Nature
Black Buttes is the eroded remnant of an extinct stratovolcano in Washington’s North Cascades near Mount Baker. Once active in the Middle Pleistocene, it produced thick andesitic lava flows and eruptions from flank vents before later volcanic activity in the area preceded Mount Baker’s rise. Glaciation and erosion then stripped away the original cone, leaving a dark, broken mass with three main summits—Colfax, Lincoln, and Seward Peaks—above the Deming Glacier. Entering written history during Edmund T. Coleman’s 1868 Mount Baker ascent, it became known for its stark cliffs and later for challenging climbs, while also preserving evidence of an older volcanic center beneath Mount Baker.
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