Lynn and I decided to get away for a few days and
Lava Beds National Monument was a favorite place to visit any time of the year. We have explored a number of caves and hiked many trails here, but had never been in Crystal Ice Cave. Crystal Ice Cave is restricted to a maximum of six people, with a National Park Service Guide, on Saturdays from December through March. Reservations can be made 4 weeks in advance and I made ours the first day it was possible to do so.
Thursday December 30, 2004: I had been keeping an eye on the weather and the
Lava Beds web camera for a while. There had been a series of storms with low snow levels and the forecast called for more. We packed the car anyway and headed north. The weather was good for the drive up Interstate 5 through the Sacramento Valley. Near Lake Shasta we saw the first bits of snow along the road, and near Dunsmuir had the first flurry. We stopped in Mount Shasta City to stretch our legs a bit and have some lunch. We were amazed at the amount of snow on the ground here.
We were soon back on the road enjoying the winter wonderland that passed by the windows. The many ponds of the Klamath Wildlife refuge were mostly frozen and the spots that weren’t were filled with waterfowl still. Six hours after leaving home we arrived at
Fe’s Bed and Breakfast in Tulelake, CA, thankful the weather had held for our drive. From the outside Fe’s is a nondescript looking building* in this small farming community in the far north of California. The inside though is very nice with large comfortable rooms and the owner even had a nice roaring fire going for us when we returned from dinner at a local eatery. We relaxed for the rest of the evening with good books as the snow started to fall outside.
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Friday December 31, 2004: Lynn and I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee brewing and a freshened fire as Fe was up and starting to cook breakfast. I took a peek outside and the world was covered in a blanket of white.* After the wonderful breakfast, I cleaned the fresh snow off the car and we headed for Petroglyph Point. This is a cliff area outside the monument proper that has ancient Native American petroglyphs cut into the soft rock. It is also home to many species of birds. Bob had said there were some raptor nest up on the cliffs, but we did not’t see any.
We headed into Lava Beds National Monument via the northeast entrance. The road had not been plowed and had a thin layer of snow. No cars had traveled on it this morning, so the only tracks were the hundreds of animal tracks criss crossing the road. After a stop at the visitors center, which we almost slid by, to check in, we drove through the campground to check it out in it’s winter coat and look at the site in which we had camped** during the heat of August. Now it was time to do some of what we had come to do, hike and explore some caves.
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We parked at the end of the road next to Skull Cave. This is the trail head for the Lyons Trail* and our objective, Frozen River Cave. The skies were starting to clear and the only sound was the crunching of the snow under our boots as Lynn and I walked along enjoying each others company and the beauty that lay all around us. A mile and half down the trail, near the junction to the Sisters Trail, is a lava tube collapse that holds the entrance to Frozen River Cave.** This cave, as were so many others in Lava Beds, was discovered by J.D. Howard, in 1918.*** The scramble down was fun as usual, but the ice formations were disappointing, nothing like the trip several years ago. When we came out of the cave, the gray skies had given way to a blue and white sky and a bit of sunshine. Lynn and I worked our way back to the car, hopping from collapse to collapse exploring caves and scrambling over the rocks,**** seeing some cool cave coral*****, all the while not a soul around.
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Once back at the car we headed back to the visitors center to have some lunch, view the displays, and decide on the next place to visit. We decided to head for cave loop and visit a number of cave there. First was Golden Dome Cave. There is a bacteria that grows in the moist air and when the light from our headlamps hit it, it looked like veins of gold.* Next up is Hopkins Chocolate Cave. This cave is so named because as the lava that formed the cave subsided what was left cooled and looks like rich brown chocolate dripping down the walls of the cave.** We drove up to the far end of Cave Loop Road and visited Sunshine Cave. It is given this name because it a relatively short cave and the sunlight lights up the first 100 ft or so. The final cave of the day was Natural Bridge Cave a short multilevel cave. The afternoon was getting late, the sky was darkening and the temperature dropping, so we decided to call it a day and head back to Tulelake.
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As we left the monument we were treated to a tremendouse amount of wildlife. We spotted a couple of coyotes trotting across a field. Soon we saw a bobcat sitting on a levee. He didn’t much care for us stopping to watch him and he soon ran off. There were dozens of deer scattered about , all lazily grazing on whatever was sticking up through the snow. And of course, the multitude of waterfowl at the Tulelake Wildlife refuge.
