And it was therapeutic to Marie Kondo all the dresser drawers.
Then every room of the house...
...And garage.
It was even modestly fun to learn to cut hair, sans a few tears.
But after multiple trips to goodwill and two self hair cuts later, I started contemplating going back to work. That was how bad it got. A mental health vacation was definitely in order! But where could we go when most of the rest of the world had restrictions against US travelers? Plus small town residents were not exactly welcoming tourists with open arms.
We thought a road trip to national parks, bringing our own food, would have a minimal “COVID footprint”.
We would be traveling inside our own “germy” car; and the vast national park lands offered plenty of outdoor social distancing. Packing our own sandwiches for the hikes and bringing precooked foods to microwave for dinner in our cabin or hotel room (We are not fans of camping...) would also minimize our chance of bringing California COVID-19 to the small communities we were visiting. It was a lot more work to plan this trip, and made us a bit sad because part of the fun of traveling IS to try foods at different local restaurants. But we also wanted to be responsible citizens and do our part in preventing the spread of COVID19. In a separate post, I will document the food that I packed to accommodate 11 days, 10 nights of vacation with only a mini fridge and microwave at our disposal.
Our first stop was Lava Beds National Monument at the northern edge of California. If you like spelunking, and are a geology buff, this place is for you! There are 20 developed caves of varying difficulty to explore, and lots of unusual rock formations and lava fields to marvel at.
We stayed in Merrill, Oregon for 3 nights and explored Lava Beds for 2 full days, but you can actually do most of what we did in just 1 day if you pick up your required cave permit at the visitor center the day before (open 10-3 M-T, 10-4 F-S, but exhibits closed due to COVID19) so that you can start spelunking at 8AM instead of waiting til 10AM when the visitor center opens. For example, exploring seven caves (Mushpot, Golden Dome, Sunshine, Sentinel, Merrill, Skull and Indian Wells Caves) only took about 5 hours, and that’s with stopping to set up a tripod in the caves to take tons of pictures. So I can imagine if you didn’t take too many pictures, you can squeeze in the Fleener Chimney hike, Devils homestead lookout, Mammoth crater lookout, and the Petroglyphs Point hike on the same day, along with a quick behind the fence view of Tule Lake camp and Segregation Unit (tours closed due to COVID19) on the way out from the park, instead of splitting these activities into two leisurely days like we did.
Below are our favorite spots in the park, as well as our itinerary to give you a sense of how long everything took to explore. Do make sure you download maps of the area ahead of time, as cell service is spotty at best in the national monument. Also, bring good flashlights (ideally at least one per person), bicycle helmets (it saved my head from ouchies TWICE!), and a jacket as it gets cold in the caves.
And as with any travel during COVID19, please be responsible and follow CDC guidelines in wearing a mask, social distancing, etc.
Highlights
1. Get Your Facts at Mushpot Cave (770 feet/235 meters, rated least challenging)
Mushpot cave that is right behind the visitor center. The walk way is well lit (no flashlights needed) and there are interpretive panels throughout the cave to explain how the caves formed, the different types of lava rock, and some of the unique features of the caves at Lava Beds. It's the ideal cave to begin your day since the visitor center exhibits are closed due to COVID19, and there are no ranger led educational talks/tours.
2. Shimmy Through the Shimmer at Golden Dome Cave (2229 feet/ 679 meters, rated moderately challenging)
Golden Dome cave is along the Cave Loop Road, and is named as such because the back section of the cave has a golden ceiling. This is due to light reflecting off water droplets that bead up on a coating of hydrophobic bacteria.
It's pretty cool.
Tip: A very bright flashlight is needed to see this golden reflection. I used my weak flashlight and the effects were not as pronounced. My hubby had a stronger flashlight, and the effects were dramatic.
As the cave's park brochure notes, beware of "headache rock" when entering and exiting the cave via the ladder. And also, the back section is a figure 8, so make note of which direction you went. (I took a picture of the junction so I would remember which hole to go through when coming back, and even then, I got lost. Thank goodness for the hubby stopping me from going in circles!)
