O’Brien and Cave Junction

In the southwestern corner of Oregon, near the California border, sits the small town of O’Brien, a few miles south of Cave Junction. We came here just because it is the site of the Oregon Caves National Monument (yes, we plan our trips around the national park sites). We discovered there was quite a bit more to see and do here and we were glad that we planned two nights in the Lone Mountain RV Resort and Tipi Campground (it was actually a nice park and we can recommend it if you are in the area).

While checking in we noticed that there is a winery nearby and they offer “wine tasting up in the trees”. So, we went to check it out. It was only a two minute drive from our RV park and we didn’t really know anything about the wines in the area, so we weren’t really expecting much. Boy were we pleasantly surprise. According to the vineyard, “The unique 1,500 square foot “Treeloon,” a combination treehouse and tasting room perched in the tree tops, offers guests a magical location to relax and enjoy one of the region’s most incredible settings with stunning views.”

Take a look at the Augustino Estate and Vineyard…

While tasting their wines, which were really good, I learned that Hazel is a sommelier who moved here from Reno during Covid. She told me she is really happy to be working in her field and not in the casinos (believe me, I do understand).

Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve “is a protected area in the northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. The 4,554-acre (1,843 ha) park, including the marble cave, is 20 miles (32 km) east of Cave Junction”

“Elijah Davidson, a resident of nearby Williams, discovered the cave in 1874.” “Most caves created from dissolved rocks are formed in limestone or dolomite, but Oregon Caves was formed in marble.^[36] Of the more than 3,900 cave systems managed by the NPS, only those in Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, Kings Canyon National Park, and Great Basin National Park have marble caves.” – Wikipedia

Our plan was to spend a day exploring the Oregon Caves area. We read that you can only get tickets for the tour on the day of but, as you can see from the sign below, they were already sold out by the time we got there. We heard the ranger telling another woman that the line begins to from early in the morning before they even open. We also found out that while we could hike in the area, most everything else was closed for repair and rehabilitation.

We did spend a little time looking at the information at the visitor center, though there was not much of it there.

Feeling disappointed, we searched for other things to do in the area. And, as I said before, we were surprised. We ended up visiting the Siskiyou Smokejumper Museum right in Cave Junction.

We were given a tour by one of the former smokejumpers, Gary Buck, who is a volunteer at the museum. Gary told great stories and went through so many of the old pictures. Here are some of the posters and pictures that tell their story better than I can…

At the end of the tour we were able to go out on the tarmac and check out a couple of the old planes.

“The tarmac is center of smokejumper aviation activity used for fueling aircraft, loading equipment, and boarding of smokejumpers on their way to fires. It has been located at the runway’s center field from the beginning of the smokejumper program. When the program began, planes parked on bare ground where the wind from the prop would often throw rocks at smokejumpers. A cement pad was installed in 1946 for planes to park on…” – Siskiyou Smokejumper Museum

After a couple of days we headed north to meet up with our friends to spend the Fourth of July at their place. We made a point to pass through Bend, Oregon, to see something we remember fondly from our youth. This is the very last one still in operation…

They had a lot of videos – even new releases!

I never would have expected to be taking a selfie in front of a Blockbuster store. As Bob Dylan once said, “the times, they are a changin.”