Article: HELL HOLE OMITTED FROM MAPS FOR DECADES, HUGE HOLLOW STILL A MYTHIC MAZE.(News)

A 200-foot-deep rift in the forest floor, deep enough to hold a 20-story building and create a subterranean climate at least 20 degrees cooler than summer temperatures above, has deliberately been kept out of Oregon's tourist guidebooks.

Its caretakers don't want people stumbling into it unprepared, or making the hour-long descent only to be buried by one of the periodic showers of rocks and boulders from its crumbling basalt walls.

It's known as the Hell Hole.

``It's more than a hole. This thing is a half a mile long,'' said U.S. Forest Service geologist Mike Long, making his 12th trip into the Hell Hole over the past 15 years.

He ...

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