Central Oregon usually gets you looking toward the mountains. This outing asks you to look beneath your feet.
In his 2024 cave tour, David Keyte explores Redmond Caves and Boyd Cave, trading the open landscape for the lava-formed spaces below it. The first surprise is how close one of these places sits to an ordinary drive through town.
Watch the original cave episode on YouTube.
The place you almost drove past
Near Redmond’s airport, the surface gives little hint of the reason to stop. David opens the tour with that discovery: a cave system beside the roads people use every day. An outing underground turns a familiar part of town into somewhere you want to look at again.
The Redmond Caves Recreation Site contains five caves formed from a collapsed lava tube. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management in partnership with the city, it brings the region’s volcanic history into unusually close reach. Use the agency’s map and directions to find the public entrance.
Prepare for a natural cave visit. BLM recommends sturdy footwear, three light sources, a companion and telling someone where you are going. There are no toilets or other amenities, and pets are not permitted inside the caves. Read the site guidance before choosing the outing, and leave rocks and cave features as you find them.
A staircase into another landscape
The Boyd Cave segment makes the change of setting especially clear. The entrance and staircase lead down from the open landscape into a very different space. In a short film, that transition is enough to remind you how much of Central Oregon’s story lies out of sight.
For now, enjoy this stop on screen. Boyd Cave’s picnic area and trail are within the Forest Service’s Cabin Butte closure, scheduled through April 30, 2027, unless lifted earlier. Restoration crews are working in the area. Redmond Caves has its own BLM access information; the two sites should be planned separately.
Let curiosity set a comfortable pace
A cave visit is a reason to look closely, not a distance to complete. Choose the part of the experience that suits your preparation and comfort, take your time and leave room to turn back. The change from daylight to an underground setting can be memorable without going farther than you intended.
For later Forest Service cave trips, check both the individual site’s status and the cave-protection rules. These places are worth visiting carefully so the next person can find the same sense of discovery.
Back above ground
After Redmond Caves, give the afternoon a different setting. Our Redmond day-trip guide follows downtown food carts, the library and Petersen Rock Garden. A lunch stop is a perfectly good next chapter after an unusual morning.
Explore the Redmond community guide or choose another trip from Check It Out. Sometimes getting to know a place begins with noticing what was there all along.
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