Craters of the Moon National Monument
Wednesday - 25 June 2003: Craters of the Moon
National Monument, Idaho - This morning, when we woke in West
Yellowstone, Montana, the water pipes in the campground were frozen. That
was our true signal to hit the road. Brother Steve had everyone else loaded
in his van for what was to be a whole-day driving tour of the park, lunch
and dinner included, as we waved goodbye to our family. We headed west on a
zig-zaggy route - south on 20 to Rexburg, Idaho; then west on 33 to 26/93,
driving through the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab. In
other words - the U.S. Government Installation that has manufactured the
most nuclear reactors in the world. You are not allowed to stop on this
road. Basically, you don't even slow down. You have a sneaking suspicion
that you are being watched, your license plate numbers have been run through
a computer in Washington, DC, and they know where you live and the last
activity on your credit card. My friend from Idaho Falls once told me this
is the best place in America to have car trouble. The second you stop, a
military helicopter is dispatched to your location and will reach you within
minutes. If you need gas, they have gas. If you need water for your
radiator, they have water. Etc. Of course, they also have guns, just in case
you are not an Accidental Tourist.
Years ago we had stopped for a few hours at
Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve. If you happen to have
a degree in Geology (and in case you don't know, DT is the proud earner of
said degree from Duck U) this park is like being in a candy store. You have
your volcanoes, lava flows, calderas, lava tubes, Aa lava, Pahoehoe lava and
block lava. Cinder Cones. Caves. Spatter Cones. Tree Molds. Oh, do try to
calm yourselves from all this excitement! There is also a campground here,
so we drove in to see if there was an opening. No reservations are accepted,
you can stay 14 days, and there is no power or water - just dry-camping.
There are 54 campsites and 4 were taken! We found a nice campsite for the
night. DT went for a run, and then we went for a hike. (Is something wrong
with that last sentence?) Here are photos of our driving and hiking
today.
Goldie, in our campsite
Inside a volcanic crater
Vista in Craters of the Moon National Monument
Lava flow
Scenic Craters of the Moon
Wildflowers growing in the lava
DT, in a cave (okay, technically, a lava tube)
Gnarly Dudes - a study of trees
We didn't get back to our camper until well after 6 o'clock.
What a wonderful afternoon, and what beautiful weather. I did wear my
sweatshirt later in the afternoon, but we spent most of the day in
tee-shirts - what a nice change from Yellowstone's snow! The park was not
very crowded, but we did meet a few fellow campers and tourists from
Oklahoma, Arizona, Germany, Taiwan and Maryland. When we did arrive back, we
sat outside enjoying a cocktail and the sun. The campground had really
filled-up. We were visited by two begging chipmunks.
Our pet
We had such a nice dinner - considering we are "roughing
it". I made foccacia bread (by hand, folks, no machine!), steamed rice,
roasted chicken breasts and a tossed salad. Not bad!
RV Park:
Craters of the Moon National Monument - site 45, long pull-through.
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