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Craters of the Moon, Idaho

I am going to stop trying to make any sense of this trip and just post the photos as I go thru them. Perhaps the best thing is to just click on any of the photos and just look at the slide show. Or enjoy my random comments .

This is on my list of places to revisit. August is not the best month to go out into the desert. At the same time, it is when many people have time off, so the park is rather full. 

The hiking possibilities for one with limited hikes makes this a really tempting place. And this place has done an excellent job of presenting this feature so we can see it, while protecting it for all it has to offer us in the future. 

I stayed one night. The campground is not all that big, and if you have a trailer or a large motorhome, you may have trouble finding a perfect spot. The facilities are limited, but very clean. Check in requires a credit card, and figuring out yet another system. The receipt gets torn into 2 parts, one goes into a slot in the camp site, making sure that the correct side shows thru the window. This may seem like I am getting a bit fussy in the details, but when you get there, remember this paragraph.

There are no trees, no shade. The site resembles being in a barbeque pit because it is all pumice. Rock. Black ragged sharp rock. And that is the beauty.  You are on a lava flow. A flow of immense size.

It helps to know a bit about lava, and its various types.  The terms mostly come from Hawaii where they understand more about volcanoes than most people. It also helps to think of lava like a pan of brownies. All of this stuff is very fragile and it is critical that one stays on the trails provided. Footprints last forever.

The sharp stuff is A'a is the sharp stuff.  That is the sound that people make when walking barefoot across it. It is full of holes and very light.  Think a stale brownie broken in half for texture.

The foldy stuff is Pahoehoe. It is smoother to look at, and to touch. Inside it looks just like A'a but the outside had a chance to smooth out a bit before hardening.  Think of a pan of brownies pulled out of the oven partially baked, then set on a slant so it gets all foldy.

    

Check out how the signage gives a lot of information to be able to make good decisions about whether a path is suitable or not. They list the surface, width, incline. Many of the trails are 100% wheelchair accessible, up to a point. It is wonderful to have access out into the lava fields. 

Make sure to bring water.  No matter the season it can get very hot very quickly.  By 9am I was deciding that going out was done for the day.  Really, very hot, reaching rock temperatures of 170°F (76°C). Making good decisions at the beginning of the day can make the difference between an enjoyable trip and disaster.

And please do not try to bend the rules.  It may just be a pile of rocks, but it is a fragile pile.


From here I will just post photos. Ok I can't resist making comments on a few of them.  If you click on any of them, you can scroll thru a large version of the photos. My rock nerd friends will love it, my plant oriented friends will be bored to tears.



Those white dots are plants that come out when the snow and ice melt, then go into hibernation when the weather turns blistering  hot.

This trail to the top of this cone is made by the passage of boots. 
The trail is not "made" just left for us to be able to see.

Deeper in the formation, the basalt is massive and solid.


This photo and the next show some of the lichen.  The color on these is striking!




Looking out from here lava flow is all you see. 

Inside the spatter cones is usually a deep hole.
That white dot at the bottom is a hiking hat.
I wonder how many cell phones are at the bottom of that pit.





This photo, and the next three are all of the same feature.
The layers of the rock are distinctive.




At the far edge of this lava flow is the Goodales cutoff.
It was one of the spurs of the Oregon Trail.
Maybe more water, maybe less Indians really annoyed at all the folks coming thru. 
But one has to skirt the top edge of the lava fields, where the only way thru is up the hills.


This is a small version of the lava tubes.
A good view of what happens in areas you can't see it. 

More of the bright lichen.

This is at the top of the trail, in the cone.
They have left some rock available to walk on, while preventing people from falling in the hole.



Lava can be many different colors.



I loved this stuff that looks like batter.
Yep, my brownie analogy really works. 


This sign describes how there was a lake of lava that pooled behind a lava dam.
When the dam broke, the cascades of lava created this cascade.


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