Craters of the Moon is about 180 miles from the Tetons so will be a long drive. But it’s sort of on the way to Salt Lake City which we want to visit. We stop in Idaho Falls for some fast food, difficult to find a place this time, but eventually find one just shutting up. They are really kind, sort out food and then we get a bonus - free ice cream! Thank you Artic Circle and a lovely manager and staff.
As we are heading towards our destination we see some strange facilities, nuclear based stuff which is part of the Idaho National Laboratory, which piques the attention of our engineering interests. Maybe worth a visit later perhaps?
We arrive late at the camp site which is full. So we park at the visitor centre and we’ve never seen so many stars and can clearly see the Milky Way. So although rather late we decide to have a go at astrophotography. After I learn that no camera takes pictures with a lens cap on, even in the dark, we eventually get some great shots - an incredible dark sky preserve but a late night! Who knew that trying to get focus at infinity would be the trickiest part.
The following day we end up thinking, Volcanic, Vindaloo and Violent. What a strange National Monument is ‘Craters of the Moon’. At night it’s a dark sky area and the Milky Way paints a path overhead from South to North. During the day it’s hot, brooding and fascinating.
This area is the remains of volcanic eruptions from thousands of years ago. Yet it’s still fresh and almost undisturbed. We drive the park loop and follow several walking trails, always noting the signs to take lots of water with you! We walk up ‘Inferno Cone’ which is the remains of a cinder volcano. It is the classic volcano shape just made completely of all black cinders and no vegetation. At the top of the cone we have a clear view across the whole area including a vast wilderness left completely alone. 95% of the park is left undisturbed as nature has shaped it.
Just a half mile away is “Snow Cone” the mortal remains of the centre of another volcano but deep enough to have snow at the bottom all year around.
On to the “North Crater” and wow! It’s huge, at least 1/2 mile wide and very deep and steep sided. Completely extinct and home to a few birds.
But perhaps the best is “Broken Top”. A rift volcano with a 2 mile loop trail around it. Following it we find different volcanic features including panahoe lava flows, blue lava, volcanic caves, ash and cinder. But nature is slowly reclaiming this with brush, shrubs and trees.
Final walk is the caves area. This a huge jagged lava flow, called the Blue Dragon flow because the lava has a very thin blue crust, which formed lava tubes which have subsequently collapsed and made caves. Walking and scrambling through “Indian Tunnel” the size is immense, about 60 mtrs in diameter, and awe inspiring to think about how much lava flowed through here.
But why ‘Vindaloo’ in the title? I described the scene to Emma as violent. It’s so sharp, roiling, black, twisty and explosive. Emma likened it to the Earth as having had a big vindaloo and then wretched its guts up! Just encapsulated what we saw and explored!
And why is the National Monument called “Craters of the Moon”? We don’t know but it was used by the NASA Apollo program for astronaut training in looking for unusual geological samples for when they were on the moon.
We leave mid-afternoon heading for Pocatello as we urgently need propane and to stock up on food. As we drive we notice signs for an atomic site and that combined with the heat makes us decide to skip Salt Lake City. Once full with propane we retrace our route back to Atomic City. Which really is a tiny township of about 100 people which renamed itself back in the early 1950’s. And had its own airstrip!
We boondock overnight in an abandoned and derelict bar beside Atomic City and do some night photography against a background of creepy animal sounds from the building.
The following day after a quick shower in Wendy we head back to the EBR-1, Experimental Breeder Reactor No:1. This is part of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) which has built over 53 different reactors and test facilities and is a leading organisation in Nuclear Science, especially the research and development of nuclear reactors.
The EBR is a brilliant place. It is an original breeder reactor, now decommissioned, which developed the technique of producing plutonium in a reactor. It also produced electricity and the nearby town of Arco had the claim to fame of being the first place/town/city to be powered by electricity generated by a nuclear reactor.
For two engineering geeks EBR was fascinating. The technology was cutting edge back then, really innovative and yet controlled the danger. The windows into the ‘hot cells’ are multi- layer and have an interesting effect on light shining through them showing how many layers of lead glass there is.
The nuclear site is a memory jogger for Emma for a summer placement at the Heysham nuclear power site in Lancashire. For Alex it was a great learning experience and he understands about chain reactions!
As for me, well the aviation geek loved that the site also has the test rigs for nuclear powered jet engines - enormous things mounted on rail tracks.
Because we spent so much time at the EBR we start later than planned for the long drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. Routing via a MacDonalds for dinner we eventually stop overnight in a truck stop. Truck stops are OK to park in but all the drivers have air conditioning in their sleeping compartments powered by generators - hence a lot of engine noise and difficulty sleeping. And Emma has now got Alex’s cold and is feeling grotty. Ah well, Rocky Mountain is getting closer and tomorrow is another day.
Guy
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