a wonderfully diverse blog you have today Gaelyn. Those caves seem like fun to explore. They must have a long and rich history. If I ever got to Wizard Island or the area in your photograph, I would build me a small wooden house and never leave there. A fantastic place!!
Wow, you are having so much fun in your lifetime. I wish I had the courage to go crawling in those caves but I’m one who is almost claustrophobic. But by the way you showed it here, looks like I want to try just a little.
I love it more to be with the open nature and maybe more in tune with it, I’d say.
Hiking the forest trails sounds wonderful but I’m not so sure about crawling through caves. 😉
I’m particularly fond of your wildflower photos as yours are quite different from those that grow here. If spring ever comes, I’ll be taking photos and posting them on my blog. 😉
Wow, so many wonderful things. I really enjoyed the hike that Bernie and I did along the Rogue River. It really is a beautiful area! Your cave photos are amazing, I am not sure I would do too well in those little spaces, it would be a good thing for me to do I am sure. I am always amazed at the energy of the redwoods, such old souls.
Phew, those caves made me feel claustrophobic just looking at them! I loved the redwood forest, it must be an amazing experience to walk among those trees.
Wow, I was just taking a quick look at your photos and I must say, they are awesome! I’ll return to read more!
Besides: That bird WAS ACTUELLY giving me a dirty look, it was watching me come closer with the camera, and then it lifted its tail feathers just a little bit, looking me in the eye… 🙂 Well, spring is in the air :)))
Amazing nature photos. These caves are not for people who has claustrophobia.
The land snail shot is terrific… you must have had ample time shooting it. 🙂
This is wonderful, I love the desert flora. You are so brave crawling into those caves. I mean it is very intersting but I don’t like to be in confined spaces, like caves or holes. The natural places are so beautiful and I do understand that you love your work as a ranger-ess!
Gaelyn, I have stopped by your blog several times just to journey. You are my mature role model! Beautiful country and great photos but you would NOT get me in one of those caves. Thank you so much for sharing.
Smiles
There was so much of interest in this post I don’t know where to begin.
I admire you for being stuck in a small hole and still SMILING. Or lying flat on your back with many other crammed in a cavity like that. Great shots.
What really grasped me was the strange beauty of that desrt and the redwood forest. Impressive. All the rest were just as interesting as I am so in to nature.
Oh my goodness – the pictures of the cave made me claustrophobic. You’re braver than me! Loved the flower photos and the one of the snail, too.
Those tight places are scary. You won’t catch me in one of them.
Park Ranger, now that a cool job. Mind you would not get down one of those holes for love nor money. The Redwood photo is amazing as id the Crater Lake one.
I’ve always wanted to visit Oregon, and now I want to go even more! Your photos are beautiful!