Lava Beds National Monument

We left Medicine Lake and made the drive to Indian Well Campground in Lava Beds National Monument on about 17 miles of gravel road, some of it very rough.

We just happened to camp in the Camp Host's site which had full hookups (unoccupied, of course...and the hookups were locked, so campers couldn't use them). This looks like it might be a nice place to volunteer sometime in the future.

After setting up, we drove the Cave Loop Road, stopping to view some of the many lava tubes and caves in the area. Since we hadn't brought a flashlight with us, we didn't venture too far into the caves.

Lava Beds NM is located on the north flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano, a large shield volcano. Shield volcanoes have a very low profile due to the way they erupt. They tend to have gentle eruptions and lava that flows easily over large areas. (Composite or strato volcanoes are what many people think of when they hear the term "volcano." Mount Shasta in Northern California and Mount Rainier in Washington State are examples of composite or strato volcanos.) The Medicine Lake Volcano is the largest shield volcano in the Cascade Range, and is about 150 miles around the base and 7,900 feet high. The Monument covers only about 10% of the Medicine Lake Volcano.