Pelican Butte

The story

Pelican Butte is a steep-sided shield volcano in the Cascade Range of southern Oregon, United States. It is located 28 mi (45 km) due south of Crater Lake and 12 mi (19 km) northeast of Mount McLoughlin. Pelican Butte is the most prominent shield volcano in the southern Oregon Cascades and has a large volume at 4.8 cu mi (20 km3), making it one of the bigger Quaternary volcanoes in the region, approaching the size of some of the range's stratovolcanoes. While still part of the Cascades, Pelican Butte is disconnected from the main axis, forming above faults along the eastern border of the range. Pelican Butte is part of the Quaternary Mount McLoughlin Reach, a volcanic vent zone that runs from the volcano to Aspen Lake, encompassing 33 vents over an area of 357 sq mi (925 km2). Ice age glaciers carved a large cirque into the northeast flank of the mountain, but despite this erosion, its original shape is largely preserved. Several proposals have been made over the last few decades for the development of a ski area on this flank, with none implemented. Dating for eruptive activity at Pelican Butte is unclear, ranging from less than 200,000 years ago to no more than 700,000 years ago. These eruptive episodes built a summit cone with tuff breccia and lapilli, later covered by lava flows before it was eroded. Eruptions began as explosive events and became thinner with ʻaʻā and block lava. Pelican Butte is within the Fremont-Winema National Forest and forms part of the Sky Lakes Wilderness. A variety of flora and fauna live on and in the vicinity of the mountain. Named after nearby Pelican Bay at the north end of Upper Klamath Lake, Pelican Butte was also known by Native Americans as Mongina; the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey previously listed it under the name Lost Peak. Ancestral Native American groups related to the Klamath and Takelma people first hunted and gathered huckleberries in the area thousands of years ago. The Sky Lakes Wilderness area eventually became a popular location for white settlers to hunt, trap beaver and marten, and graze stock. A fire lookout tower is present on the summit of the volcano and is maintained by the United States Forest Service. A gravel road runs up to the summit of the mountain from Oregon Route 140.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wikidata Q7161387, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.

What the record says

Elevation

2440 m

How to reach it

Named places within 25 miles

Other summits around it

The highest named summits within 18.2 miles of Pelican Butte. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.

When to go

Light through the year

Local time (America/Los_Angeles).

Climate normals

Months averaging 50–80 °F: Jun–Sep.

1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Chiloquin 12 NW (fort Klamath), 15 mi away.

Where this comes from

• USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 1147568 — Pelican Butte, Klamath County, Oregon.

OpenStreetMap element node/357313367