I spent a night in my hammock on the rim of the caldera. I had met another cyclist, Jesse, on his way to Montana to visit family, that I camped with. He too was packing a guitar. We watched a fantastic lightning storm move across the lake. It brought marble sized hail as I ate my dinner under the shelter of a tree. The setting sun dropped below the clouds and lit up the storm from the side in a vivid orange light. It was a magnificent sight.
Just two days later I found myself at Lava Beds National Monument. I knew nothing about it when I arrived, it was just on my way south. I shortly learned that it had caves and I was super excited to do some exploring. The first one that I went into held ice year round and from the frozen pond in its depths my headlamp could not light the ceiling 90 feet above. It was fantastic. The caves, there were around a dozen to explore, were formed during lava flows. An outer crust of rock formed but inside the lava continued to flow and then drain, like a stream flowing under a solid ice surface. The caves had no electric lighting and no footpaths or guard rails to guide visitors. I was free to wander and possibly get lost. Twice I entered caves and after traveling under ground, for as much as a kilometer, I emerged from a separate entrance. I could see my bike in the distance where I entered. I always chose the cave route to get back to it.
I spent an afternoon, evening and morning exploring the caves. I spent one night sleeping in the mouth of a large cave. The moon was nearly full that night and the white light streaked in as I fell asleep. Noises of bats from the black depths kept me from sleeping soundly. In the morning I put on my headlamp and walked into the cave as far as I could go, playing my guitar and singing softly as I went. It was kind of surreal.
