Craters of the Moon National Monument is a smallish spot in Idaho (and not really all that close to anything) that is a “vast ocean of lava flows, islands of cinder cones, and sagebrush” – and when I was there, biting cold winds and snow! The original plan was to camp near Moab the night before, drive to Craters of the Moon, check that out and camp again. Similar to my drive from Florida to Colorado I was hoping for multiple nights where I could get some good time lapse photography, and photographing the night sky from a place called Craters of the Moon just seemed extremely fitting. However, when I got there, it was cold and snowing. The forecast was calling for mid-to-high 20s and up to half an inch of snow… which normally wouldn’t be a problem, except then it got really windy and my tent and sleeping bag I have with me are not good for that level of cold.
Anyway – everything I read about Craters of the Moon was that it was like being on a different planet… or well, the moon. In fact the Apollo missions went there for various practice. I can definitely say that it was a bizarre landscape and did feel like a completely different world – and the wind and snow and lack of visibility certainly added to the effect when I was there.
Ultimately, I bailed on the idea of camping there and chickened out and went and found a nice warm hotel room – mainly because I decided with the snow and clouds I wasn’t going to see any stars that night, so there was much less motivation to suffer through the cold. But I did get some quick photos while I was there.
I climbed up this cinder cone called Inferno Cone…
I think this plant is called Bitterroot..
And of course the landscape in general was rather interesting…
