Lava Beds National Monument

Eeep! It's Earth Day! Celebrated since 1970, this is a day to demonstrate support for environmental protection. This year Earth Day organizers have been streaming programs that promote climate action. One critter that appreciates you taking action with our changing climate is one spotted here (if you're lucky): the pika! Pikas require year-round cool temperatures to survive and are often found above tree lines on talus mountain slopes. They can be found at Lava Beds though n...ear cave entrances and deep within collapsed cave trenches, where there are microclimates that stay cool enough for pikas. In addition to being some of the cutest members of the rabbit family, they are also important indicators of a changing climate. Pikas will move to cooler temperatures during the summer months, and with a warming climate they’re running out of spots. Luckily our population at Lava Beds has remained stable and perhaps the microclimates here will continue to be an important refuge for this elusive species. #NationalParkWeek #FindYourPark #EncuentraTuParque #EarthDay 2005 NPS photo of a pika in a lava trench.

"Mushpot Cave used to be right there!" We often hear this from visitors who last visited the park a few decades ago, and remember the old visitor center right by Mushpot Cave. Built in 1974, it was 800 square feet and was two mobile homes bolted together and covered in wood framing. In 2003 the park broke ground on the current visitor center. Dedicated in 2004, it boasts 1700 square feet for visitor use and 3800 square feet in total when you include staff offices. Buildings c...an be rebuilt and moved, but the caves cannot. So don't worry, Mushpot Cave still isn't very far away from our current visitor center - just 524 feet! This post is brought to you by todays theme for National Park Week: #WayBackWednesday. Thanks for tuning in! #NationalParkWeek #FindYourPark 1975 black and white photo of a building with the sign "Visitor Center" and a few people outside of it.

For National Park Week today is Transformation Tuesday! Have you ever experienced a dramatic change that happened suddenly? Lava Beds was hit with a wildfire in July 2020. What started with a lightning strike quickly spread both inside and outside of the park, and was named the "Caldwell Fire." When it was contained a month later, 70% of the monument had burned. The total acreage consumed on both sides of the boundary was just over 80,000 acres. If you visit the park today, y...ou will see a transformed landscape. It looks desolate, but rest assured, this is only a temporary state. This landscape is accustomed to fire and already we are seeing a thin veneer of green as spring rolls out. The landscape will be transformed again. To get the scoop on the Caldwell Fire, take a look at the park's YouTube Channel for an informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2l1w5luUw #FindYourPark #EncuentraTuParque #NationalParkWeek #TransformationTuesday NPS photos by Ranger Barbara (click on images for descriptions)

We continue to celebrate National Park Week with todays theme: Military Monday! In the communities that surround the park, there are hundreds of veterans who call this area home. In the nearby town of Klamath Falls, Oregon, the 173rd Fighter Wing, Kingsley Field take care of F-15s as part of the Oregon Air National Guard. Thank you all for your service! Did you know that as veteran you qualify for a special National Park Service Pass? These are a relatively new addition to ...the family passes the NPS offers. If you served, you qualify. You can find specific information on the NPS website: https://www.nps.gov//veterans-and-gold-star-families-free- There are also passes available for people serving on active duty: https://www.nps.gov/labe/planyourvisit/fees.htm Both passes will provide free entrance into Federal public lands that have entrance fees, like Lava Beds. Visit our visitor center during our operating hours to get your pass today! #FindYourPark #EncuentraTuParque #NationalParkWeek #MilitaryMonday NPS image of an outline of a saluting soldier filled in with camouflage with the caption "Military Monday, Park Week 2021."

As we approach National Park Week, the National Park Service now has an app available for your smart phone! The app allows for easy access to every single unit in the National Park Service, including Lava Beds and Tule Lake National Monuments. You can down the app to your own device. Pay a visit to http://go.nps.gov/app to download it. Visitors can also download the NPS App in the iOS App Store and Google Play Store to plan a trip, find interactive maps, download maps and t...ours ahead of time and find things to do and places to visit during National Park Week and beyond. While on a visit to national parks, the public is reminded to recreate responsibly, follow park safety guidelines and wear masks while inside all federal facilities and outside where physical distancing cannot be maintained. The NPS App is fully accessible and includes tools for visitors with accessibility needs. While in the park, visitors can access self-guided tours to learn more about the park, create and share a virtual postcard and stay informed of alerts and closures. With millions of visitors to national parks every year, visitors need a trusted source for park information available on their mobile device in one single app. During this first stage of the app, NPS staff are continuing to add detailed information and resources for users. The NPS App will continue to be a tool for visitors in the years to come as NPS staff develop new features to enhance the experience of visitors to national parks. Take advantage of this one stop shop for information on experiencing your National Parks! #NPSApp

