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Lava Beds National Monument is a land of turmoil, both geological and historical. Over the last half-million years, volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano created an incredibly rugged landscape punctuated by cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones, lava tube caves and pit craters. These textbook examples of volcanic formations will amaze even the most experienced rock-hound. This unusual landscape is also home to a great diversity of life, including plants and animals that thrive only in caves or nearby cave collapse trenches. More than 700 caves, Native American rock art sites, historic battlefields and campsites are located here. "Captain Jacks Stronghold," a natural lava fortress is where the Modocs held off US Army forces numbering up to ten times their strength for five months.