The Honeycombs

The Honeycombs is a canyon of striking volcanic rock formations on the eastern shore of Owyhee Lake in eastern Oregon. Among the Owyhee country’s most distinctive geologic landscapes, it contains basalt pillars, rhyolite lava domes, volcanic ash beds, and exposed sandstone and shale. Its best-known features are tuff pillars shaped by tafoni, the honeycomb-like weathering that gives the canyon its name and much of its visual character. Formed from Miocene lava flows linked to a deep mantle plume, the broader landscape is protected within the Honeycombs Research Natural Area, established in 1985 to preserve both its unusual geology and a relatively intact high-desert ecosystem.

Oregon · United States