Butte Lake

The western-tip day-use area has a small picnic grove between the parking area and the shore, plus a short spur to a boat launch. You can swim from stretches of rough sand or small gravel, or take a canoe, kayak or other nonmotorized craft onto the water; all boats must use the launch. The launch has no dock or equipment. Rainbow trout are the fish most often caught, but brush and conifers make shore fishing awkward along much of the non-lava shoreline. A California fishing license is required, and fishing is not allowed in the launch area.

From spots along the north shore, look across the water toward Cinder Cone and Prospect Peak, with the Fantastic Lava Beds in the scene. For a photo, keep a dark strip of lava in the foreground so the blue water does not lose its volcanic setting. A much broader view of the lava country comes from Cinder Cone's summit, which takes a hike from the lake area rather than a stop at the parking lot.

Butte Lake is the remnant of a larger lake that Cinder Cone's lava flows partly filled. Water from Snag Lake seeps beneath those flows and helps supply Butte Lake, about two miles to the north. Radiocarbon evidence places the Cinder Cone eruption between A.D. 1630 and 1670; the eruptive sequence likely lasted only a few months.

ADA parking is available, but the route downhill to the lake is dirt; the boat-launch loop is slightly sloped hard-packed dirt. Water here is often less cold than in other high-elevation lakes in the park, though the temperature varies. River otters are occasionally seen, but they are rare.