Waldo Lake is located in central Oregon 12 miles north of Highway 58 between Willamette Pass and the community of Oakridge. The lake is about 75 miles from Eugene, Oregon, 80 miles from Bend, Oregon and 115 miles from Klamath Falls, Oregon.  The Jim Weaver National Recreation Trail circles the lake and was formerly named the Waldo Lake […]

Caldwell Butte, cave and cabin are located near the south boundary of Lava Beds National Monument, near Tulelake, California.

Gateway to the Klondike Gold! George Carmack, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie found gold on Bonanza Creek in the Klondike in 1896. They didn’t find much in the beginning, but it was enough – the gold rush was on.  Tens of thousands of people, thrown out of work by the depressed economy or just plain […]

Lava Beds National Monument . . . The trail to Big Painted Cave and Symbol Bridge was the backbone of my explorations in this area southeast of Schonchin Butte in the Lava Beds National Monument.  The trail heads toward Schonchin Butte from the road to Skull Cave.  The Skull Cave Road is about 1.3 miles […]

Lava Beds National monument . . . There are literally hundreds of lava tube caves with nearly 28 miles of underground passages that we could explore at the Lava Beds National Monument.  We are NOT going to explore them all – just a few.  We already looked at some easy caves.  Here we will explore […]

Lava Beds National Monument . . . Lava Beds National Monument is located on the California-Oregon border south of Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA. The Monument offers two, world-class exploration opportunities. The first, that we will address in other articles, is exploration of the history of the Modoc Indian War – the last Indian war fought […]

The Modoc War . . . Gillem’s Camp is an important site associated with the Modoc War of 1872 and 1873, although it was only in use for about seven weeks.  Very briefly, the war came about after members of the Modoc Tribe decided to leave the Klamath reservation, where they were confined.  They had […]

Crater Lake National Park . . . Annie Creek, in Crater Lake National Park, arises from Annie Springs, near Mazama Village at the south entry station to the Park. It flows southeasterly until it exits the park and extends into the farmland of the Upper Klamath Basin and ultimately adds its waters to the Klamath […]

Crater Lake National Park . . . Sometimes earth-laughter rings like silver bells Where brooks run crisping over glinting stone; But here the earth, remembering ancient hells, Grins at the joke she shares with death alone. Llaos Hallway by Ernest G. Moll Finding Llaos Hallway . . . Llaos Hallway provides an outstanding adventure for […]

Overview From a distance – even a close distance, the South (or Lower) Klamath Hills don’t look like much.  Just a brown stretch of hills that rise abruptly from the floor of the Upper Klamath Basin.  Grass, sagebrush and the occasional juniper tree dot the landscape – an ecosystem the experts call “sagebrush steppe.”  On […]