Idaho

Scorpion-weed

Location: Boise & Craters of the Moon

When: mid October 

Miles traveled: 630.5

Price of gas: 3.87

Interest: Oregon trail/Snake River

High point: Bob, fellow nomad

Low point: Vest's zipper broke

One thing learned: In 1948, beavers parachuted to remote forest rivers in order to get away from a human population boom at Pauette Lake!

    Returning from Alaska, I drove to Oregon, where I have extended family.  Leaving my car with them, I flew to a wedding in Colorado and then home for a short visit.  After flying back to Oregon, I started driving for Idaho.  My two points of interest were: Freak Alley Gallery and Craters of the Moon National Monument.  While driving from one to the other, I added a short visit to Bruneau Dunes State Park, as it was less than an hour detour.

    Freak Alley Gallery in Boise, is a compilation of murals by many artists in an alley.  It's a gallery in the sense that the murals might change every year.  I was hoping for something a bit more...professional, maybe.  Street art or building murals are a lot more common than I originally believed.  I see them often when driving through cities in any state.  From this collection, my favorite were "Home Sweet Home" and the animal skull with barbed wire fence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Other interesting things in Boise, included Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial and Idaho State Museum.  At the museum, I learned about the parachuted beavers (The forested area was impassable by vehicle, so the beavers, in special crates, were parachuted in.) and Bob Hope.  Some of you, blog readers, may know of Bob Hope.  He was an amazing comedian who visited the troops during WWII to entertain, support, and remind them what they were fighting for.  He once visited a remote island base to perform a two hour show, and later learned that 45% of the men there later died in battle.

Exchange between Hope and one of his women stage performers, with a military audience:

Hope: I think the military life is for me.

Woman: I don't think so.  You'd have to forget about [good food]. (exact words forgotten in my memory)

H: That's for me.

W: You'd have to forget about comforts.

H: That's for me.

W: You'd have to forget about women.

H: That's for them. (referring to the audience)

    Leaving Boise for Craters of the Moon in the east, I visited Bruneau Dunes state park along the way.  The grayish sand is a mixture of quarts and feldspar.  Wind from two opposing directions keeps the dunes from traveling, and one of the dunes here is the highest in North America.  I climbed one dune, not the highest, and enjoyed the view from the top.  The photo on the right, shows the top crest of the dune I climbed in the bottom third of the photo.  The small stick is on the back side of that dune.

    Arriving at Craters of the Moon, I camped in the park a few days.  The park visitor center had a lot of good information about the different kinds of lava rock formations and how they are created, and about the Oregon trail.  In 1862, Goodale's Cutoff became an alternative route for the trail in Idaho.  This route passes the northern part of Craters of the Moon, and has different Snake River crossing locations.  Having driven along and crossed the Snake River during my drive, I was excited to learn about the Oregon Trail's relationship with the river.

    Lava Caves were once rivers of lava.  The top layer of the river cooled and hardened, and the river eventually drained away, leaving a hollow tunnel.  Today, some ceilings have caved in and bats make their home here.  Indian Tunnel is the name of a large lava cave visitors are allowed to explore.  I met Bob while exploring the tunnel.  He's been living on the road out of a Sprinter van for four years and works remotely.  He travels with the seasons, following the warm weather south for winter.  His next stop is California, while my next stop is Wyoming.  We did not see any bats in the tunnel, but saw a lot of bird feathers.  Much of the tunnel is large, except for the last part.  Climbing out requires going through a magical sunlit portal that looks bigger from within the cave.  On the surface, the hole is just wide enough for a person to fit through.  Climbing through that part brought a smile to my face, it was so cool!

Exit surface hole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Cinder cones are created by smaller bits of lava being spit up and out of an active vent.  Sometimes the small bits don't travel far and collect around the vent, creating a "traditional" volcano pyramid shape.  Other times the wind carries them farther, creating a mound farther away.  Splatter cone(pictured left) and Snow cone, were smaller cones with vents at their centers.  Inferno cone, was a much larger mound created some distance from it's vent.  It was incredible windy at the top of Inferno cone, but it was a nice vantage point to see the rest of the park.  The view from Inferno cone has more meaning after exploring the rest of the park.  From the top I could see Splatter and Snow cones, and other formations I had hiked around, and I knew what they were.  Those mounds had more meaning than a pile of volcanic rocks.

    Freak Alley Gallery was a bit of a disappointment, but I enjoyed visiting other buildings in the area and learning about Bob Hope.  I am glad I visited Bruneau Dunes state park.  Sand dunes have become an interest for me and it's neat that they are in a variety of states (New Mexico, Utah, California, Idaho, Indiana +).  Craters of the Moon was interesting, it looks very different from the other terrain in Idaho.  The information I learned there will also be a helpful reference point for when I visit Hawaii.  Perhaps I will be able to visit more volcanic areas in Hawaii.  But next up is Wyoming and Yellowstone NP.

    The end. (Was that a better ending?)

Looking down the vent in Snow cone

To the top of Inferno cone!

Blazing Star flower