You can explore lava tube caves under a real volcano in California’s remote northeast corner

It’s under a shield volcano

Lava Beds National Monument sits in California’s far northeastern corner, about as far from the coast as you can get and still be in the state.

The monument covers over 46,000 acres on the north slope of the Medicine Lake shield volcano, one of the biggest in the Cascade Range.

Half a million years of eruptions left behind cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones and pit craters. And underneath all of it, more than 800 lava tube caves.

That’s the highest concentration in North America, and you can walk right into dozens of them.

The Modoc people fought a war in these lava fields

Long before anyone put a monument sign out front, the Modoc people lived in the Tule Lake Basin for thousands of years.

The lava formations here became a natural fortress during the Modoc War of 1872 to 1873, when a band of Modoc warriors held off a much larger force using the terrain to their advantage.

You can walk Captain Jack’s Stronghold today on a self-guided trail, crossing the same volcanic ground where the conflict played out.

Borrow a hard hat at the visitor center for free

The visitor center sits at the south end of the park near Cave Loop Road, and you want to stop here first. Rangers help you pick caves based on how comfortable you are underground.

They hand out maps, cave info and free gear, including flashlights, hard hats and kneepads. You do need a free cave permit before you go into any cave, and you grab that here too.

Exhibits inside cover the park’s geology and natural history.

Mushpot Cave sits steps from the parking lot

Mushpot Cave is the one cave in the whole monument with lights inside.

You walk in on a paved path, read interpretive signs that explain how lava tubes form and what lives in them, and duck under a few low spots along the way. The whole thing takes maybe 15 minutes.

Families with kids do well here, and so does anyone who has never been underground before. Think of it as your warm-up before the dark caves ahead.

Skull Cave has permanent ice at the bottom

A massive entrance gives you a hint of what’s coming. Metal stairways take you down through multiple levels, and with each one, the air gets colder.

At the lowest level, the temperature drops below freezing and permanent ice covers the floor year-round. Bring a jacket and gloves, because even the handrails down there are painfully cold.

The cave earned its name from animal and human bones that early explorers found inside.

Shine your flashlight and Valentine Cave glows gold

Valentine Cave has wide passages, high ceilings and smooth walls that make it one of the more comfortable caves to explore. Lava benches, lava pools and formations called lavacicles hang from the ceiling.

But the real moment comes when you aim your flashlight at the walls. Microscopic bacteria coat the surface, and they shimmer gold under the beam.

The lava flow that created this cave erupted roughly 10,850 years ago. Summer guided tours dig deeper into the formations.

Golden Dome glitters and Sunshine Cave grows plants

Golden Dome takes the difficulty up a notch with narrower tunnels that force you to squat and shimmy through. The same golden bacteria from Valentine Cave coat the walls and ceilings here too.

Don’t touch them. Those bacterial mats are fragile and don’t grow back.

Sunshine Cave works differently. Sections of the ceiling collapsed long ago, and now sunlight pours in through the gaps.

Plants grow in those bright patches, so you get pockets of green inside an otherwise pitch-dark tube.

Hike straight through Sentinel Cave end to end

Sentinel Cave is a thru-cave. You walk in one end and come out the other, covering over 3,000 feet of roomy passage without ever needing to stoop.

It’s one of the longest caves in the monument that you can access without special skills.

The Catacombs, on the other hand, stretch over a mile with tight squeezes and complex passages that twist in every direction. Only experienced cavers with proper gear and know-how should attempt it.

Crystal Ice Cave takes a rope and a reservation

Towering ice columns and frozen floors fill Crystal Ice Cave, but you can’t just walk in. Access is limited to ranger-guided tours with no more than six people at a time.

Tours run on Saturdays from January through March and last about three hours.

You need upper body strength to climb a 50-foot ice slope using a rope, so this one is physically demanding. Reservations open a few weeks in advance and fill up almost instantly.

Climb Schonchin Butte for a look at Mount Shasta

A cinder cone rises from the middle of the monument, and a well-maintained trail of less than one mile climbs about 475 feet to a fire lookout at the top.

From the summit, you can see lava fields, Tule Lake and high desert spreading out in every direction. On clear days, snow-capped Mount Shasta appears in the distance.

Rangers sometimes staff the lookout and will talk you through the history of the butte if you catch them up there.

Petroglyph Point holds 5,000 carvings on one cliff

More than 5,000 individual rock carvings line a single cliff face at Petroglyph Point, making it one of the largest Native American rock art sites in the country. Some carvings may be over 6,000 years old.

Most of them show geometric patterns rather than people or animals, which is unusual for Western rock art.

The point was once an island in Tule Lake, and Modoc people paddled canoes out to carve into the soft volcanic rock. A short trail runs along the base for viewing.

The Devil’s Homestead lava field stretches to the horizon

From an overlook along the park road, the Devils Homestead Flow spreads out in hardened lava almost as far as you can see.

Step back from the edge and the high desert fills in around you with sagebrush, Western juniper and mountain mahogany. Mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bald eagles, hawks, owls and several species of bats all live here.

Two designated wilderness areas give you backcountry hiking and overnight camping if the caves leave you wanting more.

Explore Lava Beds National Monument in California

You can find the monument near Tulelake in Siskiyou County, Calif. Entrance runs $25 per vehicle and covers seven days, or you can use an America the Beautiful annual pass for $80.

Indian Well Campground sits near the visitor center if you want to stay the night. Bring everything you need, because no food, gas or water is available inside the park.

The nearest larger city is Klamath Falls, Ore., about 70 miles north. Check the official website for seasonal hours and tour reservations.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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