Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho - June 5th to 8th, 2021
At first glance, Craters of the Moon National Monument looks like a jumbled mess of black rocks and black dirt. Upon closer inspection, the lava rocks and cinders reveal a large range of textures, patterns, and colors. Depending on the minerals the lava came in contact with, they can take on hues of red, blue, white, or orange. The cinders are dotted with a variety of wildflowers that add yet more color to the landscape. Craters of the Moon requires a closer look to really appreciate its beauty and uniqueness.
To get to Craters of the Moon National Monument from Red Canyon in Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area in Utah, we headed west on highway 44 and worked our way up to US 30 in Wyoming where we joined the Oregon National Historic Trail. We passed by several Oregon Trail interpretive sites. However, we had a long drive and wanted to get to Craters of the Moon to make sure we snagged a campground site, so we did not stop at any of the Oregon Trail sites.
For lunch we stopped at Buddy Campbell City Park in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. After driving pretty deserted roads all morning, we were surprised to see how busy and crowded Lava Hot Springs was. There must have been close to 100 people waiting in line to get into the water park. At the city park, there were people starting up large grills for hamburgers. We learned that the Tour de Lava bike ride was going on that day. That explained all the cars parked nearby with bike racks.
Normally, Left Buddy (LB) does most of the driving, but six hours is longer than he wanted to drive in.a day, so he turned over the wheel to Right Buddy (RB) in Lava Hot Springs. She drove from there to Arco, just 20 minutes from Craters of the Moon. She managed to have the windiest section of the drive. She could feel the high winds blowing our high roof van around so she kept our speed down to remain in control. After we stopped in Arco at the free dump station, she was more than ready to turn the reins back over to LB.
We arrived at Craters of the Moon at about 3 pm and had no problem finding a camp site. We're not sure if the campground filled up that evening. If it didn't, it was close by the end of the day. The procedure for securing a campsite was to pick out an empty site, then go to the automated machine to pay for one night. The machine gives you a receipt that you slide into the box at your site to show the site is taken. The box has a clear front so the receipt is displayed but cannot blow away in the wind. The box is also locked so a park ranger comes around each morning to remove the receipt. It's a nice set up, except for the fact that you can only pay for one night at a time. That's not a big deal because most people probably only stay one or two nights. We're guessing that we were the exception staying three nights.
It was too windy to sit outside, so we hung out inside our van. After our friend Ranger Kensie got off work, she came over and hung out with us in the evening. Ranger Kensie is the same Ranger Kensie that we interviewed in the Grand Canyon (Chat With Ranger Kensie on the South Rim in the Grand Canyon). In 2021, she is working in Craters of the Moon. Part of our evening's entertainment was watching the family in the site across from us give up on tent camping in the high winds. We were impressed that they managed to take their large tent down without any of it blowing away in the wind. We hope they found a place to stay close by and were able to spend the time they wanted to in Craters of the Moon during the day.
On Sunday, the winds were a little calmer than the day before, at a more tolerable speed. Ranger Kensie was taking pictures of the lava tube caves in the morning and she let us tag along. Thank you Kensie!
Dewdrop Cave was the first one we went into. The climb down into it is steep over large, sharp lava rocks. You had to be careful because many of the rocks moved when you stepped on them. RB lost her balance and used her hand to catch herself to keep from falling. The rough rocks cut open her hand, but not too bad. The footing was much better once we got into the cave itself. It is dark in the cave. Headlamps or flashlights are required to see. We all had headlamps with us. However, the batteries were weak in RB's headlamp, so she stayed close to LB so she could watch her footing and not trip. It was cold down in the cave. We could see our breath in the light of our headlamps. There was ice in places in the cave, even though the cave is not very big or deep.
On the way to the Beauty Cave, we passed the Boy Scout Cave. The Boy Scout Cave requires crawling on your stomach across the rough rocks to enter. No thanks, we'll pass on that one. The Beauty Cave is a little longer than Dewdrop Cave. It is still a scramble across rock to get into, but not quite as bad as Dewdrop Cave. Again, headlamps or flashlights were needed. There was more ice and interesting formations on the walls, ceiling, and floor.
