Lava Cast Forest facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lava Cast Forest |
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Lava molds of ancient tree trunks
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| Location | Deschutes County, Oregon, United States |
| Nearest city | Bend |
| Established | April 1942 |
The Lava Cast Forest is a cool place to visit in Oregon, near the city of Bend. It's part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. This special area shows what happened when hot lava flowed around trees 6,000 years ago. It left behind amazing molds of the trees!
You can find it about 25 miles south of Bend. You get there by driving on a gravel road for about 9 miles (14 km). When you arrive, there's a place to park and a paved walking trail. Some parts of the trail might be a bit narrow or steep.
How Lava Casts Formed
The Lava Cast Forest area has many cinder cones and different lava flows. The newest lava flow here is about 6,000 years old. This flow created the unique molds you see today.
When the super hot lava flowed, it surrounded the trees that were already growing there. The lava touching the trees cooled down quickly. This created a hard, protective shell, or mold, around the tree trunks. The trees inside then burned away completely, leaving a hollow space.
These molds can stand straight up or lie flat on the ground. Some of the molds that are lying down can be very long, up to 50 or 60 feet! If you look closely, you can even see the patterns of tree bark on the inside of some molds. Sometimes, you can still find ancient charcoal inside them. You might even see the rings that show how old the trees were.
At first, people working for lumber companies thought these molds were just holes made by gas from the lava. But then, a man named Walter J. Perry found the clear imprints of tree bark. This showed everyone how these amazing lava casts were really made.
History of the Area
In the early 1900s, the land around Lava Cast Forest was used a lot for cutting down trees. After Walter J. Perry discovered the tree bark imprints in 1928, the area became famous across the western United States.
Sadly, some people used dynamite to destroy parts of the best lava casts. Others even took pieces home with them. To protect this special place, the United States Forest Service set aside 5,120 acres in 1942. They called it the Lava Cast Forest Geological Area and started telling people to visit it.
In 1963, scientists from NASA became very interested in these lava fields. The area had very little erosion, meaning it looked almost new. They thought it might look similar to the surface of the Moon. Because of this, many astronauts came to train here for their lunar missions. From 1964 to 1966, at least 46 astronauts practiced in the area.
One astronaut, James B. Irwin, even took a rock from one of Oregon's lava flows to the Moon. This was a way to remember NASA's important training experiences in central Oregon.
