July 11, 2015 - Craters of the Moon National Monument Idaho

We left Salt Lake City early to get a start on the day ahead so we could enter the park when it opened.  We planned to spend 4 hours here and then head to visit family in Idaho.  It started to rain as we left Salt Lake City, the first rain we have experience for quite a long time.  We entered the park just 30 miles to our west shortly after they opened for the day.  We decided to experience a ranger led talk at the caves which started at 9am   We had to find, and changed into our jeans.  We also had to search for our rain jackets.  Mind you, this is one of the first times we are wearing jeans in over 8 months and we scrambled to find them before the hike started!

We had our own private hike with the ranger who described the park, the lava fields, and how they came to be.

Lava field in Crater of the Moon National Monument.

There is a paved trail wandering through the lava fields

Going into a lava tube/cave.  Very interesting and very unique.

Lava tunnel!

The entrance to a very tight lava tube.

Walking the trail.  There are miles of trails to walk here.

Interesting formations from the lava flow 900 years ago,

This is a cinder cone you can hike up.  It's taller than it looks.

Great view of the lava flow from up here.

The lava fields seem to go on forever.

Our park Ranger telling us more about the lava, and it's history.
We were lucky that nobody else went on the tour with us.  

Hiking through lava fields.

Descending into a tunnel.  This is a park for the adventurous.

Looking down into a crater,

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