Meetup with Natalie at Crators of the Moon

July 22, 2017
Carey, Idaho


My best friend Natalie was touring throughout the west this summer and we decided to meet up at Crater of the Moon National Park.  It was WAY to hot to want to camp out on that volcanic rock, so I found another campground nearby that was cool and shady and totally excellent until the smoke from an approaching wildfire drove us out a day early.  This was Little Wood River Reservoir which was out of Carey, Id. It was beautiful and free and even had a boat launch.

I decided to visit the park before Natalie arrived which was a good thing,  because she was tired from driving and didn't want to leave her dogs alone in camp to go visit the park. So she just enjoyed the campground.

Most of the area where there are lava flows looks black

A very unforgiving landscape

But with a stark beauty

And there are plants in some places

I can imaging this being blown out of a volcano

And it comes to an end

Landscape along the highway

This is cattle and hay country and  hay was being stockpiled

It's a very rugged land, even where there is no lava flow

What a lovely pine cone

This bush was blooming abundantly and  was favored by several species of bees and flies

A closer look at its flowers

The pine cones in situ

Some plants can eak out an existence on this forbiding land

A strange beauty

I loved the geometry of this pine cone

A brillant lichen

Another landscape view

Another lovely plant

This one is in full flower

Lichens on the black lava were gorgeous

One of the few animals I saw there - a golden-mantled ground squirrel

These are lumbar pines, which pioneered the soil, then got attacked by dwarf mistletoe, aka witches's broom.  The managers decided to save the area from disfigurement by killing the trees. 

When you can see colors, mostly from lichens, they are lovely

One of the trails I hiked

More landscape along a trail

One of the great views along the drive

Still a bit of snow on the spine of the mountains

I remembered this flower from my last trip and hiked just to where it was, altought the trail was probably twice as long. 

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Lava cascades they come down a  mountain and cross under the road

This color is under the rock surface where it has peeled off

This is a small lava tube - you can hike into some of them

Our campsite was lovely and we had places to walk which the dogs loved.

My tent was to the right in the shade. Natalie was able to back her trailer in on the other side of the table

Natalie with Willie (L) and Zootie

Willie got Natalie to play fetch with him in the reservoir

Then we started seeing smoke behind the mountain across the reservoir. We dedided to leave as it was getting smoky.