Red Point

Trailhead
Description | The Skookum Volcano Trail is at mile 36.8 on the Nabesna road. It is well marked with a small parking area and trailhead sign with information about the hike.
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Trail stop 1
Description | For the first mile or so of the trail, it winds through alder and spruce forest. Wildflowers, like lupines, are abundant.
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TS 2
Description | A photo showing the trail winding through the spruce forest.
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TS 3
Description | At this location, the trail runs adjacent to the creek. The prominent mountain to the south comes into view across the creek. This mountain is formed by a rhyolite lava dome, mapped by Lowe et al. 1982 as more than 2 million years old. From here, and from many places along the trail, thin ribbons of dark colored volcanic rock, called dikes are seen cross cutting the lava dome.
Time | N/A

TS 4
Description | As the trail meets the creek, it becomes a route marked occasionally by cairns. For the hike to the pass, you can cross the creek here and follow the cairns along the southeastern side of the creek (the side that is adjacent to the rhyolite lava dome/mountain). Be aware of high water in the creek! You might get wet feet. Immediately after crossing the creek, if you look across to the northwest, you will see a yellowish short cliff that the stream erodes into. This deposit is a volcanic breccia created from glassy lava flows that broke up and tumbled down from the lava dome. The deposit contains lots of fragments of glassy rhyolite lava that exhibit flow banding and tiny white trydimite and cristobalite filling vesicles in the groundmass (Lowe et al. 1982; unit QTru).

Description | Here, you can look up slope towards silicic lava flows (QTRu (Lowe et al., 1982) that overlie the clastic unit at stream level.

Description | Old rhyolite lava flow - guessing at comp. it's banded vesiculated grey to orange altered somewhat. Not broken out on richters map. As you continue up the creek route, this location shows an outcrop of rhyolite lava from geologic unit QTru (Lowe et al. 1982). The outcrop is located across the creek (to the north) from the route marked with cairns. It forms a small cliff that the stream runs up against. This unit is mapped to encompass both the volcanic breccia seen at stop 4 and lava flow deposits seen at this location. Here the lava flow has an orange and grey appearance. The orange color probably comes from iron oxidation staining the rock due to weathering. Looking closely at the outcrop, grey flow bands are visibly in the glossy rhyolite lava.

Description | This photo shows the view looking up the creek that forms the route to the pass. The route is marked by occasional cairns along the creek.

Description | Looking to the north from this location, high, dark cliffs are visible above the stream valley and above the rhyolite breccia and lava flow deposits. The cliffs form unit QTau of Lowe et al. (1982). They are mapped as a series of undifferentiated andesite lava flows, flow breccias, and volcaniclastic rocks. Rocks from this unit have K-Ar ages between 2.77 and 1.97 million years. Andesite is a medium SiO2 volcanic rock, and these rocks have compositions typically between 56 and 58 wt. % SiO2 according to Lowe et al. (1982).
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Description | Here, there is an outcropping of pink colored rhyolite lava at the base of the stream bed. Flow banding gives the glassy lava a striped appearance. The flow bands are formed as the lava is still flowing causing shearing inside the flow as it moves down slope slowly. This outcrop may not be visible at times of high stream water levels.

Description | A dike cutting through a clastic unit on the way up the creek route.

Description | Hikers heading up the creek route to the pass. The view looks south, and the high cliffs in the background are formed in the QTau andesite lava flow and breccia unit.

Description | Clastic knob other side of creek from main rhyolite lava dome. The photos show relationships between breccia deposits at stream level and the rhyolite lava flow unit against the steep andesite lava (QTau; Lowe et al., 1982) cliffs

Description | Series of dikes cutting through main rhyolite dome on the Skookum Volcano Trail. The dikes that cut the rhyolite dome here are probably andesite to basalt in composition, according to Lowe et al. 1982.

Description | Here, one of the dikes cuts across the team bed, forming a small waterfall. The second photo shows details of the dike cutting through breccia deposits in the rhyolite lava dome. Evidence for heating and shearing along the margins of the dike are shown here.

Description | On the way up to the pass, the view to the north is spectacular on a nice day. The snow capped Mentasta Mountains are visible off in the distance.

Description | Hiking the last part up to the pass. The ever changeable weather created rain and snow!

Description | At the top of the pass, the views are amazing! Looking up at the cliffs to the south, there are many interesting geological features to look at. The QTru unit lies beneath the QTau, which forms the highest, dark colored cliffs. In the QTau here, you can see individual lava flow and breccia layers, some of which are a deep red in color. Dikes cut across the QTru here, and some are truncated at the base of the QTau cliffs. The view to the northeast looks down the stream valley that the route takes for hikers who want to complete a loop around the large rhyolite lava dome. It's an amazing view that also looks out towards the Boyden Hills and Mentasta Mountains to the north. A relatively short hike up continues along the ridge to the top of the rhyolite lava dome, looking at many interesting contacts with the younger dikes that cut across it. From here, the route continues either back down the same way taken on the way up, or towards the northeast down the stream valley on the other side of the pass. That route is a little tricky at first in the boulder strewn stream valley, but is very scenic at the top, containing pockets of alpine flowers amid small streams running through the moss and lichen.

Description | From the pass, a great view towards the Mentasta Mountains to the south. Here one can also see dikes that cross cut the rhyolite dome and extend up slope on the other side of the valley.

Description | At this location, looking up at the geology to the south, more dikes are visible cutting through the rhyolite breccias. Alpine flowers abound amidst small clear streams running through the moss.

Description | At this location, a view back upslope shows grey deposits with large blocks that have tumbled down into the valley. The blocks are layered ash and glassy fragment-rich deposits. These appear to have formed from debris avalanches or block and ash flows possibly sheddding from one of the lava domes in the area.

Description | Boulder hopping down the creek route. This section of the trail is rough, and care must be taken while hiking down the deeply incised, boulder strewn, loose stream channel!

Description | Further down valley, the rough hiking in the creek bed continues.

Description | Following an animal track through the brush. The route continues down the creek bed to the road.

Description | A side trip on the way back provided a view looking back up towards the lava dome that the route traverses around.

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