Craters of the Moon National Monument

Chelsea and Spatter Cones

It was a nice drive through this arid section of Idaho from Dubois (on Route 15) to Arco. I decided to drive Route 22, a direct back road as a shortcut to Craters of the Moon. It was a drive that some might find boring, reminiscent of many long stretches in Nevada, but for some odd reason I just love it. It seems to be entirely uninhabitable, hot and downright dangerous to be here. Nothing but pavement, sage, tumbleweed and the occasional coyote surviving somehow. There are some minor mountain ranges in the area but they are far away. It is also not as hot as the desert southwest but it certainly has that look.

When we arrived at Craters of the Moon, we made the obligatory stop at the Visitor Center. If Laurie had been with us, I can see her rolling her eyes and making a comment about how much time I spend in the book section. The main reason I needed to stop here was to inquire about the caves and how best to explore them in a few hours.

We visited Craters of the Moon about 5 years ago with Uncle Jim during the return portion of our big western trip. We arrived late in the afternoon or early evening and just did a quick drive on the scenic loop road and had time for a quick hike to the top of Inferno Cone. I felt like we had short-changed this park and vowed to return some day.

Before the trip I had done a bit of research about what special things there were to see here and the presence of lava tubes in this park caught my attention. Caves! I've always had a little spelunker in me and I thought Colin and Chelsea would enjoy it too. They have been to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky but this would be different.

So, after obtaining a map and instructions at the Visitor Center we headed for the loop road. We drove by Inferno Cone and made one stop for a short walk to the Spatter Cones and Snow Cone (see photo above). Snow Cone is deep enough to hold snow all summer long. Sure enough, we peered down inside and there was snow there. We learned that the lava acts as a good insulator throughout the heat of the summer.

We also walked part way up Silent Cone for a nice view and howling winds.

But caves were our goal. We drove another 1-2 miles to the parking lot for the cave hike. We put on our hiking boots, packed some drinks in my pack and made sure we had our flashlights and headlamp. I was looking forward to getting out of the 90 degree heat and into a cool cave!

The first cave we came to was Dewdrop Cave, a teeny cave with not much to explore. After walking into the first cave I was very happy we had our hiking shoes on. The last thing I needed was a tweak of the knee on the uneven terrain.

Colin Exploring Dewdrop Cave

This is out of order but the photograph below shows the entrance to Boy Scout Cave. Chelsea and Colin are walking on the path at the top of the photo and let's hope this mom and baby did not venture into the cave. This was one of the coolest and darkest caves. Without flashlights you really couldn't have explored very far.

Boy Scout Cave Entrance

Years ago I did some serious caving in the karst area of New York State southwest of Albany. One of the coolest memories I have of that trip was the feeling of complete darkness when you turned off your lights and just sat there for a while in the cave. So, Colin, Chelsea and I tried this in Boy Scout Cave. It is a bit unnerving at first but you haven't really experienced darkness until you've been in a cave far away from the entrance.

The edges of Boy Scout cave had some really nice ice formations. Colin and I explored this cave for a while until we actually started to get a bit chilled.

Ice Formation in Boy Scout Cave

The last cave we explored was called Beauty Cave. To us it was a misnomer. Compared to Indian Tunnel (see next blog entry) and Boy Scout Cave, Beauty was just okay. The entrance had a nice appearance though so I took a photo.

The Entrance to Beauty Cave