It's About the (RV) Journey....: To the moon and back

Field trip! About 3 hours away from Jackson is Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. For more information, click here. It is near Arco, Idaho, and I think we passed about 4 people once we got out of the Jackson area. Seriously, there is wide open space for as far as the eye can see. And traffic? What's that?

where are we?

lava fields

more lava fields

the parking area is lava cinder

One of our fellow campers told us about Craters of the Moon, and it sounded really interesting to us. We were not disappointed. The park is not all that large. After checking in at the Visitor Center, including watching the informational movie, we headed out on the 7 mile loop road. Across from the Visitor Center is a small campground. It looked so cool! I tried to get a picture of a site. The campground had a bathroom, as well. Not sure if there were hookups for electric and water, but I think there was. Would be cool to stay there one night. I'll bet the night sky is awesome. There is nothing around there, so I'm sure its really dark!

campground!

crazy? cool!!

At various points along the way, there were stops with very short paths and "signs" that explained what you were looking at. We took our time exploring and really enjoyed the short trails. It was a cool day when we visited this park, but on a hot summer day, I'm sure its H**L. The sun radiates off the black lava, so you are heated from above and below. They say the temperature on the ground reaches 150 degrees F.
'Nuff said.

crater flow trail

the path goes right through the lava flow

amazingly different

isn't that cool? can you just imagine hot molten lava?

the landscape is surreal

chunks

flow lines

pressure ridge

Pahoehoe lava

looks like mud from a distance

Pahoehoe lava

or looks like a dig or construction site

lava field

check that out

a a lava

fragments from cinder cones

plants working their way in

amazing

flowering plant

looks like a landscape designer was here

very different landscape from anything I've ever seen

amazing

At this first stop, there was also a short walk up a steep volcanic mound. So after walking along the trail and educating ourselves a bit about volcanoes and lava, we went up the hill. We had a nice view, and we spotted a new to us flower. Actually, its amazing to see flowers and vegetation taking hold in the lava fields. There are even trees with pinecones. We saw some pinecones on the ground too....future trees? The view over the flow field was otherwordly.

going up

and up

almost at the top

I'm coming!

check this out

these little white flowers are growing everywhere

hey Tom, I'm right behind you!

look - a tree in this environment!

view from the top

check out that landscape

hey...I'm at the top! Not too close to the edge!

pretty!

the size of some of the lava chunks

action shot

better not trip

here she comes.....Grace!

I'll take my camera back now!

We took our time and explored the park. You could just imagine the hot molten lava...it was right in front of us, only solidified. I was actually surprised by how much growth there was in the lava fields. There were plenty of blooms and even some trees! As far as fauna, there are fox and coyotes living in the park, but we didn't see any.

In another area of the park, called Devil's Orchard Nature Trail, lava rocks and flowering plants were abundant. The area was actually very pretty, and very unusual. Its an area of cinder bed with scattered pieces from the wall of one of the volcanic craters. You can see that plant life is doing well here. It was quite colorful....lots of yellow and black and dead trees. I know it sounds crazy, but it was pretty!

Devil's Orchard Trail

pretty nice

very pretty actually

natural setting

lava fields

plants growing

Lichen is studied to determine the air quality. It is an indicator of the health of the environment.

The lichen in this park is akin to the canary in the cave. Okay, well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.

lichen

cool

more flowers trying to make it

pretty!

interesting!

cool trail

very different!

lichen

ready to go?

more specimens

harsh environment

lots of green there

We were just fascinated with these little white flowers. They seemed to take hold and were growing everywhere. They also seem to be the early plants....making the environment suitable for other plants to grow. Anyway, it looked like cotton balls or snow when the big wet flakes are just starting to stick to the ground.

those little white flowers are taking hold

looked like cotton or snow chunks

At the Inferno Cone Viewpoint, we had some fun climbing! Even me! There were no sheer cliffs to worry about, so....I explored from on high as well. I started up the cone just to get a better view with my camera, and slowly ended up at the top. I really wasn't planning on going all the way up. And once you get to the top that you see from the road, there is another hill to go over. Wasn't Tom surprised to see me!!! HAHAhHAHA!

Inferno Cone Viewpoint

oh....Tom just has to go up!

its a lot steeper than it looks!

Add caption

and its hot and windy....really windy!

there he goes

he looks so small

a zoom shot....and guess what? That's not the top! There's another hill to climb!

so....I'm starting to climb up myself!

just to get a better view

i can't believe I'm actually going up here!

wow...the view

Tom...stunned to see me!

its a little breezy up here...what? 80mph?

view from the top

more view

still at the top

beautiful mountains in the background too

still on the top of this cone

the wind is going to blow that tree off (j/k)

oh that looks steep now...look at our little car down there!

The last section we explored was the spatter cone trail. There were a couple of cones that you could walk up to and look in. The cavity is really deep! These spatter cones are created during the end stage of the volcanic eruption.

these cones were cool to look at

heading up to check out a cone

around the other side you can look down

its really deep

very deep!

another spatter cone

this park was really different!

that's the cone we just climbed!

Tom checking out another cone

the landscape does look like it could be the moon

time to leave now...we have a long ride home

two cones in the background

otherworldly

The whole place was fascinating, and we felt like we landed on the moon. We also had a little reminiscing of our trip to Iceland...and all the lava fields there. Actually, they have quite the volcanic activity going on right now in Iceland!

driving out....down a steep hill!

good view though

looks like cotton litter

or snow puffs, just starting to stick

lots of them here

close up

crazy looking, right?

There was a bit more to the park, but mostly caves formed from broken lava. Park permits are required to enter any cave. We weren't interested in that, so we headed back home at that point.

The drive back to Jackson Hole was 3 hours, so I took some pictures along the way. Southeastern Idaho has a lot of wide open space! The land is high desert. Lots of farmland too. The Idaho National Laboratory is located here on an enormous plot of land, and is a restricted area. Not sure if there is a community there.....housing and labs? There seems to be nothing around, so not sure where the employees would live. We were wondering about that. Plus, we let our minds wander and we were wondering if there were underground labs. Science, research and energy career opportunities! Read more about INL here. There is a lot going on in the middle of nowhere!

driving home

high desert with mountains ahead

butte

lots of hay

rectangles?

lots of big trucks transporting all that hay too!

scenic Idaho

graffiti on the mountain? Which one of you did that?

Not sure what it means?

part of the complex

buttes coming up

one

two

three

sod roof here

wind farm

more hayfields

lots of farms here

After traveling through high desert, we hit the mountains again. Just beautiful. Lots of healthy looking forests too. The roads were steep and windy, not my favorite, but the weather was nice....clear and dry. As we approached Jackson, we started to see more cars! Actually, surprisingly, lots of cars!!