Expanded Oregon Caves has solid first season

There were a few bumps along the way, but officials ended the summer happy with the first season at the newly-expanded Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve.

Legislation to expand the southwest Oregon monument by almost nine times was signed by President Obama on April 10. The bill provided no additional money and little time for park service officials to figure out how to manage the newly added 4,070 acres before the height of the tourism season.

“Considering how little time there was for planning and logistics, I’d say it went pretty well,” Oregon Caves superintendent Vicki Snitzler said. “When it happened, we just had to reprioritize and make sure we could eek out basic sorts of things like signs on the new land.”

The hard work paid off with an uptick in visitation of 10 percent compared to a year ago. Snitzler said the newly added land around the Bigelow Lakes Basin and Mount Elijah — an area known for rare wildflowers — was well-visited. Park officials are considering adding a guided tour to the area next season and building a boardwalk trail around the lake.

Snitzler also said that Cave Creek Campground, which would become the monument’s first campground, should be open for next season. The campground would give visitors more options for spending the night, since the only place to stay overnight now is the Oregon Caves Chateau, where rooms cost $109 to $199 per night.

“The expansion brought us a lot of positive press, which I think helped give us a boost this year,” Snitzler said. “As we continue to ramp up, I think we’ll see even more increases next year.”

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for seven years. He is the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Facebook at Zach’s Oregon Outdoors or @ZachsORoutdoors on Twitter.