NORTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA: LAVA BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

 September 6, 2020

On July 22, 2020, a thunderstorm rolled through northeastern California, and lightning strikes started several fires, including one in Lava Beds National Monument. Named the Caldwell Fire, it roared through over 83,000 acres before it was contained. The area, dense with ponderosa and lodgepole pine, had not seen fire in over 40 years.

About 70% of the park was scorched. If you do a Google image search of Lava Beds National Monument, you get photos like these that show trees and grasses growing on the perimeters of the lava beds . . .

From here

. . . and also throughout lava fields.

From here

When we turned into the park, we didn't realize what had occurred there six weeks before.

This photo from the car shows the startling difference between fire-damaged and the saved land. Apparently the road made a pretty good fire break.

We stopped at Black Crater, what I think is the same view as in the first borrowed photo above. Miraculously, there was still a tree standing and a few grasses growing, but a post-apocalyptic haze hung heavily on the horizon. 

The smell of smoke tainted the air, likely from new fires burning nearby rather than from the Lava Beds fire.

In the distance we could see Schonchin Butte, somewhat obscured by the murky air, and we headed down the road in that direction.

The roads, trails, campgrounds, picnic areas, and tables in this national monument were created by more than 1,400 members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between July 1933 and June 1942 under the direction of President Franklin Roosevelt. The CCC also opened and developed major caves and other sites.

Later in the day I was shocked to learn that the camp that housed the CCC workers until 1942 was used as a "relocation center" (euphemism for concentration camp) during World War II. Later it was converted into a POW camp for German prisoners.

Wow! But I digress.

Schonchin Butte is a 65,000-year-old cinder cone, which is a conical hill built around a volcanic vent. With an elevation of 5,306 feet, it a high point near the center of the national monument and serves as a fire lookout.

We decided to take the CCC-built trail to the top, an elevation gain of about 580 feet in .7 miles. 

I imagine that prior to the fire, this was a prettier climb. The acrid air and heat made the hike more difficult than it should have been for two spry 60-somethings.

Any trees still standing were blackened and dead looking, and benches that would have provided a nice rest were reduced to charred boards.

Some trees seemed to be alive underneath their blackened surfaces, and I suspect they are hardier than they seem.

As we neared the top, we began to see green. It appeared that the summit of the cone was spared from burning . . . 

. . . likely because aggressive action was taken to preserve the iconic CCC-built fire watch on top.

The structure on top looks very precariously balanced, kind of like a Dr. Seuss house.  We were not allowed to go up, but the ranger, who had been watching our ascent, came out to chat with us. Hers is a pretty solitary existence, at least while she is on the job. We did pass one other hiking group on our way down, but it was otherwise a very quiet place.

 

We aren't sure what that mound is in the distance--likely another cinder cone.

We continued south to the visitor center.

That's a higher elevation than I would have guessed, but the park is part of the Cascades.

We couldn't spend long because we still had a long drive to our hotel in Ashland, but we did take time to walk the cave loop and check out some of the sites.  I especially like the name "Mushpot," which sounds more like a swamp or some quicksand than a volcanic cave.

A metal staircase leads down into the Mushpot Cave, where we immediately felt a drop in temperature. 

The 700-foot-long path through the lava tube is well lit and has interpretive signs along the way.

Standing in the approximate center, I looked  both directions to the two ends:

Watch your head!

Lighting highlights the dramatic rock formations.

Caves always make me think of the chapter in the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that describes the harrowing three days Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher are lost in a cave.  Okay, it's a bit of a stretch to compare a 700-foot-long lava tube with one entrance and exit to Tom Sawyer's cave, but I can't help but think about it. 

Whew! Nice to get outside into the sunshine! 

We had a two-hour drive to Ashland, where we stayed the night in the Ashland Hills Hotel & Suites. We got up early and drove the remaining 13 miles to Ashland to catch a flight home.

Just two days later a human-caused brush fire north of Ashland quickly roared out of control and burned both sides of the road we had driven on, engulfing power poles, vegetation, and eventually gas stations, homes, and other structures. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed. 

By the time firefighters (who were already exhausted from fighting other fires in the area we had seen the consequences of) got control of the quickly moving inferno, it had made its way nine miles down the road, burning through 3,200 acres and 2,800 structures in the small towns of Phoenix and Talent and killing three people. Several apartment complexes and large mobile home parks were consumed, and thousands of residents were displaced.

We were grateful we weren't on that road two days later, but we were saddened by the images that we saw in the media. What a terrible loss.