3. Bask in Some Natural Light at Sunshine Cave (466 feet/ 142 meters, rated moderately challenging)
Sunshine cave is also along the Cave Loop Road. I'm not sure why it is rated moderate because I found this cave to be much easier than Golden Dome, and the front and back sections of the cave are well lit due to natural lighting from several openings in the cave ceiling. Despite the natural lighting, you still need a flashlight, as the middle section is dark and the cave floor is very rough and uneven.
I initially read some negative reviews about this cave having too many openings and that it didn't "feel like a cave", so I was hesitant to spend time here when there's potentially 19 other caves to explore in the park. But, I'm glad we went. What I actually liked about this cave were all the ceiling openings-- one of which was even heart shaped! So cute!!! LOVE LOVE!
4. Experience a Long Spell of Total Darkness at Sentinel Cave (3280 feet/ 1000 meters, rated least challenging)
The cave was long, but pretty easy-- there's high ceilings, so no crawling or stooping required. Flashlights are a must here. Half way through, we took a moment to just turn off all our lights to "feel" the pitch black darkness around us and listen to the cave "noise". After just a few minutes though, thoughts of being trapped in a cave raced through my head, so I quickly flipped the headlamp back on to put an end to that! But you should definitely try this if you visit Lava Beds. It's a weird feeling that's hard to describe.
5. Make Shadow Pictures at Valentine Cave (1635 feet/ 498 meters, rated least challenging)
Valentine cave was created from a different lava source than the caves on Cave Loop, so the floors and walls were fairly smooth in comparison. Sadly, there were no heart shaped features. (The cave was named for the day it was discovered in 1933, rather than a feature in the cave.)
There is a double hole at the entrance though, so we had a lot of fun playing around with the camera taking shadow pictures.
No, we were not those annoying tourists blocking everyone's way... Lava Beds was actually very empty when we went, so we had each cave to ourselves. Every once in a while, we'd pull up to a parking lot and see another car. When that happened, we moved on to the next cave and came back when the parking lot was empty so that we could have the cave to ourselves. It worked out well.
6. Find all Three Chimneys at Fleener's Chimney Hike (0.4 miles, moderate)
From the parking lot, you climb a flight of stairs to get to "Dragon's Mouth", a surface lava tube that's pretty neat. Walk a little further and there will be an interpretive panel that describes the formation of Fleener Chimneys. There are 3 of them. So it's fun to hunt for all of them, and climb up to peer inside. Each are protected by metal railings so you're safe from falling in. Just don't drop trash and rocks in like people did in the past. At one point, volunteers had to clear out 35 TONS of rocks and trash inside just ONE chimney!
Overall, we liked Lava Beds a lot and are surprised that this national monument is not more popular. I hope you have a chance to visit these caves if you haven't done so already.
Our Itinerary in Early October 2020
(sunrise ~7:20AM, sunset ~6:45PM; Temperature: low of 36 F, high of 80 F)
| Date | Time | Activity |
| Day 1 | 3:30 PM | Arrive in Merrill, Oregon. Check into Wild Goose Lodge. |
| 4:30 PM | Visit Tule Lake Camp and Segregation Center (Tours closed due to COVID19, but interpretive display and remaining camp are visible) | |
| 6 PM | Dinner in room | |
| Day 2 | 10 AM | Get cave permit at visitor center, then walk to Mushpot Cave |
| 11 AM | Golden Dome Cave | |
| 12 PM | Sunshine Cave (lunch in car while waiting for the one other car to finish exploring Sunshine cave) | |
| 1 PM | Sentinel Cave | |
| 2 PM | Merrill Cave (because a car was at Skull Cave) | |
| 2:30 PM | Skull Cave | |
| 3 PM | Indian Wells Cave | |
| 4 PM | Back to hotel. Walked around the town of Merrill | |
| 6 PM | Dinner in room | |
| Day 3 | 9 AM | Devil’s Homestead Lookout |
| 9:30 AM | Fleener Chimney Hike | |
| 10:30 AM | Valentine Cave | |
| 12 PM | Bunchgrass overlook and lunch | |
| 1 PM | Heppe Cave | |
| 2 PM | Mammoth Crater lookout and Hidden Valley hike | |
| 3 PM | Petroglyph Point | |
| 4 PM | Unsuccessful Discovery Marsh wildlife viewing | |
| 5 PM | Back to Hotel | |
| 6 PM | Dinner in room | |
| Day 4 | 8 AM | Check out and drive to Crater Lake |