Arco, Idaho – Monday and Tuesday, October 10 and 11, 2011
We know that some of you have wondered about our apparent lack of direction and planning on this trip. That’s not exactly true. Alaska was our destination going out and Orange Park is our destination going back. It’s all the stuff in between that makes it so interesting. We really appreciate the emails from friends suggesting places we might go while we’re in an area.
However, it’s having no schedule, the tendency to get sidetracked, and the willingness to go exploring, that have allowed us to find gems like Craters of the Moon National Monument.
This is a fairly small Park in terms of development. The park itself was first established in 1924 and now encompasses 750,000 acres. There are about 10 miles of road in the Park. The campground has 51 sites and is rarely full. There are only 6 designated hiking areas with hikes ranging from 274 feet to 3 miles. The Park administration places a strong value on preservation and many of the trails have interpretive signs that reinforce this. The lava is particularly susceptible to being destroyed by walking on it. As a result trails are very well defined and a strong emphasis is placed on staying on the trails.
This is a very popular park. During our stay it never seemed crowded (with two exceptions), however the visitor center had lots of traffic. At the same time, the campground never had more than 6 campers in it.
On Monday, Frank wouldn’t venture into the museum because there were too many people. However we did get our cave passes and we decide to go on a ranger led hike. This is where we ran into two school buses full of young folks that have also decided to hike to the caves. We don’t remember having any cool field trips like this.
The caves are actually lava tubes. We learn about the two different types of lava, pahoehoe and a’a. The first is fairly smooth lava and the second is sharp broken lava. Our first cave was Indian Tunnel and it was 40 foot by 40 foot in its biggest space.
After the ranger led hike, we strike out on our own and head to Beauty Cave. It’s pretty windy, but the temp is in the 50’s so it’s not too uncomfortable.
Next we decide to tackle the Tree Molds trail. But about a quarter mile into the hike it began to rain. So it’s back to Big Guy after a drive around the loop.
On Tuesday we hiked the Inferno Cone and man was it windy. The Inferno Cone is a 167 foot high pile of cinders. The views from the top (6181’ elevation) were awesome.
Next stop was the Devils Orchard. Very aptly named, pretty desolate looking.
The visitor center wasn’t too crowded for Frank today, so we take a tour through the museum. The Tree Molds road was closed today so Frank asked if it would be reopened soon since it was open yesterday. The rangers said that todays closing was a surprise to them too and they didn’t know when it would reopen.
So we decide to hike to the Spatter Cones instead. Spatter Cones are the remains of a dying lava eruption. Think of them as miniature volcanoes. Yes that is snow in the bottom of one of the spatter cones.
A highly entertaining day all in all and it’s back to camp for a haircut and a cookout. Pork tenderloin on the Barbecue, yumm!
We really enjoyed our stay at the park. But tomorrow we will head out again.
| BG Miles Today | 0 | BG Total Miles | 10118 |
| Eat Out total $ | 1375.36 | BG Total Fuel $ | 5759.23 |
| Entertainment total $ | 1401.63 | Total Camping $ | 1177.03 |
| E Miles Today | 26 | E Total Miles | 2984.31 |
| E Total Fuel $ | 626.44 | Day # of Trip | 132-133 |
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