Lava Beds & Tule Lake geology hiking/camping trip; July 2021
Lava Beds & Tule Lake: July 11-14
Continuing our July northeast California trips, we will spend four days exploring Lava Beds National Monument, plus the Tule Lake National Monument.
Katie and I are leading another hiking/camping trip with our Meetup group. If you would like to attend, space is limited so be sure to RSVP on Meetup here.
The trip includes three nights camping (Sun, Mon, & Tues) and two full days of hiking (Monday & Tuesday). Sunday includes driving from Mt. Lassen and stopping at a few destinations along the way. Tuesday you are open to do some additional cave exploring in the morning, but it’s a long way home for most of us.
You may attend either trip, or both trips. For those not on the Mt. Lassen trip, we’ll meet you either at MacArthur-Burney Memorial Falls (see below) or at Lava Beds
The cost is $15 for camping reservation only (all other expenses are up to the individuals).
Mt. Lassen trip (July 8-11) description can be found here (unfortunately, that trip is already full).
Photos from our 2011 trip
Overview map
I created a Google Map here that shows destinations for both the Lassen trip and the Lava Beds trip.
Itinerary
Sunrise/sunset
Sunrise is around 5:45 AM, and sunset is around 8:40 PM.
Sunday
Morning
Those of us on the Mt. Lassen trip will venture out 9:00ish and drive to MacArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park (about an hour north of the campground) for exploration and hiking. We’ll probably have lunch (or at least snacks) here before we head back to the road.
Those joining us but not on the Lassen trip will be able to meet up with us at either MacArthur-Burney Falls or at the campground (depending on when they arrive).
Afternoon
We’ll drive to the Indian Well Campground in Lava Beds National Monument and select sites (it’s not reserveable, but ‘never full’). After a short to drop off anything we don’t need, and to arrange carpools, we’ll drive about six miles back for our afternoon stop.
We’ll aim for campsites A1-2 & 12 (plus 3 & 4 if we have a large group); A Loop that does not have spaces for RVs, so should be quieter.
After setting up, we’ll head to Glass Mountain obsidian flow, Medicine Lake volcano, which is just a few miles south of Lava Beds. I haven’t been here before, and it’s about 8 miles down a dirt road, but it seems like it’s not to be missed. We can carpool the eight miles down the road if the road looks to rough for some vehicles, but most of these roads are fairly smooth dirt—we’ll just have to discover how far we can go.
Evening
We’ll spend the evening socializing at Indian Well Campground.
Monday: Caves!
Important note about bat white-nose syndrome:
Before entering any cave you must be “screened” for white-nose syndrome. If you have boots, clothing or gear that has been in a place where bats roost (caves, mines, buildings, bridges, etc.) outside of Lava Beds National Monument, please leave these items at home. This is an effort to prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungal bat disease.
Morning
We’ll drive about four miles to Merrill Cave and the Whitney Butte Trailhead. Here we will explore Merrill Cave, which used to have ice on the floor. Merrill Cave has metal stairs, and is considered ‘least challenging’ in Lava Beds cave rating system.
After exploring the cave, we’ll take a hike out to Whitney Butte on the Whitney Butte Trail. The hike is about three miles each way, with about 400 feet of elevation gain.
If we have a group that is not up for the hike, there are several caves and buttes to explore in the area.
Information on exploring the caves can be found here.
Afternoon
We’ll return to the campground for a quick lunch, then explore the caves on Cave Loop Road. Most of the the caves that have been developed and maintained for public access are on this loop. We’ll pick caves that too difficult, or folks can challenge themselves if small groups want to try out the more difficult caves.
Evening
We’ll spend the evening socializing at Indian Well Campground
Tuesday: Petroglyphs and Tulelake National Monument
Morning
Leisurely breakfast, then we’ll drive about 14 miles to Petroglyph Point, at the northeast corner of the park (actually it’s a section just outside the main park). On the way here, we’ll stop at a couple of wildlife outlooks.
Afternoon: Tulelake National Monument
Tulelake is about six hours from Oakland, heading west along the CA/OR border on Highway 161, then SW on Highway 97, then joining I-5 at Weed. This is about the same time to get back from Lava Beds, since the roads are much straighter and faster. Those who wish to be home Monday night might want to head back before/after lunch.
The Tule Lake National Monument includes both the the Tule Lake Segregation Center, the largest and most controversial of the sites where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, and Camp Tulelake, which was first a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, then an additional facility to detain Japanese Americans, and finally a prisoner of war camp.
https://www.nps.gov/tule/index.htm
We’ll spend the afternoon exploring the Monument (some of which may be closed due to COVID-19), the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and the town of Tulelake.
Depending on how open things are, and how engaging we find it, there might be some time to explore more caves back in Lava Beds before dinner.
Evening
We’ll spend the evening socializing at Indian Well Campground.
Wednesday: A few more caves? and a long drive home
Morning
Folks can set their own departure time, depending on your final destination and your interest in the area. If there is a group that wants to explore more caves, there should be time to do that.
Things to bring
- Headlamp or other bright light for exploring the caves — they provide flashlights, but they aren’t too bright
- Helmet — they provide nice souvenir helmets which work, but if you have a personal helmet that you like, you might bring it. Bike helmets work well.
Expenses
The RSVP Meetup fee covers the camping reservation only. Individuals are responsible for their own food, tent, and entrance fee to the park (per car, not per person; good for one week).
FAQ
- Is this kid friendly? Kids are always welcome, as long as they can ‘keep up.’ Please be realistic about what your kids can handle. Kids pay half-price.
- Is this pet friendly? Nope. Pets are not welcome on the hikes.
- What pace are the hikes? Our aim is somewhere between a ‘stop every few yards’ nature hike and a ‘we need to get in our miles and don’t want to stop’ death march. We don’t leave people behind (especially when in the wilderness), but ask everyone to be realistic about what they can and can’t handle. For more rigorous hikes (like the summit, for example) we have alternatives for those who aren’t up for it. You are also welcome to rest in the campground or explore on your own.
- What about first aid? We do not explicitly have trained first-aid people on the hikes, although often there are people with skills in this area. We will provide minimal first-aid supplies like cold packs and gauze bandages. These hikes are all within a few miles of a road, so in the event of an injury that required evacuation or other assistance, we can get to ‘civilization’ fairly quickly. Cell phone reception is often non-existent in the areas we hike.
- What if I can’t make one of the hikes? Members are welcome to skip any hikes they desire. If you skip a morning hike, we try to let you know a time and place where you can join us for lunch and afternoon adventures.
- Are you a trained geologist? No. I took a few earth science/geology courses in my undergraduate studies, and have continued to educate myself as a high school science teacher, but there is a lot I don’t know. Members of the group are encouraged to (and usually do) contribute their knowledge, it’s a pretty amazing group that way.
- Refunds: No advance payment for this trip, since there are no campground reservations required. I’ll collect $15 for each person when we get to Indian Well Campground.
- Carpools? While we encourage carpools, we don’t offer any assistance in this. You can add comments on the Meetup page asking for rides or riders.
- How much money are you making on this? We set fees to cover the cost of reservations and to cover most of our personal costs for the trip. We may have a little left over, but we certainly aren’t paying any major personal bills from the fees you pay.
Please post any questions that aren’t answered here in the comments section below. I’ll answer them and add them here.
