Craters of the Moon

 

Craters of the Moon

As we headed for home, we spent a couple of nights near Idaho Falls, Idaho.  We realized that we weren’t far from a National Monument, called Craters of the Moon.  One of the most interesting things was that several NASA astronauts learned basic volcano geology here as they prepared for their moon missions.  With that little tidbit of trivia, we couldn’t help but decide to check out this treasure.

This area was described as “The surface of the moon as seen through a telescope” by geologist Harold T. Stearns.  Although most lunar craters originated with meteor strikes, the crater at this National Monument are from volcanic activity.  The lava here issued from a series of deep fissures, known as the Great Rift.  Beginning 15,000 years ago, lava welled up from the Great Rift in this area to produce this vast field of rock.  This image is how this field of lava looks today.

One of the things that was amazing to me is how many flowers were growing among all the jagged and rugged lava rocks.  The bright green growth in the image on the far right is lichen and yes, it was that bright green in reality!

We first stopped at Devil’s Orchard Trail.  Two thousand years ago, volcanos erupted so violently that they tore themselves apart.  Rivers of lava flowed through this area and left chunks of debris here.  Over time, rocks crumbled, and seeds of trees and shrubs took hold in the very sparse dirt. A hundred years ago, a minister looked over this area and said it was a garden fit for the devil himself.

I found it surprising how many of the trees and shrubs were growing and green, given how the area developed.  I really loved the tree in the image on the left – the bent of the tree tells the tale of wind!!  As an aside, the day we visited here, it was threatening rain almost the entire time we were there.  One might wish for blue skies and sun.  Somehow, these stormy looking clouds seem to fit the landscape much better than a nice sunny day.

I did love the various signs of life as we walked this path.  There were flowers, of course, and also, we saw a tree that was serving as a nest for some bird.  We didn’t see any while we were there, but I have hopes that birds are also finding things livable here.

Our next stop was a very short, very steep path up to the top of a Spatter Cones.  Think of spatter cones as mini volcanoes.  Tiny blobs of molten lava were tossed into the air as part of the last gasp of an eruption sequence that ended about 2,100 years ago.  This image is a close up of a very small spatter cone that we saw as we climbed the vary steep, very narrow path up the side of a larger cone.  These smaller cones were embedded in the side of the cone structure we were climbing.

As we wound our way up, there were so many different types of formations to see – here you can see a very small arch and on the other side is a collection of what appear to be small caves.  I don’t know that they are considered cones because they open off to the side…. but maybe they are.  After all, some volcanoes erupt laterally (think Mount St. Helens).

At the top of the Spatter Cone, we saw two different craters!!  It felt like a bonus after the climb.  Looking at the images, the bottom of the crater doesn’t look that far down.  It actually was and the image is a bit of an optical illusion.  The bottoms of both craters are now filled with lava rocks.  They are long extinct, thank goodness!

As we walked back to our car after following the path down, I captured this image of some smaller spatter cones off in the landscape.  They are larger than they may look in this image but were smaller than the one we had just climbed.

Our last formal stop was to walk the Caves Trail.  The walkway has been finished off so that one doesn’t need to try to balance and walk on the jagged lava rock.  There are a number of “caves” along this trail.  The term caves is a bit of a misnomer, as the caves are actually large lava tubes.  About 2,100 years ago, lava ran down the slope from where the Spatter Cones stand today.  In some places they flowed into channels.  These tops of these channels hardened forming tubes and then caves.

As we drove out of the National Monument, we did notice one last feature – lava cascades!  When the lava begins to harden, the shape of the flow is captured as a portrayal of the way it looked when flowing.  You can really get a feel for how the lava looked when flowing.  In a way, it reminded me of Kilauea Volcano, in Hawaii, except that the lava there is often still red hot!

Here is one last look at the lava fields (with a lava tube in the foreground) of Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Although this was a last minute “add” to our itinerary, I’m glad we had the time to stop!

Enjoy!