This Saturday, April 17th, is the start of National Park Week. To kick off the celebration the 17th will be a fee free day at national park units all over the country, like Lava Beds! If you're visiting that day just remember to stop by the visitor center for your cave permit, and know that our camping fees still apply. Hope you join us to celebrate! https://www.nps.gov/su/npscelebrates/national-park-week.htm... NPS photo from inside a lava tube (Valentine Cave) with a set of stairs leading back to the surface.

On April 15, 2021, park staff will complete the annual spring change in cave closures. Permanent staff and volunteers are opening caves used during the winter by hibernating bats, to closing caves that will be used in the summer by maternity colonies raising the next generation of bats. As of this date, the following caves are now open: Juniper - Hercules Leg Cave... Labyrinth - Lava Brook Cave Thunderbolt: N. portion connecting to Labyrinth - Lava Brook Sentinel Cave Sunshine Cave To accommodate bats tending to their babies, the following caves are now closed: Balcony Cave and Balcony Chamber Blue Grotto Cave Natural Bridge Ovis/Paradise Alleys The closed caves are marked with closure signs, and we ask the public to observe these closures and not to disturb the bats. Furthermore, the wildfire that swept through Lava Beds last July burned a large portion of the park, including the Cave Loop area. Please stay out of the burned area and closed trails and stay on established trails where they are marked as open (MKB) NPS photo of the entrance of Hercules Cave, which will reopen from a winter closure on April 15. Picture of a cave entrance, a large opening surrounded by brown rock with a sign reading 'Hercules Cave'.

"Discover the night" is the theme for this years International Dark Sky Week, which began on April 5th and ends on the 12th. Their aim is to protect the night from light pollution, and promote responsible outdoor lighting. Here at Lava Beds we have some pretty stellar night skies, and quite a few nocturnal creatures - like our 16 species of bats. We also aspire to protect the night skies so that all can enjoy. The park is open 24/7 so there is lots of time to discover the ni...ght here! Know that both loops in our campground are now open, just be sure to bring cash or check to pay the $10 per night fee at the campground, plus take care of the additional $25 per car entrance fee up at the visitor center. Open hiking trails like Schonchin Butte and Gillem Bluff could be great places to enjoy the night sky, or right from your campsite. Have you discovered the night here at Lava Beds? NPS photo by Jesse Barden of the Milky Way and surrounding stars with a lava tube entrance below.

"Would you like a brochure?" Most likely when you've visited Lava Beds or another national park unit, you've been asked this question! Typically one brochure is given per group at the entrance station or in the visitor center. These brochures include a map of the park, and lots of helpful information about the park and surrounding area. Though the look of the brochures has changed quite a bit over the years, the orientation they provide continues to be valuable to park visito...rs. Check out the link below for some interesting looks the park brochure has featured: http://npshistory.com/brochures/brochures-l.htm NPS photo of five Lava Beds National Monument brochures with different design covers from different decades on top of a black surface.

On April 5th, 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a part of his New Deal programs. This created jobs for young men that otherwise would be out of work, and helped lift America out of the Great Depression. The CCC had a big impact on the National Park Service as a whole and especially here at Lava Beds. The CCC created dozens of trails through the lava tubes, installed ladders and stairways going into caves, and built what is n...ow known as "A" loop in Indian Well campground. Probably their most recognized accomplishment in the park was the building of the Schonchin Butte Fire Lookout Tower in 1939. A plaque at the Devils Homestead commemorates all of the hard work those young men of the CCC dedicated to laying the foundation of what this park has become today. Even 88 years after the CCC was created, the program's impact on Lava Beds' infrastructure is still felt. 2018 NPS photo by Ranger Aimee of the CCC-built fire lookout tower on top of a rocky steep surface (Schonchin Butte) surrounded by high desert vegetation under a blue cloud-filled sky.

