Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

Brian: Let's pack a lunch and go to a park.
Me: Ok (thinking a local city park).
Brian: I've always wanted to go to Craters of the Moon.
Me: Ok.

 

This conversation happened about 10:00 on a Sunday morning.  Around 3:00 we were pulling into the Visitors Center and asking the rangers about favorite hikes.  "Inferno Cone," said one.  "Broken Top Loop," said another.  "How about both?" said we.

The park road is a short 7-mile loop, with several hiking options and pull outs along the way.  Our first stop was Inferno Cone.

Clockwise: Inferno Cone, Brian leaning into the wind, glittering cinder

Inferno cone is a large mound of drifting cinder from nearby volcanic eruptions.  It is a short (but steep!) climb to the top.  At the top, the wind was strong enough to lean into.  The black cinder is VERY light and reflects a rainbow of colors.

Along the way to Broken Top Loop, we also spotted many wildflowers.  These flowers were only inches from the ground.  With the strong wind, I'm guessing they wouldn't survive long, if they were much higher.

 

There were also stops for close-up looks at spatter cones and lava flows.

Clockwise: spatter cone, me on a lava flow, lava flows

Once we made it to the 1.8 mile Broken Top Loop trail, we were rewarded with interesting terrain and fantastic views of the park.  I would have loved to spend more time on this trail but there were several storm clouds heading our way.

Our final stop before heading home was Devils Orchard Nature trail.  This hike is a short, paved hike with plenty of information signs that provide a good introduction to the park.  We should have stopped here first because I learned that we probably shouldn't have climbed on the rocks as much as we did.  Oops!

It was also a great trail for tree spotting.

Long way to go for lunch, but not a bad way to spend the day.