Craters of the Moon Nat Monument

[honda03842]

'Craters' has moved into a must see place. I have seen no other place like it. We had planned to see it quickly in part of a day and now are giving it three days before we hustle down to the wedding.

The campsites are interesting, a little bit like City of Rocks in NM except here you're parking between and among volcanic rocks.

The park is amazing with lots of trails to unusual volcanic fomations...just a wonderful adventure where ever you turn. We had never heard of it before this trip.

Most interestingly it resulted from the Yellowstone hotspot. You may know that the Continents and ocean plates move over these hotspots, formerly the yellowstone coldera was under Craters of the Moon. A good example of this is the Hawaiian Island Chain. The Pacific plate has been moving over this hotspot for millions of years. The Hawaiian chain stretches all the across the Pacific Ocean to Russia, an unimaginable distance.

Life is good....travel really adds to it.

[rgrugg]

Interesting place. Camped there several years ago. Visited last summer but didn't stay. Got the tee shirt, though. There's a similar place along I-40 in New Mexico between Grants & Gallup.

[cpaharley2008]

pictures, Norm, pictures....

[OneTim]

Here's a book you might enjoy:
101 American Geo-Sites You've Gotta See by Albert Dickas

Amazon.com: 101 American Geo-Sites You've Gotta See (Geology Underfoot) (9780878425877): Albert B. Dickas: Books

Tim

[honda03842]

Tim, thank you for the book suggestion. I'm forever seeking geological information. If you like it try Gros Morne Provincial Park in Newfoundland.

There's actually a place in Newfoundland where you can see across a narrow part of the island, a long U-shaped valley. To the east of the valley is a portion of Newfoundland once attached to Europe to the west the North American portion.

Here's a few pictures from the first day. Today was basically da survey day and watch the movies at the Visitor's Center. There will be a lot more over the next few days.

The picture of me is atop the Inferno Cone, 6180 feet. A rather steep climb for an old guy. We also walked a couple of trails and were pretty aghast this first day, everything was new and wonderful.

[honda03842]

These four pictures were failures but stones like this and others are all over the place. I picked up a few while walking up the inferno. In sun light they glow with rainbow colors. I've never seen anything like it.

I'm going to work on taking pictures of these in overhead sunlight. They are true visual jewels

There simply are some marvelous things here. I understand that in June there's microscopic flowers blooming all over the place. The park is open in the winter for snowshoe tours and cross country skiing.

Not yet successful but trying.........

[honda03842]

You can probably tell I'm in my little kid mode, dragging Ginny, willingly, on an adventure of exploration. These kinds of finds are part of what makes life on the road so much fun.

Also there is an interesting earthquake site in the area. We may head up there in the morning before returning to the Craters in the afternoon.

All my more senior RV friends say keep moving, you'll never see it all.

We're trying...........

[Deb & Chuck]

Norm & Ginny,
Thanks for posting the commentary and the pictures of the interesting places you get to travel to for us that are a bit more stationary. The rest of us can be "armchair travelers", enjoying your travels right along with you.
Deb & Chuck

[ThomasE]

Norm, any other places in the area worth visiting? Am thinking of visiting Calgary, Banff, and Glacier NP next year, and craters of the moon was one other place I was considering.

[honda03842]

We're moving a lot faster than normal, though we have spent three days at Craters. I personally think it's worthwhile. The nearest town is Arco, not to nice however they have a great private Campground called Mountain View. They charge $27 but that includes two breakfasts each morning, 2 huge pancakes, 2 eggs and coffee. As well spotless showers, shade and green grass.

Another place we stopped was North Fork on Rt 93 we stayed at a private campground because the name of the park was Josephines RV ($20) and Pizza and I was dying for a pizza. It's right on the Salmon River. Spotless park and one of the best pizzas I've had in years and a real nice owner. I could have spent a year in this area just driving and hiking about.

There are tons of places to camp along the rivers here that are free BLM, you can park most anywhere.

Glacier is worthwhile, we spent more time there again, our third or fourth visit.

