Craters of the Moon
Our well-traveled friend Aaron Jones suggested that we swing
through Craters as we trekked across Idaho. Thanks, Aaron! Aptly named, this
barren, black landscape is surface evidence of volcanic and fissure eruptions
beginning about 15,000 years ago and ending only about 2,000 years ago. In
the 105 degree heat we had we could swear some of the lava hadn't fully cooled
yet.
The coolest part of the tour is the caves. We only went through Indian Cave, but there are at least three others that you can explore. The caves are actually lava tubes where the surface cooled while the lava below kept flowing. You enter them through areas where the surface has collapsed and you can't help but wonder if the roof above you is about to do the same. We explored around in here for about 20 minutes and went quite a ways through it. The other caves are smaller and demand flashlights.
Craters of the Moon is definitely worth the stop if you're ever driving across Idaho. Be sure to save time to explore the other caves and let us know how they are.
If you want to impress your friends again with your eye-crossing 3D abilities, here's a fun picture of the 'a'ā lava on the right. You don't get any sense for the depth of it in 2D, but the layers pop out really well in 3D. |
Pāhoehoe ("pa-hoy-hoy") is a term you probably use
regularly but didn't really know what it meant. It's Hawaiian for "ropy" and
is the term for this kind of lava that doesn't cut up your feet, shown for
example on the left. The sharp kind of lava is called 'a'ā, as in "Ah! Ah!"
and is Hawaiian for "hard on the feet." These two types of lava are the most prevalent in the park, but they also have lava bombs, spurted up blobs of molten lava that solidified before they hit the ground. 
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| There is a total of seven miles of roadway
throughout the 75 square mile park, and it makes a big loop. At about the
farthest point out is Inferno Cone, which for some reason Sarah could only
pronounce as Inferno Corn. The cone appears as a big pile of black lava pebbles
with a well trodden path up the side of it. Below, Kevin is reading all the
restrictions before we head up. What appears to be the top of the hill is
only the sub-top, once you reach that you see the top, and once you reach
the top you see the tippy-top - the dang thing keeps going up and up and up.
The picture on the right is of Eric in his Atlas pose, on top of the world
holding a giant rock. The hills in the background are about 50 miles away,
this is considered only moderate visibility. On the hike down Eric and I
noticed that the ground actually sounds hollow, and that if you jump you
get an eerie echoing thump and can feel and see the ground move many feet
away. |
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The coolest part of the tour is the caves. We only went through Indian Cave, but there are at least three others that you can explore. The caves are actually lava tubes where the surface cooled while the lava below kept flowing. You enter them through areas where the surface has collapsed and you can't help but wonder if the roof above you is about to do the same. We explored around in here for about 20 minutes and went quite a ways through it. The other caves are smaller and demand flashlights.
Craters of the Moon is definitely worth the stop if you're ever driving across Idaho. Be sure to save time to explore the other caves and let us know how they are.