Craters of the Moon

 

As we drove the highway that runs along the park, we quickly realized this place is different than anywhere we've been before. The earth was covered in a black crust as far as you could see. Because of its unique features, this area was one of the first designated national monuments in 1924. 

Our first stop was the visitor center for Jr Ranger books and to plan our visit. A display gave examples of the different types of lava rock formations we would encounter. There are a variety of caves to see, but unfortunately we were not allowed to enter because of the risk of White Nose Syndrome. If your shoes have EVER been in a cave, it is the policy of THIS park that those shoes are restricted from all caves (forever). The inconsistency between national park policies is frustrating. The national park we visited a week earlier had a procedure to disinfect shoes with bleach prior to beginning their cave tour. When we asked about that option, they initially said they didn't have the staff or time to disinfect shoes, and then we were told that we're not allowed to do it ourselves. We would have to buy new shoes to enter, not that there was anywhere to buy shoes. OK. So we skipped the cave tours and began the 7 mile scenic drive loop. 

You can really see how the lava flowed here and hardened in streams.

We climbed to the top of the Inferno Cone! It's only .2miles to the top, but it's quite steep!

At the top is a big flat area overlooking cinder cones lined up along the Great Rift.

It's very windy at the top, as this tree can attest. Despite its challenges, it's grown quite large, look closely to see the kids for scale.

The entire cone looks black from a distance, but when you pick up the lava rocks you're walking over, the first thing you notice is how lightweight it is. But then you realize there is a rainbow of colors sparkling back as you move it around in the sun. So pretty. 

Next we went to the Spatter Cones, three miniature volcanos. Visitors over the years were causing erosion, so walkways have been built to climb up and look inside the cones. The Snow Cone actually has snow inside of it year round! 

Before heading home we hiked the Tree Molds Trail where we encountered some really pretty flowers and Brewer's Sparrows.

It was fun finding this very large volcano crater along the trail. We had to talk Asher out of running down the side as it's much steeper and deeper than it appears! I imagine it would take seconds to run down and hours to climb out!