Caverns and cats

On my last full day of road tripping, I only had two places to see, but they were good ones! I left Medford, OR early so I could get to Oregon Caves National Monument in time for their first tour of the day. Registration for cave tours opened at 9:30 am, and I was there before then. I was also the only one there. I was asked if I could wait till 10:30 to allow time for other folks to arrive. But, an hour later...no one! So...I got my own personal tour of the caverns! That's the second time it's happened on my road trip...the first was at Black Chasm Caverns in California. To make things a bit special for me, the Park Service guide actually gave me my own flashlight to use. She wasn't supposed to do that...I hope mentioning it doesn't get her in hot water!

As we entered the caverns, I was shown a few Little Brown bats roosting on the wall. I see those same kind of bats at home...I had one on the wall of my house once! For the next hour and a half, we walked through the caves. At one point, I asked the guide if she had seen the movie, The Descent...and, she said she had! It's about a group of women who explore a cave...and become trapped inside and terrorized by its subterranean occupants. If you like to explore caves and enjoy watching horror films, you'll love this one! It was so cool to be the only one down there...well, almost. About halfway into the tour, we encountered a researcher trying to reconstruct pieces of rock that were damaged long ago by people walking on it. Again, since it was only me, she actually showed me what she was working on...what a treat! Oh, and she has seen The Descent, too! The tour ended all too soon, but I'll never forget the experience!

After a quick picnic lunch, I visited Great Cats World Park. By now, it was raining lightly, but that wouldn't dampen my enthusiasm. This unique facility is devoted to educating the public about the great cats of the world...and we're not talking about domestic cats! Most wild cat species are endangered or threatened, and Great Cats World Park tries to educate the public on their plight. In addition, they have a successful breeding program, and also offer the use of their well-trained cats to the entertainment industry and the media.

For about 2 hours, the guide gave us an up close and personal tour of their cats: white tiger, cougar, Amur leopard, black leopard, snow leopard, Bengal tiger, jaguar, African lion, serval, ocelot and a trio of African wildcats. While the guide was doing her talk, she fed the cats pieces of meat...they seemed to know the routine! We were allowed to stand 4-5 feet away from the enclosure fences, which is the closest I've ever been to such cats! I mean, this was really close! And, the cats were SO BEAUTIFUL! I was especially impressed with the snow leopard...what a huge tail it had! I've seen snow leopards in zoos, but never up close. Toward the end of the tour, we got to pet a baby black leopard. Not quite the same as my experience at West Coast Game Park (see my Fair weather and furry faces blog), but still great!

I spent a longer time at the cat park than expected...that was certainly okay...but, I now had a long drive north to my nightly pit stop. It took me about 4 hours, the second half in the darkness and rain...and getting caught in a post-game football traffic jam. I was pretty tired when I arrived at my hotel. Well, tomorrow is the home stretch! Just one zoo...which I might skip if it rains too much. It might be just as well...I can't wait to get to home sweet home!