We've reached the end of the tunnel for our last #CaveCreatureFeature! For our final feature let's learn about: the dipluran. Diplurans look like pale silverfish. Their two tails, or cerci, extend behind their abdomen. These help them feel their way around since like many cave-loving creatures, they lack eyes. If they loose body parts they have the ability to regenerate them over the course of several molts. They eat plant matter, mites, other diplurans and insects. We hope y...ou've enjoyed learning a bit more about some different cave creatures in this feature! We first talked about cave visitors (trogloxenes) like bats, Rocky Mountain rubber boas, and wood rats. Then we moved on to cave dwellers (troglophiles) like cave crickets and cave centipedes, and lastly into the depths of the cave to explore cave lovers (troglobites) like pseudoscorpions, springtails and diplurans. Even if you don't spy any of these creatures as you're exploring caves, know they're there and and an important part of our cave ecosystems. Thank you for following our cave creature features! 2005 photo by Jean Krejca, Zara Environmental LLC of a pale invertebrate with two long tails and two antennae (a dipluran) on a wet cave surface.

We're thrilled to announce that we have new and exciting merchandise in our Lava Beds Natural History Association bookstore to bring our visitors what they really want: actual BEDS! You can get everything from the premium, super-plush "Medicine Lake" California King, the "It Feels like Flowing Lava" water bed, to a simple "Magma Mattress" as shown in the photo (the model REALLY is sleeping we assure you, absolute comfort!). Now when someone drives through the park and wonders "well geez, where are the actual 'beds'...?" Don't you worry - they're in our park store! Get them while they're hot! NPS photo of a park ranger laying on top of a purple yoga mat on a high desert surface, having a little fun this #AprilFools :).

Today is International Mountain Day! We've seen a lot of other parks celebrating, so we thought we'd join in on the fun. What do mountains provide for us? Here at Lava Beds our Medicine Lake volcano has given us over 800 plus lava tubes, making us the national park unit with the most caves! It has been erupting for over half a million years and most recently erupted around 1,000 years ago, creating Glass Mountain, a flow completely of obsidian found in the neighboring Modoc National Forest. It covers over 800 square miles and also provides us with stunning landscape views. Thank you Medicine Lake! NPS photo by Ranger Aimee of a paved road surrounded by high desert vegetation with a broad, sloping mountain (hey Medicine Lake!) in the background under a blue sky.

Thank you to the The Sacramento Bee for a feature on some of our Caldwell Fire Facebook posts, including the very cool ghost trees post from Ranger Rebecca! Check out the link for the article below: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article247452830.html

A herd is to deer as a cete is to what? Badgers! Though you would be lucky to see one badger at Lava Beds, let alone an entire group of them. Badgers are typically solitary and more active at night. They have gray coats and large, heavy claws they use to make their dens. Have you ever spotted one? For more on what mammals we have at Lava Beds check out this link from our website: https://www.nps.gov//planyo/upload/MAMMALS%20CHECKLIST.pdf... NPS photo of a badger peeking out of a crevice in a lava tube.

On the fourth day of December my true love gave to me, a serotinous cone from a pine tree! How romantic! Except, you can't collect anything within the park, BUT we do have trees that have serotinous cones that you can see! What do we mean when we talk about a "serotinous" cone? It's referring to a pine cone that is covered very thick with resin, and needs an environmental trigger like fire in order for that resin to be removed and the cone to open to release the seeds. A we...ll-known example of a tree with serotinous cones is the giant sequoia, found in national parks like Yosemite National Park and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Though you won't find sequoias in Lava Beds, a tree that has these cones here is the lodgepole pine. Some of the areas where these trees are experienced fire this past summer with the Caldwell Fire. It will be several years before those cones open up, but the heat from this fire aided in that process. NPS photo by J. Jerrett of a burnt lodgepole pine cone being held in a gloved hand after the 2016 Maple Fire at Yellowstone National Park.

Veterans Day is approaching. To see if you qualify for this benefit, please click the 'learn more' link below.

