Boyd Cave is a lava tube within Deschutes County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The cave is within

Deschutes National Forest The Deschutes National Forest is a United States National Forest located in parts of Deschutes, Klamath, Lake, and Jefferson counties in central Oregon. It comprises along the east side of the Cascade Range. In 1908, the Deschutes National F ...

and is located on the northern flank of

Newberry Volcano Newberry Volcano is a large active shield-shaped stratovolcano located about south of Bend, Oregon, United States, east of the major crest of the Cascade Range, within the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Its highest point is Paulina Peak ...

near the city of Bend.

Geology

Boyd Cave is between 75,000 and 400,000 years old. 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. 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. Boyd Cave is a part of the same lava flow as Skeleton Cave and trends toward Skeleton's Bear Passage.

History

The cave is one of several caves off China Hat road. The cave was originally known to

cavers Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is ...

of the region as Coyote Butte Cave after the nearby cinder cone. It received its official name from a former Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company employee who reportedly discovered it in the late 1920s. The Forest Service certified the name around 1970. The original stairway was wooden and built in 1969 and replaced with steel in the 1970s. Today, Wanderlust Tours is the only company permitted to lead tours through Boyd Cave.

References

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External links

Oregon High Desert Grotto's cave information
( Caving club affiliated with the

National Speleological Society The National Speleological Society (NSS) is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally headquartered in Washington D.C., its current offices are in ...

) Lava tubes Landforms of Deschutes County, Oregon Caves of Oregon