Hayrick Butte is a

tuya A tuya is a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period. As lava ...

, a type of subglacial volcano, in Linn County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Located in the

Willamette National Forest The Willamette National Forest is a National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Oregon. It comprises . Over 380,000 acres (694 mi2, 1,540 km2) are designated wilderness which include seve ...

near

Santiam Pass Santiam is a place name of the U.S. state of Oregon, referring to the indigenous Santiam people. It may refer to: * Santiam Academy * Santiam Hospital * Santiam Junction, Oregon * Santiam Junction State Airport * Santiam Pass Santiam is a place nam ...

, it lies adjacent to the cinder cone Hoodoo Butte, which has a

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

. Hayrick Butte likely formed when lava erupted underneath an overlying

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

, producing the flat top with near-vertical walls along the ice-contact margin as the lava cooled and hardened. Hayrick Butte has a nearly flat plateau about across and steep walls rising about above its surroundings. A cartographer accidentally switched the names for nearby Hoodoo Butte and Hayrick Butte; the word "hoodoo" usually refers to rock piles and pinnacles like those observed at Hayrick Butte. Compared to Hoodoo, Hayrick is less popular for recreation, though it can be climbed, and there are hiking,

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...

ing, and

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

routes surrounding the butte. Its north-facing slope has subalpine forests with

mountain hemlock ''Tsuga mertensiana'', known as mountain hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, found between Southcentral Alaska and south-central California. Description ''Tsuga mertensiana'' is a large evergreen conifer ...

and fir, which are common in the Cascades.

Geography

Hayrick Butte is located in Linn County in the U. S. state of

. Close to

, it forms part of the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

topographic map for the

Three Fingered Jack Three Fingered Jack is a summit of a shield volcano of the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed during the Pleistocene epoch, the mountain consists mainly of basaltic andesite lava and was heavily glaciated in the past. While o ...

volcano. Hayrick Butte lies south of Three Fingered Jack near Hoodoo Butte, Sand Mountain Field, Potato Butte, and Black Butte, with

Belknap Crater Belknap Crater is a shield volcano in the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located in Linn County, it is associated with lava fields and numerous subfeatures including the Little Belknap and South Belknap volcanic cones. It lies north ...

and

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

further to the south. It is also within the McKenzie Ranger District of the

. According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

, Hayrick Butte has an elevation of ; in 1980, the Willamette National Forest Gazetteer listed its elevation as . The butte has a width of about . Hayrick Butte is located next to the Hoodoo ski area. In response to a new master plan at the Hoodoo Ski Bowl in 1995, the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

released a draft environmental impact statement for the surroundings. The Forest Service argued that development at Hoodoo Butte and Hayrick Butte would require excavating and/or blasting of soil and rock on Hayrick Butte, which would potentially exacerbate

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

of local soil. The removal of this soil and rock would also substantially limit future

revegetation Revegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, manmade rewilding projects, accelerated process designed to repair damage to a lan ...

, further reducing

soil productivity Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality.

in the area. The Forest Service statement also asserted that development of new trails would not lead to significant "scenic resource effects," and that any "landform modification" from a proposed snow play area would only have moderate and short-term effects.

Ecology

The

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is a government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats. The agency operates hatcheries, issues hunting an ...

determined in the early 1990s that there was potential for peregrine falcon nests at Hayrick Butte, though it was considered low-quality habitat because of its lack of suitable ledges and high amounts of human disturbance. According to a 2003 paper, Hayrick Butte has a rich forest on its steep, north-facing slope with

and mature fir trees at an elevation of . Oroboreal

subalpine forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s like these usually occur above elevations of in the Cascades, in areas with cool, wet climates. Mean precipitation for these zones ranges from , with cool summers and cold, snowy winters. Dense forests are less common at higher elevations, switching to patchy forest stands separated from each other by shrubs or meadows.

Geology

North Sister (of the Three Sisters volcano complex) and Mount Washington mark isolated volcanic centers among the highly

mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks incl ...

(rich in magnesium and iron) platform of the central High Cascade arc. About 4.5 million years ago, eruption of mafic lava filled a subsiding

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58depression, creating the modern, mafic High Cascades. Compared to the eruptive products at and near North Sister, lava deposits at Mount Washington have a greater abundance of

incompatible element In petrology and geochemistry, an incompatible element is one that is unsuitable in size and/or charge to the cation sites of the minerals of which it is included. It is defined by the partition coefficient between rock-forming minerals and melt b ...

s (elements unsuitable in size and/or charge to the cation sites of the minerals of which it is included.) The nearby lava dome and

(subglacial volcano) Hogg Rock shows more similarity to the

basaltic andesite Basaltic andesite is a volcanic rock that is intermediate in composition between basalt and andesite. It is composed predominantly of augite and plagioclase. Basaltic andesite can be found in volcanoes around the world, including in Central Amer ...

deposits at North Sister, which are poorly enriched in incompatible elements. The part of the High Cascades that extends south from Mount Jefferson to Santiam Pass includes shield volcanoes, lava domes, and

cinder cones A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions ...

. The high elevation of Matuyama-aged rocks east of Santiam Pass, coupled with exposure of Brunhes-aged rocks to the west, imply the presence of a northward-trending

normal fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tecton ...

