Big trees, caves, and a BIG dog 7/30/2011

We set off this morning with the thought that we would take the cave tour this afternoon, and do some hiking this morning. That's exactly how things worked out. We scheduled a 3:00 p.m. tour, and then started up the Big Tree trail at Oregon Caves National Monument. The trail heads uphill for 1.1 miles and leads to a giant Douglas fir, the largest in Oregon, then descends to make a loop. The trail up went through a forest of giant  Douglas firs and cedars, and Pacific Madrone trees. The madrones are broadleaf evergreen trees with rich orange-red bark that peels away on the mature wood. Around every switchback were huge firs, most easily 6 feet in diameter. The giant tree for which the trail is named is the largest Douglas fir in Oregon, 40 feet in circumference (about 13 feet in diameter). They estimate that it is 800-1000 years old.   At one point, as we walked along the trail, a grouse flew up from the bushes at the side of the trail. He may have been startled by our passing, but we were as well! The day was beautiful, warm and dry with a cool breeze in the shade. This hike was truly a joy.

After this hike, we went back to the car where we had a cooler packed with sandwiches for lunch. Then we set off for another short hike before our cave tour. For 1 1/2 hours, the cave tour takes you through tunnels and halls of cave formations. Ray had to hunch over for probably half of the tour, to fit through those tunnels.Our tour guide was very informative, and we saw formations there that we had never seen in other caves (Mammoth, Jewel, and Wind Caves). Very cool.

Rather than take the direct route back to the visitor center, we decided to take another short hike that took us up to a beautiful view of the Siskiyou mountains, a lovely exclamation point to our day. On our way back to the parking lot, we stopped to speak with a man whose dog caught our attention, a Tibetan Mastiff, 33" tall (his owner said). The man had another dog with him, a newfoundland puppy, another beautiful dog. Can you imagine this guy's dog food bill?