Hidden 9 miles away down a dusty forest service road is a place where time is frozen in place.

Lava Cast Forest emerges suddenly out of the towering conifers, seemingly bleak and desolate. The lava field hugs the northern base of Newberry Volcano and is smaller to fields that equally sprung from fissures in the earth made by the composite volcano.

During that time, the lava poured over the forest trapping trees in their place and burning them slowly. The lava then cooled, leaving behind hollow tubes in the trunk’s place called casts.

At first glance, it may be hard to imagine a place that caused so much destruction during its creation and is now teeming with life. Pikas, ground squirrels and chipmunks scurry about the field and raptors can be seen hovering above it looking for their next meal.

Flora has also returned here with trees finding ways through the cracks, and some trees have twisted themselves in order to squeeze any last drop of water from the porous ground.

A 1-mile paved and partially accessible trail loops through the field, taking visitors on a journey through time and showcasing the many casts, vertical and horizontal.

Lava Cast Forest is a part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and is one of the quieter places to visit because of its location off U.S. Highway 97.

The massive lava fields throughout the monument hold an otherworldly quality about them, it’s no wonder NASA came calling.

At the start of the Apollo program, NASA began sending its astronauts to geologically intriguing areas in the U.S., Mexico and Iceland to explore and learn about the terrain they may encounter when landing on the Moon. One of those places just happened to be in the shadow of Newberry Volcano as well as along the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway west of Bend.

If the short interpretive trail at Lava Cast Forest leaves you wanting more, another trail a short distance back down the dirt road leads to Hoffman Island.

You won’t find a sandy beach and clear water to wade in here, Hoffman Island is a kipuka, an island of trees surrounded by a lava field.

The trail to the island is 1 mile out and back and traverses through the sea of lava to the wooded area beyond where huge manzanitas and tall ponderosas offer a cooling retreat for sun-baked skin after walking through the sometimes sweltering lava fields.