Lava Beds National Monument

The smallest entrance we did, but worth it. 

Sunshine Cave.

    While looking for a new route home that didn't involve I-5 any sooner than necessary, we discovered the Lava Beds National Monument and thought it would be fun to explore. Have I mentioned how much I love Google Maps? Well I have 'visited' many places via Google Maps and it's an invaluable tool when planning a route since I can zoom in a see if a motorhome of our size can actually get into that gas station, a parking lot at a grocery store, or where is that turn-off-- really?--so we don't have to unhitch to turn around. A fair amount of preplanning takes place before each leg of a trip and it has prevented several problems and revealed some real gems along the way. Lava Beds was a real gem as was the RV Park where we stayed. Tionesta, CA is a tiny collection of less than 20 homes and 2 RV parks. The first one you come to (Hawk's Nest) has several small cabins that can be rented and it's a cute and well kept place. At the end of the road is the one I had chosen (Eagle's Nest) and it turned out to be a win; free Wi-Fi, great phone reception, grass and friendly and helpful hosts. We splurged and got full hookups for the 3 nights we were there since the night time temps got down to freezing and below.

Headache Rock: thankful for those hard hats!

    After a visit to the Visitor's Center, we checked out several nearby caves. At the last one we went in, I twisted my ankle a bit, so we curtailed our tromping around. After putting some Arnica and other herbs on it and resting and elevating it, the next morning we checked out a cave our hosts told us about. It turned out to be a really fun cave, once you got past the opening! The bottom was sandy and not as rugged as some of the other caves.

Glittery ceiling, colorful and fascinating.

    Our hosts provided hard hats for spelunking and we each had a hat light as well as a hand held one. Being well equipped helped and after seeing other people who we not, we were thankful. It's amazing how much each cave differed. In "Golden Cave" there is an abundance of a bacteria that creates a golden (and sometimes silver) sparkle. To look up on the ceiling and see what looks like an explosion of glitter was pretty fun. Some caves had craggy, rocky ceilings and rough floors. Some were damp, some dry. Some more smooth and others with broken areas that let in the sunshine after a hundred feet or so. Some fairly level and some that went way down deep. Some you could stand up straight with high ceilings, some had sections you had to crab walk through or crawl. The caves are rated so you have an idea of what you're getting into and we skipped the more difficult ones. I'm sure hard core spelunkers would have a great time in those and we left them to it!
  Before we left, we drove all around the Monument and encountered many different terrains, lava flows and rocky outcrops. We couldn't see it all since some of it was still under a blanket of snow, but we were satisfied with what we saw.  It's a fascinating place and one we'd enjoy returning to some day.