After living away from Oregon for 6 years, I never truly grasped its beauty and all that it has to offer until I came back. Although I grew up in Oregon, I never took advantage of exploring the countless trails that are scattered throughout the state. When I moved back in November, I could hardly wait to start exploring the state and prayed for the sun to make its appearance. As soon as May came around, I started looking up the top hikes online to do that were doable for a newbie hiker. As expected, the most populated hikes were the big hitters on the search engines. After visiting a few of the top places, I started asking around about some secret stops that were worth traveling to. In the process, I heard about Triangulation Peak and the treasured hidden gem Boca Cave that only a few knew how to locate. Obviously this sounded right up my alley. Secret cave with the best view on this planet and might be difficult to get to? Yes please, I volunteer as tribute.

My coworker, who is also an avid hiker, and I started searching desperately online how to navigate this mysterious path, and every blog had just about the same little information on how to locate the cave: “Once at the summit, head back down a couple hundred feet and turn right onto ‘hidden’ path. Keep going and stay right. Then, head down into forest area and stay right as you reach large rock. Past the rock on the right, path is steep and for moderate to advanced hikers. Then, take a left and you’re at the cave.” Sounded simple enough, so we decided to hit the trail and find the cave.

After a few miles of walking along the most beautiful trail to date, we came upon this “large rock” with a path that veered off to the left, which would be on the right if we were coming back down. Naturally, this had to be it, we thought. The hidden trail seemed to be just that. Then, as described in the posts online, the trail went down to the right into the forest. This is where it started getting tough for the moderate to advanced hiker. All of the pieces fit, so we kept moving in what we thought was the right direction. That’s when the trail started getting really tough.

We were literally scaling the side of this rock, convinced that just right around the corner was the cave. That was when things took a different turn. In order to get around the corner, that I was so convinced the cave hid, I needed to lower myself down onto a platform that appeared to be level. As I lowered myself down, I realized that the platform was actually tilted and my shoes were not gripping enough to keep me from slipping off, straight down to nothing. As I stood there, calmly breathing, trying to figure out my next move without slipping to my death in front of my friend, she casually spoke up and asked if I needed help. Without exerting too much energy, I said yes, and she was gripping my arms in a flash. She held onto me as I maneuvered myself around to face the wall. Once I caught my nerves, I hoisted myself up to level ground and sat for a moment reflecting on how finding the cave was not worth risking my life for. We decided to head back to the main trail and at least finish the hike.

Long story short, after heading up to the summit, we realized that the path we ventured off onto was indeed NOT the way to the cave. We did eventually find it (post to come), but it made me realize the information online was extremely unreliable. As a new hiker who wants to explore every place, it’s crucial to be able to rely on reliable directions.

Since I am new at hiking and found an instant passion for it, I want others to be able to feel safe when going out for the first, or even hundredth time, and discover all that nature has to offer.

Follow me, as Alexx Explores Oregon, to discover new trails or revisit new ones with better navigation. I am always up for recommendations, so feel free to pass them along so the world can find out that Oregon is truly the greatest place on earth.