Crater of the Moon

You might wonder why we sometimes refer to our journey as Rambling. This site is a perfect example of our rambling. We were traveling to Boise Idaho from Jackson Wyoming and was taking a short cut and noticed a sign that said "Crater of the Moon" monument this way. It sounded very interesting so Sharon picked up her iPhone and goggled the words Crater of the Moon. Sounded interesting so away we went. It was a great experience! We spend a few hours in the park.

Craters of the Moon is, in fact, peppered with volcanoes. Cinder cones, splatter cones, and a large shield volcano span the Monument. The great rift as it is officially referred to stretches over 50 miles along a zone of fractures in the crust of the earth. Some pictures below with tell the story better than I can ever explain the Monument.  

A visual of the different Volcanoes in the Crater of the Moon Monument Park

A visual I am using to tell more about the Crater of the Moon

Note the little plot of plants located through out the cinder hills. They appear to have been planted  in some order all within a short distance from one another. In reality they are not. The whole valley does not have much moisture so the roots of the plants reach out for the moisture making the survival hard for other plants as they fight for moisture. 

Up close picture of lava rock

Lave fields within the Volcanic area

More lava formations

A plant (buck wheat) that grows on the large cinder fields slops

Many caves were formed by lava throughout the 50 mile long Great Rift

Cinder domes along the drive in the park. Note the white van in the distance to get a perspective of how large the cinder dome is.