Newberry at a Glance

Tuesday, July 14

Second day in the Deschutes National Forest. Today was all about Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Our morning drive, guided by GPS, lead us to the heart of the lava rocks monument. This was not, however, our intended destination. After some time, some phone calls and a lot of talking, we finally arrived at our destination the Lava Lands Visitor Center. Here we were met by Lead Ranger Christina who proceeded to talk to us about Newberry.

The whole group at Lava Lands Visitor Center.

View of Lava Lands from trial at visitor center,

View of Lava Lands at the base of Lava Butte

Newberry is an interesting place. We learned about the history of the area. After Christina’s talk we visited with two volunteers at the visitors center and watched a short film about the monument. What I found particularly interesting was the way the caves at the monument were formed. As lava flowed from the eruption point it cooled around the center of these lava rivers and created channels where lava within was still hot enough to flow. Overtime the caverns cooled and what remained was a tube.