The last cave we visited was Indian Cave. It is the largest of the three by far. There is a metal staircase that leads you down into the lava tube cave before you have to watch your step. Indian Cave is also not as dark as the other two caves because there are several skylights along the tube, although a headlamp or flashlight would be helpful in a couple of darker areas so you could see what you are stepping on. We worked our way through the tube, noticing the different colors, textures, and patterns on the rocks. It was obvious that large pieces of rock had fallen from the ceiling above, revealing more of a smooth surface where they broke apart. Once we reached the other end, we climbed out and followed the markers across the lava rocks back to the entrance of the cave and the paved path. The lava rocks were not hard to navigate over in that area, but you definitely had to watch where you were placing your feet.
After eating our lunch in the Cave Area, we headed back around the park loop road to check out the other sites. The Spatter Cones are small volcanos. Paths lead up to two of them allowing you to view down into them. One of them, the Snow Cone, has snow in the bottom of it year round. A spur road took us to the trailhead for the Tree Molds Trail and the Broken Top Loop Trail. Both of these are about a couple of miles long and we walked both of them. The Tree Molds Trail leads out to some tree imprints in the lava rocks. The Broken Top Loop goes around a cinder cone with a nice view back to the north, the Big Sink Overlook.
On the way back to the campground, we made one last stop at the Devils Orchard Nature Trail. It was a short trail among dispersed patches of lava rocks. The lava rocks are not as dense here. We're guessing these rocks were thrown during eruptions, clear of the major lava flows. At this point, we were pretty tired, so we called it a day. We spent another relaxing evening hanging out at our camp site with the company of our friend Kensie. This time we sat outside, enjoying the views across the lava fields.
Monday, our last full day at Craters of the Moon was the calmest. We put off walking to the top of Inferno Cone because of the wind forecasts. It is also windier at the top of Inferno Cone than elsewhere. When we arrived at Craters of the Moon on Saturday, a fellow camper said they were practically blown over by the wind at the top of Inferno Cone. We went the first thing in the morning on Monday, before the wind picked up for the day. It was windy at the top, but very tolerable. On the short climb up to the top, you are surrounded by nothing but volcanic cinder interspersed with a handful of wild flowers. Some of the cinder has a sparkle to it that can reflect a rainbow of colors. When we reached the top, we were surprised to see it covered with vegetation. We knew there was one tree at the top, but we were not expecting all the brush. Being a high peak, there were great 360 degree views.
After Inferno Cone, we went on a real hike, North Crater Trail. It is 3.8 miles round trip with a 700 foot elevation gain. It took us just over two hours to complete. We counted the hike as hike #15 of our 52 Hike Challenge.
Most of the time we were walking on crushed lava rocks or cinders. The path looks like black gravel and dirt, but it feels much different under foot. It crunches as you walk. It is softer and gives you more traction than gravel and dirt. Perhaps that is why running tracks used to be laid with cinders before synthetic surfaces replaced them. RB remembers her high school having a cinder track and witnessing one girl falling on the track and having cinders embedded in her knee, not fun!
At one point we made our own way from one trail marker to the next across an old lava flow. The trailhead is not far from the campground and the other end of the trail ends at the parking lot for the Spatter Cones. As the North Crater Trail gets close to the Spatter Cones, it passes by the Big Craters, which are just what the name suggests. We started at the trailhead near the campground. When we reached the Spatter Cones, we sat on a bench for a few minutes before heading back down to where we started.
After our hike, we drove over to the Cave Area parking lot where we ate lunch. There was a better cell signal there than back at the campground, so we hung out there for the afternoon and worked.
In the evening, we rode into the nearby town of Arco with Ranger Kensie and ate dinner at Pickles. For dessert, we picked up huckleberry ice cream at the local grocery store and headed back to Kensie's apartment behind the park visitor center for yet another relaxing evening of wonderful conversations.
Craters of the Moon is such a different and interesting place. We learned a lot about lava and volcanoes. By taking the time to look at things a little deeper, we were rewarded with a better understanding and appreciation. We even discovered their beauty, where initially it looked like there wasn't much to see.
Check out our related video: Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
(RB)