Aspen Butte

Aspen Butte
Aspen Butte
Highest point
Elevation	NAVD 88
Prominence
Coordinates
Geography
Location	Klamath County, Oregon, U.S.
Parent range	Cascade Range
Topo map	USGS Aspen Lake
Geology
Age of rock	4.9-3.5 Ma
Mountain type	Shield volcano
Volcanic arc	Cascade Volcanic Arc
Climbing
Easiest route	Trail

Aspen Butte is a steep-sided shield volcano in the Cascade Range of southern Oregon. It is located 15 miles (24 km) south of Pelican Butte and 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Mount McLoughlin. It rises over 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above the nearby shore of Upper Klamath Lake. Ice Age glaciers carved three large cirques into the north and northeast flanks of the mountain removing most of the original summit area including any evidence of a crater. The summit is now the high point along the curving ridge which bounds the southern edge of the cirques above steep cliffs.

Aspen Butte is the highest of four overlapping shield volcanoes within the Mountain Lakes Wilderness all of which have been carved to varying degrees by glaciers. The other volcanoes are 7,979-foot (2,432 m) Mount Harriman, 7,785-foot (2,373 m) Crater Mountain and 7,741-foot (2,359 m) Greylock Mountain. Another peak, 7,882-foot (2,402 m) Mount Carmine, which lies just over 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north of Aspen Butte, is actually not a separate volcano but the highest remnant of the north flank of the Aspen Butte volcano separated from it by two glacial cirques. Little Aspen Butte, a 7,235-foot (2,205 m) satellite cone, rises on the southern flanks of the main volcano separated from it by a 6,556-foot (1,998 m) pass.

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