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Hike · Broken Top trailhead

Broken Top

Distance
0.5 mi
Vertical
3,451 ft
Summit
7,136 ft
Difficulty
Moderate

Broken Top is a heavily eroded stratovolcano in the Three Sisters Wilderness, 20 miles west of Bend. The volcano was active between roughly 300,000 and 100,000 years ago, building a steep andesite and dacite cone that since the last eruption has been quarried apart by ice. What…

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About Broken Top

Broken Top is a glacially eroded complex stratovolcano. It lies in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, part of the extensive Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located southeast of the Three Sisters peaks, the volcano, residing within the Three Sisters Wilderness, is 20 miles (32 km) west of Bend, Oregon, in Deschutes County. Eruptive activity stopped roughly 100,000 years ago, and erosion by glaciers has since reduced the volcano's cone to where its contents are exposed. There are two named glaciers on the peak, Bend and Crook Glacier.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.

Broken Top's eroded summit ridge seen across the lodgepole pine flats from Sparks Lake.
Lyn Topinka (USGS) · Public domain
Closer view of the breached crater rim — the volcanic cone's interior exposed by glacial erosion.
USGS · Public domain
Alternating bands of red, black, and yellow scoria, pumice, and tuff on the upper cliffs above the Bend Glacier.
Chaneyforkriver · CC BY-SA 4.0
Icebergs in the turquoise glacial lake in the summit cirque, mid-summer.
Little Mountain 5 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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