Last Sunday, November 24, fifteen CONC members went on a rather untraditional outing. We went to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and hiked around the trail at the Lava Cast Forest. For those of you who don’t know the forest, it is a 7000 or so year old lava flow that wiped out the forest that was there. But instead of obliterating the trees the lava oozed around them, burnt the trees and cooled quickly. Thus leaving what looks like a mold for modeling clay. The area is also good for viewing the difficulty that flora has in surviving on the lava field. We also hiked Henderson Island Trail in the same area as the forest. The trail is an old railroad track bed that goes out about a mile and terminates at the lava field. The day was chilly and unexpected after the long, warm fall weather.
Photos by Jerry Sebestyen & Al Matson
