Come Visit Scenic Mordor

With all the health, computer and financial issues of late, I’ve been stuck at home pretty much most of the time for the last three months or so. So rather than go utterly bugnuts, yesterday I got up early and hit the road, pointed north. I had a specific destination in mind (photos on that later), but wound up at Craters of the Moon National Monument. CotM is an ancient lavabed… the same hotspot currently bubbling under Yellowstone. Millions of years ago it burst forth in central Idaho and barfed up several hundred square miles of flood basalt. While basalt makes up a *lot* of southern Idaho, CotM is sufficiently recent as to be uneroded and un-covered by soil or plants. It is a vast field of bare, sharp, pointy, jagged, “come here I want to hurt you” rock.

Ashes and dust and thirst there is, and pits, pits, pits.

There are several large lava tubes (read: “caves”) that are publicly accessible. Unlike most publicly accessible caves, these are largely unimproved… no handrails, smoothed walkways or any such conveniences, just a hole in the ground with a lot of loose rocks. I went through Indian Tunnel, certainly an interesting place; the above-ground lavafields are blasted with wind pretty much non-stop, but that comes to an end as you descend. And the temperature drops. A lot. Some of the lava tubes maintain ice year round, even when the temperature above ground – just feet away – is in the triple digits. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a cave, and the thing that struck me most was the rather sudden complete silence.

This was, I think, the third time I’ve been there. Generally, visitors are torn between “this is the most horrible place I’ve ever seen” and “this is awesome.” There is currently construction on a number of the roads, effectively blocking some of the more interesting spots; but if you happen to find yourself in the area, it’s certainly worth a look and some hiking.