Lava Beds National Monument – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Three Sisters Loop (Lava Beds Wilderness) 31-May-2019

2019-05-312022-01-31Posted in California Wilderness Areas, Hiking, Northern California, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged California, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lava Beds National Monument, Lava Beds Wilderness California, Northern California, Three Sisters Loop

These are not the Three Sisters in Oregon you are seeking. Rather these are three small cinder cones a few miles north of the visitor center in Lava Beds National Monument. The loop past these Three Sisters got added to our hikes list after it appeared in the November 2018 issue of Backpacker magazine (yes, how quaint, printed material). The trick was to find a time that was optimal re: the weather – not too hot, not too cold. Now seemed like that time, what with snow still blocking trails in the high country and thunderstorms keeping the desert cool. With The LovedOne mired in running the library’s quarterly book sale, I made the two hour drive to the monument alone. 😦

Continue reading →

Schonchin Butte (Lava Beds NM) 04-May-2018

2018-05-042022-01-30Posted in California, Hiking, Northern California, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged California, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lava Beds National Monument, Northern California, Schonchin Butte California

Schoncin Butte Lava Beds National Monument California

After looping the Big Nasty, we drove over to Schonchin Butte for the brief (1.4 miles round-trip; 500 feet of elevation) hike to the lookout on its summit. Today the lookout was closed, but is usually staffed from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily from June to late September. The lookout and the trail leading up to it were built from 1939 to 1941 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It’s perched on the rim of the small crater in the center of the butte and commands an amazing view in all directions. Even with today’s lingering overcast, the view was pretty amazing. Well worth the short hike!

Continue reading →

Hiking the Big Nasty (Lava Beds NM) 04-May-2018

2018-05-042022-01-30Posted in California, Hiking, Northern California, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Big Nasty Trail California, Black Lava Flow Wilderness, California, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lava Beds National Monument, Mammoth Crater California, Northern California2 Comments

Big Nasty Trail Schonchin Butte Lava Beds National Monument California

While the primary attractions at Lava Beds National Monument are its numerous lava tube caves, there are some above-ground sites worth visiting too. Having hiked to Whitney Butte in the past, today we aimed for Mammoth Crater, the Big Nasty Trail (despite whatever prurient thoughts you may be harboring, this trail was named after a brush-covered formation of rough lava rock), and the lookout atop Schonchin Butte.

Continue reading →

Pluto’s Cave & Haystack (Northern California) 12-Dec-2016

2016-12-122022-01-29Posted in Hiking, Northern CaliforniaTagged California, Day Hiking, Haystack Butte California, Hiking, Klamath National Forest, Lava Beds National Monument, Mount Shasta, Northern California, Pluto's Cave California, Yreka California

Northern California’s Shasta Valley, a wide valley extending north from the foot of Mount Shasta, is a pocket of high desert resulting from Mount Shasta’s orographic seizure of moisture from east-bound Pacific storm systems. This wringing-out of the waters creates a sagebrush/juniper biome strikingly at odds with the moist, green forests found just a few miles to the south or north. This orographic lift also raises the odds for sunny, snow-free hikes during the winter months – a possibility we were alerted to by the excellent Hike Mt. Shasta website. So, when the forecast for the Shasta Valley was for clear and sunny (but colder than squat), and our local forecast offered only more rain and gloom, we went south to explore Pluto’s Cave (Pluto Cave on the USGS map) and hike up near-by Haystack.

Continue reading →

Lava Beds National Monument 01-Apr-2016

2016-04-032022-01-28Posted in Hiking, Northern California, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Black Lava Flow Wilderness, Blue Grotto Cave, California, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lava Beds National Monument, Lava Tubes, Paradise Alleys Cave, Whitney Butte

Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The Monument lies on the northeastern flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range. We’ve made several visits to the monument to both explore some of the caves (which are actually lava tubes) and to do a short hike to Whitney Butte in the adjacent Lava Beds Black Lava Flow Wilderness Area. It should be noted that those caves along the Loop Road can be closed to entry to protect hibernating bats, so it’s not necessarily possible to visit all of them during a single visit. Also the recent appearance of White-Nose Syndrome (a fatal condition in bats associated with exposure to a fungus) in Washington State might eventually further complicate visiting these caves.

Continue reading →

Whitney Butte (Lava Beds National Monument) 27-Aug-2015

2015-08-272022-01-28Posted in California, Hiking, Northern California, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Black Lava Flow Wilderness, California, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lava Beds National Monument, Merrill Ice Cave, Northern California, Whitney Butte

Lava Beds National Monument has a lot of caves but it also has some above-ground hiking trails that make a nice counter-point to time spent crawling around in the dark. Starting from the Merrill Ice Cave parking lot, the trail to Whitney Butte is basically an easy hike through open country,

Lava Beds National Monument Whitney Butte — Start of the trail to Whitney Butte and the Black Lava Flow Wilderness

with good views of Mount Shasta to the west,

past Whitney Butte – we were dissuaded from climbing it due to an unfortunate juxtaposition of shorts, long grass, and rattlesnakes (a hike up it might have been easy and fun, given colder weather and longer pants) –

to the face of the Black Lava flow.

The face of the flow is around 30-50 feet high and speaks to the bulldozing power of large masses of molten rock in motion. We tried climbing up on it but that was like balancing on large razor blades – not AT ALL forgiving if you miss a foot or hand-hold and slip. A short hike (6 miles round-trip; little elevation gain) but a nice balance for a day otherwise spent underground.

BACK TO HOME PAGE