Pelican Butte

Pelican Butte
Pelican Butte from across Agency Lake
Highest point
Elevation	8,037 ft (2,450 m) NAVD 88[1]
Coordinates	42°30′48″N 122°08′43″W / 42.513428508°N 122.145281964°W / 42.513428508; -122.145281964[1]
Geography
Location	Klamath County, Oregon, U.S.
Parent range	Cascades
Topo map	USGS Pelican Butte
Geology
Rock age	Pleistocene
Mountain type	Shield volcano
Volcanic arc	Cascade Volcanic Arc
Last eruption	Pleistocene[2]
Climbing
Easiest route	Dirt road

Pelican Butte is a steep-sided shield volcano in the Cascade Range of southern Oregon. It is located 28 miles (45 km) due south of Crater Lake and 12 miles (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 cubic miles (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 square miles (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, but none have been 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.