Newlyweds from Portland, a retiree from Thousand Oaks, California, parents and their kids from cities across the West Coast — they all had something in common Tuesday morning. They were all waiting patiently in their cars on the side of the road outside Lava River Cave.

Vehicles lined up on the road by the parking lot entrance have become a familiar sight in recent summers, as Lava River Cave grows in popularity. Visitors often wait there for an hour, sometimes even longer. But the lines will be a thing of the past come August when the Deschutes National Forest launches a new timed entry system for the cave.

The U.S. Forest Service reports that 70,000 visitors enter the cave each year. Cars parked along the road waiting for a parking space are deemed a safety hazard for the public and staff at the site. The new timed entry system is designed to reduce the crush of people visiting the cave during the summertime tourist season and making parking easier.

“We heard there could be a line, but it’s early in the week so we weren’t expecting one,” said Richard Ngo, a visitor from San Rafael, California, whose car was parked along with around 10 others outside the cave gates. “Anyway, this isn’t too bad. It’s fun for the kids, to explore in a safe environment, and see nature. That’s the main thing.”

Ngo, who has visited the cave five or six times previously, thinks the timed system is a good idea.

“People will have a better experience. If it’s your first time and you see the line, you may just turn around. But it is worth the wait. It’s such a cool experience,” he said.

Starting Aug. 1, visitors to the cave will need to sign up for time slots to enter the cave through the website recreation.gov.

Kevin Larkin, Bend-Ft. Rock district ranger, said the new entry system can help because the lengthy wait along the roadway has increased conflicts between visitors.

“I felt it was a step that needed to be taken,” said Larkin.

The Forest Service has no plans to expand the parking lot at Lava River Cave, said Jean Nelson-Dean, spokesperson for the Deschutes National Forest. This is because the current lot already accommodates the number of visitors that the cave can handle at any given time. Limits on how many people can enter are based on the size of the cave.

“We are trying to provide visitors with a good experience at the cave and protect the cave resources,” said Nelson-Dean.

Specific information about confrontations between visitors to the cave was not publicly available, but Nelson-Dean said most of the incidents occurred on the road near the cave.

“People would get frustrated in line and would try to go around other people or cut people off and then start yelling at each other,” said Nelson-Dean. “It became very uncomfortable for our staff to have to manage.”

Jared Garfield, co-owner and operations manager for Wanderlust Tours, has seen increased activity at Lava River Cave, as well as other caves in the Bend area.

Garfield said the Forest Service made the right call in creating a timed entry system for Lava River Cave, and it will help to disperse visitors to other areas.

“Dispersing the uses is not a bad thing. With the cave, I would rather have a time slot and have to wait 15 minutes instead of waiting an hour in line. Ultimately it makes things run a bit smoother and is better for the natural resources,” said Garfield. “For those more popular areas, it helps.”

Back at the roadside by the cave, visitors were calm on Tuesday, patiently waiting their turns to enter.

Skip Nirenberg, an 81-year-old retiree from Thousand Oaks, last visited the caves 30 years ago with his father and was looking forward to a return visit. He said waiting in line wasn’t a problem and is better than the upcoming timed entry system.

“It might have just discouraged me because of the hassle of having to set a time, and trying to fit it into my schedule, rather than just showing up. I think the time schedule complicates it more,” he said.

Chris Sliwka, visiting with his family from Portland, thinks the timed system will work better than waiting on the road, but wasn’t discouraged by the sight of 10 cars ahead of him.

“These things are fun. I don’t mind waiting,” he said “I’m just excited to see it.”

Ngo, the visitor from San Rafael, wanted to take advantage of the downtime and walk a bit in the woods by the road with his kids.

“For us, the wait is worth it. We’ve come all the way from California, and we are not going to not do it just because of the wait. What’s another 30 minutes?” he said. “It’s such a cool experience, and you can’t find anything like this in California. You just can’t, so it’s worth it.”

A reservation system to the Lava River Cave, goes into effect Aug. 1, but you can begin reserving slots starting this Thursday. 

This Thursday, half of the timed reservation tickets to enter Lava River Cave will be available on a rolling 30-day booking window. The remaining half of timed reservation tickets will be available on a 24-hour booking window beginning July 31.

All reservations are made through recreation.gov and can be made at 7 a.m. each day. Timed reservation tickets are free. However, recreation.gov charges a $2 service fee per transaction for processing the reservation.

Reservations also can be made through a call center at 1-877-444-6777, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.  People can either print the timed reservation ticket or download it to their mobile devices to show to the attendant at the site.

Timed reservations will be for 90-minute entry blocks each day that Lava River Cave is open. Every day there will be 14 daily entry blocks with a new entry block opening every 30 minutes. If there are available tickets on any day, people at the site without a timed reservation will be able to make a reservation through recreation.gov that day.

A timed reservation covers everyone in a vehicle. There is no per-person charge. In addition, if visitors bike or walk to the site, they do not need a timed reservation.