Lava Beds National Monument

Thanks to homeschooling, I discovered a few years ago that I had a real interest in geology and meteorology.  It was nothing I was interested in before but now find fascinating!

The kids and I are excited about moving to an area that has lots of volcanic history.  Yesterday, we drove to Lava Beds National Monument to check out the lava tubes.  There are over 700 lava tube caves at the park. They were so cool!

Eruptions at Mammoth Crater 30,000 years ago sent massive flows of lava 10 miles downhill.  Lava tubes form when the edges of the highly fluid, 1,800 degrees lava start to cool.  Eventually a roof forms that insulates the liquid lava inside, like surface ice on a river.  When the eruption stops, and the hot lava drains out, a lava tube - the outer shell - is left.  The tubes are like caves and are so, so cool to explore!

The first lava tube we went into is called Mushpot Cave.  The path was slightly lighted and the cave had exhibits in it explaining the features that we’d see in the other caves.

These lava drips on the ceiling are called lavacicles

This is the back of the cave.  The lava didn’t fully drain out and so blocked the rest of the tube.

Next, we went to check out one of the many completely dark lava tube caves.  The visitor center gave us big flashlights to use on our lava tube caving adventures.  This one was called Skull Cave because bighorn sheep skulls were found in it and two human skeletons.  It was HUGE and very cold inside.  In fact, there is an ice field in the bottom of the cave.

It was pitch black in the cave, except for the little bit of light our flashlights provided so I couldn’t take any pictures until we were almost back out.

lots of lava rocks all around

The third cave we visited was Sunshine Cave.  It’s called this because two sections of the lava tube has caved in somewhat providing “skylights”.

After this picture it was all dark again for a long way and then we found one of the skylights.  Here’s Emily standing in it.

coming out

Along the road are fields and fields of lava.  The sign says that it is a’a lava.

This is the type of lava flow that came down that created these lava beds.

The sign says that all this volcanic activity is due to the subduction zone located just beyond the Cascade mountains that are off in the distance.

I bought a year pass to both Lava Beds National Monument and Crater Lake and so plan to go back and do a lot more exploring.  Next time we are bringing helmets, kneepads and gloves like they suggest and will really be able to do some cool exploring like everyone else we saw there doing.

There is also a lot of Native American history there that I want to check out.  There are thousands of carved petroglyphs and painted pictographs located throughout the caves.

The Modoc Indians lived in the area for centuries.  They did not live in the caves but used them as cultural and spiritual spaces and water sources.

Confrontations erupted between a small band  Modoc people and the settlers who traveled to the area over the Appleton Trail.  In 1864 the Modoc leader, Kientpoos “Captain Jack”, and his band were “asked” to give up their homeland and to live on a reservation north of modern day Klamath Falls. On the reservation, tensions between Modoc people and members of other tribes as well as shortages of supplies promised by the US government prompted many to return home.  The US Army was ordered to return them to the reservation and the Modoc War began.  For nearly 5 months, a handful of the Modoc warriors defended the natural lava fortress against an army that eventually outnumbered them 10 to 1.

By June 1873, Captain Jack’s entire band had been captured.  He and three other warriors were hanged.  The families who remained were sent to Oklahoma, never again to return to their homeland.  So sad