Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho

Craters of the Moon national monument, Idaho 

Finally we fill in the Idaho sticker on the map. ❤️ We've been traveling thru the desert and Rockies for what seems like ages. It has been dry and rocky with shades of brown and tan. I do find the desert lovely, but it was May and I was ready for some green. I thought surely Idaho would have green and it did, only not where we were going. We went to a “unique” volcanic landscape. Yup, volcanic. Not much green there.  Of course, it was really interesting and the campground and camp sites were right down in the lava flow. I mean, when do you get the opportunity to camp in a lava flow??? (But, truth be told, I was a bit grumpy about the whole thing, sorry  Martin.)

Now, I don't want to be accused of exaggerating, there was a bit of green; an occasional tree, spots of grass and some lichen. As I've pointed out before, lichen can be used as a measure of the air quality of a park, so while there may not be many plants involved in removing CO2 from the atmosphere … at least the air quality is still good. It was also pretty brisk while we were there (30s, windy, snow/sleet/frozen precipitation that was more than a dusting, but less than a foot. Haha, jk, 😂, it was probably more like an inch or so and it melted pretty quickly.)   All this background is to provide an explanation for my slightly testy mood as we arose to explore the park in the morning.

But, you know how things are, sometimes the ones you have the lowest expectations for unexpectedly turn out to be the best, or, in this case, at least unique and informative.

It is described as a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. I can't decide if that's a romantic description of desolate place or …   Of course, several of the “must see” spots have particularly evocative names that made me question why I didn't just stay at the campground, they included: Devil's Orchard Nature Trail (humm, you guess what one might find there) and Inferno Cone (there was a trail to the top and I was thinking it was an infernal cone before we got up there).  And they had these things called spatter cones, you know where something really gooey and super hot spits out of a pot and on its way to splash down it starts to cool and leaves a smutch instead of a pool of liquid. When the pile up they make a spatter cone.

All joking aside, it is an amazing place where one can learn about volcanoes, lava, different types of lava and lava tubes. 

It was declared a national monument by Calvin Coolidge (so it can't be all bad, right?), is in the southeast quadrant of Idaho and has the largest lava flows outside Hawaii or Iceland. They even have a program set up with NASA to have astronauts train in the park. The lava is pretty amazing. It can be seeni n ropes and twists and places where the lava is actually blue and gold. It was beautiful, in its own “special” way… (it just wasn't very green!). There were no erupting volcanoes to cause this conflagration of lava, rather it occured as plates were being pulled apart causing cracks or fissures, which allowed the lava to flow out (multiple times). 

On to pics:

One of the things I enjoyed the most about the different types of lava was that it had Hawaiian names. I mean, I suppose that shouldn't be surprising, Hawaii is after all completely comprised of volcanoes, so they naturally should have the expertise, but it still seemed odd to have the lava in Idaho with Hawaiian names.

Pahoehoe - the ropey, twisted lava

I was amazed that anything could grow in this lava. It looks extremely incompatible with life, but not only is there some grass and wildflowers but a tree!

more pahoehoe (but I thought it looked like those pirouette cookies)

this little chipmunk blends right in …

neither chipmunk nor lava, but I loved the lines of this tree root 

walking through the Devil's Orchard           I have no words for what this is …

more twisted tree limbs

but also, lichen in vivid colors 

and this little guy found a snack. I was so happy to find something living that I took a couple of pics of him haha

Inferno Cone - you can see the trail (it's slightly lighter) that heads straight up to the top of the cone. 

and the views from the top.

spatter cones -                                        some are really chunky

Some of the lava was kind of runny and drippy 

and some was this brilliant red and black mixture.

some lava had big holes from trapped gas bubbles so it appeared lacey

spatter cone with a trail up the side

and some formed an arch

On another hike we saw a marmot

and moss

and more

spatter - this was like a cannonball of basalt. Every so often a clump of lava would partially clog the vent until enough force built up behind it to toss it out of the fissure. They could land at quite a distance from the fissure.

lacey basalt 

Blue dragon lava pahoehoe flow with blue sheen. The coloration is produced by a thin layer of melted silica, a type of  “glass” that forms on the surface.

It made me think of van Gogh’s “Starry Night”  and as we continued hiking through this amazing lava, strains of “starry, starry night…paint your colors blue and gold ……tell of mysteries oft untold … in the shadows of the night …”*

It was fascinating and eiry and wildly beautiful.

and there were even some flowers ❤️

*The song I was singing in my head was “Starry, Starry Night” by Don McLean, and while many of the lyrics are his, I have a tendency to fill in my own words sometimes, especially when I can't quite remember the actual lyrics. I just looked up the lyrics and saw that I “creatively” changed some words and some I just plain made up to suit my mood and feelings. Sorry Don. 🤭

Next stop: Columbia River Gorge,  we're heading back to Seattle for more family time, and a few more adventures as well. ❤️