I am in the awe inspiring metropolis of Missoula, Montana. It at least feels that way compared to the igneous despair of Idaho (more on that). Everything is beautiful, still, though some places are starting to look very similar to others and I have to keep reminding myself that this snow-capped mountain range is actually not the same as the one in Utah or wherever. It is more a metaphor for my life than I would have expected: everything is new. Stop being bored. But it's easy to let it happen anyway, especially if I haven't slept well or had to drive farther than I expected in a day. So, Missoula is the current. I spent a couple days in Bend with Dani before I set out on my own. Couch surfed with some cool guys and tried to take it easy after the stress of Washington. Since then it's been going pretty steady. I crossed all the way to east Idaho and then north into Montana. I will camp out somewhere tonight and then make Glacier tomorrow where I hope to spend two nights and get some killer hiking in. Idaho, it turns out, is 1/3 lava flow...so Craters of the Moon is a volcanic site that shares the same lava flows as Yellowstone. It's very cool, the same kind of desolation that is outside Bend but you get to really explore here - most of the park is designated wilderness so it's kind of "go for a walk, take water; don't die". It is a spectacle but not exactly what I would call beautiful. As an aside, I have yet to encounter a potato. My second night I camped in a national forest site, a Friday (usually impossible to find camping), and I was utterly alone. It was me an squirrels for an entire night and most of a day. It was the first night I ever really spent without another soul I think. I mean, there was always somebody in the apartment below or one of the roommates had a party; maybe I went camping but the next site was occupied. The experience gave a new perspective to the idea of "the void stared back". My nerves took some time to settle but then it was rather enjoyable. Then at Craters - and here I say thank God for how completely void of life Idaho really is - the stars were so dense you could see the milky way cloud. And not the little whispers of a fog that I might have seen before. There was no doubt of what I was looking at. I went totally crazy and had AN ENTIRE BEER BY MYSELF and watched for some shooting stars. I did make a wish. I am not telling. I would prefer to have some profound sentiment to share, I get bored of these rundowns. I will say I am learning. My brain processes a ton and it's more to do with not feeling like I can say it all than that nothing is happening. My mind wanders and it's fast and my fingers and my pens haven't always kept up. Right now, home feels very far away. And I think about coming back and not at all in a bad way. Still more to see though. It certainly wasn't going to be Boise - I have no idea what happened there but I expected a pretty big college town with something urban to do. No jokes, I blinked and I missed it. Signs said next town: Boise and then I was passed it and...maybe that's not bad haha.
Here's some stuff to look at, don't blink.
Went on a hike through a lava tube with Dani. Basically it's a cave but formed by lava cooling on the surface and then the liquid draining out underneath it leaving a hollow tube. Oregon and Idaho have many of these but this one is quite large and easily navigable.
This is with my headlamp off, just the flash. I'm standing about 2 feet from the wall, to give you an idea for how dark.
This is the end of the walkable trail. Again, that's with the flash on and the wall is right behind it.
Very cold. It was about 90 on the surface but our breath made fog and my beard got soaking wet from the condensation
Just inside looking out.
Eastern Oregon. John Day Fossil preserve. Lots of interesting geology.
Idaho! Strangely at both state signs there wasn't anybody else stopping, so nobody to help take a picture. Oh well, least I have been there!
This is...where is this? Hell's or Devil's Canyon? Hell. Hell's Canyon, I double checked. It's a river and a lake. It's just like Grandbury, really...
More interesting formations.
This is the entrance to an ice cave. Water seeps into a lava tube and the air flow is cold enough that it freezes. In some places the frozen water is as much as 30 feet deep, and it is solid from top to bottom. It wasn't as glorious as the one in Austria, but not bad for a stateside wonder. The city there (Shoshone) claims to have been the first to make ice cold beer with the ice they chipped out from inside.
Craters of the Moon. Entry desolation. The flows cover 735,000 acres so literally it's as far as you can see sometimes.
A couple different kinds of flow. The top is a word that I can't say because it is Hawaiian but this is how most of it looks there. The second (with the loops) is called A'a (which is also Hawaiian but it's only two letters so I got it!). The top cools and then each layer builds up like a damn behind it.
Cool twisty tree thingy.
These are massive boulders from the crater itself, not lava. Imagine the lava flow that could move these a half mile from where they started.
Inferno Butte. It's relatively new and still covered in Igneous instead of trees or any other plant life. They let you hike the top (super cool).
From the top of the butte. The dark line on the left is where the lava flow stopped, so everything going right all the way back is still lava.
It's a crater. I honestly didn't read this plaque...
This one is cool cause you could look down into it. See next picture.
This was the only flower like this one I found and I hiked about 6 miles here. Though some of that was caves, to be fair.
The Indian legend about the site is that a snake lived on the mountain, and one night got so frustrated by lightning that it squeezed the mountain until fire came out. But the snake was caught in the magma and lives there until this day.
I thought this was pretty. This was the path to the caves.
Pretty silvery looking stuff.
This is with headlamp and flash, visibility is still only about 30 feet.
Formations and colors. All weird.
More silvery stuff.
Collapsed lava tube. I still hiked it...it went about 800 feet through so it was still fun. People followed me the whole way like I knew what I was doing haha.
Onto the next one. I gotta go find a camp...
Hi hunny! I like the lava tubes! Pretty cool. xoxo
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