Oregon Caves National Monument - Geography

Geography

Oregon Caves National Monument is located in the Siskiyou Mountains, a coastal range that is part of the Klamath Mountains of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. The main part of the park consists of 484 acres (196 ha) in the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest, about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the Oregon–California border in Josephine County, Oregon. An additional visitor center occupies 4 acres (1.6 ha) in the city of Cave Junction. The city is in the Illinois River valley, about 40 miles (64 km) east of the Pacific Ocean. Elevations within the park range from 3,680 to 5,480 feet (1,120 to 1,670 m) in the mountains to 1,800 feet (550 m) in the city.

By highway, Oregon Caves is 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Grants Pass, 300 miles (480 km) south of Portland and 450 miles (720 km) north of San Francisco. The caves are 20 miles (32 km) west of Cave Junction via Oregon Route 46, which intersects U.S. Route 199 at Cave Junction.

Despite the monument's name, the main cave is a single system with known passages totaling about 15,000 feet (4,600 m) in length. Eight separate smaller caves have also been discovered in the monument.

Runoff from the heavily wooded monument forms small headwater streams of the Illinois River, a major tributary of the Rogue River. One of five small springs in the monument becomes Upper Cave Creek, which flows on the surface before disappearing into its bed and entering the cave. Supplemented by water entering the cave from above, the stream emerges from the main entrance as Cave Creek.