Ep. 214: Craters of the Moon | National Monument Idaho camping hiking
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2024
- When you look at Google satellite imagery of southern Idaho, it's tough to miss the giant black blotch of volcanic lava that comprises Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve. The 618 square-mile lava field at Craters of the Moon is one of the best preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States. In this episode of Grand Adventure we explore the Monument's more than 25 volcanic cinder and splatter cones, lava tube caves, and Lava Flow Campground as well as the nearby town of Arco -- the first community in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power -- and the nearby EBR-I nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Filmed: July 18-25, 2021
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:07 Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve
1:52 Hiking Inferno Cone
4:30 Lava fields
5:14 Lava tubes and caves
9:12 Arco, Idaho
9:50 Idaho National Laboratory - EBR-I and BORAX-III nuclear reactors
11:21 Lava Flow Campground
12:37 Twin Falls County Fairgrounds RV Park
12:56 The Dyrt PRO
13:42 Wrap-up and what's next
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* Visit Idaho: visitidaho.org/
* Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve: www.nps.gov/crmo
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We're based in Salt Lake City, Utah during the winter months, and invite you to come along as we travel all around the U.S. My wife Patricia and I, and dog Zoe are avid boondockers, so while you'll occasionally find us in RV parks or even dry campgrounds, we're usually camped in some of the most remote and beautiful spots that you could ever pull a travel trailer into. We've now transitioned from "long-timing" for six months a year, to living and traveling in our RV full-time.
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if anyone is in the area currently, the atomic museum is open this weekend aug 6-8 ONLY! its a fantastic museum in the middle of absolutely nowhere. If you can happen onto Craters in a wet year and there is a bloom, it is spectacular to see millions of little blooms sprouting out of that black lava. Looking forward to your next videos. I'll be passing thru that area again in about a month!
Totally enjoy watching your informative and cinematic videos with awesome narration - WTG Marc and keep 'em coming!
Home sweet home! Grew up in the Sun Valley area and live in Idaho Falls now. I’ve been to Craters many times and it never gets old. Consider walking under the Perrine Coulee falls just a short drive and park into the canyon near Centennial Park, which I’m sure you’ll see if you’re kayaking to Shoshone Falls 😉
Oh dear, I think I'm behind in my commenting, but Ron and I watch every week when we can - another great film for sure!
Thanks as always! We're very happy to have the two of you with us.
Super interesting place.Thanks for yet another wonderful video.Hope you and Patricia are doing quite well🌟
Less then 100 miles from us. We have only been there a half dozen times. Very interesting place, but not somewhere I would go again in the summer. Spring with the wild flowers is the best. Fall and even winter is nice. Thank you for the video. Great video as usual.
Thank you Bob! It can get crazy hot out there, especially thanks to all of the dark lava that just absorbs and radiates the heat. That's why we went very early, arriving at 8:40 a.m. (64 dF) and finishing by 11 a.m. (82 dF).
Another shows I watch they filled the storage space under the master bedroom bed with Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries and covered the entire roof top with solar panels. They were able to build a system capable of running at least one of their air conditioning units, of course it cost about $20k doing it DIY.
I was there last year, very cool place. So many bees though......
Been the area a few times on my travels from the west coast to see my relatives in Salmon Idaho...Love to see the little things ive missed especially concerning Motorhome info...This is one of two ways i used go and just did again recently ...Another way I ""HIGHLY"" recommend is from Twin falls head north to, Ketchum, Stanley, Challis , Salmon along the Sawtooth Mountain range which is one of the nicest rides we taken in awhile...Its to be seen...
We went there on both our trips to Idaho. Wonderful interesting place
You brought back some old childhood memories. I was raised in near by Aberdeen Idaho which by the way has a unique boat dock/ campground.
Yep, deep in potato country on the shores of American Falls Reservoir. That lake is on our hit list sometime soon. Happy that we could bring you back, Marv!
Aww man!! Look what we missed!
We drove through the lava flow area and stopped for gas and food in the town of Arco.
We didn’t stop at the lava fields because were trying to get up to Sawtooth before dark, plus my wife is from Hawaii and they definitely have lava fields there.
However, having said that, we did stop at a really cool rest area on the way back on Interstate 15 heading south at the North Blackfoot area. There is a hiking trail at the southbound side “Lava Upper Trail”.
You sure know how to find the history! We didn’t realize any of that about Arco. Very interesting. I do remember the years painted up on the mountain. Lol.
Sometimes you just got to stop and smell the roses. It’s not always the destination, it’s also the journey.
Hey! Patricia made it into the Dyrt advertisement!
Thanks for sharing..
Ram
👍🏼👍🏽
Yup, we know that rest area. It's pretty cool but only gives a taste of the crazy extent of those lava flows. Just think, those lava flows along I-15 and those at Craters of the Moon are actually connected!
As for stopping to smell the roses, we learned that lesson the hard way early on. During our first summer as RV owners we took a week's vacation to travel through southern Idaho. In our haste to see as much as possible in the span of a week, we spent two nights in one location, and one night everywhere else. We returned home more exhausted than we were when we left.
