Oregon's 'Crystal Cave'

There's an old tale I've heard around smoking campfires about two buckaroos driving a bunch of cows from Prineville to Silver Lake in the late 1800s who allegedly found a cave full of dazzling quartz crystals.

I was so intrigued by this alleged phenomenon back in the '50s that I flew my old Piper Cub out across the desert hundreds of hours searching for it. I never did find it and eventually asked my mentor, Sage of the Desert Phil Brogan what he knew of this so-called Crystal Cave.

Phil shared his version of the tale with me one day when we were on our way to OMSI's Hancock Field Station over near Fossil, where he gave his annual "Sermon on Red Hill" geological talk.

"When we get back to Bend," Phil said, "I'll show you one of the crystals that came from Crystal Cave."

True to his word, when we arrived back in Bend, Phil rummaged around and came up with an old cigar box that contained an exquisite quartz crystal about the size of your thumb that he claimed was from Crystal Cave. (He also showed me an awe-inspiring collection of "dinosaur gizzard stones" which I still wonder about….)

At that point, we both decided that it would be the find of the century if someone actually put that cave on a map, so I pored over maps and geological records in hopes of being that person.

I can't tell you how many more hours I spent flying over sagebrush and juniper-covered hills and canyons between Prineville and Silver Lake after seeing the "real thing," looking for the elusive and alleged Crystal Cave.

Still, I never found it and to my knowledge, neither has anyone else.

After a while, Crystal Cave dropped through the cracks and joined a few other things I would like to discover in Central Oregon: The rumored World War II Sherman Tank buried near Brothers; the alleged U.S. Army Jeep in a crate near Alfalfa; Blue Bucket Mine; and a few meteorites that are supposed to be laying around waiting to be unearthed.

Then, one day in early March, my old caving partner Phil Coyner suggested we visit South Ice Cave, which is out in the southeastern end of the Deschutes National Forest in the Fort Rock District.

There are two openings to the interior of South Ice Cave. A big opening going east and a crawl space to the north. The eastern cavern contains Pleistocene ice and is where I discovered a peculiar cricket-like insect prowling among the rocks in the twilight zone that turned out to be a rare grylloblattid - a leftover from the last ice age. Professor Jack Lattin of OSU about flipped when I sent it to him.

When Phil and I squeezed into the small opening of the northern part of South Ice Cave, I got the surprise of my life! The light from our headlamps suddenly bounced back at us in brilliant colors reflected off crystals on the ceiling. I can remember how beautifully the prisms of light danced around the rocks.

"This is it, Phil!" I exclaimed, "Crystal Cave!"

We squirmed through the opening into the wide part of the cave and stood up for a closer look at the crystals. They were exquisite! What a sight! Then, as we stood there gazing deep into those beautiful facets, we started chuckling. The crystals weren't quartz at all, but ice.

As we looked around us, we not only saw hundreds of brilliant ice crystals hanging from the ceiling, but on the floor of the cave there were hundreds of glistening ice pillars (stalagmites) that came up to our knees.

"Wow…!" was all Phil and I could say as we gawked around the ice-filled cavern.

And at that moment Phil looked at me, and I looked at him, and he said, "Do you suppose those buckaroos poked their heads inside here and spotted the same ice crystals we did?"

"Yeah," I added, "and I'll bet one of them had an old quartz crystal in his saddle bag he'd picked up near Bear Creek (where they are common), and right there those two galloots dreamed up their Crystal Cave for us to enjoy and search for forever more."

So if you want to see a real "crystal" cave - even if it's beautiful ice - take a tour of South Ice Cave anytime this spring; it's a trip that'll be more than you hoped for.