Lava Beds National Monument

September 2, 2004

Lava Beds is located (pretty much) in the middle of nowhere in Northern California. If you know where Tule Lake is (and I am not sure why most people would - not that it isn't a nice place, it just is not near an interstate or a large city), you probably know where Lava Beds National Monument is. For the rest of you, it is about 30 miles south of the California - Oregon border in the center of the state.

There are two reasons to visit Lava Beds. First, many historical sites exist which have an association with the Modoc Indian War in the late 1800's. Captain Jack and a band of his followers (and not very many of them if I remember correctly, only about 50 or so) held out against the US Army for about 2 months before being betrayed by some of those same followers and surrendering. Jack and several other Modoc Indians were later executed for murdering some military officers and civilians.

The second reason is to go caving. I am not a big "caver" - I have claustrophobia and there is no way I am going into the dark in a cave. But other people enjoy that sort of thing. One can borrow helmets and flashlights from the visitor's center.

The caves were formed thru volcanic activity. After the volcano erupted (and I am not sure which one that would be, maybe Shasta or Mazama or some other unknown volcano or maybe all of them?), the lava would flow out. The exposed lava on the outside would cool and harden and form into various structures (for caving purposes we are particularly interested in the "lava tube"), while the lava underneath the hard layer would continue to flow. Eventually the lava stopped flowing. The outer, hardened lava would remain, sometimes forming a tube or a cave.

Lava Beds has a large amount of these tubes and caves that one can explore, hence the hard hats and flash lights. As I stated, I did not really partake of the cave exploration. I did visit a small cave located at the visitor's center, which has a paved path, lighting, and displays. That is the extent of my cave exploration.

But caves and tubes are not the only remnants from a volcanic eruption. The lava also deposited on the landscape, cooling and hardening as the lava stopped flowing. And many interesting above-ground formations exist in Lava Beds which are just perfect for the claustrophobic among us to visit. You get to walk around, on top of, and (sometimes) inside of the various above-ground formations.

Cooled lava (actually, pretty darn cold lava considering lava's temperatute) is very hard to the touch. You can injury if you touch it in just the wrong way or trip and fall on it. I did not hurt myself (I know we are all relieved about that!). I was only able to visit the one tunnel and three of the above ground formations because that took all of the time I allotted myself for Lava Beds. This is one of the places I would like to visit again just because there is much to see and do here.