Newberry National Volcanic Monument, site by site, from a house near Sunriver

Newberry National Volcanic Monument at a glance

Newberry is two places under one name: the lava country along Highway 97 and the caldera 4,000 feet above Bend. The monument was created in November 1990 inside the Deschutes National Forest, and the Forest Service manages it. The volcano itself spreads over about 1,200 square miles, about the size of Rhode Island, with more than 400 vents and cones. The overview of all the day trips from the house, with Rome2rio miles from Sunriver, is on day trips from Sunriver. This page is the deep version of its Newberry sections.

The lower sites, Lava Lands Visitor Center, Lava Butte and Lava River Cave, sit beside Highway 97 and open in mid-May. The upper sites, Paulina Falls, the two lakes, the Big Obsidian Flow and Paulina Peak, are reached on County Road 21 and open as the snow goes. The peak road usually opens in early July and closed for the 2026 season on October 6.

Newberry sites: fees, seasons and vehicle-length limits

Every fee site in the monument is $5 per vehicle per day, or $30 for the annual Northwest Forest Pass, and an $80 Interagency Annual Pass also works. The table below is drawn from the Forest Service page for each site; the dates are for 2026. Commercial vehicles pay more at Lava Lands, Lava River Cave and the Big Obsidian Flow: $25 a day for 15 or fewer passengers, $50 for 25, and $100 above that.

Lava Lands Visitor Center: the start of a Newberry day

Lava Lands Visitor Center is the place to buy the pass, see the 3D map and decide the order of the day. It sits at 58201 S. Highway 97, about 8 miles south of Bend's Exit 143, with a pocket lane off the highway at the lava and the sign. In 2026 it opened daily from May 15 to September 15, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then shorter weeks through October 11. The parking area stays open all year, but winter access depends on snow accumulation.

Inside are an exhibit on the region's geology and people, a Discover Your Forest bookstore, daily films and a ranger-staffed topographic map. Outside are a picnic area under the pines and flush toilets, with no drinking water, so fill bottles at the house. Two short interpretive trails leave from the center: the Trail of Molten Land and the Trail of the Whispering Pines. The Forest Service also lists the fully accessible 5.5-mile Sun-Lava paved path.

Lava Butte and Lava River Cave: the Highway 97 sites

Lava Butte is a cinder cone about 500 feet above the visitor center, with a working fire lookout on top and a cinder trail around the rim. From June 13 to September 7, 2026, a shuttle ran between the center and the summit every 20 minutes, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at $5 per person with children 5 and under free. Tickets are sold at the center bookstore or in the CET Go app, and the shuttles take bikes and leashed dogs. Private cars may not drive up on shuttle days. Outside the shuttle season, free timed permits for the butte road are issued at the welcome station, during center hours only, and vehicles longer than 22 feet never go up. Walking or cycling up is allowed from dawn to dusk.

Lava River Cave is a mile-long lava tube, the longest in Oregon, and the full self-guided walk is about 2.2 miles round trip and takes about 1.5 hours. The cave averages 42 degrees. The 2026 season ran May 15 to September 15, Friday through Monday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with last entry at 2 p.m. Parking needs a timed reservation on Recreation.gov; each slot allows two hours, in six entry blocks a day, on the hour from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. About half the tickets are released 7 days ahead and the rest 24 hours ahead, both at 7 a.m. Pacific.

Bring two light sources per person, or rent them at $7 each. The entrance is 55 stairs, then a mix of boardwalk and uneven rock. Pets are not allowed, and nothing worn in another cave or mine may come in, to protect the bats from white-nose syndrome. The cave is closed outside its season for the same reason.

Lava Cast Forest: the tree molds at Newberry

Lava Cast Forest is a self-guided interpretive site where lava burned through standing trees and cooled into casts. The Lava Cast Forest Trail is the route, with self-guided brochures and picnic tables at the site. The page opened for this guide does not state the trail length, the fee or the road, so check the Forest Service page before you go.

Paulina Falls and the Newberry Caldera

Paulina Falls is a double waterfall that drops 80 feet over volcanic cliffs just west of Paulina Lake, outside the caldera rim. From Bend, the Forest Service directions are 23.5 miles south on Highway 97, then 12.3 miles east on Paulina Lake Road, County Road 21. An accessible trail leads from the parking area to picnic sites and an overlook, and a trailhead connects to the Paulina Falls Trail. There are vault toilets and no drinking water.

Past the falls, the road enters the caldera, about 17 square miles of lakes, lava and campgrounds. Paulina Lake and East Lake fill it, separated by cinder cones. The Paulina Visitor Center is staffed for orientation, and a Discover Your Northwest bookstore operates inside the historic building. The lakes, the lodge and resort, the hot springs and the fishing get their own guide: Paulina Lake and East Lake.

The caldera trails run from an hour to a full day. The Paulina Lakeshore Loop is 7.5 miles with about 200 feet of gain and is closed to horses and bikes; the signed path to the lakeside hot springs leaves it. The Newberry Crater Loop is a 22-mile, mostly singletrack trail that Visit Central Oregon calls lung-busting, so it is a trail for a few riders, not a group of 30.

Big Obsidian Flow: the youngest lava in Oregon

The Big Obsidian Flow is about 1,300 years old, the youngest lava flow in Oregon, a hill of black glass and pumice inside the caldera. A one-mile interpretive trail climbs up and onto the flow, and a small amphitheater hosts ranger talks in summer, with the schedule posted at the Paulina Visitor Center. The site has picnic tables and a vault toilet, is day use only, and is open from June into late fall. From Bend it is 24 miles south on Highway 97 and 15 miles east on County Road 21.

Leave the obsidian where it lies. Visit Bend's hot springs guide asks visitors to leave it for all to enjoy.

