Living Our Dream: Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

We drove west about 95 miles yesterday to visit the National Monument - Craters of the Moon. We had thought about visiting this park 4 years ago but went on instead. Traveled along a lot of barren land west of Fort Hall, seeing in the distance the Emigrant Mountains which were snow covered, getting nearer and nearer. The route we took was the Goodale's Cutoff of the Oregon Trail which took 2 to 3 weeks off the original Oregon Trail that followed the Snake River into Oregon.

Driving to Fort Hall the other day I said how funny the land was, we were in a very large flat plain area with the Snake River running along side the Interstate and seeing large mountain ranges in every direction we looked. Wasn't until we were at Craters of the Moon that I learned that the entire Snake River area is considered a caldera. A caldera is a large cauldron-like volcanic depression, a type of volcanic crater (from one to dozens of kilometers in diameter), formed by the collapse of an emptied magma chamber. The depression often originates in very big explosive eruptions. The emptying of this magma chamber may be also be accomplished more gradually by a series of effusive eruptions from the volcanic system, even kilometers away from the magma chamber itself. Where we are in the winter near Picacho Peak in Arizona, is also considered a caldera.

The volcanic actively over thousands and thousands of years moved eastward along this Great Rift in the earth's core and today the hot spot is Yellowstone National Park area. When we visited that park we saw so much activity there with geysers (Old Faithful as the famous one) to steam vents to bubbling mud pots. Scientists know that at Craters the last eruption happened 2000 years ago and they feel that Yellowstone's area is the next to go.

Had no idea that there were so many different kinds of lava. Much of what is known has been gathered by studying the active volcanos in Hawaii. Hence, many of the names for different kinds of lava are Hawaiian.

Learned about the different kinds of lava, lava tubes, how fissures and rifts occurred along he 52 mile Great Rift spreading molten lava, and the various weird forms it makes at it moves and cools. Archaeological evidence as well as oral traditions both indicate that the Shoshone likely witnessed some volcanic eruptions. NASA's Apollo astronauts Shephard, Mitchell, Cernan, and Engle learned about volcanic geology in 1969 as they prepared for their moon missions.

A Cinder Garden of monkeyflowers

Syringa

Triple twisted tree

Trudged up to the top of Inferno Cone and we could see the route of the lava flows as well as the Great Rift. Looked down into a spatter cone called Snow Cone and saw snow. Walked along a 'garden' called Devil's Orchard and learned about life that has taken over the lava and cinder. Pretty little monkeyflower, and syringas, different kinds of bushes and sage, limber pine, the animal life that live among the petrified lava beds. Amazing that anything lives in that desolate area.At times the place was eerie, desolate, but seeing the pretty flowers sorta canceled out the weirdness.