@@GrandAdventure My wife corrected me. (Poor memory) We actually stopped at the Shell station at the end of Butte, which is about a stones throw from Arco.
That mountain in Arco is actually called “Number Hill.” Not much thought went into that one.
Most of our vacations use to be like that. We try to do several things each day and when we get home, we’re exhausted! We’ve learned a little bit along the way and try to limit ourselves to one or two things a day - need to save something for when we come back. Also, our last trip we only had two “one nighters”. The rest were two to six nights. A bit more relaxing. We are trying to shorten up our driving distances between camps as well. We aim to keep it under six hours driving and since we both drive, it’s not so bad at all.
Otherwise we would get cranky!
😠😠
Ram
The tires that I was going to get last week went up $56.00 this month and I was going to wait till October to buy them. But I ordered them today after your video
We went to Craters knowing nothing about the park. It was just somewhere to go during the pandemic. The park was fascinating and, as a bonus, the wildflowers were in bloom. If you have never seen bitterroot blooming profusely across the black lava fields, you have missed one of nature’s truly beautiful sights. Thanks for the video.
Thanks Marc,
Wow... that's so different from the rest of Idaho.
What was the covering over the pathway to the caves? It looked like some kind of heavy material.
Also, how were those people in the RV's able to stand the heat at the National Monument campsite, without full electrical hookups?
Gord
Hey Mark. Just watched your latest adventure. That is my home stomping ground. I was born in Arco and spent many times out at the craters. Thanks for showing this. Good memories.
Very cool Steve. I'm guessing that your folks worked at the lab? Glad that we could bring you back.
Greetings from Nor Cal!
Thanks for the tips. We have been planning to go to Crater. Twin Falls and the area looks like a great base camp. Looking forward to the future videos. Yes- we remember the Evil Knievel jump! Take care!
Can't wait to see you two on the road!
Keep your eye out and be sure to say hello!
Great job capturing all the colors. Rugged but beautiful. Get any snow there?
Craters of the moon, What a cool place. For $5 more a night, why not have full hookups, especially if you need to run the air. Thanks Don
That's pretty much how we felt about it, Don. When highs are in the mid- to upper-90s, and you have to lock yourself in the trailer for work M-F 8-5 where the indoor temp shoots north of 100 dF, a/c is pretty much a must-have.
That area is really neat looking, never been there, maybe someday, you always make your videos interesting, thanks for sharing your adventures, travel safe.
Thanks as always, Gary, and same to you!
Welcome to my town of Twin Falls. Enjoy your stay
Thank you Susan! We certainly did. You'll probably enjoy tomorrow night's new episode, which focuses on all manner of things to see immediately in and around Twin.
Headed there in a few weeks…regardless of how much smoke is in the air!
Hopefully it will cool down a bit by then, it looks promising for a change in the weather this week.
We have been in The Black Hills, Yellowstone, Billings, now Bozeman and headed to Glacier…all smoky, but what an adventure! The sunsets are awesome!
We stayed at the fairgrounds end of May, the local was having graduation.
Ah.. I see you have the same solar yard lights, good choice.
Beautiful documentary 👏 I love it
Thank you so very much!
Thanks for correcting me.
Thanks for great shows. Look forward to Wednesday evenings as we reminisce our trips while watching your videos. Thanks again
Very neat area. Idaho is beautiful. I'm looking forward to the next episode.
Thank you Mike! The next one is very diverse, and shows many of the unique sights around the Twin Falls area.
Waiting to see the video!!
We'll be there in a moment.
I have always loved Idaho ❤ Craters of the Moon is an amazing place . I enjoyed joining you on the tour. 🤩🤩
Super cool place!
Very unusual, for sure.
It's like a whole other world. Great video as always! Already looking forward to the next one! Safe travels and be blessed!
Thanks again Marc for another great video. We put that on our list to visit sometime.
Hey Marc, great video!,
Thank you Gary!
Looks crazy... like everything else!
Gord
Two off topic questions I'd like to pose and I hope you don't mind answering.
1) when you were still in your sticks and bricks and went on trips long then 2ish weeks how did your handle your home maintenance and landscape?. (Husband is concerned about leaving house for longer than 2.5 weeks.)
2) do you and Patricia still have jobs requiring Internet access other than producing your wonderful videos?
Don't mind at all, Katie.
1. We were prepared to hire a landscaping company. However, our neighbor decided to do ours while he was doing his (our grass area was quite small and he had a riding mower), so over his protests we paid him anyway. Still, we'd often help each other out -- if I was out snowblowing my driveway and sidewalk, for example, I'd do his too, and vice versa.
2. Yes we do. I'm employed full time, whereas Patricia picks up remote contract jobs here and there.
Hi. I was told by people,who,live in Shoshone that the falls and town is pronounced “showshowknee’”
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Nice job! We were there just a few weeks back. Wish it hadn't been smoky for you.You do such a nice job of teaching about the places you visit. Our style is very different but we can learn a lot from you! Thanks so much!
