Craters of the Moon

No, we did not get on a lunar rocket! But we did drive past a huge lava field in the middle of Idaho. The Great Rift was formed 15,000 years ago when a volcano erupted and split the earth, spewing forth lava. The Rift is 52 miles long and the lava fields spread out on either side for miles. Geologist Harold Sterns discovered this area in 1923 and by 1924 President Coolidge proclaimed it as The Craters of the Moon National Monument and called it “a weird and scenic landscape."

Our drive through showed us only a very small part of the lava field. I met a couple whose father had flown over this area many times and was only now getting to explore it on foot. He claims it seemed to go on forever. The signs pointed out spatter cones, cinder cones that we could climb over, craters and much more. There are even lava tubes open for exploration with a permit. We did not try that.  

The closer we got to Ketchum and Sun Valley, the smokier the mountains became. There is a 50,000 acre wildfire to the southwest past the next range of mountains and the smoke is blowing north and east over the valley we are headed into. We are in no danger of getting caught up in the fire. In order to find a campsite we like in the Sawtooth National Forest, we parked the RV at a grocery store and drove the Jeep through three campgrounds. Due to the crowded conditions we chose the first open site we could find and placed an occupied sign on it, turned around and retrieved the RV. We are north of Ketchum about 8 miles at the North Fork Campground.