This cool morning in June 1921, your model-T rumbles to a stop at the Lindholm farm.

The road ends here.

Grabbing your lunch, you start the three hour hike.

Jay's call from perches and sunlight slants through the canopies of Douglas fir and a deer bounds away from your approaching steps.

Beautiful.

You glimpse old glory above the tent of guide Dick Rowley.

After a steep trek, you're famished.

And over cold sandwiches and hot coffee, Rowley shares how while hunting in 1874, Elijah Davidson's dog Bruno chased a bear into a hole in the mountain.

A hole that became known as the Oregon caves.

Having packed away waste, Rowley provides coveralls and a small carbide lamp.

Rowley crawls through the entrance into pitch dark caves.

Excited you follow.

Inside you raise your lamp and you gasp.

Catching glimpses of cream, pink and orange cave walls.

Marveling at the dripping stalactites and the shiny stalagmites formed over thousands of years.

You carefully climb wet ladders and you belly crawl through tight openings and soon, Rowley cast his light toward a large pit saying, it's bottomless.

You pitch in a small rock waiting to hear it land.

You wait and wait.

Suddenly, it's time to go.

You have a few hours to reach the car before sunset.

Today, there's no need to spend an entire day traveling difficult roads or hiking trails to access the Oregon caves.

You can drive right to the cave's entrance with well lit stairs and ramps.

Have a park guide take you on a tour through the marble halls.

Visit nearby stores and eateries and be home before dinner.

Southern Oregon Experience, stories from our region's history.