Craters of the Moon

We stayed in Arco, Idaho at the KOA.  What I didn’t realize (it is announced on almost every sign in town) is that Arco was the very first town powered by Nuclear Energy.  More on this later…..

We headed out to Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.  As many of you know, we purchase an America The Beautiful pass every year.  For the initial cost of $80 we get into every National Park, Monument, Preserve for no entry fee.  This has saved us a lot of money in the long run and is worth having, we keep ours in The Beast at all times. There are special discounted fees (Elderly, disabled, disabled veteran=free) for this pass as well, so you should definitely look into getting one whether you qualify for a discount or not.

Any way, out to Craters of the Moon.  As you drive into the area the landscape begins to change.  You go from verdant fields of crops to a stark landscape of amazing rock formations and what looks like mud flows.  One color predominates the landscape…Black…This is the color of the once molten rock.  Other colors abound as the local flora tries to take a toehold in this sea of black rock, with patches of browns, greens and some that look orange from a distance.

There are great paved roads within this monument.  We stop at the visitor center for our pins and the propaganda.  Exchange some greetings and words of wonder with other tourists (from Germany and other European countries), look at the plates in the lot and then head off into this forbidding landscape.  The visitor center is also where you have to get your cave entry pass.  It’s free, they just ask some questions about your caving experience, they are trying to stop the spread of white nose disease amongst bats.

A side note on some of the vehicles we see all over the National Park scene…There are a couple of companies that rent fully equipped camping vans.  I’m not talking about the class C motorhomes that you see everywhere from companies like “Cruise America” or “El Monte”.  These are small fuel efficient vans that have everything included.  We first started seeing them a couple years ago and we commented on the distinctive paint job of the “Juicy Van”.  Now we are also seeing mid sized vans with wild paint jobs called “Wicked” (from Canada) vans.  I talked to a number of the folks in these vans and almost all of them were 20 something groups from Europe (I don’t know why as I didn’t ask, but they all seemed to either be all male groups of 4 or groups of 2 men and a woman).

So, off we went into the black flowing landscape.  Our first stop, a cinder cone hill.  I should mention here that it was not the nicest day, it was raining pretty steadily (even for us Washingtonians), and by the time we were done today our pants were soaked below the jacket line.  I know I’ve said this before but one word truly describes this park, Surreal.   The hike to the cinder cone is fairly long and strenuous but pays off with great views of the area.

Flynn hikes the cone

RP takes in the view, notice the rain coat

a pause in the rain

stark color contrast of the lone tree on the cone

a tree clinging to the lava on the cinder cone

looking down at the cars in the parking lot

Back to The Beast and around to the caves trail.  Park and pee, there is limited  room for RV’s to park here, pull around to the second parking area for that.  Get your hiking gear in order, if it’s hot out, definitely make sure that you have plenty of water and at least one good flashlight.  Tighten up your hiking shoes and head out on the paved uneven trail through the lava floes.  The caves are not handicap accessible.  The first cave you come to is a quick climb down into a collapsed lava dome.  Technically one cave open in the middle.  Use caution going into any of the caves out here, footing can be precarious at times.  This first cave is fun and there was some ice in it to the left.  RP ventured into the cave but not far, as she is not big on scrambling through loose lava rock.  Please, for your own safety and that of others (your rescuers) heed the warnings on the signs in this park.  These caves can indeed be dangerous and hiking in them should not be taken lightly.

Wild Caves!

the cave warning

We climbed out and headed on to the Indian tunnel.  There are some stone circles on the cap rock here that the “ologists” say were placed and used by ancient natives.  This is a long, large lava tube that has some collapsed roof sections.  It’s a longish tunnel with some fun scrambling.  Interestingly as we descended into the entrance (there is actually a stair case for part of it) we ran into a threesome of Germans.  One of the gentlemen was talking rather excitedly in German to the others…turns out he is a geologist from a university.  We got an impromptu lesson on basic lava flow geology from him, what a treat to share in his professional excitement and knowledge.

light at the end of the tunnel

scrambling out the hole at the end of the tunnel

After scrambling through the tunnel, I made my way back across the top lava cap to where RP was waiting.  We were both very wet and cold so we headed back to the Beast and decided to call it a day.

We got back to Arco and decided to go out to dinner.  We checked the trip advise websites and found a steak house and a Mexican food place.  Headed to the steak house to discover it was closed.  We went looking for the Mexican place and found it 3 blocks west of where the Web put it.  Went in and it’s a typical family run restaurant with one 16 year old boy running the register, young girls busing tables while doing homework, and mama cooking.  The food was run of the mill but home cooked and wholesome.

Went back to Piper and got some sleep.  The Craters of the Moon KOA is okay.  Clean but small laundry, clean bathrooms, pool closed after labor day.  The high point was the free Belgian waffles from 9 to 10 am.  We spent two nights here so we could enjoy the monument and have some time to do laundry…..mission accomplished.

We headed out of Idaho headed for Ogden Utah first thing in the morning.  Headed south on highway 93 we go through an area of warning signs and fences for the Idaho national laboratory.  There is also advertisement for EBR1 museum.  Curious to know what it’s all about, RP Google searched it.  Seems that the Idaho National Labs had the first energy generating nuclear power plant.  This is where the energy to power the town of Arco came from.  The EBR1 was the very first breeder reactor.  The museum was closed for the season but I will definitely come back here.

On a side note, Arco has to be one of the strangest towns ever.  It is almost completely boarded up.  The one grocery store in town was very twilight zone.  We walked in and it’s a very typical small town grocery, about the only thing it doesn’t sell is guns.  The music coming from the very tinny speakers was slow old country music.  We both felt as though Quentin Tarantino was going to come around the corner at any moment.

Another note, while researching the labs on south 93, RP lost all electronic signal.  No data, no cell signal, no GPS even though we could see cell towers not a mile away.  This lack of connection lasted until we left the restricted off road area and suddenly we had full data, cell and GPS again.  Nothing strange here folks, just move along.  Research this more if you want the full scoop as this was the site of the first reactor meltdown and there have been many more there.

This could be a “GLOWING” report of this part of the trip….maybe we should be carrying dosimeters?

Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

See ya out there,

BFD