Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway

A trio of snowmobile riders enjoy well-groomed trails near Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

A snowmobile guide along Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway invites travelers to enjoy a perfect day on the snow.

A young couple takes advantage of groomed snow and a great machine to snowmobile together along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

Tight curves through tall conifers provide a great afternoon ride for this snowmobile rider.

Two pelicans fish for food at the edge of Pyramid Lake.

A bush with red berries grows on the rocky shoreline of Crater Lake in Crater Lake National Park.

Wizard Island rests placidly on the still blue waters of Crater Lake.

Trees and other plants somehow survive on the steep slopes above Crater Lake inside the caldera.

A white wake in blue water curves toward the steeply sloping rocky sides of the Crater Lake caldera.

A boat's wake makes white waves in the sapphire waters of Crater Lake.

Sulfur Works is thriving with geothermal activity. This area contains sulfur steams, mud pots, and a young dormant volcano. This is just one of the many activities within Lassen National Park. The park also offers over 150 miles of trails, several lakes, 7 campgrounds, one lodge, fishing, bicycling, and backcountry hiking and camping.

The crystal clear waters of Crater Lake ripple over underlying rocks, creating strange patterns.

Some boaters prepare for a trip on the clear blue waters of Upper Klamath Lake.

From a viewpoint on the rim of the crater, Wizard Island stands out in the middle of Crater Lake.

Lassen Peak is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. It is also considered to be one of the most probable areas for renewed volcanic activity in the lower 48 states. Lassen Peak's last erupted in 1914. Lassen Peak is just one of many examples of the Byway's volcanic legacy.

This majestic mountain is not only known for its recreational and scenic value, but also because it draws visitors from all over the world seeking spiritual insight. Native people believed Mount Shasta to be the abode of the Great Spirit.

A long pointed tail helps identify this Pintail Duck as it floats across the mirror-smooth water.

Silhouetted against the sunset, a sailboat awaits another fine day of sailing on Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon.

A walk through Captain Jack's Stronghold is a unique experience. The spirit of the Modoc people can still be felt. The traditional culture of many people was lost here, yet a modern culture of their descendants still survives. The spirituality of the Modoc culture permeates the whole region and captures the hearts of many visitors, calling them back year after year.

California's representatives for the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway receives their designation plaque at the Designation 2002 event at Union Station in Washington DC.

The Topsy Bridge now crosses the Klamath River west of Keno, Oregon, near where settlers once crossed on the Applegate Trail.

In September, dry grasses coat the fields of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge's White Lake Unit just south of Stateline Road in California.

A visitor to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in California looks out from a wildlife viewing station.

Models of birds appear to fly over the exhibits inside the Klamath Basin Refuges Visitor Center on Hill Road.

A sign and bin with handouts stand at the trailhead to the Discovery Marsh interpretive trail at the Klamath Basin Visitor Center on Hill Road.

Tall grasses and other wetland plants line the open waters of Discovery Marsh just across the road from the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges Visitor Center on Hill Road.

A vibrant yellow visitor kiosk in Tulelake features information about the area's attractions.

A small park in Tulelake holds memorials to the veterans of foreign wars, as well as flags, a mural, a bench and restrooms.

Several green railroad cars with yellow and red trim, possibly a restored caboose and an engine of the Modoc Northern Railroad, stand on tracks beside the highway in the town of Tulelake.

A ridge made of an ancient lava flow rises behind a set of signs directing travelers on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway to Lava Bed National Monument and the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges (namely, its visitor center.) The post also includes an America's Byways roadsign.

A cluster of pelicans swim away from the Hill Road shoreline of Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge at dusk.

A visitor marvels at the striated mountain that forms Petroglyph Point.

The rock formation known as 'The Peninsula' rises above the dry landscape of southern Oregon, as seen from the top of Petroglyph Point in Lava Beds National Monument. A car is parked at the trailhead on the road below.

Elaborate geometric designs and manlike figures line the base of Petroglyph Point in Lava Beds National Monument.

A man-like figure with what looks like a spear through its head is one of the curious and intriguing petroglyphs at Petroglyph Point in Lava Beds National Monument.

A woman looks closely at the lava rock walls of Skull Cave in Lava Beds National Monument. The height of this segment of Skull Cave is a result of three lava tubes having collapsed into one huge cave. This cave contains year-round ice deposits within its depths.

A prominent cinder cone northwest of the visitor center, Schonchin Butte is a major landmark of Lava Beds National Monument. There is a trail to the top, where hikers will find an old lookout station.

Jumbled black lava forms the aptly-named "Devil's Homestead" section of Lava Beds National Monument.

Several wooden buildings next to Hill Road west of Tulelake are part of the Tulelake Segregation Center where "disloyal" American citizens of Japanese descent were kept separate from the main Tulelake Internment Center in Newell during World War II in 1943. This site also housed CCC volunteers during the Depression, and Italian and German P.O.W.s from 1944-1946.

