Hike Info:
Trailhead: Skeleton Cave Trailhead on FR 1819, lat � 43.95035 / long � 121.17759
Total Miles: 1.25
Elevation Gain: ~100'
Difficulty: Easy
Family Friendly: Yes, but litter & broken glass detract from cave
All Season: No
My boys were itching to explore another cave, and their interest was piqued by the name Skeleton Cave. It is a smaller lava tube off China Hat Road southeast of Bend. It�s not as well developed as the Lava River Cave, which is both good and bad. There are a few other caves in the area that we didn�t explore, such as Boyd Cave, Wind Cave, and the Arnold Ice Cave.
The cave is interesting, with similar scenery to Lava River Cave, except there is a lot more scrambling. The floor of the cave in many spots is covered in small lava rocks that make crunching noises beneath your feet. I joked with the boys that they called it Skeleton Cave because every step sounded like you were crunching old bones.
      
While the scrambling and exploring was fun, there was more vandalism and litter than I expected. There were several areas with graffiti on the rocks, several beer cans, a few bottles, and broken glass shards throughout the cave. On the way out, we even found a fresh pile of human waste accompanied by a sock used as TP. I didn�t have the means to clean it up, but I did pack out all the other junk I found.
If it weren�t for the vandals and thoughtless users, I would definitely recommend this for people of all ages who don�t mind a bit of scrambling. As it is, I probably won�t return. There�s no excuse for the stuff I saw in the cave, and I can only imagine it getting worse over time. | 
