Boyd Cave

Boyd Cave is a lava tube within Deschutes County, Oregon, of the United States. The cave is within Deschutes National Forest and is located on the northern flank of Newberry Volcano near the city of Bend.

Boyd Cave
LocationDeschutes County, Oregon
Coordinates43°56′32″N 121°11′54″W
Length1,880 feet[1]
Entrances1
DifficultyEasy
AccessMay 2nd thru October 14th

Geology

Boyd Cave is between 75,000 and 400,000 years old.[2] Similar to Skeleton Cave, it is a well preserved lava tube with little interior collapse and exhibits pahoehoe flow structures on its walls, ceiling and floors. Unlike Skeleton Cave, the roof of Boyd Cave is very thin at less than 3 feet thick in some places.[3] The cave is entered via a stairway through a 10 foot diameter skylight. The cave is mostly walking passage except for a small 10 foot long hand-and-knees crawl about two thirds of the way into the cave.[3][4]

Boyd Cave is a part of the same lava flow as Skeleton Cave and trends toward Skeleton's Bear Passage.[5][6]

History

The cave is one of several caves off China Hat road.[7] The cave was originally known to cavers of the region as Coyote Butte Cave after the nearby cinder cone.[8] It received its official name from a former Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company employee who reportedly discovered it in the late 1920s.[8] The Forest Service certified the name around 1970. The original stairway was wooden and built in 1969 and replaced with steel in the 1970s.[9] Today, Wanderlust Tours is the only company permitted to lead tours through Boyd Cave.[10]

References
  1. "Boyd Cave Day Use Area". Fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  2. Donnelly-Nolan, Julie M.; Stovall, Wendy K.; Ramsey, David W.; Ewert, John W.; Jensen, Robert A. (2011). James W. Hendley II (ed.). "USGS Fact Sheet 2011-3145: Newberry Volcano: Central Oregon's Sleeping Giant" (PDF). USGS.
  3. Greeley, Ronald (1971). "Geology of Selected Lava Tubes in the Bend Area, Oregon, Bulletin 71" (PDF). Oregon State Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  4. "Hike to Boyd Cave". theoutbound.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  5. Purcell, David (1977), Guide to the Lava Tube Caves of Central Oregon, p. 53
  6. "Spelunking in Deschutes County teases out the primordial". bendbulletin.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  7. "Lava caves show off Bend's dark side". blog.oregonlive.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  8. Skeels, Matt (2010), Undiscovered Country - 2010 NCA Regional Guidebook, p. 66
  9. Larson, Charles (1987). Central Oregon Caves. ABC Publishing. p. 44.
  10. Axon, Russ (2016). "The World Beneath Bend".
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