Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho

I had to leave Emma at home today as I headed out for Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, as I knew I would be doing a little hiking, and the temps would probably be too high to leave her in the car.  Once again, no dogs are allowed on the trails.  I really don’t have a problem with this rule since many folks don’t seem to pick up after their pets.

What an unusual place this is.  It’s also very hard to convey, with pictures, the magnitude of the lava flows in this huge area.  My first stop was the visitor’s center where I was one of the first to arrive.  I had to wait about 45 minutes to view the film on the monument.  It was time well spent, however, going through the displays in the center that explained the evolution of the volcanic activity along the Snake River Valley so long ago.  Volcanic and rift hotspots have moved from west to east over thousands of years, and the present hotspot is in Yellowstone.  That means that at some time in next couple of thousand years, Yellowstone will erupt, and who knows what will happen.  Too bad I won’t be here to learn about that!  :)

Due to “Your recovery dollars at work”, about half of the areas to stop and hike at the monument along the auto tour route are closed.  :(  In the long run, this is a good thing, as it’s obvious that all the roads are being re-paved.  Much of the road work has already been done, so it’s a very smooth ride around the loop.
It’s a crazy landscape, and the designs of the long ago lava flows are interesting.
All of the trails are paved, which is a good thing.  Walking on the lava would just rip your shoes to shreds! 
One of the trails I took led to Indian Tunnel.  This was the only trail in the Cave Area that didn’t require a flashlight and hard hat.  The caves in this area are the result of lava tubes.  The picture on the right shows the natural environment of rock pigeons, which are more than abundant in urban areas.  Violet green swallows were also nesting in the lava tubes.
After walking down those stairs and looking at the cave, I decided to not hike through this lava tunnel.  I’m just not as agile as I used to be, the monument discourages doing these caves alone, and the thought of climbing over all those rocks was more than I felt capable of.  I guess I should have come here several years ago.  :( (you can click to enlarge to get a better feeling of this tunnel)
As I said before, it’s hard to get a real feeling for the magnitude of this place without being here.  You can just imagine the lava flowing and rolling over as it progressed along.
I stopped for lunch at a secluded picnic table and enjoyed some non lava items as I ate.
This is a harsh environment, but some plants and insects have adapted to it.
I’ve always been fascinated by pine cones, and these cones from the pine tree shading my picnic table caught my fancy…
as did this flowering plant.
I bet you didn’t know that NASA’s Apollo Astronauts Alan Shephard, Edgar Mitchell, Eugene Cernan, and Joe Engle learned basic volcanic geology here in 1969 as they prepared for their moon missions.  Yep, they did, and I didn’t know that either.  :)  It was a rather ‘out of this world’ experience today.

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy