DESCHUTES NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — We are in one of the darkest, quietest places on earth: an ancient subterranean cave in Central Oregon’s volcanic, sage-covered high desert. At this moment, 30 feet underground and about 3,000 feet deep, our naturalist guide has instructed us to turn off our headlamps and remain silent for one minute.
We’ve hiked and scrambled our way through this chilly, rock-filled cave, one of 600 in the 1.6 million-acre forest. But this part — the sensory deprivation — is harder. I search to name the feeling washing over me. Is it calm? Fear? Boredom? Courtney Braun, of Wanderlust Tours, the only guide company permitted in this gated cave, tells us to wave a hand in front of our face.
I do, and I swear I can see it. “You didn’t,” she says. “That’s your brain telling you that you did.”
