Day Three:

We visited the Newberry National Volcanic Monument where the lead forest ranger Christina introduced herself and talked to us about what a national monument is and I learned that Newbery was created in the 1990's and it has different features than a national park because it has historic importance. Newberry is a volcano and that it's self makes it a historical monument it also has a lot of monuments around them such as:
- Lava Butte which rises 500 feet above its 9 square-mile lava flow. It erupted 7,000 years ago and is one of Newberry's many cinder cones.
- Lava Cast Forest which was formed when a lava flow overtook and old-growth forest and cooled to form casts of the trees that once stood there.
- Newberry Caldera which contains the crystal-clear East lake and Paulina Lake, several lava flows, and lots of opportunity for adventure.
- Big Obsidian Flow which formed just 1,300 years ago making it Oregon's youngest lava flow.
- Paulina Peak whish crowns Newberry Caldera at it's highest point of 7,984 ft.
- Paulina Falls which spills over the lowest point of Newberry Caldera, plummeting 80 ft in a twin waterfall.
I also learned that the most recent eruption occurred 13,000 years ago and I wonder when it will blow up!?

After the long walk we visited the Lava River Cave which is a mile long lava tube formed from one of Newberry Volcano's massive eruptions about 80,000 years ago. it was nice and fresh and well needed because of that long walk on the volcano.