As a young girl I took particular note of the highway sign pointing the way to "Craters of the Moon" whenever we would travel I-15 in eastern Idaho. I had no idea what "Craters of the Moon" was but I have always longed to actually go and see it. The name intrigued me. Yesterday was my day! Not only did I finally make it but I was blessed to enjoy it with Claigh!
I had spent the morning preparing for Sunday School and Claigh puttered around the yard and washed the car. At 2:00 p.m. we headed out for what Claigh was sure was just a 1 hour drive. Not so! It actually took us 1 1/2 hours to get there but the drive was pleasant. Much to our surprise we found Craters of the Moon to be a National Monument. This massive lava field is believed to have been formed from volcanoes that erupted an estimated 2000 years ago. There is a 7 mile road that winds through the monument with stops at various sites. We really should have had a full day to explore.
With limited time we headed straight for the caves to catch onto the end of the last cave tour of the day. The caves were created as the lava flowed forming lava tubes. Many of the caves have collapsed but there are still some wonderful ones to explore. The climbing is tenuous but if you are careful it is not too difficult. It is hard to imagine that there is anything in the lava fields to sustain animal life but we did see some very healthy chipmunks and there were white spot evidences of birds. I was very surprised to learn from our guide that the blue bird is the state bird of Idaho. Who knew? I have missed the beautiful small eastern blue birds of our Virginia back yard and this was a pleasant discovery. Honestly though, I have only seen birds brown and birds gray since our move here but I digress. . .
Some of the cave walls have some lichen. Beauty cave even has a little moss but for the most part they are barren lava rock. To walk the paved paths through the lava field from one cave to another was pretty neat. I never cease to be amazed at the variety of beauty in God's creation. Great expanses are completely barren and then you come to an area with bits of sagebrush struggling for life in the cracks of the lava. There was even a bright green 8 inch fern frond peaking through the rock in one spot.
We next headed for the cones knowing that would the end of what we could actually see for the day. The Snow Cone which isn't even that deep still has snow in it due to the steep sides that do not allow the sun in.
I loved the Inferno Cone which is a cinder mountain. When we drove to the base of the mountain the sign said "1/2 mile to the top." It just didn't seem that far up. We began our trek straight up the cinder. I took a very quick pace. Imagine my surprise as we crested what from the bottom looked to be the top of the mountain only to find that there was even a greater distance to go to reach the true top. This I took a little slower! It was definitely worth it all. The view from the top was incredible!
On our trek up the cone, Claigh picked up a piece of the pumice that was about 2 inches in diameter. It was a feather light rock. I tossed it and it was caught by the Idaho wind and blown sideways in its fall. Amazing! Actually as we reached the top we were being blown sideways!
