Pelican Butte

Pelican Butte is a steep-sided dormant 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, and rises over 3,800 feet (1,200 m) directly above the shore of Upper Klamath Lake. Ice age glaciers carved a large cirque into the northeast flank of the mountain, forming a steep bowl which is popular in winter with backcountry skiers and snowmobilers. Several proposals have been made over the last few decades for ski area development on the northeast flanks, but none of the proposals has obtained the regulatory approval from the United States Forest Service necessary to proceed with construction. If the ski area is ever built, its skiable vertical of over 3,800 feet (1,200 m) would be the largest in Oregon exceeding the 3,590 feet (1,090 m) of Timberline Lodge ski area on Mount Hood.

Pelican Butte
Pelican Butte from across Agency Lake
Highest point
Elevation8,037 ft (2,450 m)  NAVD 88[1]
Prominence2,196 ft (669 m) [2]
Coordinates42°30′48″N 122°08′43″W [1]
Geography
LocationKlamath County, Oregon, U.S.
Parent rangeCascades
Topo mapUSGS Pelican Butte
Geology
Mountain typeShield volcano
Volcanic arcCascade Volcanic Arc
Last eruptionLess than 300,000 years ago[3]
Climbing
Easiest routeDirt road

The land is in the Fremont-Winema National Forest and a Forest Service fire lookout tower was built on the summit in 1935, and upgraded several times over the ensuing decades. It was replaced in 1986 with a modern 40-foot (12 m) steel tower, which remains to this day and is festooned with a large array of microwave and radio antennas. A 5-mile (8.0 km) long dirt road zigzags up the west flanks of the volcano to the summit.

References
  1. "Pelican". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  2. "Pelican Butte, Oregon". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  3. "Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests - Pelican Butte Volcano". US Forest Service. Archived from the original on 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  • Harris, Stephen L. (2005). Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes (3rd ed.). Mountain Press Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87842-511-X.
  • Wood, Charles A.; Kienle, Jürgen, eds. (1990). Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43811-X.
  • Kresek, Ray (1998). Fire Lookouts of the Northwest (3rd ed.). Historic Lookout Project. ISBN 0-87770-632-8.
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