We froze our bums off during the night, I could not believe how cold it got! We hadn't turned the furnace on in fact I had a window open and the outside temperature had dropped to a low of 38 degrees (and the inside of our camper wasn't much warmer). Lucky for me Leon got up first, closed the window and fired off the furnace. He then served me my coffee in bed while I laid there with every spare blanket we brought on the trip piled on top of me. Leon finally got me moving (out of bed) as we planned to attend a 9:00am ranger hike through one of the lava tubes in the park. We arrived at the meeting spot with two minutes to spare and were surprised to see we were the only ones there besides the ranger. The ranger decided to hold off starting the walk for a few more minutes and finally some additional folks showed up. I guess they were as cold as I was when I first woke up and they found getting out of bed hard to do! Anyway, the ranger who is a very nice college student who is studying geology provided us with the history of the Great Rift, the different periods in time lava has escaped through the rift and a overview of the sights we were seeing (cinder cones, splatter cones, lava flows, the areas where the Great Rift is pulling the land part, etc). As our group walked towards the lava tubes the ranger told us we would be exploring the "Indian Tunnel" lava tube with him and he recommended we take some time after our tour to explore one or two of the other lava tubes on our own. I thought this was a good idea so Leon and I decided to check out "Boy Scout Cave" lava tube because the ranger told us it's floor was still covered in ice and we thought that would be pretty neat to see. We reached "Indian Tunnel" and began our group exploration of the tube. "Indian Tunnel" is the largest of the lava tubes at Craters of the Moon and only one you do not need to use a flashlight. The lava tubes have not been improved, meaning no stairs, railings or lights. If you want to e
xplore them you must crawl over fairly sharp lava rocks and make your way through rubble (boulders) that have fallen from the roof of the tubes. It was a good workout for us and also very interesting because our ranger knew his stuff! Once our tour was complete Leon and I headed to "Boy Scout Cave" which is much smaller and required us to crawl down into the dark, nearly on our hands and knees. There were two ways we could go once we got inside and we selected to turn right because there was a second, natural exit to this lava tube. It was hard work and the tube was totally without light. I was glad we had brought our flashlights so we could find our way through. When we finally got out of the cave I looked at my Earth Shoes and discovered that the sharp lava rock had chewed right through the soles - my shoes were ruined and I was bummed because they were my favorite pair. Oh well, I'll just need to purchase new ones when we get home. After we finished with the lava tubes we headed back to our campsite for some lunch. We hung out there for a while, reading and resting before we headed back on the loop road to travel to the "Tree Molds Trail" for a 2 mile round trip hike to view lava flows that have the impression of trees that fell into them when the lava was still hot. We had a pleasant walk with just a few steep areas and at the end of the trail we viewed the tree molds. I must say I was unimpressed with the molds but the view of the lava flows themselves was worth the walk. When we were done with the Tree Molds Trail we headed over to the "Devils Orchard Nature Trail" and did it's short walk where we learned about the different types of plants and animals that call Craters of the Moon National Monument home. Towards the end of the day we went to the visitors center to take in a photography seminar and then we returned to camp to enjoy some dinner. At 9:00pm we attended our last ranger program of the day at the visitor center and right after that we retired for the evening because we were pulling out first thing in the morning to head to Timpanogos Cave National Monument which is just south of Salt Lake City, UT.
We froze our bums off during the night, I could not believe how cold it got! We hadn't turned the furnace on in fact I had a window open and the outside temperature had dropped to a low of 38 degrees (and the inside of our camper wasn't much warmer). Lucky for me Leon got up first, closed the window and fired off the furnace. He then served me my coffee in bed while I laid there with every spare blanket we brought on the trip piled on top of me. Leon finally got me moving (out of bed) as we planned to attend a 9:00am ranger hike through one of the lava tubes in the park. We arrived at the meeting spot with two minutes to spare and were surprised to see we were the only ones there besides the ranger. The ranger decided to hold off starting the walk for a few more minutes and finally some additional folks showed up. I guess they were as cold as I was when I first woke up and they found getting out of bed hard to do! Anyway, the ranger who is a very nice college student who is studying geology provided us with the history of the Great Rift, the different periods in time lava has escaped through the rift and a overview of the sights we were seeing (cinder cones, splatter cones, lava flows, the areas where the Great Rift is pulling the land part, etc). As our group walked towards the lava tubes the ranger told us we would be exploring the "Indian Tunnel" lava tube with him and he recommended we take some time after our tour to explore one or two of the other lava tubes on our own. I thought this was a good idea so Leon and I decided to check out "Boy Scout Cave" lava tube because the ranger told us it's floor was still covered in ice and we thought that would be pretty neat to see. We reached "Indian Tunnel" and began our group exploration of the tube. "Indian Tunnel" is the largest of the lava tubes at Craters of the Moon and only one you do not need to use a flashlight. The lava tubes have not been improved, meaning no stairs, railings or lights. If you want to e
xplore them you must crawl over fairly sharp lava rocks and make your way through rubble (boulders) that have fallen from the roof of the tubes. It was a good workout for us and also very interesting because our ranger knew his stuff! Once our tour was complete Leon and I headed to "Boy Scout Cave" which is much smaller and required us to crawl down into the dark, nearly on our hands and knees. There were two ways we could go once we got inside and we selected to turn right because there was a second, natural exit to this lava tube. It was hard work and the tube was totally without light. I was glad we had brought our flashlights so we could find our way through. When we finally got out of the cave I looked at my Earth Shoes and discovered that the sharp lava rock had chewed right through the soles - my shoes were ruined and I was bummed because they were my favorite pair. Oh well, I'll just need to purchase new ones when we get home. After we finished with the lava tubes we headed back to our campsite for some lunch. We hung out there for a while, reading and resting before we headed back on the loop road to travel to the "Tree Molds Trail" for a 2 mile round trip hike to view lava flows that have the impression of trees that fell into them when the lava was still hot. We had a pleasant walk with just a few steep areas and at the end of the trail we viewed the tree molds. I must say I was unimpressed with the molds but the view of the lava flows themselves was worth the walk. When we were done with the Tree Molds Trail we headed over to the "Devils Orchard Nature Trail" and did it's short walk where we learned about the different types of plants and animals that call Craters of the Moon National Monument home. Towards the end of the day we went to the visitors center to take in a photography seminar and then we returned to camp to enjoy some dinner. At 9:00pm we attended our last ranger program of the day at the visitor center and right after that we retired for the evening because we were pulling out first thing in the morning to head to Timpanogos Cave National Monument which is just south of Salt Lake City, UT.
Alecs Shoe Store
ReplyDelete201 Main Street
Nashua, NH 03060
(603) 882-6811
Michelle they carry your earth shoes,they can ship you a pair,good luck.