Wednesday, August 26, 2015 – Monday after we toured The High Desert Museum we drove nearby to Lava Land, toured the visitor’s center then boarded the Shuttle for a trip to the top of Lava Butte. A Butte is described as an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top (similar to but narrower than a mesa). Do not know why they can’t call it a hill, but perhaps Butte sounds better???!!!
Lava Butte is a cinder cone rising 500 feet above Lava Lands Visitor Center. A cinder covered trail encircles the rim of the cone with outstanding views. We walked this trail which in long stretches was very steep to climb. Not easy at all for us, but we are proud to say we made it!!! This first three pictures was taken off the internet as we have none that show the cinder cone like this.
The next pictures are from inside the Visitor Center, our ride in the shuttle to the top of the Butte and from our hike around it. We could see the area around it a bit but I don’t think it came out well in the pictures because of the fire smoke in the area. We receive Air Quality Warnings on our phone each day saying the quality is at a Danger level because of the smoke. We were about 300 feet over the area where the lava flowed leaving the are black. We brought home some black, red and gray lava rocks.
LAVA BUTTE TRAIL NO. 18 – DON’T KNOW WHERE THE OTHER 17 ARE BUT THIS IS THE ONE WE HIKED!
FROM HIGH UP LOOKING DOWN ON THE REMAINING LAVA.
THE DARK AREA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PICTURE IS WHERE THE LAND SEPARATED AND THE LAVA FLOWED OUT.
YOU CAN SEE THE WALKWAY THROUGH THE LAVA ROCKS DOWN BELOW
THE LOOK OUT AT THE TOP FROM ONE PART OF THE HIKING TRAIL
From a sign by the hiking trail: Pouring from a breach on the south side of Lava Butte, lava moved in a series of overlapping flows. The lava spread dowhill to the northwest covering nine square miles and filling six miles of the Deschutes River channel. Within the Lava Butte lava flow there are several islands of trees on higher ground that were not overcome by the lava flows from their eruption. 
Another sign: Lava Butte is one of many cinder cones that erupted about 7,000 years ago from a Northwest trending fissure (crack) known as the Northwest Rift Zone. 
AT THE TOP OF LAVA BUTTE THIS SIGN SHOWED THE ELEVATION TO BE 5,020.
US ENJOYING THE HIKE!
That’s it for today! We plan to rest a day and then head to the Lava River Cave on Wednesday.
Ya’ll come back now, ya’ hear!
BECAUSE HE LIVES 