It's 2400 years ago. You're in what will eventually be Idaho. It's been quiet for a while. Suddenly... LAVA! 100% gonna ruin your day. Fast forward a few years and it's all chill again. Except now we're there.
We started by corrupting some very small children. As usual, it was mostly me. There are bats in some of the lava tubes so you have to get a permit to go into the caves. No problem. We're smart. We can do that. As we were walking away from the ranger is, being the most mature person in the entire park, flapped my hands and said, "Pfft pfft pfft I'm a bat!" Too loud, apparently, because a couple of kids heard and started doing it, too.
Ok, enough of my accomplishments. We split up a bit for adventure time. HOS and I headed off on the North Crater Trail. The ladies opted for the Devil's Orchard Nature Trail. We'd meet up and go caving.
The North Crater Trail winds its way up small hills through fields of pumice and across lava flows. If you look closely, the rocks shimmer iridescently. Absolutely spectacular when the sun hits at just the right angle. Further along, the trail runs the edge of Big Craters. It's different than Mount Saint Helens or other volcanoes I've been on. This was all pumice and crumbly. Also, much smaller, but still really cool.
The Devil's Orchard Nature Trail has way more life than many of the other parts of the site. Lots of trees and brush, but underneath it all was the same pumice as higher trails.
We met up at the Spatter Cones and took a few moments to see what was there. The two larger cones were the main attraction and the one that captured my attention was "Snow Cone." Why? In spite of being in a hot, dry desert, Snow Cone was filled with snow. And yet, I was not allowed to jump in to cool off. Not cool. (Get it?)
Our last stop was CAVES! Since Lilly and I had been in Mammoth Cave earlier in the year, we left anything we had taken through that cave in the car. It was a short walk on a paved trail to the entrance of the cave and then down.
One of the things I love about caves is they're all really different. This lava tube felt very different from any of the other ones I've visited and so very very different from big caves like Mammoth Cave. This tube was defined by lots of rock fall requiring a bit of scrambling. There were a couple of big collapses that let in lots of light so we only had to use lights in a couple of spots and only to see the finer details.
Details? In a cave? DARN TOOTING! There are spots where the lava that flowed through the tube splashed and dried. Those sections looked like the rock had melted and dripped. (Yeah, that's kind of what happened, but you know what I mean.) At the end of the tube, we climbed out and followed the trail back. (HOS and I dropped into the Dewdrop Cave on the way out, but it was shallow so it was just a quick detour.)
So the verdict on Craters of the Moon? 10/10 would visit again. So should you.
