Malheur Cave Clean-Up…
Deb and I were asked if we’d be interested in volunteering to help clean graffiti off the walls of the inside of a cave…they said it may involve kayaking on an underground lake, over a half mile inside of the cave. Our answer…Hell Yeah, we’re interested!
After a 6-hour drive we were at the cave entrance. A big group led by the Oregon High Desert Grotto (OHDG), came out to head-up this project along with many volunteers to help. Most of us were essentially pack mules for two days, hauling equipment to the lake shore and back out…which was essential for the success of the mission. OHDG’s mission was to blast the graffiti from the walls and ceiling of the cave, in the area over the lake. You see, half of the cave distance is dry, but the last half is a lake. There were several kayaks and pack rafts brought in as well as a large river raft. Sheets of plywood were secured to the large river raft to provide a working platform for the sandblasting operation. The lake level is currently low so a worker had to stand on a ladder on this make-shift floating platform while blasting the graffiti off the ceiling. I had my doubts early on, but after work got underway, I was amazed at the success. Deb and I grabbed a couple of kayaks and helped layout the air line that would be used to power the sandblaster. I took a lot of pictures but without a tripod, only a few turned out. One of the members of the OHDG took videos and pictures and will post on a website, so If I can I’ll post a link here when available. Sunday, we spent the morning rolling up and packing out air lines and equipment while a few others finished blasting graffiti off the walls of the dry portion of the cave. We left the cave at about noon since we had a 6-hour drive home.
It was definitely worth the 12 hours of driving to be able to help out with such a unique project…as well and being able to kayak on and underground lake…so cool!
The Malheur Cave entrance. That’s a generator that provides lighting at a staging area 500′ inside the cave.
Unfortunately the property owner had to install a gate because of all the trash and vandalism. A very impressive gate at that…
Entering the cave… One can stand up the whole way…
Looking back at the entrance from inside the cave…
At the lake shore looking at the work platform being assembled…
Time to paddle to the end of the cave, approximately quarter mile…
End of the lake…although some suspect you can dive into the water and swim to a continuation of the cave on the other side…
Happy Deb 🙂
The only pic that shows how clear the water is…
Loading equipment on the floating platform…
Securing the ladder to the platform…
Sandblasting graffiti off the cave ceiling…
Gathering the air line…this is only a small portion of what was laid out and used…
Camp outside the cave…
Coffee stop on the long drive home…
Nice of you & Deb to help with that project. I think I may have seen it on Oregon Field Guide but not sure if it’s the same one.