Since we were the only guests at the Bed & Breakfast, Bob and Fe invited us to join them for a wonderful New Years Eve meal of Leg of Lamb. After dinner Lynn and I settled in to do some reading near the fire, but soon tired and didn’t wait up to ring in the New Year. We were looking forward to the main attraction that had bought us to this remote corner of California.
Saturday January 1, 2005: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This morning dawned bright and cold and once again we we awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and breakfast. After we had our fill and I settled up the bill for our lodging, Lynn and I hopped into the car and headed back to the Lava Beds. We stopped along the way to watch two beautiful American Bald Eagles sitting on a power pole.* They soon tired of us watching them, and my trying to get closer for a picture, and flew off. Onward to the visitors center. We checked in and confirmed the 1 p.m. meeting time for the Crystal Cave trip. We then walked over to Indian Well Cave** to see the many ice stalagmites that form there each winter. We then drove up Cave Loop and visited the Hercules Leg and Juniper Caves. There were places here where icicles hung down*** and a few sky light where snow had fallen through and lay on the floor of the cave. This is a long cave system and we spent a great deal of time here. By the time we got back to the car the sky had clouded up, the wind had picked up and snow was falling lightly. It was back to the visitors center and some lunch.
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After lunch we met the other couple that would be on our tour along with our tour guide. There was supposed to be a third couple but they canceled for fear of the weather which amazingly had been pretty good here despite the forecasts of severe winter weather. We were asked to individually drive and followed the ranger to the designated area. They usually use a small van but there was too much snow on the road and we each had 4 WD vehicles. We reached the parking area and I thought we had been here before. We all gathered up our gear, helmets, lights, and cameras and headed down the trail. Now I recognized this place, it was the place jumping off spot for Labyrinth Cave. But we stopped well short of that cave, hopped a guard rail and descended down into a collapse. After some climbing down we reached the large, and locked, metal gate that protected the entrance to Crystal Cave.
Crystal Ice Cave has formed due its unique position and structure. It has only one opening and it goes mostly down, rather than mostly horizontally, from the bottom of a lava tube collapse. This allows the frigid winter air to sink down into the cave pushing out any warmer air. As the seasons change and the outside air warms, it effectively creates a seal to keep the cave cold all year. Water that seeps through the rock and falls into the cave then freezes. At one time Crystal Ice Cave was open to the general public any time of the year. But the perennial ice was melting away and in 1980 visitation was completely stopped. It has since been reopened on the limited basis mentioned earlier. This has actually helped the ice to substantially rebuild. The other couple on our tour had visited before and commented several times about the increased amount of ice in places.
The gate was unlocked and opened for us to descend into an amazing world. We descended a long stair / ladder into the cave. Once down, we held onto a rope and slid down a low angled and approximately 10 meter long sheet of ice where we saw a beautiful ice formation. Everyone oohed and awed and took pictures.* The ranger smiled and said it will get better. We continued on, seeing large icicles, giant ice stalagmites,** and ice falls.*** There were areas where it looked like the bubbling surface of a boiling pot of water, but it was all ice. We continued down and further back into the cave, being careful to stay on the rock and not step on the ice, not only to preserve the ice but for our own safety. It was easy to see where this cave got its name as many of the formations looked like jewels in the light of our headlamps. We sat in one room and did the customary turn off all the head lamps and enjoy the pitch black and complete silence for a few minutes.
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We soon came upon a huge ice fall that seemed to flow from an upper level of the cave and into the room we were in.* After working around this we reached the end of the line. Our way was block by a completely covered floor of “bubbling” ice, tremendous ice falls, and sheets of ice flowing down the walls of the cave.** It was time to work our way back to the mouth of the cave. Near the entrance was the most difficult part of the entire experience, working our way up the sheet of smooth ice. One by one we slipped, crawled, and pulled ourselves up the rope and over the obstacle. All too soon we climbed up the ladder, and through the collapse and found ourselves back at the cars. More snow had fallen while we were taking in the beauty underground. We exchanged e-mail addresses, said our good-byes and head our separate ways.
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Once out of the National Monument the roads were a little more clear and we only had a few snow flurries on our drive to Mount Shasta City where Lynn and I stopped for dinner. We watched the snow falling and continued to marvel at the hidden beauty of Crystal Cave. What a wonderful getaway and adventure!!!
Winter Wonderland In Lava Beds National Monument
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