Northern Mountains - California - page 721

The park's campgrounds ( 530-335-2777, summer reservations 800-444-7275;
www.reserveamerica.com ; tent & RV sites $35) have hot showers and are open year-round.
About 10 miles northeast of McArthur-Burney Falls, the 6000-acre Ahjumawi Lava
Springs State Park is known for its abundant springs, aquamarine bays, islets, and jagged
flows of black basalt lava. It can only be reached by boats that are launched from Rat
Farm, 3 miles north of the town of McArthur along a graded dirt road. Arrangements for
primitive camping can be made by calling McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.
Lava Beds National Monument
A wild landscape of charred volcanic rock and rolling hills, this remote national monu-
ment ( 530-667-8113; www.nps.gov/labe ; 7-day entry per car $10) is reason enough to visit the
region. Off Hwy 139, immediately south of Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, it's a
truly remarkable 72-sq-mile landscape of volcanic features - lava flows, craters, cinder
cones, spatter cones, shield volcanoes and amazing lava tubes.
Lava tubes are formed when the surface of hot, spreading lava cools and hardens upon
exposure to cold air. The lava inside is thus insulated and stays molten, flowing away to
leave an empty tube of solidified lava. Nearly 400 such tubular caves have been found in
the monument, and many more are expected to be discovered. About two dozen or so are
currently open for exploration by visitors.
On the south side of the park, the visitors center ( 530-667-2282, ext 230; 8am-6pm,
shorter hr in winter) has free maps, activity books for kids and information about the monu-
ment and its volcanic features and history. Rangers loan mediocre flashlights (and rent hel-
mets and kneepads in the summer season only) for cave exploration and lead summer in-
terpretive programs, including campfire talks and guided cave walks. To explore the caves
it's essential you use a high-powered flashlight, wear good shoes and long sleeves (lava is
sharp), and do not go alone.
Near the visitors center, a short, one-way Cave Loop drive provides access to many
lava-tube caves. Mushpot Cave , the one nearest the visitors center, has lighting and in-
formation signs and is beautiful, besides being a good introductory hike. There are a num-
ber of caves that are a bit more challenging, including Labyrinth, Hercules Leg, Golden
Dome and Blue Grotto. Each one of these caves has an interesting history - visitors used
to ice-skate by lantern light in the bottom of Merrill Cave, and when Ovls Cave was dis-