Lake Lenore Caves

A bit farther south from Dry Falls State Park is Lake Lenore and a series of caves that were created by the floods. Above is a small community, no doubt containing many vacation homes, along the opposite shore of the lake.



After a short walk, I came to the beginning of a row of shallow caves carved in the basalt hillside.

From inside one of the larger ones, I was able to look back across the valley to the opposite coulee wall and see some of the smaller lakes at the bottom.

This panorama give a wider view of the area from the front of the cave.

There is evidence of human habitation, at least seasonally, starting about 5,000 year ago. Native Americans apparently came here to fish and hunt as part of their migratory motion about the plains. It was a serene and empty place, at least this time of year, and it looks as it must have looked, to the the early visitors all those millennia ago.