Trip report
Jan 29, 2020 — Lava Butte can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Henderson, its dark outline forming a nice little bump on the horizon. Being such a short hike, it made me want to save it for when I only had a few hours to kill. I parked in a pullout on the side of Northshore Road. Just off the road, a wash heads generally west toward Lava Butte. There are lots of ways to head up from within this wash, whether via drainage or ridge, but I included my favorite of my ascent/descent routes on the attached map. Using this route, the wash wandered a bit and then eventually led to a break in the slopes, where a short Class 2 section led up to the base of Lava Butte before the scrambling began in earnest. Somehow Lava Butte didn't seem as large until I was looking up at it from this spot. I started up the closest slope (again, there are lots of options to ascend the talus). Heading up Lava Butte was pretty nice, lots of Class 2 boulder-hopping on mostly solid big black boulders helping to gain vertical quickly on the steep grade. At the top of my chosen slope, a short ridge continued to the summit. I returned more or less the same way.