No we did not go to the moon but we did go to a place named for its inhospitable terrain. A large portion of southeast Idaho's landscape exists as the remains of a slew of volcanic activity stretching over millions of 
years. Different volcano’s erupted with their subsequent lava flow. Over time many varying flows created the landscape of Craters of the Moon National Park. True to it's name the land looks more like somewhere you would see on the moon or a planet in space rather than on Earth. Although as far as the eye can see the ground is mostly lava rock the rocks are from varying times and eruptions so the lava rocks are different throughout the parks flows. The chunky black earth made the ground feel and look hot and unlivable even though it was not especially hot or uncomfortable. I do not think I would like to have 
a house here. This is not to say that I did not find the area neat and worth while. There were tree impressions in some of the lava flows and others were dull while some were glossy. My favorite thing I did at the park was a hike that led to a number of wild caves. These caves were made when the outer shell of a lava flow would harden allowing the lava to flow through a tube sometimes creating a river underground. Eventually the river stops flowing and some areas are left hollow underground. Sometimes these become caves. These caves were not commercialized in any way. There were no stairs, lighting or handrails. These caves exist now exactly as they were found in their wild state. This 
made it a little scary to venture inside but I managed to overcome my fear if only for a minute. I climbed down towards the mouths of three different caves and explored the openings of all of them. One of the three bothered me a bit and I was too nervous to go any further than the shallow mouth that led into a narrow dark opening. The other two although not easy to enter were more approachable. These two offered a healthy balance of fear, exploration and excitement that allowed me to go further in. I am glad that I did not lose my footing but I did not think about that until afterward. I am glad that I went into the caves and was able to experience climbing into a cave by myself. It gave me a sense of what it must be like coming across a wild cave for the first time. In no way was it 
as intense as Natural Bridge Caverns in Texas but it was pretty cool none the less. The cave interior was much different as well because the nature by which it was formed is different than the other caves we have seen on this trip. We were lucky enough to have a yellow sunset that night. The contrast of the yellow against the black landscape was striking. It was one of those sunsets where the yellow is so strong and bright that although there are other colors they just act as accents to the yellow. Our wildlife encounter here was a fox. Although it was sly this fox was far from shy. He came right into our campsite and sat on our table for a minute and looked at me then looked around for a while knowing that I was not a threat. During this I stood as still as I could. As soon as I made a move towards my camera, even though my movement was away from the fox he 
startled and was off. I was a little bummed that I did not get a close up shot of him but I was happy to have been able to look at him for a while. He walked around our campsite for a while before disappearing behind the lava chunks out of sight. His face was expressive in the way a dog's face can be and his bushy little tail was cute but there was no question that he was a wild animal. The fact that he was so 
untamed made him so neat to be so close to. Much of our driving through Idaho was some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. Washington and Idaho just glued my eyes to the window. We were either on a mountain pass with forest or ridgeline views or most often in Idaho winding beside one of the famous rivers in the area. We passed many anglers and rapids. It was awesome to wind along side the snake river while it was roaring and then to pass it later while it is much more tame only to pass it again as it rushes by with a swift current.
years. Different volcano’s erupted with their subsequent lava flow. Over time many varying flows created the landscape of Craters of the Moon National Park. True to it's name the land looks more like somewhere you would see on the moon or a planet in space rather than on Earth. Although as far as the eye can see the ground is mostly lava rock the rocks are from varying times and eruptions so the lava rocks are different throughout the parks flows. The chunky black earth made the ground feel and look hot and unlivable even though it was not especially hot or uncomfortable. I do not think I would like to have 
a house here. This is not to say that I did not find the area neat and worth while. There were tree impressions in some of the lava flows and others were dull while some were glossy. My favorite thing I did at the park was a hike that led to a number of wild caves. These caves were made when the outer shell of a lava flow would harden allowing the lava to flow through a tube sometimes creating a river underground. Eventually the river stops flowing and some areas are left hollow underground. Sometimes these become caves. These caves were not commercialized in any way. There were no stairs, lighting or handrails. These caves exist now exactly as they were found in their wild state. This 
made it a little scary to venture inside but I managed to overcome my fear if only for a minute. I climbed down towards the mouths of three different caves and explored the openings of all of them. One of the three bothered me a bit and I was too nervous to go any further than the shallow mouth that led into a narrow dark opening. The other two although not easy to enter were more approachable. These two offered a healthy balance of fear, exploration and excitement that allowed me to go further in. I am glad that I did not lose my footing but I did not think about that until afterward. I am glad that I went into the caves and was able to experience climbing into a cave by myself. It gave me a sense of what it must be like coming across a wild cave for the first time. In no way was it 
as intense as Natural Bridge Caverns in Texas but it was pretty cool none the less. The cave interior was much different as well because the nature by which it was formed is different than the other caves we have seen on this trip. We were lucky enough to have a yellow sunset that night. The contrast of the yellow against the black landscape was striking. It was one of those sunsets where the yellow is so strong and bright that although there are other colors they just act as accents to the yellow. Our wildlife encounter here was a fox. Although it was sly this fox was far from shy. He came right into our campsite and sat on our table for a minute and looked at me then looked around for a while knowing that I was not a threat. During this I stood as still as I could. As soon as I made a move towards my camera, even though my movement was away from the fox he 
startled and was off. I was a little bummed that I did not get a close up shot of him but I was happy to have been able to look at him for a while. He walked around our campsite for a while before disappearing behind the lava chunks out of sight. His face was expressive in the way a dog's face can be and his bushy little tail was cute but there was no question that he was a wild animal. The fact that he was so 
untamed made him so neat to be so close to. Much of our driving through Idaho was some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. Washington and Idaho just glued my eyes to the window. We were either on a mountain pass with forest or ridgeline views or most often in Idaho winding beside one of the famous rivers in the area. We passed many anglers and rapids. It was awesome to wind along side the snake river while it was roaring and then to pass it later while it is much more tame only to pass it again as it rushes by with a swift current. 
No comments:
Post a Comment