Lava Butte

Today Keo and I drove to Lava Butte. It is half way between Bend and the Sunriver Resort. We started out by taking a nice walk along the Deschutes River. We climbed up a cliff high above the river to get a better view. After the walk we headed back to the Lava Forest Visitor center to take a drive up the Lava Butte. This butte is amazing. It is 5020 feet above see level, thats 2000 feet higher than Bend. The drive up the butte was extremely steep and tight barely fitting two cars on the road in some places. Once at the top the view of central Oregon was spectacular. Today was a clear day, despite the forest fires and we were able to see pretty far. In every direction we could see buttes popping out of the landscape and covered in Juniper Pine trees. Central oregon has hundreds of volcanos. Many of them are inactive and havent been active for thousands of years. Lava Butte has been active in the past, but it is safe to explore the top of it. Lava Butte exploded 7,000 years ago, spewing molten lava over 9 square miles of Central Oregon.

Here is me at the top of Lava Butte. Notice the beautiful background.

In this picture you can see how far the lava spread across the Deschutes National Forest. 9 square miles!!

Here is the great view of the center crater that collapsed when one side of the Butte blew open during the explosion. We were able to walk completely around the rim of this crater. I t was a unique experience.