A plaque at Camp Tulelake describes the history of the site and its use during the year before, during and after WWII as a CCC work camp, a Japanese internment camp and a P.O.W. camp.

The Fort Klamath General Store stands next to the highway, offering groceries, snacks and supplies to people traveling to and from Crater Lake National Park.

The lava flow at Devil's Homestead is comprised of rocky a'a lava: rough, black and treacherous.

The marker at historic Fort Klamath reads:

"Fort Klamath Frontier Post. Established for the promotion of peaceful relationships between the Indians and the early settlers by the Oregon Volunteer Cavalry in 1863, the post was abandoned by the United States Army in 1890. Now preserved as a Klamath County Park for all people. Dedicated August 1973."

White stones marking the actual graves of captured Indian leaders of the Modoc War -- Captain Jack, Boston Charley, Schonchin John and Black Jim -- lie in a row at Historic Fort Klamath. These men were hanged October 3, 1873.

A 1900s frontier jailhouse stands on the grounds of the historic Fort Klamath County Park. It was moved here from another site, and was not part of the original Army Post.

One of the historic buildings relocated to Fort Klamath County Park is the old Fort Klamath Post Office. A mother and young boy look at awards and historic photos on the wall inside.

Two people walk toward a reconstruction of the Fort Klamath's guard house, which hosts a small museum and visitor center.

Inside the Guard House at Fort Klamath County Park and Museum, Kevin Fields, a museum volunteer and military history enthusiast, repairs an old Civil War era saddle.

Civil War-era uniforms are displayed inside the Guard House at historic Fort Klamath. One saddle is a Confederate McClellan saddle from the 1860s. The other is an 1872 McClellan. The boy figure is wearing 1890 artillery dress uniform and holding an 1884 Springfield trapdoor rifle. The headless figure is wearing a blue 1863 cavalry bugler uniform with an 1856 Springfield musket rifle.

A well-weathered wooden sign greets visitors to Fort Klamath Frontier Military Post, once home of C Troop of the Oregon First Volunteer Cavalry.

The high ceilings, wooden beams and wooden panels give the lobby of Crater Lake Lodge at Crater Lake National Park a warm, welcoming feeling.

A road sweeps up to the unassuming entrance to the historic Crater Lake Lodge in Crater Lake National Park.

A row of motorcycles await their owners at one of the overlooks on the Crater Rim Drive.

Snow lingers on the slopes of Mt. Mazama's caldera above the blue waters of Crater Lake as seen from Crater Lake Lodge, looking east.

The tour boat passes Wizard Island late one afternoon in early September, as seen from Crater Lake Lodge.

A group of motorcyclists pass an overlook on their way down curvy Rim Drive with its stone barrier fence in Crater Lake National Park.

California's Mount Shasta can barely be seen on the horizon from an overlook on Crater Lake National Park's Rim Drive. Other volcanic peaks and cones in the Cascade Range are more visible.

The lacy streams of Vidae Falls cascade down the eastern rim of Crater Lake National Park next to Rim Drive.

White and purple lupine make a brave show in early September on the Castle Crest Trail in Crater Lake National Park.

Wizard Island lies nestled in the blue waters of Crater Lake as seen from the Watchman Overlook on Rim Drive on the west side of the park.

The sculpture of a curled, sitting nude carved into a boulder is one of the unexpected features of a hiking trail in the forest at Steed Visitor Center in Crater Lake National Park.

People at the Watchman Overlook stand behind a guard rail and look to the lake below. Above them, the jagged lava teeth of the Devil's Backbone formation jab into the sky along the edge of Crater Lake.

Mountains serve as the backdrop to a small ranch built along the Crater Lake Highway in Klamath County, Oregon.

An interpretive sign at a pullout in ranchland alongside the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway tells about Mt. Mazama, a massive shield volcano that once filled the horizon to the north here.

An interpretive sign at a pullout in ranchland alongside the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway tells about Mt. Mazama, a massive shield volcano that once filled the horizon to the north here.

The sharp peak of Mt. Thielson pokes up from the mountains surrounding Crater Lake.

The island known as the 'Phantom Ship' floats as a dark shadow against the western sun in Crater Lake.

Orange, yellow, gray, blue and green make up the rainbow of colors on the 'Pumice Castle' cliffs of Crater Lake.

Cattle graze in a pasture alongside the Crater Lake Highway north of Fort Klamath. The tree-covered ridge in the background is part of an old lava flow (as are much of the mountains and ridges in the area.)

An interpretive panel at the Vanished Volcano roadside pullout on SR 62 shows the extent of the Mt. Mazama shield volcano before the massive eruption that eventually formed Crater Lake.

A railroad tie forms a trail marker for the Applegate Trail just south of the California-Oregon border by "Clammett Lake" (probably a version of "Klamath Lake") and the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges.

A family canoes on Lake Ewauna past Veteran's Memorial Park in Klamath Falls.

