Craters of the Moon

After we left Jackson, Wyoming we headed south around the mountains and followed the river for a while. That road was excellent with views of the Snake River and the lower mountains to the south of us. We came through some towns in that area where the junk cars outnumbered the people three to one. Basically didn't see any signs of life until we hit Idaho Falls. One thing we did notice was that the wind hadn't subsided. People out here tell me that April is a windy month, I wonder about May.

Banging a right somewhere in Idaho Falls we traveled up through the scrub plains and towards Craters of the Moon National Monument. For over an hour and a half we pushed the van into winds that topped 50mph. As the largest semi trucks went by I expected the wind would blow the roof box right off the van. It was the worst wind we have hit since Illinois. We finally reached Craters of the Moon, which is in the middle of nowhere, around five pm. After speaking with the rangers we decided to stay the night there. As soon as we drove down to the campsite it started to pour. Kris and I stayed in the car for about an hour reading before it subsided and then we cooked up some dinner and went exploring.

Craters is very small, but a really cool place to visit. Everything there is volcanic formations that were created thousands of years ago. The park consists of a small loop road and a few small trails that access the formations. Some of the highlights were Snow Cone, a valcanic formation that is deep enough that it holds snow year round, the actually crater from the volcanic blast and Indian Tunnel, an 800 foot long lava tube.

Indian Tunnel was by far the best area in the park. The ceilings are about thirty feet overhead and the tunnel is sixty or so feet wide. You can pick your way through the entrance into the tunnel and back out the other side, which we did. In the past Shoshone indians used the tunnel to shelter from storms. It seemed like a good idea given the fact that the rest of the area was as flat as a pancake.

After the tunnel we got to bed so we could get an early start the next day, although we didn't really have an agenda.