Paulina Peak: the top of Newberry Volcano

Paulina Peak, at 7,984 feet, is the highest point on Newberry Volcano and the view the whole day builds toward. From the summit you see the caldera, the south and west flanks of the volcano, the Cascades, and the Fort Rock Basin. On a clear day the range is visible from Mt. Shasta in California to Mt. Adams in Washington. From Bend the Forest Service directions are 23.5 miles south on Highway 97, 12.9 miles east on County Road 21, and 4.1 miles south on Forest Road 2100 500.

That last 4.1 miles decides who goes up. The road is steep, dusty and rough, narrow in places, and open only to vehicles under 23 feet: passenger cars, pickups and vans. Snow usually blocks it until early July, and it closes in late October or early November. In 2026 the Forest Service closed driving access on October 6. The summit has vault toilets, no drinking water, and a $5-per-vehicle fee covered by the same Forest pass as the rest of the monument.

Newberry geology: how the volcano was built

Newberry is a volcano whose oldest lavas are about 400,000 years old and whose last eruption, the Big Obsidian Flow, was about 1,300 years ago. The Forest Service puts its total volume at about 120 cubic miles. For comparison, it gives South Sister at 5 cubic miles and Mount St. Helens at 6. Lava Butte and its flow are less than 1 cubic mile of that.

The caldera formed when the summit collapsed, and the two lakes filled it. The Forest Service describes a shallow magma body only 2 to 5 kilometers deep. It puts the population on or near Newberry's lavas at about 200,000 and lists Bend, Sunriver, La Pine and Redmond among the nearby towns.

Chief Paulina Drive, Paulina Peak and Paulina Lake: the name

The house sits on Chief Paulina Drive, and the peak, the lake, the falls and the creek carry the same name. Oregon Hikers states that Paulina Lake and Paulina Peak are named after Chief Paulina of the Northern Paiute, who refused to move to the newly established reservations and led raids against settlers for about eight years in the 1850s and 1860s. Wikipedia records him as a Northern Paiute war leader, active from 1859 until he was killed on April 25, 1867, in what is now Jefferson County.

That is a naming fact and nothing more. The pages opened for this guide do not say who named the road, and the site makes no further claim about it. More on the neighborhood is on Three Rivers, Oregon.

A Newberry day for a group of 30 from the house near Sunriver

Run Newberry as two half-days or one long one. The short version is the Highway 97 sites: Lava Lands at opening, the butte by shuttle, the cave on a timed ticket, and back to the house for lunch at the four 8-foot picnic tables. The long version adds the caldera: Paulina Falls, the Big Obsidian Flow, and the peak road before it closes for the day, with lunch from the cooler at the falls picnic sites.

Form the caravan in the driveway, where there is parking for up to 15 vehicles and room for vans. Fees are per vehicle, so three vans pay three fees where eight cars pay eight, but a van over 22 feet cannot go up Lava Butte and one of 23 feet or more cannot go up Paulina Peak. Lava River Cave needs a timed reservation, and the Forest Service page does not say how many people one covers, so confirm on Recreation.gov before you build the convoy. Drive slowly on Chief Paulina Drive, a shared dirt road with families and pets.

Back at the house, the mudroom with its built-in bench and coat hooks takes the dusty boots, and the covered hot tub takes the legs. Dinner happens at the 12-foot dining table inside or the four 8-foot picnic tables outside, and the seasonal fire pit closes the night when fire rules allow. Quiet hours run 9 PM to 8 AM.

Where to eat near Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Pack lunch: the sites have picnic tables, and Lava Lands, Paulina Falls and Paulina Peak list no drinking water. Lava Lands has a picnic area under the pines and flush toilets; Paulina Falls, the Big Obsidian Flow and the peak have vault toilets only. In the caldera, East Lake Resort runs the Blue Duck Grill with a lake-view patio and a general store that sells forest passes, and Paulina Lake Lodge has a restaurant and lounge. Check their hours and season before you count on either for 30.

Dinner is back near the house. The big-table options in Sunriver and the south Bend corridor are on where to eat near Sunriver, and reservations matter for larger groups on summer weekends.

Where to stay near Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Stay at Deschutes Riverfront Retreat, an 11-bedroom, 6-bath estate in the Three Rivers area near Sunriver that sleeps up to 30, with a maximum of 24 adults. Sunriver Resort is about ten minutes away, Bend and Mt. Bachelor about 30. The six-bedroom Lodge sleeps up to 18 and can be booked on its own; the five-bedroom Cottage comes only with the full estate.

Both buildings sit on three private acres with 450 feet of Deschutes River frontage and a private dock, at the end of a dead-end road with 80 acres of trees on one side. After a day on the lava, the river is the rest day: float from the dock, fish it subject to seasonal rules, or hand-launch a kayak. Bring your own water toys and PFDs; none are provided. The 6-hole disc golf course, bocce, ping pong and the pool table fill the evenings.

Every booking has a 2-night minimum, the renter must be 30 or older, and occupancy limits are enforced because the home is on well and septic. Check-in is after 4 PM and check-out before 11 AM. Booking direct on this site saves the service fees that Airbnb and VRBO charge, and the live calendar on Book Now shows the current rate. The bed-by-bed plan is on large group rentals near Sunriver, and floor plans and the 3D tour are on the whole estate page.

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What groups said about exploring from the house

“We had a great time. The house is right on the river. Plenty of hikes nearby. Scott was a great communicator as well. We’d definitely stay again.”

“Scott was an awesome host and his place was perfect. 10/10 would recommend for bigger groups looking to explore Sunriver/Bend. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay.”

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Related

• Day trips from Sunriver for groups
• Things to do in Sunriver
• Large group rentals near Sunriver
• The whole estate: rooms, beds and floor plans