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In Lava Beds National Monument (Northern California), this is the Mushpot Cave trail, which is a cave created when red hot lavas flowed underground. Once the lava drained away, this lava tube cave was left behind. There are over 500 such caves known to exist in Lava Beds National Monument (some are over a mile long), with new ones discovered each year. This formation is called a 'pull-off', which is where globs of pasty lava dripstone pulled loose and fell away from the walls of the tube. The globs were then carried away on the lava stream on the floor of the tube. You can still see the rough cavities where the globs came off (there are two in the picture...the one on the right edge is clearer). With the two together, it looks like eyes. (09/29/2004)