Lava Lands Visitor Center & Lava Butte - near Bend, Oregon

Note on my post about Phil:    Phil gave us his business card when he was here but there is no website listed.  Maybe they do not have one.  There was only an e-mail address.  That's why I did not post a conact website for him.  They left Cascade Meadows this morning and are on the way to Redmond, Oregon.


Today we drove just a few miles north of the campground to the Lava Lands Visitor Center and Lava Butte.  This is all part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  Before going to the Visitor Center we drove up the road to the 500-foot high Lava Butte.  There is an observation platform at the top and you can see for miles and miles.  The views of the Cascade Mountain Range were awesome.  You can see a 10-square mile lava field from the butte.  (click on photos for a larger view)

There is also a 1/4 mile trail that encircles the 150-foot deep crater on Lava Butte.  There are interpretive signs along the way.   From the trail on the butte you can see some of the major mountain peaks of the Cascades.    The photo on the right shows the Sisters Mountains.

From the trail you can look down into the large crater.   Driving back down the road you can look up and see Lava Butte and the area surrounding it is covered with lava rock. 

The Visitor Center was an interesting place to see and there were many exhibits that explained the history of the region's volcanic activity.  There was a short film presentation going on in the small theater, but a school field trip was in progress so we skipped that.   Outside the center you could take a walk on the Trail of the Molten Lands.  This is a paved trail, but still bumpy and uneven so the elderly or disabled would need assistance.  The trail is only 3/4 of a mile but we had Annie in the car and didn't want to leave her there too long, so we skipped the complete trail.  We could again see Mt. Batchelor (left) and the Sisters (right) from the trail.

We drove 4 miles further into the park to see the Deschutes River.  There is a 3-mile trail here, but Annie is too old and too sick to walk that far.  We went a short distance across the foot bridge and then went back.

This was an interesting place to see.  Sometimes when we are just cruising down Interstate 5 over in the West we can see the mountains to our East.  It is easy to forget that they are volcanoes.  Our visit to the Lava Lands area helped to remind us of this fact.  We plan to see more interesting things relating to volcanoes on Saturday.   I hope you enjoyed the mountain views as much as we did.

Until next time.....so long for now!