Craters of the Moon and The Snake River

---

Today we planned for a day of sightseeing and we were not disappointed. We left the hotel at 8:22 AM and a sunny 59 degrees. The weather was perfect and made the day very enjoyable.

A few notes about our hotel. It was a large, brand new La Quinta located in the Shashone Indian Reservation. And half of the people in the hotel, which was sold out, were America Indians. The reason they were here was for the Shashone-Banneck Indian Festival Pow Wow. It is a yearly event where Indians from all over the country come to have a good time and compete in games and native dancing. We were lucky to get a room last night. In addition, there were about 30 firefighters. I guess this gives credence to the fact that the smoky air is being caused by wild fires in the area.

So, we drove north to Blackfoot, and then west to Arco. We saw a lot of fertile farms with really rich, black soil and healthy crops…corn, wheat and of course potatoes. After all, we are in Idaho. And there is a lot of harvesting of hay in these parts. We saw bales of hay everywhere, in fields, in barnyards, and even on 18 wheelers. The fields were a quilt of yellow, deep green, and gold squares. Between Blackfoot and Arco, we found ourselves in Hell’s Half Acre. This is a lava field and it is a lot more that a half acre. It is actually 150 square miles. The unusable fields in this area are a mixture of yellow grass, silver sage and black rocks strewn all about, that got there over 4000 years ago from volcanoes miles down the road. Some of the fields have been cleared of the lava and you can often see it piled high by the side of the road or creating walls along the edges of the fields. The explosions that put these rocks here had to be incredibly immense. I am always awed by how far we find the lava fields from the actual mountain that gave birth to them.

The smoky haze in the sky was so intense this morning, that we were driving directly into a large ridge of mountains and could not even see it until it was right there in front of us. The ridge turned us south and we landed in our first stop, at The Craters of the Moon National Monument. Steve chose this place and I had no idea what to expect, but when I saw it, I was in awe. It was the site of the volcanoes that caused all of the lava for miles around. The ground is covered with black cinder ash, which looks like finely crushed lava rocks. Honestly, I thought they had crushed this stuff and laid it out to create beautiful landscapes. But I was wrong. They used some of it to create pathways and hiking trails, but the rest of it was just there, spread over round hills and flatlands, with occasional evergreen trees to break the monotony, and providing a bed in which the Cinder Gardens grow. (See the photos.) In addition to the cinder ash, there were hills and mountains of lava and large rocks spread all over. The park allows a lot of free access to the rock formations if you are willing to walk the pathways to them, and they were very interesting to look at up close. Some look like big sponges, porous with holes of many sizes and I surmised that they were bubbling at one point and hardened that way. The fields are black and the park service has even made the cement walks black to fit with the landscape. I climbed one small mountain to look into a “sputter hole” which was full of foamy liquid and Steve climbed a taller one that had a similar hole. Interestingly, that ever-present silver green sage was everywhere, growing right out of the rocks. It made for a pretty sight.

In the visitor’s center I chatted with a park ranger and when I told her we were going to Twin Falls next, she gave me some advice that topped our day. Entering the city you have to cross the Snake River. The vistas there are incredible. The river is wide and flows in a deep valley with high rock walls. And in the valley, beside the river are homes surrounded by the greenest grass you will see anywhere. And when you look at the photos, you will see that there is even a golf course down there, with fairways and greens nested between walls of stone. We saw boats and kayakers on the river, far, far below us. They have provided wonderful lookouts to get the best views into the valley and I took a lot of photos.

After this, we headed for the Shashone Falls. There is a dam upriver from the bridge and we drove into the park where we were able to descent to a viewing platform and take photos of the falls pouring into the river below. I could have stayed in Twin Falls all day long. The peace and relaxation that comes from being around water is wonderful.

We then made the two hour drive to Boise where we settled in for the night. Tomorrow, more exploring.

---

Comments

[Art]

Cool Pictures
Very cool photos! Idaho is the only state in that part of the USA that I've never been to. I'm glad that the three of you are enjoying your trip.

[Kelli kernkamp]

History lesson
What a wonderful history lesson this time around. Had no idea about the beauty you found yesterday. Your pictures are just beautiful and tell a story themselves.