Newberry National Volcanic Monument — Attraction in Sunriver

Newberry NVM is located east of the Cascade Mountains, 13 miles south of Bend OR along Hwy 97. It protects an area greater than 50,000 acres in Central Oregon. This site is administrated by the US Forest Service, not the NPS.

The park's prominent volcanic feature is the Newberry Volcano. It is considered one of the largest shield volcanoes in the continental US with an area of 500 square miles. Its last major eruption was 1,3000 years ago. Although many refer to the volcanic feature as the Newberry Crater, it is actually a caldera (similar to Crater Lake NP).

The remnant caldera contains Paulina Peak, its highest rim point. Contained within the volcano's caldera are two lakes: Paulina Lake (250 ft deep) and East Lake (180 ft deep).

Paulina Creek and the 80 ft Paulina Falls is the only surface exit from Paulina Lake. The creek is designated a Wild and Scenic River.

The Lava Lands Visitor Center contains many exhibits including geology, archeological history of the area and local wildlife. Nearby is the cinder cone Lava Butte, at 500 ft above the center, it offers a 360 degree view of the area.

Located one mile south of the Newberry visitor center is the Lava River Cave. It is a lava tube 'cave' approximately one mile long. Formed from a past lava flow, it was a channel for molten lava, essentially becoming a hollow tube. Now at a constant 42 degrees F, warm clothing and flashlights are essential for its exploration.

Newberry NVM offers visitors some 100 miles of hiking trails (good boots recommended), camping, horseback riding and some mountain biking opportunities. In winter, the park offers cross-country skier and...

We stumbled across this place as we were driving towards Portland and I must it was an interesting find. This is not the new berry volcano, the volcano itself is around 30 miles from this place. This is a cinder cone, think of it as one to many mini volcanos that blew up due to the lava pressure around the new berry volcano and created a butte on top. Now there are 3 things 2 can do here:

1- The most interesting is I guess the lava tunnels, under the mountain ranges long tunnels were formed by flowing lava. Lava tunnels are not exactly in this spot. They are across the highway on the other side and need advance reservation as they get filled pretty quickly. Look for lava tunnels on google in the area and you can get to the website and reserve. We could not as we just decided to cover this attraction on our way to our destination.

2- The easy hike around the cinder cone with lava rocks all around. This was super cool for me as I had not seen anything like that. You can also see the Cascade mountain range from here on a clear day, broken mountain, twin sisters, etc..

3- A bus ride, hike or a bike ride to the top of the cinder cone or lava butte. It’s a $3 bus round trip per person and has to be paid in cash, don’t ask me why. 5 minute ride to top, you can see views from the top and talk to the ranger. The guy we spoke with was awesome and gave us a lowdown on the area which was pretty cool.

The gift shop was good. Overall a good place to spend a...

The Newberry Monument extends many miles north and south between Bend and Chemult, OR. Lava fields and volcano-formed lakes represent the signature views of this monument, telling the tale of the old Newberry Volcano from Oregon's past.

It's best to start at the Lava Lands Visitor Center, which has a wonderful interpretive museum describing the volcanic history of the region and how the land was reshaped as a result of the volcano. Hikes from the visitor center can take you through the miles-wide lava fields or up to the top of Lava Butte, an old cinder cone that sits next to the visitor center. A shuttle bus also goes to the top of the cone where a fire watchtower keeps vigilant eyes on the nearby forests.

Just south of the visitor center is the Lava River Cave, a deep cave system that is open for exploring. Make sure you start your explorations before 3 or 4pm, as rangers close the gates at 4:30.

Even further south of the visitor's center on Highway 97 are lakes that were formed by the volcano. The Newberry Caldera lakes are beautiful and worth a stop, although they take a bit longer to get to from the highway than the visitor center.

For anyone interested in volcanic history, or for anyone who wants to see some unique geologic features in Central Oregon, this is a must-stop...