Dolling Cave

[Willard]

I heard from a friend of mine that there's some creepy stuff back in Dolling Cave. You go far enough back and the floor just drops away. Apperently several years ago (could be more like decades) some people were exploring it to get the dementions and stuff for geographical records and they went down the "pit." It goes down into a lower massive domed room below. What was found were lots of human remains...

I don't know how much of this is true, but if it is true, it's pretty creepy. To bad Dolling Cave is closed off in order to keep people from bothering the bats (damn nature people grrr...) Otherwise I'd see if anyone wanted to check it out. If anyone knows someone who can get us in and help us go spelunking (I are no spell) it would be way cool.

[Sertile]

I've actually been inside Doling Cave, and I agree that the whole bat thing is pretty crappy, but whatever. I got to go on a tour one time with this geologist guy who works there, Melvin something. They open up the cave for group tours about once or twice a year, I found out, so if you want to you can probably check it out sometime. You don't get any freedom to roam, though. You just get to see what they want you to, and they don't let you explore or anything, so it's pretty restrictive.

As for the whole pit thing, I can't vouche for that one way or the other, but it sounds pretty far-fetched to me. I've heard two stories about Doling Cave, personally. One is that it goes all the way back to the old city courthouse and you can actually hear people talking through the roof of the cave. The other is that it's somehow linked to Sequiota Cave on the other side of town, and another "lost" cave that's rumored to exist somewhere beneath park central square. However, I've explored Sequiota thoroughly on foot and by raft, and I can personally attest to the fact that it's just one extremely long dead end.

I've got a map of Doling Cave somewhere, actually. I'll try and get it scanned sometime.

[Jojo Roberts]

I went on tour of Dolling Cave in October and asked about free exploring. They told me I could join this cave exploration club that has access to the deeper areas of the cave. I haven't followed up on it, but I believe you can find out through the Parks Department.

[Willard]

The Parks Department... Not exactly an organization that I like to support... They're going to tear down the old roller skating rink at Dolling Park... OHHH!!!! I totally forgot about that... it's abandoned and the roof leaks... they haven't used it since the park board had started construction on the new center just up the hill from it... check it out before it's torn down.

[White Rabbit]

They're going to tear down the old roller skating rink at Dolling Park... OHHH!!!! I totally forgot about that... it's abandoned and the roof leaks... they haven't used it since the park board had started construction on the new center just up the hill from it... check it out before it's torn down.

Ooooo. I totally wasn't aware of that one. Is it still an actual skating rink inside, or has it been changed over the years? I definitely want to check that one out, big historical value there.

[pdx_prog]

We used to explore the cave frequently. For a long time the opening just had a chain link fence in front of it, and there was always a hole in it. I think I posted on another thread about the park and cave, but we used to spend hours walking through there. We had always heard that you could go underneath downtown but as far as I know we never reached it. Very cool though, specially for a 10 yr old!