Lava Lands
By Lava Butte
The Lava Lands Visitor will have a welcome station booth where you can buy a pass or just show your 1 year pass. There is small museum that shows the geological history of the place and about lava in general with a few native artifacts and one or two hands on science stations for kids. If you have not been here in over a decade and remember the museum like those cheesy 60s-70s filmstrips you watched as a kid with the boring narrator voice,"Millions of years ago the earth cooled and dinosaurs came"; like that with cheesy music from the same era and a button that you push showing led lights lights up the map of the mountain with a motor moving the map upward showing volcanic activity. Well that is gone now replaced with a visual clean and modern lit up poster or plaques. There are video screens everywhere showing lava activity and the geologist who study it. This is a small sample of the museum to give you an idea what it looks like.
click to enlarge
Long after the lava cooled a tree grew, struggled for years and finally died. I want to make appoint that I have had people believe this tree was alive before the lava came and was responsible for killing it. I thought that the fact due the intense heat put out by lava would incinerate the tree leaving just a lava cast would be enough proof to dispute that besides it happening over 1000 years or more. The sign to the right supports that.
If you have some who is going with you and they like to read every sign, you might want to have them look at these before or after they go. They could cause your hike to take another 15 minutes because there are signs everywhere. Click on them to enlarge them.
This video gives a better idea just how large these lave fields are. The trail splits in two but both sides come back together before the toughest part up Phil Brogart Peak that is about 350 yards further. Its actually more like a loop.
Click this link for more info.
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