Greetings from the Moon

We're here at Craters of the Moon National Park camped among the lava flows.  This must have taken some great engineering to put in roads and facilities and not disturb the volcanic flows and structures.  Each campsite is very different because they have to follow the flow of the lava.

Our Home, Lava, Mountains and a fine Sunset

When they named the park in the 1920's everyone agreed that the 750,000 acres of AhAh lava, cinder cone volcanoes and lava flows must be exactly the same as the moon.  When NASA trained the early astronauts this is where they sent them.

Under the top black layer the lava could be almost any color.

Terri and Collette in one of many caves we explored.

Once you are in a cave it gets very dark.  This is looking back up to the entrance.  No steps, just loose lava rocket to walk down to a much smoother cave floor.

It was a 1.6 miles hike to this set of 4 caves.  It was a warm day but once you were a few feet into the cave it got cooler as you went.  We had 3 LED flashlights with us.  The light would only go 5 or 6 feet before the darkness took over.  It was a little odd having the light just come to a stop.  The dead quiet and blackness was a scary experience for each of us.  If you walked a few feet away from each other you just disappeared.

So Terri is none to sure of my new "Northwest Hiker Guy" look.  I think the floppy hat, red suspenders, white socks and hiking boots make me look just like the guy on the commercial.  What do you think?  Is it working for me?

So how much lava is out there?  It extends beyond the horizon even when you are standing at the top of a cinder cone.  You could fit the whole state of Rhode Island inside the massive black flow.

A Park Ranger told us that an early explorer described the area as, "It looks like the devil vomited."  Not a nice description but pretty darn close.

We camped on the Moon for two nights and took off Northeast toward Yellowstone this morning.  We are camped at a full service RV park across from Henry Lake for two day until our reservation in Yellowstone starts September 11th through the 22nd.

All is well with the 4 of us: Terri, Russ, Collette and Abbey the wonder dog.  It's nice to have a dog to scratch.