. Hayrick Butte is of late Pleistocene age. Like Hogg Rock, Hayrick Butte is an

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predo ...

lava dome with a flat top, suggesting that it is also a tuya, or a subglacial volcano. Both volcanic features have been eroded by glaciation, leaving glassy margins and jointing. Both Hayrick Butte and Hogg Rock produced porphyritic andesite lava with

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more pro ...

and orthopyroxene and trace levels of

phenocryst 300px, feldspathic phenocrysts. This granite, from the Switzerland">Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif, has large white plagioclase phenocrysts, triclinic minerals that give trapezoid shapes when cut through). 1 euro coins, 1 euro coin (diameter ...

s with

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickl ...

. Hayrick Butte also served as a barrier for Hoodoo Butte during the

Pleistocene glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing. Although geologists describe ...

, blocking the advancement of glacial ice from eroding Hoodoo's summit crater. Most lava domes in the Cascades occur in clusters or surrounding just a few major volcanic centers. There are roughly 190 known domes in the state of Oregon, with 40 located near Mount Jefferson, 22 near the Tumalo volcanic highland, 28 near the Three Sisters, and close to 60 surrounding

Mount Mazama Mount Mazama (''Giiwas'' in the Native American language Klamath) is a complex volcano in the state of Oregon, United States, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major erupt ...

. Hayrick Butte, however, is more isolated from other volcanoes. Hayrick Butte, along with Benchmark Butte, formed more than from any major stratovolcano. Hildreth (2007) likewise writes that Hayrick is "clearly separated from major clusters or evolved centers." Hayrick Butte has a normal magnetic polarity. Like Hogg Rock and other andesite lava domes in the area, it has lower incompatible element abundances than surrounding andesitic rock deposits. A 1992 element abundance analysis of Hayrick Butte andesite samples from the margin of the volcano shows a

silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

(silica) level of 60.1 percent, aluminum oxide level of 18.4 percent,

calcium oxide Calcium oxide (CaO), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term "''lime''" connotes calcium-containing inorganic ...

level of 6.24 percent,

iron(II) oxide Iron(II) oxide or ferrous oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula FeO. Its mineral form is known as wüstite. One of several iron oxides, it is a black-colored powder that is sometimes confused with rust, the latter of which consists ...

level of 5.55 percent, and

sodium oxide Sodium oxide is a chemical compound with the formula Na2 O. It is used in ceramics and glasses. It is a white solid but the compound is rarely encountered. Instead "sodium oxide" is used to describe components of various materials such as glass ...

level of 4.42 percent.

Magnesium oxide Magnesium oxide ( Mg O), or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium (see also oxide). It has an empirical formula of MgO and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2− ions ...

made up 3.3 percent of the samples, with

potassium oxide Potassium oxide ( K O) is an ionic compound of potassium and oxygen. It is a base. This pale yellow solid is the simplest oxide of potassium. It is a highly reactive compound that is rarely encountered. Some industrial materials, such as fertili ...

levels at 1.08 percent and

manganese(II) oxide Manganese(II) oxide is an inorganic compound with chemical formula MnO.Arno H. Reidies "Manganese Compounds" Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 2007; Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. It forms green crystals. The compound is produced on a large s ...

phosphorus pentoxide Phosphorus pentoxide is a chemical compound with molecular formula P4 O10 (with its common name derived from its empirical formula, P2O5). This white crystalline solid is the anhydride of phosphoric acid. It is a powerful desiccant and dehydra ...

, and

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolub ...

all below 1 percent. Additional studies from 1980 and 1983 exhibit similar levels of silica in samples from Hogg Rock and Hayrick Butte at about 59 to 60 percent.

Human history

According to cartographer Stuart Allen, an early cartographer accidentally switched the names for nearby Hoodoo Butte and Hayrick Butte. The word "hoodoo" refers to rock piles and pinnacles like those observed at Hayrick Butte, while "hayrick" is a synonym for haystack, a more fitting name for Hoodoo Butte, which has a profile that resembles a haystack shape. Whether or not this error actually occurred remains unclear, but the names remain to present day.

Recreation

The Obsidian Climb School and Eugene Mountain Rescue offer climbing classes and field sessions at Hayrick Butte. A backcountry,

ing trail runs for from the Hoodoo ski area, rising about in elevation over its course. The route travels between Hayrick and Hoodoo Butte, offering views of Mount Washington. There is an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...

hazard near Hayrick's base. An old roadbed next to the trail travels up Hoodoo Butte to the Hoodoo Butte Plateau and the butte's summit, where a historic fire cleared many trees. There are

routes down the old Santiam Pass Wagon Road to the south and Forest Road 2690 to the east, as well as a

geocache Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...

at Hayrick's summit. Markian Hawryluk of '' The Bulletin'' in Bend described Hayrick as "antisocial" compared to the "family-friendly ski area" of Hoodoo Butte, citing its tall, nearly vertical walls. The tuya is also surrounded by cliffs. William Sullivan of ''

The Register-Guard ''The Register-Guard'' is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the ''Eugene Daily Guard'' and the ''Morning Register''. The paper serves the Eugene- ...

'' wrote that Hayrick offered "breathtaking views" of Mount Jefferson, Big Lake, Hoodoo Butte, Mount Washington, and Black Butte. Hayrick Butte is also visible from the Patjens Lake Loop trail near Santiam Pass.

References

Sources

* * . * . *. * * * . * * . * * . * * * . * . * . *

External links

* {{Good article Buttes of Oregon Cascade Range Cascade Volcanoes Mountains of Linn County, Oregon Mountains of Oregon Subduction volcanoes Tuyas of the United States Volcanoes of Linn County, Oregon Volcanoes of Oregon Volcanoes of the United States Pleistocene lava domes