*featuring a live video tour of Oregon Caves National Monument!* Sierra Heimel’s office is underground, her commute involves a headlamp, and her job is to figure out what’s happening in places most people will never see. As a geologist and cave specialist with the National Park Service at Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, she’s doing exactly the kind of science the rest of us didn’t know we needed.Sierra studies karst landscapes and the hidden waterways that form them. Her master’s research at the University of Kentucky took her 40 miles deep into the Grand Canyon’s Double Bopper Cave, and a national award from the Geological Society of America followed. Now she’s doing first-of-its-kind work right here in Southern Oregon on the River Styx, the only underground waterway in the country with a congressional Wild and Scenic designation — and figuring out, finally, where it comes from. We go on a live tour of the cave, talk about dye tracing and groundwater flow paths, cave preservation and vandalism and restoration, exotic lampenflora, what a squeeze box is, moon milk and microbial living rocks, being a bat handler, speleogenesis and why it matters, the allure of virgin passage, sensory deprivation flow states, dark sky designation, caves as natural preservation spaces, multicultural perspectives on caves, cavers vs. spelunkers, her high school caving club, never second-guessing what she wanted to study, and — her words — Oregon Caves being objectively one of the best places in Southern Oregon. Links Oregon Caves National Monument: nps.gov/orca Recreation.gov: rec.gov National Speleological Society: caves.org Wild & Scenic Rivers Act: rivers.gov/federal-laws/wild-scenic-rivers-act.php Active Listener Offers Las Cascadas Lodge — Code GOWILDLY for a complimentary in-house experience on new bookings: lascascadaslodge.com Arrowhead River Adventures — Code GOWILDLY for 10% off any half-day rafting trip in 2026 or 2027: arrowheadriveradventures.com Kula Cloth — Shop through our link to support the show: kulacloth.com/?avad=436689_e4cf2ef3d SOMA — 2-Week Free Trial + 6-month membership: southernoregonmartialarts.com ROW Adventures — Code GOWILDLY, $100 off any multi-day trip 2026-2027: rowadventures.com/multi-day-rafting-trips Lean In Breathwork — Code GOWILDLY, 20% off sauna sessions: calvinlivingston.com Follow Go Wildly YouTube: youtube.com/@gowildlypodcast Spotify: tinyurl.com/spotifygowildlypodcast Instagram: @gowildlypodcast Website: gowildlypodcast.com Hosted & Produced by Emily Berlant & Heather White / Go Wildly Podcast Theme Music: “Rainmaker” by Jared Masters — used with permission Keywords Go Wildly Podcast, Go Wildly, Southern Oregon podcast, outdoor podcast, Emily Berlant, Heather White, Sierra Heimel, Oregon Caves National Monument, Oregon Caves National Preserve, cave geology, karst, speleogenesis, River Styx Wild and Scenic, underground wild and scenic river, National Park Service caves, cave specialist NPS, Double Bopper Cave Grand Canyon, Geological Society of America karst award, lampenflora, moon milk cave, bat handler cave, cave preservation, cave vandalism, cave restoration, spelunking vs caving, National Speleological Society, dark sky park Oregon, cave tour Southern Oregon, cave survival, cave flow state, virgin passage, groundwater dye trace, Cave Junction Oregon, Illinois Valley Oregon, whimsy
