Lava Caves Xploration

Posted on September 4th, 2008 in California, Interesting, Place of interests, Road Trips, Travel by yeehan

The first cave that we explored were the easiest one. Here are some points to take note before exploring caves in Lava Beds

Don’t Go Alone - Exploring as a group makes caving safer. Stick together and warn other members of your party about hazards and sensitive resources. (Especially low ceilings) If you must go alone, choose easy caves and carry multiple light sources. Tell a friend or family member where your are going and when you expect to return.

Bring Enough Light - Each member of your group should carry at least one flashlight with extra batteries (and bulbs if available). Flashlights are loaned free of charge daily at the Visitor Center. (But you must return them before 4.30pm or before the center closes)

Protect Your Head - Cave ceilings can be low and very sharp! Use bicycle, construction, or other types of rigid helmets to protect yourself. Bumphats are sold at the Visitor Center (About $5-15. I forgot the exact price)

Prevent Exposure and Injury - Most caves are about 55 degrees F (13 degrees C) all year, and caves containing ice are colder. Wear long sleeves, long pants, and closed-toed shoes or boots to protect against rough lava and cold. Gloves and kneepads reduce injuries in more difficult caves.

Be Observant - Pay attention to your route, and make mental notes by looking back at junctions and landmarks. You can also purchase a book of cave maps in the Visitor Center—learn to read map symbols before you go.

Know Yourself - Monitor your level of fatigue and don’t push beyond your limits. Injuries, exhaustion, and disorientation have a greater chance of occurring when you’re tired. The route usually gets tougher.

The first cave that we explored was Mushpot Cave (770 ft/235 m). Recommended as an introductory cave, this cave has lights and interpretive signs explaining the formations. Proven too easy for us but we almost knocked our head on the low ceiling. Details of caves can be found from the official website of Lava Beds National Monument (Here)


From Random Shots


From Random Shots

The second cave that we went was Hopkins Chocolate Cave (1,405 ft/428 m). Named for the rich brown color of lava coating the ceiling and walls. Stooping is required in a couple places, and there is one passage with a ceiling height of 3 ft (0.9 m) that requires duck-walking.


From Random Shots

And I really mean duck-walking or even crawling!


From Random Shots

Back to Hopkins Chocolate Cave. Why is it known as such? Check out the color of the wall and you’ll know why. Oh ya, you can only see the color when you take photos with flash.


From Random Shots

Trust me, you’ll really need a flash light (A BIG one too). It’s really dark inside. In Hopkins Cave, the four of us planned to cave all the way to the exit. However, one of us had a broken wrist so he was a bit slower. We told him that we’ll meet him at the exit but he didn’t appear after 20 mins. So, two of us decided to go back in, one from the entrance and me from the exit, hoping that we’ll meet each other in the center and finding the guy along the way. I went in from the exit and I took the wrong turn and reached a dead end. I tried switching off the my mini torchlight and it was so dark and silent that I felt a bit claustrophobic. The sudden fear just chilled my whole body. Without hesitation, I decided to just go back to the exit, and hoping that I didn’t make any wrong turn. Else, I would be doomed in the cave! Dark and cold and silent. Like buried alive! You can’t even see a thing because there’s no light at all. Eeee. Spookie! Anyway, all of us exited safely and we continued our caving in other caves.

Things to note: Perhaps can consider bringing night vision goggles!

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Lava Beds National Monument

Posted on August 21st, 2008 in Uncategorized by yeehan

Driving further towards the inland, we happened to drove past a unique city. How nice!
Q: Where are you from?
A: I’m from Weed!
Q: Is there a lot of Weed there? Having a great time there, yeah?
A: Errr….

It was just a short rest at Weed but we found no Weed there, I swear! (Feeling disappointed :p), we went to further inland towards Lava Beds National Monument, very north of California. This is the site of the largest concentration of lava tube caves in North America. It was established as a United States National Monument on November 21, 1925.

Roughly ninety percent of the lava in the monument is basaltic. As the hot basaltic lava flowed downhill, the top cooled and crusted over, insulating the rest of the lava and forming lava tubes. Lavacicles on the ceiling of a lava tube were left as the level of lava in the tube retreated and the viscous lava on the ceiling dripped as it cooled. Dripstone was created when lava splashed on the inside walls of the tubes.

On our way there, we followed what the GPS showed us. And it led us to a gravel road which was such a rough terrain that our car could get stuck there. Luckily we drove a high elevated Nissan Murano.

Yar, we were quite excited because we didn’t know if the road would lead us to Lava Beds. The scary part was that we saw no vehicles throughout the whole journey and the road was only wide enough for a car to pass through! And also, we couldn’t really make a U-turn either. Stress! Trying to take a photo halfway through the journey just in case we got lost and disappear. At least there’s proof that we drove past the road.

Finally, after a few hours of drive, we finally reached Lava Beds National Monument. Yup, we thought of getting our lunch there but we found nothing there!! We had to survive on granola bars and gatorade for lunch. The nearest known location with food was in a town 2 hours drive away. -Faint-.

We decided to explore a few caves in the area before setting off to Klamath Falls for lunch/dinner. Shall describe them in coming posts.