An old train engine is on display under a pavilion in Veteran's Memorial Park by Lake Ewauna in historic Klamath Falls.

The historic Baldwin Hotel, once a furniture store and hotel, and now a museum, stands on Main Street (US 97) near Lake Ewauna in Klamath Falls.

The Klamath Falls Trolley stops before the Baldwin Hotel Museum.

A line of seagulls perches on the roof of the information center in Veteran's Memorial Park in Klamath Falls by Lake Ewauna.

The snow-covered peak of Mt. Shasta peeks over the hilly horizon and open water of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in California.

Seagulls perch along the pier at the wayside named "Wocus Bay" on OR-140 by Howard Bay on Upper Klamath Lake.

Grasses wave in the breeze alongside the blue waters of Upper Klamath Lake.

Trees and shoreline shrubs decorate the landscape along Oregon State Highway 140 past Upper Klamath Lake.

A group of cavers watch as a boy slides down the ice in Crystal Ice Cave at Lava Beds National Monument.

A tourist walks along the path of Mushpot Cave.

Trees frame this lovely view of the twin waterfalls of Burney Falls State Park.

A scenic drive curves along the lake at Klamath Falls on an overcast day.

Bright green reflects on the water's surface as an adult Gadwall Duck and a duckling float by near Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

Lake Shasta looks dramatic on an overcast morning.

Redwoods line the road at the entrance to Crater Lake National Park.

Snow dusted cliffs and trees provide an interesting formation near Crater Lake.

Lake Britton is a beautiful lake which offers many recreational acitivites including swimming along the beaches of the lake, boating, and fishing. The byway travels over the lake via a bridge, thus allowing scenic views from both sides.

A Bewick's Wren perches on a gray, lichen-specked volcanic rock on Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

The Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge offers a wonderful opportunity for a variety of recreational activites. These include wildlife viewing, an auto tour, and fishing.

Intrinsic qualities along the byway can continue to be preserved and enhanced through stewardship and education. Providing children with knowledge about conservation will help them understand the importance and true value of our resources.

Wildlife viewing is a popular activity at Lower Klamath Falls National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is home to the largest concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. It's wetlands and marshes are home to millions of migrating birds and ducks including American white pelicans, white-faced ibises, western and eared grebes, Ross geese, and pintail, mallard, and canvasback ducks.

Mount Shasta is visible from hundreds of miles away, appearing like an island in the sky. The sheer vastness of Mount Shasta along the byway is enough to capture the traveler's attention for awhile, but this is only one of the many experiences the byway offers.

Butte Valley National Grasslands is the only national grassland in California. It provides wetland habitat for many wildlife species. The grasslands also contribute to the diversity of landscapes along the byway.

Agriculture is an important cultural lifestyle of the region, contributing to its economic vitality. Farming activities provide an opportunity to showcase best practices related to land management to byway travelers.

"I consider the evening twilight on Mount Shasta one the grandest sights I have ever witnessed." - Theodore Roosevelt, 1908. Mount Shasta is a world class recreational destination that offers over 150 miles of trails, camping, and backbacking.

Middle McCloud Falls is one of three falls located on the McCloud River. All three falls are accessible by a one-mile trail. Adventurous swimmers take a plunge into the falls, and areas nearby are also great fishing destinations.

The existing overlooks along the byway provide a wonderful opportunity for visitors of all ages and abilities to view the wonderful intrinsic qualities offered along the byway. This overlook allows visitors to view Lower McCloud Falls.

Burney Falls is a 129-foot waterfall. These falls flow at the same rate all year long - 100 million gallons of water every day. While the waterfall is the centerpiece of the park, it also offers five miles of hiking trails and 128 developed campsites with showers, toilets, and picnic areas.

Managed agriculture and timber lands are important attributes of the byway, offering travelers glimpes into the rural lifestyle and culture of the region. The Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway is a place where the ever-changing worlds of the past and present unite in harmony.

Visitor centers, such as this one near Lassen Volcanic National Park, contain information, National Park Service publications, road and trail maps, and activities for children. These facilities offer travelers wayfinding information for nearby intrinsic qualities along the byway.

The logging town of Weed, in front of Mt. Lassen along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, was built in 1897.

The Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges spanning both Oregon and California along the Volcanic Legacy, provides an important habitat for many species including this flock of Ross Geese. Canada, snow, and white-fronted geese also enjoy the refuge's safety.

Areas adjacent to the byway like national forests and national parklands provide travelers with the opportunity to view an abundance of wildlife species. The Mule Deer is just one of them.

Subway Cave, a lava tube north of Lassen Volcanic National Park, on Hwy. 89. Lava Beds National Monument encompasses over 46,500 acres and contains the largest concentration of lava tube caves in the United States. While lava tubes are not unusual in volcanic areas, the vast quantity found at Lava Beds is.

With its distinct curving bill, this American Avocet settles into its nest along Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.

A cloud of Snow Geese fills the sky above Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.