United States Lava tube
Lava River Cave
1.6 km of galleries.
Mammuthuss · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 1,372 m.
The real relief above Lava River Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
1.6km
Galleries
surveyed length (Wikidata)
1,372m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
7°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
53m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
7 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 7 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 27 °C at the entrance, 20 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are in March and from November to January: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 3°-5°Jan
- 4°-5°Feb
- 8°-4°Mar
- 11°-2°Apr
- 17°3°May
- 21°6°Jun
- 27°10°Jul
- 26°9°Aug
- 21°6°Sep
- 14°1°Oct
- 6°-3°Nov
- 2°-6°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in Oregon
Lava River Cave is a lava tube in United States. It has 1.6 km of surveyed galleries. The entrance is at 1,372 m. It has an underground river and the shape of a lava tube. It lies within Newberry National Volcanic Monument.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Sunrivernearest town · 5.7 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.3 km from the entrance
- Roberts Field (RDM)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 44 km in a straight lineCar hire at RDM airport (Redmond)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmLava River Cave
- 1viewpoints within 3 km
- 7car parks within 2 km
- 13information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 1bus stops within 2 km
- 1campsites within 8 kmBend-Sunriver RV Campground
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- hotels and guesthouses within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Sunriver5.7 km in a straight line
- Deschutes River Woods11 km in a straight line
- Three Rivers12 km in a straight line
- Bend19 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Lava River Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas4 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 3 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 21 | 27 | 26 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 2 |
| Afternoon | 3 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 21 | 27 | 26 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 2 |
| Night | -5 | -5 | -4 | -2 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 1 | -3 | -6 |
| Rain (mm) | 82 | 61 | 69 | 53 | 47 | 32 | 8 | 11 | 22 | 46 | 78 | 109 |
| Rainy days | 16 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 16 | 17 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.3 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 7.6 | 9.1 | 11.1 | 13.2 | 11.5 | 9.3 | 6.5 | 3.9 | 2.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 18 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 18 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3 | 3 | -5 | 82 | 3.3 |
| Feb | 4 | 4 | -5 | 61 | 4.8 |
| Mar | 8 | 8 | -4 | 69 | 5.8 |
| Apr | 11 | 11 | -2 | 53 | 7.6 |
| May | 17 | 17 | 3 | 47 | 9.1 |
| Jun | 21 | 21 | 6 | 32 | 11.1 |
| Jul | 27 | 27 | 10 | 8 | 13.2 |
| Aug | 26 | 26 | 9 | 11 | 11.5 |
| Sep | 21 | 21 | 6 | 22 | 9.3 |
| Oct | 14 | 14 | 1 | 46 | 6.5 |
| Nov | 6 | 6 | -3 | 78 | 3.9 |
| Dec | 2 | 2 | -6 | 109 | 2.9 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (1,372 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 102% | 41% | 53% | 42% | 136% | 77% | 27% | 20% | 55% | 50% | 121% | 41% |
| 2021 | 50% | 89% | 18% | 12% | 41% | 57% | 69% | 11% | 156% | 82% | 65% | 57% |
| 2022 | 63% | 17% | 32% | 89% | 95% | 162% | 88% | 78% | 37% | 35% | 68% | 61% |
| 2023 | 29% | 45% | 99% | 69% | 128% | 49% | 4% | 115% | 125% | 60% | 53% | 57% |
| 2024 | 153% | 110% | 54% | 75% | 72% | 50% | 27% | 144% | 30% | 52% | 107% | 132% |
| 2025 | 63% | 124% | 123% | 33% | 54% | 19% | 191% | 155% | 142% | 93% | 31% | 96% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Lava River Cave
United States
- —Depth
- 1.6 kmGalleries
- 1,372 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Fort Rock Cave
United States · 61 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,360 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Paisley Caves
United States · 142 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,416 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Sea Lion Caves
United States · 222 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 51 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q6502212) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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