Columnar basalt stone in the Umpqua National Forest, Oregon

© Jaynes Gallery/Danita Delimont

Columnar basalt stone in the Umpqua National Forest, Oregon

Of course there are countless trees in the nearly 1 million acres composing Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest. But the topography here reveals the volcanic history of the region near the southern end of the Cascade Mountain Range. When Cascade volcanoes erupted, some of their lava flows cooled in particular conditions that caused vertical fissures in the rock, forming these tightly packed pillars of stone. You’ll find these columns of basalt throughout the forest, usually along steep hillsides where the landscape shifts dramatically.