After resupplying in Pocatello yesterday afternoon, we made our way up to Craters of the Moon National Monument. I was a little nervous about getting a campsite at the Lava Flow Campground, since all the sites are first come/first serve. However, we were able to get a nice site. You have to walk a short path that's been cut out of the lava from the parking spot to the campsite.
The site itself is cut out of the lava and offers great privacy. There's also an area that we called "the porch" where we were able to set up our camp chairs on a little lava bench.
After setting up camp and eating dinner we decided to get out and explore the monument a bit. Our first stop was the Devil's Orchard Nature Trail. It was a pleasant walk and we enjoyed walking through a landscape that is so different from what we are used to.
After the short loop hike at Devil's Orchard we took the Loop Road to Inferno Cone. This was a really interesting hike up a cinder cone as the sun began to set.
I really enjoyed the view from the summit area.
There's a really distinctive looking leaning tree at the summit area that was fun to photograph.
The last stop for the evening was the Spatter Cone area.
One of the cones, Snow Cone had snow still lingering in its cool depths.
From the Spatter Cone area we drove the rest of the loop road and back to the campground where we turned in for the night.
This morning we awoke and ate breakfast and then headed out for more exploration. We went to the visitor center and picked up a caving permit and then headed back to the Loop Road. Our first stop to explore was the Tree Molds Trail.
The Tree Molds Trail was a short 1 mile to an area where lava had engulfed trees and the trees left impressions in the cooling and hardening lava.
The Tree Molds Trail is an out and back trail. On the way back we saw some interesting birds including Western Tanagers, Lewis' Woodpeckers, and Mountain Bluebirds.
We also saw a curious squirrel.
When we returned to the trailhead, we ate a snack in the parking area and then set off on our second hike on the Broken Top Loop.
This hike was another pleasant one, a 1.8 mile loop that traversed some scenic areas and past the opening to a lava tube cave.
After returning to the car, we made a short drive to a roadside picnic table for lunch. With full bellies we headed out on our next adventure to explore the two lava tubes that are open to the public. The Caves area of the monument was the busiest part. We parked the car and set out on the paved trail equipped with headlamps.
It was a fun, but pretty tame descent into the lava tubes. A pretty easy walk that most people could easily handle.
There were a series of skylight openings throughout the cave system and this allowed plenty of light into the caves. In fact, we probably could have traversed the cave without headlamps.
We emerged from the cave through a tight opening in the rock,
and then headed over to Dew Drop Cave.
Dew Drop Cave was just a short alcove type cave. However, it was nice and cool inside and drops of dew glistened in the light of our headlamps.
After our exploration of the caves, we headed back to the campground to relax for a bit.
I relaxed for a little while back at camp but then started to get a little bored. I opted to have Noelle drop me off at the Spatter Cones parking area to allow me to walk the North Crater Trail back to the campground.
The hike starts by following an asphalt paved path up a steep hill to an overlook of the Big Craters.
From there the trail alternates between short, steep climbs and descents. There were plenty of great views on this trail. In fact, I would say this was the most interesting of any of the trails I hiked in the monument.
After making my way back to camp we made dinner. After dinner and just before sunrise we went for our last hike in the monument, the short North Crater Flow Trail. It was a short walk from the campground to the trailhead and it made a nice loop on elevated trails.
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