Fee free days for 2021! In 2021, there will be six days in which you can get into Lava Beds National Monument for free. The entrance fee waiver does not include campground fees. The $25.00 entrance fee will be waived on the following dates: Monday, January 18 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day... Saturday, April 17 First Day of National Park Week Wednesday, August 4 Great American Outdoors Act anniversary Wednesday, August 25 National Park Service Birthday Saturday, September 25 National Public Lands Day Thursday, November 11 Veterans Day Earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt signed Secretary’s Orders 3386 and 3387, granting veterans, Gold Star Families and fifth graders free access to all national parks, wildlife refuges and other Federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior. Veterans and Gold Star Families will have free access forever, while fifth grade students were granted the reprieve through this academic year as some of last year’s fourth graders may have been unable to make full use of the Every Kid Outdoors Annual Fourth Grade Pass due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Active duty military and four grade students will continue to have free access with discounted passes also available for senior citizens. For other visitors who love visiting our public lands, the annual $80 America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass is a great option, which allows unlimited entrance to more than 2,000 federal recreation areas, including all national parks. Other federal land management agencies offering their own fee-free days in 2021 include the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Fifth graders in your household!? Take a look!

If you're a teacher and interested in some #BatWeek activities, check out this awesome link below! You'll find lots of activities, like the Bat Week Cookbook, Bat Week PowerPoint, the Bat Brigade Comic Book, and much more! https://batweek.org/educate/ Thumbnail image: Photo of two young girls, one in a black mask and cape with a "Batman" logo.

"Someday I'd like to be...a dentist!"-Hermey the Misfit Elf. Well though the elves here, I mean...rangers...don't aspire to be dentists, today we're going to share a crazy fact about teeth! Did you know that in mammals like rabbits, squirrels and rodents their teeth never stop growing? The rough and tough foods they eat keep them from growing too long, but that still seems pretty crazy! We have shrews, voles, moles, mice, rats, squirrels, and two types of rabbit species found here, so lots of teeth for Hermey to check out. Do you have any crazy animal facts you'd like to share? NPS photo by Nathan Charlton of a black-tailed jackrabbit.

Well hello everyone! It's #BatWeek! Every year from October 24-31 this international celebration of bats and their role in nature takes place. Stay tuned for more on our bat friends here at Lava Beds and check out the link below for more ways you can celebrate Bat Week: https://batweek.org/... 2015 NPS photo of a cluster of Townsend big-eared bats in a cave during a hibernacula survey.

Cinder cones are formed when solid fragments of lava fall from a single basaltic or andesitic eruption. They're often found on the flanks of shield or composite volcanoes, and are steep and conical in shape. We have many cinder cones that dot our landscape and the Medicine Lake shield volcano here at Lava Beds, often referred to as "buttes." The only one that has a trail to the top is Schonchin Butte. At the very top is a fire lookout that is staffed in the summer months, wh...ich is now closed for the season. It was a very busy season indeed for our fire lookout, Ranger Wendy. She provided eyes on wildfires this season from this lookout, and also on occasion from Timber Mountain in the Modoc National Forest along with Ranger Craig. Though the trail up to the top remains open even after the lookout is closed, Schonchin Butte was impacted by the Caldwell Fire this past summer. Remember #nofootonthesoot, stay out of burned areas and stick to opened paths. Cinder cones are already delicate and full of loose rock off the trail. With little vegetation remaining on Schonchin makes it easier for one to slip and get injured if they were to venture off the path. Thank you Wendy and Craig for all your hard work this season, and let's all continue to stay safe while exploring Lava Beds and other wildfire impacted areas throughout the west. NPS photos by Ranger Wendy. Photo 1 of the steep trail up Schonchin with burnt vegetation all around it. Photo 2 of the view from the top of the Schonchin Butte trail, with burnt vegetation on the left and not burnt vegetation on the right (and several cinder cones and a portion of the Medicine Lake volcano also in view).

"I really believe that, as human beings, we have an innate need to explore, to see what's around the corner." -Jimmy Chin Lava Beds National Monument is full of caves that are full of corners! What's around them? You'll have to come explore to find out. Photo by Ranger Rebecca of a visitor (her dad!) in a cave. He is wearing a face covering and headlamp and gazing up at a skylight high above.

