Craters Of The Moon National Park

Sunday, 29th June
We are now running against the tide of our time available here. Having planned to visit Craters Of The Moon Nat.Monument (COTM), we have had to shorten it to a one night stay in the campground, hoping to get there early enough to ensure a campsite and leave us enough time to see this wonderful park. Then, Oh Dear! Our neighbours at Snake River RV told us about Shoshone Falls, near Twin falls, so now we have to squeeze that in, which involves a 30 mile detour and allowing time to visit the falls and see where Evil Knievel jumped the Snake River. OK, we can do that tomorrow. Then as we drive towards the COTM we remember that we have to pass EBR-1, Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1, the worlds first nuclear power plant, which started producing electricity (albeit for research) in 1951. It was quite interesting, but really it was about seeing where it was done first. Interestingly we have driven about 30 miles down out of the mountains to Idaho Falls, where there is lots of agriculture (potatoes) along the Snake River, but to get to the COTM we drive away from the river and straight into desert for 80 miles. The point about the nuclear facility is that if something happened the land is so desolate that they thought no one would notice if a nuclear explosion happened there.
 
After the nuclear power plant museum we found time to stop in Arco at The Pickle Place, which was a very 70’s diner, for a cuppa and share a cinnamon roll before we arrived at COTM by about 12.00, to find that there was indeed space for us to camp, though it was filling fast while we were setting up and having lunch. This campground is right in amongst the lava flows, similar to the Valley Of Fires SP we stayed at in New Mexico in 2011. Very strange environment, but interesting. We then spent the afternoon driving round the lava field trail, visiting all the different forms of lava and looking at the variety of life that can survive in this bleak environment. We even ended up in the middle of a Spatter Cone, a “small”, hollow cone, created when molten rock is spat out of a hole in the ground, building a wall of rock around itself. As usual, quite fascinating.