Craters and Tetons

2023-07-20
ID, WY

This morning we hiked the North Crater for 3.1 miles (618 feet of climb). It is a combination of the primary types of lava: Pahoehoe (pa-hoy-hoy) and a'a (ah-ah). The former is the smoother swirled type which we saw in the base of the crater while the latter is the chunky rocks that are pretty much everywhere else. We walked through and around several craters on this hike.

Pahoehoe makes these great swirls when the top cools and lower lava continues to move. Kind of like blankets on your bed.

Saved myself a trip to the moon now that I've seen the crater

Flowers that are one of the early adopters. No weeds to compete with in all this lava.

We also saw a mountain bluebird in the lava. I have no idea if that is rare or more likely than not seeing one.

We drove the loop through the lava fields before stopping at the visitor's center. I'm sure that we didn't do this park the justice that it deserves, so if you head out that way you should get your list of things to do elsewhere. We spend about 2 hours and we should've spent a full day or so. There are a number of volcanic features in the park and it can be quite educational. Despite its name, I think it's not really that similar to the moon. Because the park was named in the early 20th century, they didn't have the advantage of seeing pictures from the actual moon.

Continuing homeward, we headed off to Jackson, WY. Valerie added this stop at the last minute to do some shopping. Unbelievably, after dropping her off at a chosen store, I found a parking place on the same road. She shopped for about an hour and got what she needed. Personally, I found Jackson to be a lot like Aspen; overpriced shops that cater to a very affluent crowd. In one store the customer was talking about his McLaren dealer, while one helpful salesperson told us that their "most value effective" cowboy hat was $350. My father would love this place; I don't have any desire to return.

Next stop was Grand Tetons National Park. Like Craters of the Moon, this is just a stop on our way east, not a full park visit. We managed to squeeze in a 3.7 mile hike by taking the boat across Jenny lake, viewing the falls, climbing to Inspiration Point, and then walking back around the lake.

We ended the day at a camp site in Grand Tetons National Park. Mule deer wandered right through the site and we just watched them go, as indifferent as they were. The mosquitos, on the other hand, were excited to see us.