The seasons are changing and so is access to our caves! Certain lava tubes are open and closed seasonally to protect vital habitat for our bat colonies. On or about October 15 through April 15, the lava tubes that were closed to protect maternity colonies will reopen and certain caves that are used by bats to hibernate through the winter will close. Winter closures are: Jupiter-Hercules Leg Labyrinth-Lave Brook Thunderbrook (Northern portion connecting Labyrinth-Lava Brook)... Sentinel Sunshine The caves that will reopen during the winter are: Blue Grotto Ovis Cave / Paradise Alleys Natural Bridge Thunderbolt Cave (to the gated area) Balcony Cave (trail closed due to fire - will reopen at a later time)

In a park full of bats and caves, October is understandably one of our favorite months of the year (at least, it's definitely in our top 12). After the Caldwell Fire, rangers found something else kind of spooky: ghost trees. As some of our trees burned, they fell to the ground and continued to smolder. That process imprinted the outlines of the tree onto the ground, along with leaving some of the twigs and branches. Can you imagine what the tree would have looked like before... it burned? Another kind of ghost we found after the fire was this ghost of a sign marking a cave on Cave Loop, created by the same process. You can see what remains to the left of the sign imprint. Want to avoid becoming part of a spooky story? Keep your #footoffthesoot, remember #burnedgroundoutofbounds, and #helpitgrowback by staying on trails and roads while in burned areas. It's safer for you and helps our landscape recover. NPS Photos by Ranger Rebecca. The first is of burned ground, with some of the soil a lighter orange color in the vague shape of a tree. The second is of a sidewalk with an outline of a signpost in a lighter color.

Well for our final #FeatureFriday we'll take a quick look at dripstone! Very similar to the first feature we talked about in this series, lavasicles, dripstone also typically forms pretty quickly after the cave itself was formed. But instead of the lava dripping down from the ceiling, it drips down and congeals on the walls. So the lavasicles of the walls! Dripstone could also be showing where lava splashed up on the walls. So we covered lavasicles, cave slime, pillars, bench...es, cave coral, breakdown, cave ice and lastly dripstone. Which is your favorite feature to spot in our lava tubes? NPS photo of dark dripstone.

"The greatest adventure is what lies ahead." -J. R. R. Tolkien Lava Beds is a perfect place to find adventure! From caves that would make a hobbit feel perfectly cozy to networks of underground tunnels that would confound even goblins, our park offers plenty of opportunities to embark on unexpected journeys. You might even happen upon some "wizards" in grey (and green--otherwise known as park rangers). To make sure your journey is one both there and back again, plan before y...ou go and prepare for the unexpected. Always bring at least one light source per person along with backup batteries. Head protection is important safety gear in many of our caves, and knee pads can be very helpful while crawling. Let someone know where you're going and when you expect to be back before heading underground. Who knows what treasures you'll find inside? (Whatever you find, please don't be like Bilbo, and leave any rings, arkenstones, or anything else where you find them.) NPS photo by Ranger Rebecca of a ranger, wearing a helmet and kneepads, gazing into a large cave opening.

Humpty Dumpty isn’t the only one having a great fall! Now is one of the best times of the year to experience what the landscape above ground has to offer at Lava Beds. Although a good portion of our backcountry trails remain closed because of post Caldwell Fire hazards, we still have a few trails that you can enjoy during these fleeting fall days. Some to check out during your visit might include Whitney Butte, Schonchin Butte, and the Big Nasty trail. Stop by the visitor ce...nter to get a list of closures and tips for hiking from our rangers. For visitor center hours, please visit https://www.nps.gov/labe/planyourvisit/hours.htm For descriptions of our hiking trails please visit https://www.nps.gov/labe/planyourvisit/hiking.htm NPS Photos, click on the photos for credits and image descriptions.

Let's break it down for our #FeatureFriday today to talk about breakdown! Breakdown, or collapse rubble, can be seen in many of our lava tubes. It's a fairly simple feature consisting of rocks formerly on the ceiling of the cave, that are now in piles down on the floor. It may worry some visitors who might wonder "when did this happen?" Well, most likely breakdown comes from a collapse that happened as the lava tube cooled and contracted, though on occasion, they're represent...ing a later collapse. Visitors sometimes assume they need to wear a helmet to help protect themselves from falling rocks like these. However, since most of the breakdown is from long ago, the helmets are to protect you if you come up too quickly in a low spot so the helmet comes into direct contact with the cave ceiling instead of your head. Breakdown can make some of the paths a bit uneven, so be sure to look up, look down and all around when exploring the lava tubes here at Lava Beds. NPS photo inside Sunshine Cave of a path leading to a skylight with piles of breakdown on both sides of the path.