Guide to Newberry Volcanic National Monument

 

We decided to go to central Oregon for labor day weekend and I was researching things to do and discovered Newberry Volcanic National Monument. Originally when I saw it I was thought- "this might be neat to check out". I had planned this trip months in advance and honestly kind of forgot about this monument until I pulled my notes out a few days before the trip. When we came around to going to it my initial thought was "is this even worth it or should we just do another day at Crater Lake National Park?" It was worth it- I am so glad we did it. 

What you need to know before you go 

1. It is a National Monument- not a national park- still owned by the park service and you can use your parks pass to get in. Also both visitor centers have a stamp which is exciting if you are nerd like me. 

2. There are two sections to the park- the lava lands section and the Newberry Caldera section- they are about a 30 minute drive from each other- visitor center to visitor center

3. We only spent one day here- you could easily spend a long weekend here and have plenty to do. There is a lot of hiking and plenty of camping in the area. 

4. The most popular place to explore is the lava caves. You need a reservation for these in advance- I forgot about this and unfortunately we couldn't go. You cannot just show up and expect to get in. Also if you get reservations for this prepare to be in a cold cave! Dress appropriately. 

5. This isn't as remote as lot of the national parks we've been too but still plan ahead- have plenty of food water and gas before heading out. 

6. It's very close to Bend, OR- so you could easily stay there if you wanted and make this a fun day trip. 

Newberry Caldera Section 

We started our day here and drove in to the caldera. 

Big Obsidian Flow Hike 

Total length- 0.6miles mostly uphill into the obsidian flow. 

My husband is a big geology nerd and he LOVED this. It is so neat to be surrounded by all the obsidian. We saw plenty of kids on this trail so it is very family friendly although a bit rocky (pun intended). Would highly recommend. 

Paulina Falls

This is a beautiful waterfall that is very easy to access. You can literally park and walk right up to it. There are a lot of picnic tables in the area to picnic at as well if you want to eat lunch and enjoy the view. We visited it at the end of the summer so we were told the waterfall was pretty dry but if you come in early summer it's apparently a lot more intense. 

Lava Lands Section 

Lava Butte 

If you are visiting from Memorial Day to Labor Day and you want to get to the top of the lava butte without walking you have to take the shuttle which is $3 a person. At first I kind of rolled my eyes at this but then once a I saw how narrow the road was I understood. I think they just try to limit the amount of cars on the one lane road. They have shuttles that run every 15-20 minutes and you can stay on top of the Lava Butte as long as you want. You can see it was starting to get pretty cloudy when we went up there but on a clear day you can see pretty far. There is a small (1/4 mile) trail along the rim of butte and be warned there are a fair bit of steps involved. This whole area reminded me of being on the big island of Hawaii- I had to keep reminding myself that I was actually in Oregon. 

Overall

Overall we had so much fun exploring this National Monument. We want to come back probably in a few years and explore more (and make reservations for the lava tubes). I would highly recommend at least spending a day here and exploring the area.