Just days before the caves southeast of Bend are scheduled to be open for visitors, Deschutes National Forest officials came across a familiar, albeit unfortunate, trend.

Vandals had rolled a boulder into Skeleton Cave, ruining a staircase and forcing officials to remove it, said Roland Giller, public affairs specialist for Ochoco and Deschutes national forests, on Friday.

Giller said he was unsure when the staircase would be repaired or replaced. ”Vandalism like this is very expensive,” Giller said.

All the caves – Skeleton Cave, Wind Cave, Arnold Ice Cave and Boyd Cave – are still scheduled to open May 1.

Skeleton Cave, located about a mile and a half north of China Hat Road, will have to be accessed without stairs.

The caves have been closed since Oct. 15 to protect the hibernating western big-eared bat.

”The bats aren’t aggressive,” Giller said. ”We just try to protect them during hibernation.”

He said that since the caves are near urban areas, they’re susceptible to vandalism.

In February, some men were cited for shooting in the Skeleton Cave. Illegal dumping is also common.

Giller pointed out that volunteers removed 26,000 pounds of trash from the area in 2002.

”There were abandoned cars, appliances, tires and just a fair amount of vandalism,” he said.

Giller asked that anyone who has information on the destroyed stairs to call the Bend/Fort Rock Ranger Station at 383-4000.