Lava Butte Hike

This event is not organized by OUT Central Oregon. Please contact the organizer via the MeetUp link for questions.

Join us on this 3.5 mile out (around) and back hike up Lava Butte. Trail tread is mostly paved or compacted, and elevation change is about 500 feet. We’ll meet at the Lava Lands Visitors Center parking area near the Lava Butte trailhead and hike to the top. The visitor center is about 8 miles south of Bend off Highway 97. Well-behaved, leashed dogs welcome!

Lava Butte erupted on to the landscape 7,000 years ago from a vent on the northern rift of the much larger Newberry Volcano (now caldera). Views from the top include the snowy Cascades and the butte’s surrounding 9 square mile lava flow. There is also a seasonally-used active fire lookout, first activated in 1913, at the top. Newberry is considered an active volcanic landscape; the most recent surface eruption occurred a mere 1,300 years ago!