Craters of the Moon

We did find gas after 23 miles. Then we headed across Southern Idaho to Craters of the Moon National Park. I was not sure whether we could find a trailer site there, so we camped at the Arco KOA and then returned to the park. Turns out we could have found a campsite at the park.

Inferno Cinder Cone

The visitor center has a display that explained the geology of the Snake River Valley in Southern Idaho. It is a series of volcanic caldera that stretches across the state all the way to Yellowstone. That is where the active hotspot is today, but because of continental plate drift, the calderas in Idaho used to each be over that hotspot over time. Craters of the moon looks different than the other caldera because it is so new. It still has lava flow about every 2000 years. (The last major flow was 2100 years ago.) Here you can find lava tubes, lava coils, and sputtered lava. We learned about aa lava, the rough jagged lava as well as pahoehoe lava which looks like rope.

Pahoehoe Lava

Here too are both cinder cones,  and sputter cones. As you look around the area you can see numerous cones in the distance. Older comes are now grass covered and newer comes are bare rock. The whole idea of multiple calderas in Utah was new to us, it really makes sense to combine a visit here with a visit to Yellowstone National Park.