Craters of the Moon

This week for Dave's days off, we drove to Craters of the Moon and did a little exploring. I had been there once before but it was Dave's first time, so we were really excited. To get to Craters, you take highway 20/26/93 out of Idaho Falls and keep driving west into the middle of nowhere. After about 70 miles, you come to Arco, Idaho--a city whose claim to fame is that they were the first city in the US lit by atomic power. I don't think they're still getting power that way. Arco is tiny and very quirky. The first building you come to in town is this green monstrosity that passes for a cafe and is called--you guessed it--Pickles. I wonder what they serve?

Every year, someone climbs up on this hill and paints the year of the graduating class. I knew a guy from Arco when I was on Midway and sure enough, he'd climbed up there with the 6 other seniors and painted a big ol' 75 on the hill.

The whole town is covered with these murals. I think they're really cool.

Lava rock is pretty abundant and a lot of the buildings are made out of it, like this Catholic church.

Further west, a couple of pioneer cabins still stand. Craters of the Moon was part of Goodale's cutoff when the pioneers were traveling on the Oregon Trail. The cutoff was pioneered because of trouble with the Shoshone indians around the Snake River and people wanted to bypass that. I'm not sure what I would have chosen--indians or massive amounts of lava rock.

Welcome to Craters of the Moon!

I think this is so cool. These little plants are dwarf buckwheat. They are tiny on the surface but can have root systems up to 1 square meter, which is why their distribution is so regular. They do this to maximize their water intake--it can get up to 115 degrees F in the summer at Craters! I am so glad we went when we did!

A gigantic cinder cone. There are a lot of these in the park--some you can look down into and see for about 20 feet.

I loved all the lava flows. It is polished smooth by the wind.

This is a fern bush, endemic (specific to) to Craters of the Moon. And, even cooler, fern bush only grows in specific parts of the park--the a'a lava flows. I guess something about the pahoehoe flows just isn't right.

Dave tying his shoe on our little hike out to the lava tubes. I love how Jed is like "Whatcha doing, Daddy?" He drooled all over Dave's neck just then.

Some more pahoehoe lava flow

Going to school in Rexburg, your student experience isn't complete if you haven't gone out to the lava tubes and ice caves to explore. So Dave and I are no strangers to lava tubes. But this one was one of the largest we've been in, and it was really open and you didn't have to crouch down at all, so it was perfect to take Jed in. And we didn't have to worry about disturbing any bats, which was a definite plus.

This tube had a ton of different openings and grottoes to explore.

Jed really seemed to enjoy our little hike--he kept flapping his arms and looking back over his head and squealing. It was so fun to watch him enjoy himself.

I really wanted to climb up on that ledge and see what was back in that little cave.

A hole in the top of the lava tube! Can you imagine walking along on top and accidentally sticking your foot down that?

Dave and Jed in a little cave at the end of the lava tube

Getting ready to climb out. I loved the lava tubes!

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So...Craters of the Moon is really cool and if you live nearby or are traveling around there, you should definitely check it out. I could have spent several more hours there quite happily and I'm certain we'll go back. We didn't have a ton of time to spend this time around and since we didn't know what to expect, we weren't as prepared for the park as we could have been. Lesson: If you are remotely planning on going, take a flashlight with extra batteries and you'll get to see even cooler stuff!
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A note on my weight-loss challenge success for September...I didn't gain any weight! Hooray! Jed and I worked out about 65 % of the days and I am focusing on portion control. For October so far...we brought back our scale from Big Piney (yay, yay, YAY!) and I have lost 2 pounds. Wish me luck. Thanks again Holli for getting us all on the road to better health. :)