Thank YOU! Hope that you enjoyed the area as much as we did. It's such a unique topography.
Hello Mark, good timing with this vid. My wife and i are going to be in the snake river RV campground
this week and was curious about craters of the moon. Those caves look really cool. How far from the road do you hike to get to the caves ? gave a thumbs up , very interesting history about the area.
Thank you Rob! Craters is definitely worth the detour. It's probably 1/3 of a mile or so to Indian Tunnel, perhaps a half mile to Beauty Cave.
Good morning, Marc! Thank you very much for your coverage of this unique location. Really cool (and not so cool in the summer)!
Did you find that the cinders are too hot for dogs at this time of year?
Those were some awesome anecdotes about the nuclear facilities in the area. We look forward to your expanded tours of the greater area in next week’s episode…….especially Evil Knievel ! We did some training on the bluff above the Snake River decades ago, east of Boise. It was the quietest place I have been to.
Safe travels!
Great to hear from you as always, Alan! Even though daytime highs were in the upper 70s, we went to Craters really early to avoid the heat. We got there at 8:40 a.m. when it was only 62, and by the time we left at 11 a.m. temps had already risen to 84. However, even though the cinder cone was still rather cool from the overnight, dogs are prohibited from anywhere other than the roads, parking lots and campground within the National Monument. One reason is that those cinders and lava flows not only get hot, but their texture is really rough and abrasive, which would be tough on a dog's pads. Another reason is that it's the typical NPS anti-dog rules.
dogs are not allowed on trails at craters. i had my dog there a couple years ago and its a challenge. i ran my generator to run the a/c in the afternoon. i walked the sites very early morning and left my dog in the truck. there's an RV park at Arco with full hookups. there's another one in Picabo going the other direction.
@@GrandAdventure Hi Marc (waving from Santa Fe for 2 nights, then 40 minutes back to Telluride!). Ok...those are great planning factors to keep in mind. Yes....unfortunately, previous folks had not been responsible with their dogs......and now we are are all paying for it.
Good point about the cinders on the paws! The places in the world that I've trained that had cinders really chewed up our boots too.
Safe travels!!
@@spudbono5747 Hi there! Thank you very much for that info!! Bleh...yes, I'd always be inclined to just a/c the trailer with a generator. But, I'm guessing just doing the RV park would be more reliable.
@@campingalan same to you, from both of us.
Hi Marc. I notice you have three tiki torch type items set up at your camp. Are they for ambiance or do they keep insects away? I am looking for something to combat mosquitoes.
I enjoyed a second, more attentive watch of your video.What an amazing place. So crazy to be able to walk in the tubes and see what nature has created. The nuclear place seemed a bit scary!
Happy to hear that you enjoyed it, Suzane! The lava flows are positively stunning. As for the nuclear reactors at INL, they struck us as more a shining example of human ingenuity than something scary. History isn't always pretty, but that's where both the first power production from nuclear energy, and the world's first nuclear reactor meltdown took place. So it was fun to see what little of it we could in this year two of COVID.
If Yellowstone blows, it's gonna take out half of Idaho as well as NE Nevada. Not just cover with ash, but really take out.
Very true. And it's not "if," it's "when."
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Finally campground has 51 sites camping facilities national park service back country hiking wilderness area two trails snow drifts cross country skiing blizzard lava hidden holes under snow about history of the area settlers native Americans paleo Indian Shoshone pioneers traveling in years 1850s 1860s good ale cutoff 1879 two arco cattlemen named Arthur Ferris and j.w Powell became first Europeans Americans who explore lava field in 1901 1903 Israel Russell first geologist study the area limbert expedition explored area in 1920s because of COVID-19 it’s only open cave area visitors center buffalo caves broken top loop remain closed Iam awfully sorry actually iam not talkative but writing is only way to improve our English reading much better than conversation do you agree stay safe blessed good luck to you your family friends
Same to you and your family Khatoon! You provide a great summary, as you always do.
scenic washington?
Close, but not this season Landon. We'll work our way further west after Twin, but we thereafter need to start heading south to get to a particular rendezvous in October halfway across the country.
Like your videos.
But on this one, hard to make out your words. Seems like background music is too loud.
Thank you, we appreciate the feedback. Sometimes it's a delicate balance that doesn't always reflect on TH-cam what we produce in editing, due to the way TH-cam processes uploaded videos.
How are you doing master Marc iam so sorry can I ask questions as foreigners subscribers just reading is interesting but for American students I think the geography history little difficult long or may each state of America teach the students have special curriculum about their state for example students at Florida they study the history geography of Florida state first of all which craters of moon means it’s caused by steroids meteorites colliding with lunar surface there are 5185 craters are more than 12 miles across scientists estimated half miles across over half billion are larger than 10 wide unlike earth the moon has no atmosphere to protect its self from impacting bodies also was very little geologic activity as volcanoes weathering from wind rain so craters remains intact from billion of years
You may ask questions any time you like, Khatoon! Great to hear from you as always. American kids receive geography lessons about the entire world; it's not that they first learn about their home state and then branch out.