Craters of the Moon, ID

Our adventure of the day was Craters of the Moon National Monument...a cool place that was once very hot.

Here’s a map of the area.

The lava landscape is the result of a long ago volcanic event.

You can walk over the lava flows,

Among the strange formations,

Learn what grows on top of lava

Climb a cinder mountain...

Of course we made it

And were surprised to find a tree growing on top.

From the top we enjoyed the view

And hiked back down

Down inside this lava cone is snow...and several hats people lost when they leaned over to look.

There are also lava caves to explore. They are undeveloped, so bring a flashlight and watch your head.

First you follow the trail across the lava beds

It was a little too challenging....here’s Joselyn coming back out

You can stand up in Beauty Cave

It’s very cold inside the cave....icicles. Here's the exit:

There’s a campground there, but it was unshaded and hot....so we headed to the Sawtooth Mountains to camp in the National Forest