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Dream Awaken- Mt Shasta

Posted on August 2nd, 2008 in California, Place of interests, Road Trips, Travel by yeehan

Mount Shasta (California) March 22, 2008- This was my only road trip in more than a month after my car broke down. I didn’t travel around because of $$ constrain. Maybe it was also some signs to tell me that I had travel enough and should take a break from traveling.

Nevertheless, I embarked on this road trip to Northern California and Southern Oregon. This would be the continuation of my National Parks visits. On our way to Lava Beds National Monument, we drove past Mount Shasta.

“Mount Shasta or the ‘White Mountain’ in English, a 14,179-foot (4,322 m) is the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range and the fifth highest peak in California. Physically unconnected to any nearby mountain, and rising abruptly from miles of level ground which encircle it, Mount Shasta stands some 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the surrounding area. The mountain is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, Shasta-Trinity National Forest.”

You can hike up Mount Shasta, all the way to the peak. You’ll need the snow gears to climb though. One of my friends actually conquered Mount Shasta. Pretty impressive. I do hope to do so someday. We only drove past and take a couple of shots of the surrounding area. I wonder how it’ll look like from the top. And how about the view from Mount Everest which is about twice the height.

I just fell in love deeper with nature.

P/S: I haven’t blog about Death Valley National Park. Need to sort out my photos first. And I’m back in Singapore now. It was great seeing my family and friends again. But I guess things will not be the same again. Need to adjust back. Feeling a bit out of place from this ‘culture shock’. ~ Fine here. Just some random thoughts.

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Reflection

Posted on July 9th, 2008 in Uncategorized by yeehan

I haven’t been updating my blog to my latest travel trips for a long time. Grand Canyon trip was in February, which is going to be 5 months when I made that solo drive. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling around US, more places that I have ever been before in my life. And right now, reflecting on my past one year.

Being able to see the world, to experience new culture, to learn life skills and to meet new people. And also see things at a different perspective; thinking out of the box. There are more things and instances that I have encountered which has made me a person whom I am today. I have been taught lots of lessons and experiencing new things, be it from my personal experience or the people whom I interacted with. Now the one year dream ‘vacation’ is almost coming to a temporarily stop. A few weeks from now, I’ll be back to the place where it all began. Back to study life and projects.

One year just flew past by so quickly. I still remember the first day when I touched down on this foreign land. Everything was quite different from home. It was a culture shock to me at that time. Now that I am already blend into the environment and lifestyle here, I will soon leave this place back to the place where I came from. Of course it’ll be nice to be back home to meet up with family and friends. At the end of this year abroad, moving back can be just as stressful and it also involves another form of “culture shock”. The stress of moving back is similar to the initial relocating into the United States – banking, insurance, shipment arrangements remain but in the reverse roles.

After spending the year abroad, things; familiar surroundings; and people from back home may have changed, and once again, I will have to deal with re-adjustment to the environment. There’s nothing to prevent the day from coming.

This post is just some thoughts that came to me as I still can’t get imagine that I’ll soon leave the place which is now a familiar sight. But I guess I’ll just have to enjoy my remaining 2-3 weeks in US. I truly appreciate the time that I have here in US. Look forward to going home and hope to be back real soon.

Anyway, here’s my snapshot from my trip to Seattle during Independence Day weekend. It was an awesome trip too. (I had the chance to try out Microsoft Surface!!). Shall update it next time.

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Watchtower of Grand Canyon

Posted on June 28th, 2008 in Place of interests, Road Trips, Travel by yeehan

Driving towards the east from Grand Canyon Village brings you to another unique overlook. Along Desert View, you can see this amazing Watchtower built in early 1900s.The Indian Watchtower is at the eastern end of the south rim of the Grand Canyon. From a distance the building’s silhouette looks like the Anasazi watchtower it was meant to mimic. In actual size the tower is considerably larger than any known Anasazi tower. In plan the structure is composed of one enormous circle at the north, a small circle at the south, a gently arced forms connecting the two. The largest circle and the arced portions are the sections of that building that is just one story in height. The smaller circular plan is for the tower itself, more than five stories high. The building sits out on a promontory overlooking the Grand Canyon.

If you drive to Grand Canyon South Rim, you should pay a visit to this Watchtower. I found it quite a pleasant sight.

After my hike down the canyon, I was in a more relaxing sight-seeing mode. In the picture below, you can see the magnificent Grand Canyon from Desert View. The view is simply stunning.

Be sure to reach there before 4.30 pm (I think so during winter) to go into the Watchtower and you’ll see some interesting drawings on the wall.

Before I left Desert View, I managed to capture one of the best photos which truly showed the essence of Grand Canyon. Such a tranquility and sacred place. There was this guy who was meditating on a rock just over the cliff!! Here’s the picture to share with you guys- Meditating at Grand Canyon

My last stop was driving along Hermit Drive before I left to spend a night in Vegas. Hermit Drive wasn’t that appealing to me. Maybe I was too tired to enjoy the view. Nevertheless, Grand Canyon has been one of the most amazing places that I have ever been. Next stop: Death Valley National Park.

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