A photo of Black Butte.

Black Butte (elevation 6,343 feet) is located along Interstate 5 (at the Abrams Road exit near the town of Mt. Shasta). Black Butte is a young volcanic feature (note the lack of vegetation on the rocky slopes and the relatively unweathered and fresh condition of this low composite volcano). Black Butte is a lava vent on the side of Shastina, one of the volcanoes that make up the large composite volcano complex that includes Mount Shasta. Black Butte last erupted in the early Holocene, less than 10,000 years ago (Christiansen, 1990; Miller, 1980).