Mammoth Crater is the vent that produced most of the lava covering Lava Beds, including the flows that formed the cave-rich ground along Cave Loop Road. A short rim trail looks down into it.
Details
- Type
- Point of Interest
- Accessibility
- Limited accessibility
The source of the caves
Mammoth Crater erupted between thirty and forty thousand years ago. Basalt that came out of it covers more than seventy percent of the monument's surface. From the crater, lava ran downhill in braided streams up to ten miles long, and as the surfaces of those streams hardened and the molten interiors drained away, they left the hollow tubes that became the caves of Lava Beds, the highest known concentration of lava tube caves in the continental United States.
At the rim
A short rim trail runs under ponderosa pines along Hidden Valley, with some of the only summer shade in this part of the monument.