I don't know where you live so can't imagine where you're coming from however one of the best places we've visited is Crater Lake, Right near Crater Lake is Diamond Lake. The Forest Service has 3 fair size campgrounds on Diamond Lake. There are none in Crater Lake but Diamond is real close.

Save time for Crater..really one of the best.

[Bruce H]

Originally Posted by honda03842

These four pictures were failures but stones like this and others are all over the place. I picked up a few while walking up the inferno. In sun light they glow with rainbow colors. I've never seen anything like it.

I'm going to work on taking pictures of these in overhead sunlight. They are true visual jewels

There simply are some marvelous things here. I understand that in June there's microscopic flowers blooming all over the place. The park is open in the winter for snowshoe tours and cross country skiing.

Not yet successful but trying.........

Rainbow obsidian?

[ThomasE]

We visited Crater Lake a few years back in the pre-trailer days, very nice, but didn't camp there due to the amount of mosquitoes. We're in the SF bay area of California, so going to Calgary and Glacier, we'll likely go through Nevada and Idaho bypassing Oregon. Interested in recommendations for any must see spots in Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Alberta.

[Scouter Dave]

I just put this on my list. Thanks.
Check out Gros Morne Nat'l Park and the Tablelands for a walk on the moon.
Scouter Dave

[honda03842]

Dave,

Gros Morne is one of my all time favorites. We've stayed there at least five times and for never less than a week. Fantastic Geology and simply beautiful country. As you know I'm sure, Newfies have a wonderful way.

We've made four 2 month trips to Newfoundland and are planning our fifth.

[honda03842]

Thomas,

As to Crater Lake, it may be the time of the year, we were there in July and saw no mosquitos while exploring the lake and park area. We did see some at the campground at night, though nothing overwhelming. It has been a particularly dry year in the west and that may be the reason.

I made a mistake in my last posting, there is a campground in Crater at the south entrance run by concessioners. The west entrance has a number of Forest Service campgrounds.

As to Craters of the Moon this is a unique spot. It is particularly worth while to take Ranger walks. There's a 52 mile long rift in the earth here where the lava came out, very unusual and lave tube caves to explore. Bring a walking stick and good shoes.

[fusedlight]

Originally Posted by Bruce H

Rainbow obsidian?

Without holding a piece in my hand, I think I'd aim more towards a "welded tuff". The pock marks on that make me think that. The surface was fused together by the intense heat of a pyroclastic eruption. Rainbow obsidian is, in general, a solid hunk of glass that has a rainbow sheen to it.

BTW... that 101 Geo Places book is VERY good. We picked up a copy of it this summer in a rock shop in Two Harbors, MN. Not surprisingly, I've been to a pretty high percentage of the places! Then again, I'm a geologist by training and both my wife and I are both hard-core rockhounds.

And a further BTW... Craters of the Moon should really be considered an "active" zone of eruption. The last flow was around 2,000 years ago. In the geologic scheme of things that was about 15 minutes ago!

[honda03842]

At a talk last night they talked about Craters as an active zone. If I were redoing my life it would study geology.

You may have picked up that we're headed to the Ruby Mountains for a wedding of two geologists. The wedding is down one of the Ruby's forst service roads where we'll be camping for 3 days. Appropriately the wedding reception features a pig roast and attire is jeans and hiking boots.

I am buying the book. Going to see if it's Nookable...

[Scouter Dave]

I am working with the Trails, Tales, Tunes [google it] committee to try to organize an egg rally at the KOA for next May during the festival. As soon as I have anything definite I will post it here.

[fusedlight]

Ruby mountains, eh? Check for garnets in the stream beds!

[honda03842]

Gary,

The wedding couple own a home on a creek in Lamoille, NV. He's picked up a nice size Garnet from the creek though his home; he's gone 6 of 8 weeks every 2 months looking for gold in Chile for a large company.

His wife to be spent the summer doing the same thing in Alaska for another company.

Hope their marriage is and isn't Rocky......

At Craters a lot of the lava had a bright blue, shiny surface coating. Do you know what causes this?

Thank you