June 6-7 - Lava Beds National Monument

After I received a good morning pic from Arlo, I looked  at my Passport America book and saw I could get a stamp at the Lava Beds National Monument, south of Tulelake, CA. 

Great choice for our next adventure. Lava Beds is truly a remote place, winding around mountains and along rivers. We are staying in the National Monument Campground, no hookups but interesting topography. They had a fire here in 2021 but saved the area around the campground. 

This hill is behind our campground, half saved, half not. 

This was home to the Modoc Indians for many years. The Modoc War was located here. Saw some rock art. 

Walked on lava rock. 

And toured many of the caves that were created from lava tubes. So interesting. First time Bill or I have gone caving without a guide. We could just walk at our leisure. We had our headlights but didn’t have knee pads or helmets so couldn’t crawl into some of the places. 

While we were in the cave, we met 2 Oregonians, Roger and Randy. They helped us figure out where we wanted to explore in Oregon after we leave this place. If you look at an atlas of eastern Oregon, there isn’t much there. So now we have a plan for later. 



Some of the caves had stairs that took us down in the abyss, others we had to crawl over stones. 

This cave had some scull and bones from long ago when the Modoc used these caves as their refrigerators. It was really cold down there. 


This is the one cave we had to crawl over some rocks just to get to the entrance. Then you had to bend over to walk around. We decided not to go further in that cave. There are 24 caves to explore and each one is different. 

As we hiked back to some of the caves, the wildflowers and one big old cedar tree took my eye. 

While we were exploring caves, Shann, Carl and Arlo were climbing at Donnie Pass

Great place to learn more about our wonderful world. 

Back to the coast near Yachats

Thursday, September 8

From the mountains to the coast near the town of Yachats. Very little cell service here but they have a brewery and a market. 

Sea Lion Caves we’re our next stop to check out. 

The waves were crashing as the sea lions were sunning themselves. 

Time for a walk on the beach and a sunset. Our Beachside campground is just that, right on the beach. 

Friday we head for Tillamook, just up the coast from Yachats by an hour. We will be staying at Blue Heron French Cheese shop, a Harvest Host. 

Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains

Left White Sands early Monday morning and drove up through the mountains and Canyons. Scenic drive for sure. The terrain changed several times from desert with no trees to trees and then back to desert. 

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Camped at Whites City Campground, 7 miles from the caverns

Ate an early dinner and headed to the caverns for the Bat Program. From April to October, about 500,000 Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats come swooping and swirling out of the caverns at dusk, go gather their food and return to the cavern just before sunrise. It was a great spectacle to see. Since we weren’t allowed to take photos, I bought a postcard so I could show you how they come out of the cave entrance. 

Next morning we headed back in to the caverns for a trip down in among all the stalactites and stalagmites. Huge cavern. We explored for over 2 hours. Once again, too many pictures but here are a few plus a video. 

Bill is standing next to a stalagmite to show how tall it is. 

Here’s a video as I was walking:

a walk down in the cavern

Found out that the town of Whites City is named from the explorer, Jim White. Can you imagine rappelling down into the cave and finding all that beauty!

After that, we drove down to the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, just about 45 miles south. 

Unfortunately, we couldn’t hike anywhere with the dogs but we did drive up the McKitrick Canyon. 

This is a plant that gets fluffy flowers, similar to the dandelion) Don’t know what it is but I like it’s delicate, fluffy fronds as they blow in the wind. 

Last night here at Whites City, waiting for the sun to set over the Guadalupe Mountains, the town and desert of White’s City.